Post war Europe gave way to the clean cut styles of Swiss Modernism. The unification of the world with the formation of the United Nations among other international endeavours as a result of the Second World War created the need for a heightened legibility in communication. The International Typographic Style, or Swiss Style, answered this need, providing clean, simple, clear typefaces expounding a new world order. Clean, legible communication served as a subversive propaganda telling post war Europe that they are moving forward beyond the chaos of war. Clean design illustrated the absence of chaos and this proved effective. Fonts like Helvetica spelled out PEACE for the 50s in Europe, a peace that continues to be held onto vehemently.
There was this idea that a typeface should be neutral so as to not detract from the message, giving the content the responsibility to convey meaning. William Cromwell perturbed this idea of a required neutrality in typefaces as meaning should be found in content and not the font. Clear, easy and accessible became the priorities of the movement.
With every movement comes an anti-movement, each of the changes in style and design throughout history coming as a reaction to the present ethos and Post Modernism acts as the anti-movement for the Swiss Modernists. With respect to the intentions and ideals of the clean and simple styles of the Swiss Modernists, Post Modernism challenges the value of legibility in communication.
David Carson, a well known graphic designer, emulates the ideologies of the Post Modernists, reacting against the hyper-legibility of the International Typographic Style, arguing the difference between legibility and communication. "Don't confuse legibility for Communication. Just because something’s legible doesn't mean it communicates, more importantly doesn't mean it communicates the right thing and vise versa." David Carson contends that the form in which a message takes influences as much if not more than the content in conveying its purpose. He finds the cleanliness of the modernist type to be boring, lacking in sufficient character to communicate with any effectiveness. He places a priority on the first impression a reader would make when regarding a message, first seeing the typeface before the content that is wearing the typeface. "Very fine line between simple, clean and powerful and simple, clean and boring."
Stefan Sagmeister, another designer adhering to the post modernist reaction against the simplicity of Swiss Modernism believe that both the typeface and the content together successfully communicates the message to the reader. He presents the concept of combining the effect of the font with the message in order to entice the reader.He, along with Carson, highlights this idea of experimentation in the process of visual communication.
It is through this difference of the definitions of communication that separates the Swiss Modernists from Post Modernists like Carson and Sagmeister. While the International Typographic Style focuses on pushing content effectively, Post Modernists seek to provide an impression and feeling for the content, seeing this as more important in communication than getting the details right. In this way, they differentiate legibility with communication.
