The international typographic style is an approach to design in a neutal and objective way. The movement de-emphasized subjectiveness, or the individual perspective of the artist. To create designs that were clear and moral with no political agenda. The content of the design was prioritized. It was a post-war movement after the power of propaganda (and design within that) was witnessed by those in Europe during WWII. This is important as it impacts much of the graphic design we see today.
The international typographic style features crisp, blocky, clear layouts, minimalist design ethos and sans serif typefaces. Designers also turned to photography as a preferred image source, as it was able to produce an objective non-biased record of the subject.
Some key events that helped with the development of the international typographic style.
Akzidenz-Grotesk is a sans-serif typeface originally released by the H. Berthold AG type foundry in 1896 under the title Akzidenz-Grotesk. It was the first sans-serif typeface to be widely used.
De Stijl
De Stijl also known as neoplasticism (a style of abstract painting developed by Piet Mondrian, using only vertical and horizontal lines and rectangular shapes in black, white, grey, and primary colours.) was a Dutch artistic movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. The term De Stijl is used to refer to a body of work from 1917 to 1931 founded in the Netherlands
They advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour, they simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors with black and white.
Bauhaus
Staatliches Bauhaus commonly known as Bauhaus was a school in Germany which operated from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was known for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. It had a intense influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography.
References
https://99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/swiss-design https://medium.com/@charchitgarg27/international-typographic-style-cd99a24721ad
Visual Communication 