Sandy Heck
Willi Kunz

In today’s clamorous visual environment, designs by Willi Kunz stand apart, clear a space with measured argument, and speak in a voice of critical passion. The efficiency, power, and spare beauty of Kunz’s work derive from paradox on two levels: the one involving a generic langue and the other specific paroles.

On the first, syntactical level, Kunz’s graphic language is like a tapestry woven from intellectual rigor as well as intuitive logic and sensual delight. The tapestry’s warp is comprised of grids, proportions, and “rules”; its woof of asymmetrical balance, a few decisive images, and abstract fields of color. On the second, semantic level, Kunz inflects this generic grammar to meet the specific needs of various clients and different types of design.

Whether designing publications, posters and exhibitions, or identity programs for major corporations, Kunz first isolates the crucial elements corresponding to the client’s character and purpose; he then manipulate his own “language” so that the client’s “words” read with unmistakable clarity and unexpected emotion. Born and educated in Switzerland, Kunz has written, “A designer must not only serve the client, but also must transcend the ordinary and act as an inspiration for the future.