Summarizing the life of a Swiss-born graphic designer in one poster is never an easy task; especially when
his works ranged from Europe to USA, from magazines to music labels and big companies’ corporate identity.
Erik Nitsche (1908 – 1998) studied and worked in his native country. Later he left for France and Germany where he came across the Art Deco style and recently-born magazines such as Simplicissimus, Jugend,
De Querschnitt. Due to Paul Klee being a close family friend, the new graphic method taught at the Bauhaus
was to guide him all his life, even after he moved to America in 1934. In NYC Erik Nitsche was hired
as a photographer, illustrator and art director for some of the most prominent magazines (Harper’s Bazaar, Fortune, Vanity Fair, House & Garden, Mademoiselle), where he got to know the world of fashion before
focusing on the subject he is known for: design for nuclear companies.
Starting with Air Tech and Air News magazines, he was hired in 1952 by John Jay Hopkins
at the General Dynamics. In 1955 Nitsche was the one to represent the company at the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneve, for which he designed the first six “Atoms
for Peace” posters, merging the product and the means of General Dinamics with his abstract vision
of space and future. In these posters and in the following two series the influence of Bauhaus and Paul Klee
in his way of composing the page is obvious.
Erik Nitsche’s main project is the annual report for General Dynamics: “Dynamic America”, an illustrated book which size and purpose were to become the standard for the information design to come.
The first part of this project consisted of a historical study of the European and American societal,
cultural and political contexts from the first 1910s to the 1970s, identifying the most relevant influences
in Nitsche’s design method; the result is a timeline that summarizes the events in history and design
history during the period.
The second part consists of 2 posters: the first graphically showing why Erik Nitsche’s design is still known nowadays; the second including a little part of the research about the designer, displaying influences
and remarkable works.
Here some details:
Politecnico di Milano
Communication Design
History of Visual Communications
