# Total Design & Dutch Functionalism

> The Dutch strand of systematic modernism took shape when Wim Crouwel, Benno Wissing, Friso Kramer and Paul and Dick Schwarz founded Total Design in Amsterdam in 1963 as the country's first multidisciplinary studio. It pushed Swiss grid logic towards the mechanical: visible grids, alphabets constructed on the same module as the page, and one cool, programmatic order applied to museums, airports and corporations alike.

- Period: 1963–1990
- Where: Western Europe
- Origin: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Branch: Rational modernism
- Also known as: Total Design, Dutch Functionalism, Dutch systematic modernism
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/dutch-total-design/

## How it works

- Make the grid visible and let it govern letter construction as well as layout.
- Draw display alphabets from the page's orthogonal module: squares, quarter-circles, uniform strokes.
- Set information in one neo-grotesque, ragged right, in a strict hierarchy of few sizes.
- Treat a museum, an airport and a corporation with the same impersonal, programmatic system.
- Use one or two flat colours against white or black and let the typographic structure itself become the image.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Modular grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/modular-grid/) (defining)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Column grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/column-grid/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Flat hierarchy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-hierarchy/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (defining)
- [Flush left, ragged right](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flush-left-ragged-right/) (characteristic)
- [Experimental & distorted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/experimental-and-distorted/) (characteristic)
- [Lowercase only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lowercase-only/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Bitmap & pixel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/bitmap-and-pixel/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (defining)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Ornament-free](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornament-free/) (defining)
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (defining)
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (occasional)
- [Diagram & data](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagram-and-data/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (defining)
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (characteristic)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (occasional)

Avoids: Abundant decoration, Floral & vegetal, Script, Ornamented display, Central symmetry, Organic flow, Painterly illustration, Nostalgic & retro

Palette: #ffffff, #111111, #e4352a, #1e50a2, #bdbdbd

Typefaces: New Alphabet (Wim Crouwel, 1967), Univers, Helvetica, Gridnik (Wim Crouwel), Stedelijk (Wim Crouwel)

Known for: Wim Crouwel (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam posters and catalogues, 1963–1985); Wim Crouwel, Vormgevers poster (1968) and New Alphabet (1967); Benno Wissing (Schiphol Airport signage, from the mid-1960s); Wim Crouwel, PTT numeral stamps (1976); Total Design work for Randstad, De Bijenkorf and PAM; Ben Bos

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [International Typographic Style](https://stylogeny.com/styles/swiss-international.md) (1950–1975)
- Influenced by: [De Stijl](https://stylogeny.com/styles/de-stijl.md) (1917–1931)
- Influenced by: [Die Neue Typographie](https://stylogeny.com/styles/new-typography.md) (1923–1940)
- Led to: [Dutch Expressive Postmodernism (Studio Dumbar & Hard Werken)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dutch-expressive-postmodernism.md) (1977–1994)
- Alike in its design choices: [Neo-Swiss Revival](https://stylogeny.com/styles/swiss-revival.md) (2005–present), 81% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Brazilian Concrete Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/brazilian-concrete.md) (1951–1975), 81% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [HfG Ulm Systematic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ulm-school.md) (1953–1968), 80% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Zagreb Modernist Graphics (EXAT 51 to Teatar &TD)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/zagreb-modernist-graphics.md) (1951–1975), 74% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Contemporary Arabic & Dual-Script Type Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arabic-latin-bilingual-type.md) (2004–present), 73% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bauhaus](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bauhaus.md) (1919–1933), 73% alike

## Real works

- [New alphabet: a possibility for the new development – an introduction for a programmed typography (Kwadraatblad)](https://www.emuseum.ch/en/objects/37091/new-alphabet): Wim Crouwel / Total Design; printed and published by Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co., Hilversum, 1967, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Grafiksammlung (I QUAD 12-1)
- [Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 5 April t/m 23 Juni 1968, Vorm Gevers](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/8735): Wim Crouwel (Total Design), 1968, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1285.1968)
- [Gino Severini – Rotterdam – Museum Boymans van Beuningen](https://www.emuseum.ch/en/objects/212112/gino-severini--rotterdam--museum-boymans-sic-van-beuning): Benno Wissing; printed by Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co., Hilversum, 1963, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Plakatsammlung (81-0375)
- [Klankteksten / konkrete poëzie / visuele teksten – Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam](https://www.emuseum.ch/en/objects/220434/klankteksten--konkrete-poezie--visuele-teksten--sound-tex): Total Design (Wim Crouwel, Jolijn van de Wouw); printed by Stadsdrukkerij van Amsterdam, 1970, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Plakatsammlung (81-0324)
- [Het nieuwe bouwen – International CIAM – Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller Otterlo](https://www.emuseum.ch/en/objects/211736/het-nieuwe-bouwen--international-ciam--rijksmuseum-kroller): Total Design (Wim Crouwel); illustration by Benthem Crouwel Architects; printed by Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co., Hilversum, 1983, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Plakatsammlung (81-0396)

## Sources

- Kees Broos & Paul Hefting, Dutch Graphic Design: A Century (1993)
- Design Museum London, Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey (exhibition, 2011)
- Design Reviewed, Total Design archive (https://designreviewed.com)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Total Design & Dutch Functionalism”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/dutch-total-design/