7. “Merz Graphic Design” and a New Typography
From 1923, Kurt Schwitters worked professionally as a graphic designer and font designer. In 1924, he founded the “Merz-Werbezentrale” (Merz Advertising Agency) and soon received his first commissions from commercial clients, including well-known firms like the biscuit manufacturer Bahlsen and the ink manufacturer Pelikan. In 1929, he started designing official printed materials for the City of Hanover. His clients used his new and at the time unconventional typography to present an image of their companies as modern and progressive. Schwitters was convinced that good design could make people’s lives better. He also repurposed biproducts from the printing process and test prints, turning them into collages or “recognising” particularly interesting sections of text as works of art.
Background: In the 1920s, the connection between art and design was a key concern shared by many avant-garde movements, whose ambition was to undertake a comprehensive “designing of everyday life”, in which art – from architecture and furniture design to typography – would have an impact on the day-to-day world. This was driven by the conviction that good form and functional design could contribute to social renewal. In an era of technological progress and social upheaval, the unity of art and design was seen as the way forward to a modern, democratic society. Schwitters embraced this vision with the “ring neue werbegestalter” (Circle of New Advertising Designers), which he founded in 1928. The group’s objective was to promote the principles of New Typography and of modern advertising and to firmly establish design not only as a purely technical undertaking, but also as a cultural endeavour.