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Title
Five British Graphic Designers

Designer
Emanuel Sandreuter

Year
1968

Client
Ambienti di Corso Europa

Medium
Poster

Size
68.5×58 cm

Notes
A poster promoting an exhibition of five British graphic designers and design firms (Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes, Germano Facetti, Henrion Design Associates, Romek Marber, and Hans Schleger), selected by Germano Facetti, who was the art director of Penguin Books since 1962.

Facetti, who moved to London in 1950 and gave an important contribution in introducing Italian graphic design to the British public, also dedicated himself in promoting British graphic designers on the Italian scene.

The poster was designed by Emanuel Sandreuter, a Swiss designer who studied in Basel under Armin Hofmann and was working at Studio Coppola as a trainee at that time, as his first poster after graduation.

Sandreuter masterfully interpreted the subject of the exhibition through graphical means only, by drawing the shape of the number 5 out of the red and white cross of the Union Jack—the flag of the United Kingdom. The use of no elements other than those necessary, the visual synthesis and impact, and the immediacy of communication made this poster one of the many masterpieces of Italian graphic design, that was actually designed by a Swiss.

The poster was always believed to be designed by Silvio Coppola, who on the contrary intentionally chose not to sign it with his name—as would have been usual for the owner of the firm—but as Studio Coppola, as a gesture of goodwill on the part of his employer. Many thanks to Philipp Messner, Leiterer at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel, for having reported the correct authorship of the poster design.

Title
Five British Graphic Designers

Designer
Emanuel Sandreuter

Year
1968

Client
Ambienti di Corso Europa

Medium
Poster

Size
68.5×58 cm

Notes
A poster promoting an exhibition of five British graphic designers and design firms (Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes, Germano Facetti, Henrion Design Associates, Romek Marber, and Hans Schleger), selected by Germano Facetti, who was the art director of Penguin Books since 1962.

Facetti, who moved to London in 1950 and gave an important contribution in introducing Italian graphic design to the British public, also dedicated himself in promoting British graphic designers on the Italian scene.

The poster was designed by Emanuel Sandreuter, a Swiss designer who studied in Basel under Armin Hofmann and was working at Studio Coppola as a trainee at that time, as his first poster after graduation.

Sandreuter masterfully interpreted the subject of the exhibition through graphical means only, by drawing the shape of the number 5 out of the red and white cross of the Union Jack—the flag of the United Kingdom. The use of no elements other than those necessary, the visual synthesis and impact, and the immediacy of communication made this poster one of the many masterpieces of Italian graphic design, that was actually designed by a Swiss.

The poster was always believed to be designed by Silvio Coppola, who on the contrary intentionally chose not to sign it with his name—as would have been usual for the owner of the firm—but as Studio Coppola, as a gesture of goodwill on the part of his employer. Many thanks to Philipp Messner, Leiterer at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel, for having reported the correct authorship of the poster design.