The Debate: The Legendary Contest of Two Giants of Graphic Design Tapa dura - 2015

Wim Crouwel (b. 1928) is a graphic designer, typographer, and edu-cator. Inspired by Swiss design, the emerging International Style, and the principles of abstract art, Crouwel pursued clarity and simplicity in design, and embarked on experiments with letterforms and graphic systems, and a rigorous examination of the grid. In 1963 he cofounded Total Design, the first multidiscipli-nary design studio in the Netherlands, which was to become a dominant force in Dutch design. Presaging the era of digital typesetting, he designed the legendary typeface New Alphabet (1967). He is the subject of numerous books and exhibitions, and has received the British OBE, Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau, the BKVB Funds Oeuvre Award, and Doctor Honoris Causa from Delft University.

Jan van Toorn (b. 1932) is one of the most significant and influential Dutch graphic designers of our time. Confrontational and idiosyncratic, he led the dissent against the 'objective' approach of design that dominated modernism, paving the way for the more critical, political and playful potential of postmodernism. He has taught graphic design and visual communication in The Netherlands and internationally, at institutions includ-ing Gerrit Rietveld Academie, the Department of Architecture at Eindhoven Technical University, and Rhode Island School of Design. From 1991 until 1998 he was director of the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. He was the first recipient of the Piet Zwart prize in 1985, and received Doctor Honoris Causa from the Royal College of Art in 2011. Van Toorn lives and works in Amsterdam.

Rick Poynor is a British writer, lecturer, and curator, specializing in design, photography, and visual culture. He was the founding editor of Eye magazine and cofounder of Design Observer. His articles, essays and reviews have appeared in numerous international publications, including I.D., Metropolis, Harvard Design Magazine, Adbusters, Blueprint, Icon, Frieze, The Guardian, and the Financial Times.

Frederike Huygen is the former curator of industrial design at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, the coauthor of the monograph Wim Crouwel: mode en module (1997), and author of two anthologies about Dutch design entitled Visies op vormgeving (2007, 2008).

Dingenus van de Vrie is assistant curator of the print collection at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. He has written exten-sively about Dutch graphic designers, including Jac. Jongert, Jurriaan Schrofer, and Benno Wissing.