Poster, Ontwerpen van Tanaka, Ikko [Ikko Tanaka Graphics]

Pieter Brattinga, with Willem Sandberg and Wim Crouwel, ranks among the leading figures who helped re-establish Dutch prowess in graphic design in the postwar period—particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. World War II had been devastating to the Dutch communications industry, and Dutch designers worked hard to rebuild the country’s cultural life and economy. They drew inspiration from the De Stijl movement (such as the work of designers Piet Zwart and Paul Schuitema) as well as the innovations of Swiss graphic design. Brattinga and others helped to forge the modern concepts of “functional total design,” which provided distinctive systems of unified visual identity programs for business firms, government agencies, and cultural institutions. Brattinga learned the printing business from his father’s printing firm, De Jong & Co., located in Brattinga’s birthplace of Hilversum, near Amsterdam.