Catherine de Smet is an art historian and author of numerous articles about the history and actuality of graphic design and contemporary art. She teaches history of graphic design at several French art schools.

Steven Heller was an art director at the New York Times for thirty-three years. Currently, he is co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author Department, Special Consultant to the President of SVA for New Programs, and writes the “Visuals” column for the New York Times Book Review.

Lars Müller, born 1955 in Oslo, lives and works in Switzerland since 1963. After his learning years as graphic designer and his studies in the United States and the Netherlands, he founded the Atelier Lars Müller, which focuses on visual communication and design. 1996 he became partner of Integral Concept, an international connection of artists of interdisciplinary competences with offices in Paris, Milano, Zurich, Berlin and Montreal. Since 1983 he works as a book publishers on the topics typography, design, art, photography and architecture. A couple of years later he began teaching at different universities in Switzerland, Europe and in the USA as assistant professor, for example at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Neue Grafik, the “International Review of graphic design and related subjects,” was initiated by designer Josef Müller-Brockmann and published in eighteen issues between 1958 and 1965 by an editorial collective consisting of him, Richard Paul Lohse, Hans Neuburg und Carlo Vivarelli ( LMNV ). The complete volumes are now available in an excellent facsimile reprint from Lars Müller Publishers.

From a historical point of view, Neue Grafik can be seen as a programmatic platform and effective publishing organ of Swiss graphic design, an international authority in its field at the time. Protagonists of the Swiss school and its rigorous Zurich faction lead an essential discourse on the foundations of current communication and constructive design. The influence of this movement cannot be overstated. The Swiss school, also called “International Style,” became exemplary for the conceptual approach to corporate design of increasingly globally operating corporations and an influential precursor in the design of individual projects, such as posters, exhibitions, and publications.

Neue Grafik is an important point of reference in the recent history of graphic design. After the heights of the digital revolution now follows a renewed concern for matter-of-fact concepts and clear form languages. This explains the interest in the almost fundamentalist stance of the four Zurich-based designers, who were responsible for the content of the magazine.