Otl Aicher’s Isny

How a German town defied the postcard mentality

Otl Aicher’s Isny celebrates the work iconic 20th century graphic designer Otl Aicher produced for the German town Isny im Allgäu. To coincide with London Design Festival, dn&co hosted an exhibition and designed a book chronicling this boundary-pushing body of work. 

What we did

Book

Otl Aicher is well known internationally for his work on the ’72 Munich Olympics, but this story remains untold to English-speaking audiences. dn&co sent a team on a road trip through southern Germany to visit Isny, the Ulm School archive and Aicher’s former home and studio in Rotis. The resulting book is more than 100 pages of original editorial content and rare works from the archive. This was the inaugural book by dn&co’s sister publishing company, Place Press. 

Isny Book 15 Isny Book 01 Isny Book 02 Isny Book 04 Isny Book 05 Isny Book 07 Isny Book 09 Isny Book 11 Isny Book 13

Exhibition

More than 40 original posters were displayed at Ground Floor Space, dn&co’s in-house gallery — the most comprehensive exhibition of Otl Aicher’s work for Isny to be exhibited in the UK. It was covered globally by Dezeen, Monocle, Wallpaper*, Creative Review and Idea Magazine. 

Isny Exhibition 05 Isny Exhibition 06 Isny Exhibition 04 Isny Exhibition 11 Isny Exhibition 13

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