Stefan Sagmeister and Wim Crouwel feature in Typeface to Interface show at reopened SFMoma

Stefan Sagmeister’s wince-inducing poster for AIGA Detroit and a robotic drawing machine by Jürg Lehni form part of an exhibition at the newly reopened SFMoma (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art).

The exhibition, Typeface to Interface, charts the evolution from analogue to digital in graphic design and typography since 1950. It spans from the Giselle Ballet, Basel lithograph poster by Armin Hofmann from 1959 — a notable example of Swiss Style with its combination of soft photographic imagery and bold type — and Jacqueline Casey’s The Moon Show from 1969; to Viktor, a robotic chalk-drawing machine by Jürg Lehni.

Stefan Sagmeister’s poster for an AIGA Detroit lecture, for which Stefan famously had an intern cut all the type into his skin to “visualise the pain that seems to accompany most of our design projects” is featured alongside ZS Letters (3D) by visual artist Tauba Auerbach, an Apple Macintosh from 1984, and a poster by Wim Crouwel for the Stedelijk Museum’s Vormgevers exhibition in 1968. The show also features the 1972 New York subway guide by Massimo Vignelli, and mid-century posters for typewriter company Olivetti.

The exhibition is drawn from the works in the museum’s permanent collection, anchored by a major gift from graphic designer and collector Aaron Marcus, exploring important examples of communication tools that have shaped our relationship with graphic design.

The museum reopened last weekend with a newly designed visual identity by SFMoma’s own design studio, led by design director Jennifer Sonderby. The building has a major new extension designed by architecture firm Snøhetta.

Typeface to Interface is on until 23 October.