Niclas Nuchte
Tribute to Rotis
“Sometimes nothing more is needed to make a product effective.”
Hard and soft, cold and warm
Niclas Nuchte
Problem: : it’s not so much a problem as an assignment to celebrate Otl Aicher. The challenge involves creating something new as opposed to doing the usual thing of designing exhibitions and simply saying “Happy Birthday”. Why is Otl Aicher still relevant in 2023, what makes his work so crucial and how can it be translated into our digital approach to thinking and living?
Users: the target group is definitely broad. Designers, politicians, business managers. And stretches over several generations. As a designer, my first instinct is to turn to a similar target group. To other young designers in other words.
Objective the objective is to convey thoughts regarding the relevance of Otl Aicher and his work. Visually. As well as being a designer, Otl Aicher was also a philosopher with rigorous principles and ways of thinking.
And he was as rigorous in his design work as he was in his thinking. We (as a team) are accompanying a biographical exhibition on Aicher’s work and life. Concrete plans foresee authoring a font in a pictogram grid along with experimentally modified pictograms.
As an Aicher fan, I am keen on arriving at an outcome that re-affirms Aicher’s relevance and arouses curiosity, at interesting, refreshing, modern designs that take Aicher as their role model (both as a craftsman and a philosopher), that make personalities of designers once again. Allcomers are invited to derive inspiration from them and to experience new and unfamiliar designs.
Between egotism and philosophy
Who is Otl? What’s important to me? For me, prior to this project, Otl Aicher was the man who designed the 1972 Olympic Games and the pictograms still so much in use today. And yet Otl Aicher, it transpires, was far more besides.
Working on this project necessitates understanding Otl Aicher as a person. I would like to take this opportunity to set out the most striking traits that occur to me personally:
No friend of art. No sycophant. An egotist. No angel. Straight talker. Philosopher too, though. A “personality”…
And here’s something I cherish about Otl Aicher as a person: his not being a mere “decorator” but, rather, a craftsman with savvy and soul. I baulk at the thought of kissing customers’ feet and certainly always will. It’s important for both parties to treat each other with respect.
It's equally important to convince a customer of one’s own abilities and work in a spirit of trust and to give them an opportunity to actively understand themselves as opposed to their having it done for them.
Freely executed by hand
The works afford insights into the thoughts and ideas the project gave rise to, its conceptual formulation, and how it evolved. From start to finish. This includes all manner of things collated over the entire period. It all usually begins with an idea that is put into words. The first attempts to work with Rotis are to be seen. Produced in order to acquire a feel for the font.
The central focus here was on home-grown ideas that were processed into posters. Freely executed by hand. The font is either presented in all its variants, as in a print sample, or else individual glyphs are shown in detail.
initial elaboration of an idea is depicted: the permutation and colour-staining of pictograms. Permutation is a design technique that delivers interesting and, above all, schematically fathomable results. The aim of this idea was to generate interesting visual images that incorporate Aicher’s pictograms in a new and unfamiliar form and in particular serve as graphic- design objects with a hand-crafted feel. The idea was rejected owing to the effect being too rapidly washed out and the outcome not being satisfactory.
Developing initial ideas: Modifying Aicher's pictograms.
© Niclas Nuchte
First layout drafts to establish guidelines for different elements such as format, font and typesetting (1).
© Niclas Nuchte
First layout drafts to establish guidelines for different elements such as format, font and typesetting (2).
© Niclas Nuchte
I then had the idea of creating a pixel font with which to catapult Aicher into the digital age. Having elaborated the idea of implementing a font, I soon came up with initial draft layouts so as to get a feeling of what I was subsequently to submit.
I use drafts of this kind specifically as a means of establishing guidelines such as format, font, composition etc. I played with colours and experimented with varying quantities of text.
This phase forms part of the conceptual formulation process, since the actual subject-matter had yet to be determined at this point. These drafts are also an aid to establishing the work’s dramatic thrust.
“Here!”
All-over images on inviting double spreads serve to introduce new chapters. These form a coherent part of the product since they were all originated at the customer’s and they inspired me.
The bar on the left imparts an interesting effect in that it, a) acts as a repository for information about the image, b) prevents the image bleeding into the binding and c) counterbalances the squares employed. It structures the page vertically, has a tactile look and injects added vibrancy into the correlation between picture setup and page – it isn’t always necessary to have a full-page layout. The squares borrow from Aicher’s pictograms.
They are also emblematic of the pixels central to the font designed. Their momentum engenders an interesting play of forms that varies on subsequent pages. The brashly styled page numbers match the tone of the product as a whole. Lush colours make for a vibrant polychrome image with echoes of the 1972 Olympic Games. The final page details the typographical characters adopted for the project. The very letters and glyphs suffice to ensure a stimulating, rhythmic, consistent design. Sometimes nothing more is needed to make a product effective.
New chapters are introduced with full-screen images.
© Niclas Nuchte
An illustration by Aicher.
The end-result was a fully-fledged product. In this case a book. A mock-up is to be seen in the figure that constitutes virtually the final draft of the product.
The lefthand figure contains an illustration portraying Aicher in a familiar pose. Arrows are also to be seen that also feature in the book. Why? The arrows create a texture through their die-like shape for one thing. Arrows are notifiers that draw attention to themselves and guide our line of vision. When deployed in multiple arrays their effect is provocative and loud.
“Here!” they all cry. Furthermore, these slightly slanting specimens generate a momentum that lends added motion to the page.