21/02/11 – Ladislav Sutnar began designing toys while a student at the School of Applied Arts in Prague in the early 1920s. His use of simple geometric shapes and bright colours resonated with children as well as adults. His designs, though rooted in the rich heritage of Czechoslovak folk art, helped bring toy design into the 20th century.

His toys depicted modern everyday objects (cars, trains, factories) and were carefully designed to allow for mass automated or conveyor-belt production. As early as 1921, Sutnar’s toys began gaining wide acclaim, winning numerous awards and touring in international shows.

During the early 1920s he began work on a building block set called Modular City (Skládací město) for the Artěl Association. The design would win him a prize at the Toys exhibition held by the Prague Museum of Applied Arts in 1924. Between 1926 and 1929, he further developed his ideas and created more prototypes, including a building block set entitled Factory Town (Tovární město) this time winning significant recognition both in Czechoslovakia and abroad.

Through the 1930s, Sutnar looked beyond toy design and held positions in several notable applied arts and cultural organizations. He also worked on a great number of collaborative and solo projects ranging from book design and typography, to industrial and exhibition design. It was not until the early 1940s that he would once again return to his building block designs.

After traveling to the United States to help setup the Czechoslovak pavilion for the 1939 New York World’s Fair and subsequently being stranded due to the outbreak of war, he developed what would be the final iteration of his building block designs. He called it Build the Town. In an effort to see the set produced, he created designs for packaging, instructions and promotional artwork and, after unsuccessfully securing a manufacturer, himself commissioned the production of fifty sets.

Prototypes of Build the Town, as well as promotional material and working sketches, now reside in the collections of several major museums including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, MOMA and the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.

Modular City building block set (1922)

Building block set, 1927

Factory Town building block set 1927

Kit sketches, Build the Town building block set, 1942-3

Kit sketches, Build the Town building block set, 1942-3

Documentation: roofs, Build the Town building block set, ca. 1943

Documentation: blocks, Build the Town building block set, ca. 1943

Promotion kits, Build the Town building block set, ca. 1943

Promotion kits, Build the Town building block set, ca. 1943

Design of box, Build the Town building block set, ca. 1943

Design of box, Build the Town building block set, ca. 1943

Design of box, Build the Town building block set, ca. 1943

Prototype, Build the Town building block set, 1943

Prototype for Build the Town Building Blocks, 1940-43

Sources and more information

• Andel, J. et al. Ladislav Sutnar: Prague – New York – design in action, Prague: Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague & Argo Publishers, 2003.
• Images of Build the Town from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art//
• Build the town images courtesy of Daddytypes on Flickr//
• Build the Town Flickr set//

Design and paper was a series of softcover booklets produced by New York paper wholesaler Marquardt and Co. between 1937 and 1952(?). Its production ran quarterly for 39 issues and was printed at a very high standard. The series showcased the finest papers for printers, art directors and others in the printing trade. After number 7, issues were primarily devoted to individual artists and designers. Ladislav Sutnar featured in numbers 13 and 19.

In issue 13, Sutnar gives a brief and illustrative lesson in information design techniques, namely visual flow. Sutnar’s style is evident in the bold use of colour, dynamic spreads and organizational signposts.

Issue 13 colophon:
Cover: Albion Text – Wove – 26×40 – 306M – Melon
Text: Cumberland Dull Coated – 25×38 – 200M – Snow White
Plates by Sterling Engraving Company

Numbers 13 and 19 were accurately reproduced in 2003 from the collections of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague// by Fraktály Publishers.

Design and paper: controlled visual flow

Importance of upper right corner

Starts and stops

Visual dominance

Coordination of parts

Integration

Sources and more information
Design and paper 13 & 19 on Flickr//

16/07/09 – Selections from Design and paper number 19: shape, line and colour by Ladislav Sutnar, Marquardt and Co., New York (1945).

Design and paper was a series of softcover booklets produced by New York paper wholesaler Marquardt and Co. between 1937 and 1952(?). Its production ran quarterly for 39 issues and was printed at a very high standard. The series showcased the finest papers for printers, art directors and others in the printing trade. After number 7, issues were primarily devoted to individual artists and designers. Ladislav Sutnar featured in numbers 13 and 19.

In issue 19, Sutnar gives a brief and illustrative lesson in the use of shape, line and colour for organizing and presenting information. Sutnar’s characteristic style is evident in the bold use of colour, dynamic spreads and organizational signposts.

Issue 19 colophon:
Cover: Crysteel Bristol – High Plate – 22.5 x 28.5 – 200M
Text: Dullbrite White – Substance 25 × 38–70
Plates by Royal-Jones Photo Engraving Corp.

Numbers 13 and 19 were accurately reproduced in 2003 from the collections of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague// by Fraktály Publishers.

Design and paper: shape, line and colour

Shape for coordination

Shape for identification

Line for indication

Colour for articulation

Colour for stimulation

Sources and more information
Ladislav Sutnar Design and Paper collection on Flickr//

10/10/07 – “While Richard Saul Wurman is credited with the term ‘information architect,’ Sutnar was one of the Modern pioneers. Sutnar contributed a no-nonsense structure to how graphical information could be presented…” -Steven Heller

Czech designer, Ladislav Sutnar (1897-1976), is considered a pioneer of communication design and information architecture. His vast and varied output ranges from graphic works including all manner of book covers, pamphlets, and corporate letterhead to orientation systems in large department stores; from tea sets to oil paintings; from children’s toys and books to visual flow diagrams based on research into optics and psychology.

He worked as an academic and graphic designer in Czechoslovakia until 1938 when he traveled to the United States to work on the Czecho-Slovak Pavilion for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. While working there, war broke out in Europe effectively leaving him stranded in the United States.

He continued his design work in New York quickly becoming a significant figure in the Eur-American avant-garde, a large community of European expatriates working alongside American designers and artists based in New York City. During this time, his expertise in the organization and creative display of information saw him redesigning industrial catalogs, corporate identities, and, in 1964, a new number structure and telephone directory for the Bell Telephone Company.

Together with Knud Longberg-Holm, he published his knowledge of visualization techniques and information design in several books, most notably: Visual Design in Action (1961). In his books, he employs a distinctively graphic (visual) approach to communicate his messages about eye movement, information display and hierarchical organization. These very techniques continue to inform and be applied to today’s virtual navigation online.

Sources and resources:
Photos from the Sutnar monograph//
Exhibition website: www.sutnar.com//
Article: Web Design Before the Internet//