Press release

The typography of Helmut Schmid (1942–2018) is precise and elegant. This is particularly true of his logos for the Japanese pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, but as well of his designs for the political campaigns for the German SPD. After living in Sweden, Canada, and Germany, Schmid eventually settled in Japan. There, impressed by Japanese poster art and the simple beauty of Japanese artifacts, he refined the typographical approach that he had learned from his teacher Emil Ruder in Basel. The exhibition will show the most important stages in Schmid’s career and shed light on his position as mediator between East and West. On display will be logos, packaging, corporate designs as well as independent works by this designer, who also gained international renown as a publicist.