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Label, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide, ca. 1967
Markus Löw
Label, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide,
Markus Löw,
*1051

Label, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide,
ca. 1967

Markus Löw
*1051
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Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Ausstellungsstrasse 60
8031 Zurich
Museum map
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 94
8031 Zurich
Pavillon Le Corbusier
Höschgasse 8
8008 Zürich
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  • Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide Markus Löw Label
  • Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide Markus Löw Label
  • Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide Markus Löw Label
  • Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide Markus Löw Label
  • Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide Markus Löw Label
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Listen to the text
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In the 1960s, the US branch of the Basel chemical company Geigy had its entire range of agrochemical products redesigned in its own art studio in Ardsley, New York. Markus Löw (1934–2011) was entrusted with this task, working for several years on a packaging series that comprised more than one hundred units. Due to the restrictive specifications, Löw chose a purely typographical solution.

In 1956, the propaganda department of J.R. Geigy AG launched a US branch in Ardsley, New York, intending to implement the Basel graphic design culture there. This proved to be difficult. It was not until 1958 that Geigy consultant Gottfried Honegger (1917–2016) succeeded in gaining the trust of the management in Ardsley and setting up an on-site studio. He hired Fred Troller (1930–2002) from Zurich as manager in 1960. The studio mainly advertised medications and dyes. A specialized US-based agency was assigned to agrochemicals, the most lucrative field for Geigy USA. Nevertheless, in 1962 an employee of the art studio, Markus Löw, was entrusted with redesigning the entire range of agrochemical products. Löw, who had been recommended to Ardsley by his former Zurich teacher Honegger, spent several years working on a packaging series consisting of more than one hundred units. Löw’s first draft, which involved stylized pests like the ones on the Basel packaging, was rejected because different restrictions applied in the United States. The cans had to be labeled on all sides and the amount of text and type size were also stipulated. Furthermore, as in Basel, it was essential to differentiate the products by color. Not least due to these restrictions, Löw worked out a consistent, purely typographical design in conformity with the minimalist Swiss tradition. (Barbara Junod)

Etikette, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide, um 1967
Gestaltung: Markus Löw
Auftrag: Geigy Agrochemicals, US
Material/Technik: Papier, Offsetdruck
23.5 × 15.9 cm
Donation: Markus Löw
Eigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK
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Literature

Karin Gimmi, «Geigy-Grafik in den USA», in: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (Hg.), 100 Jahre Schweizer Grafik, Zürich 2014, S. 132–135.

Andres Janser, Barbara Junod (Hg.), Corporate Diversity, 2009, S. 61–64, 164–173.

Interview von Karin Gimmi mit Markus Löw vom 7. November, 5. Dezember und 13. Dezember 2006 in der Balgriststrasse 11, 8008 Zürich.

Telefongespräch von B. Junod mit Markus Löw, USA, 13. Oktober 2004.

Telefongespräch von B. Junod mit Gottfried Honegger, CH, 16. September 2004.

Interview von B. Junod mit Gottfried Honegger in seinem Atelier im Lochergut, Sihlfeldstr. 88, Zürich am 22. September 2004.

Image credits

Etikette, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide, um 1967, Gestaltung: Markus Löw, Donation: Markus Löw
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Kanister, Acaralate 2E – Miticide, um 1967, Gestaltung: Markus Löw
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Etikette, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide, um 1967, Gestaltung: Markus Löw, Donation: Markus Löw
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Etikette, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide, um 1967, Gestaltung: Markus Löw, Donation: Markus Löw
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Etikette, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide, um 1967, Gestaltung: Markus Löw, Donation: Markus Löw
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Etikette, Acaralate 25E Geigy – Miticide, um 1967, Gestaltung: Markus Löw, Donation: Markus Löw
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Exhibition text
Geigy Design - Medical Advertising, Pesticides

With their modernist style, the advertisements produced by the Basel chemical company J.R. Geigy AG stand out from the conservative advertising that prevailed in the 1950s to mid-1960s. Despite sharing common features (“Geigy Style”), they do not obey any formulaic canon. Depending on the company division (pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, dyes, chemicals) as well as the product, country regulations, and design decisions, the artists made use of graphic, photographic, or purely typographic visualizations.