Josef Müller Brockmann is..

Josef-Müller-Brockmann was a graphic designer as a leading practitioner and theorist of the Swiss Style. That specific style conveys cleanliness, readability, and objectivity. Brockmann opened a studio in Zurich in 1936. Brockmann started off as an illustrator and when he turned graphic designer, he foremost used the grid system. He also experimented in photography. Müller-Brockmann's work ranged from social/civic projects such as posters for the Swiss Automobile Club and Zürich Police to commercial projects for IBM (for whom he was the design advisor in western Europe), Rosenthal, and Hermes Typewriters. He was also an influential mentor to contemporary designers, writing a number of books on graphic design and its history. His contributions to magazines such as "New Graphic Design," his design philosophies, and his ability to create design systems secure his status as a key figure in spreading the Swiss design ethic internationally. Müller-Brockman was author of the 1961 publications The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems, Grid Systems in Graphic Design where he advocates use of the grid for page structure, and the 1971 publications History of the Poster and A History of Visual Communication. A modular grid consists of six vertical columns and six horizontal modules, overlayed by grids of one, two, three, and four units.