By Josef Müller-Brockmann

In 1980, famed Swiss graphic designer Josef Müller-Brockmann (1914–96) laid the cornerstone for a uniform visual identity for the Swiss Federal Railways with his legendary Visual Information System at Train Stations and Stops.

Because of Switzerland's multilingualism, the manual proposed a signage system that largely excluded language. With his functional typography, Müller-Brockmann conceived an intuitively comprehensible signage system for use throughout the country to guide passengers with the help of pictograms. Müller-Brockmann's manual, greatly expanded in 1992, is a prime example of a complex design project that succeeds through extreme rationality and consistency. 

This complete English translation makes the manual accessible for the first time to a broader public. Andres Janser examines the project in the context of Müller-Brockmann's conceptual work and the systematic international design for which railways everywhere were striving during the period.

Originally published in German as Fahrgastinformationssystem: Gestaltungshandbuch für die Schweizerischen Bundesbahnen in 1992.

Texts by Andres Janser and Peter Spalinger

Edited by Museum für Gestaltung Zürich and the Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation

Designed by Josef Müller-Brockmann/Integral Lars Müller

Published by Lars Müller Publishers
2026 edition, with minor revisions to 2019 edition

Softcover, 220 pages, 324 color illustrations, 8.5 × 11.75 inches

ISBN: 978-3-03-778784-7