Grenzwert Magazin 3 – Destroying the World in Style

Nominated by: Nick Bell, Una (London) Designers

Nominated by: Nick Bell, Una (London) Designers

Item: Grenzwert Magazin 3 – Destroying the World in Style

Design: Müller & Hess, Switzerland

Client: Bar Grenzwert, Basel, Switzerland

Country of origin: Switzerland

This biannual publication is distributed from a bar in Basel with a print run of 1500 copies. This issue is themed on sex, crime and violence and is printed on newsprint with a stamped out hand-hole, supplied in a transparent plastic carrier bag. Nick Bell says, ‘As soon as a large package arrived last year addressed to Eye magazine, Grenzwert both shattered and reaffirmed my understanding of what constitutes the “Swissness” of Swiss design. It was only the second time (the other being Cornel Windlin) where I had seen cool Swiss rationalism married to irreverence and a genuine sense of humour. With the help of writer Ma Kung, Grenzwert is an outlet for content close to the designer’s hearts that finds no commercial application, yet is funded by their commercial work.’ Bell continues, ‘The scale of the pages – 325 x 480mm – immediately impresses and the designers really know how to put ink on to them: massive images in coarse resolutions, a limited palette of large blocky display, accompanied by indentless, justified text immaculately marshalled into hanging columns.’

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