Masterful graphic design and story-telling from Corinne Gisel

Corinne Gisel is a graphic designer and writer with a self-appointed “special knack for editorial design.” Deserving of this accolade, Corinne is a graduate of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and describes her working process as: “always aim[ing] for flawless typesetting,” with a balanced focus on “content and language… sender and receiver.”

Corinne’s website is a seamless showcase of this dual focus. Alongside her lively, learned print work is a flawlessly typeset short story about her life and work which somehow dodges ego and makes for an engaging read, packed with useful information and soft satire. She describes her home town in Switzerland as “a [place] where many arrive and only few stay.” From a family of nomadic inclinations, Corinne grew up “a citizen of the airport.”

Corinne is currently working on the publication A Point Shifting its Position Forward, a catalogue of sorts for the exhibition Taking a Line for a Walk, which Corinne collaborated on with designer Emilia Bergmark, led by curator Nina Paim. In the catalogue, the trio expands upon the ideas and connections presented by the exhibition, with a focus on assignments within design education.

Taking a Line for a Walk was held at the International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno in 2014. It referred to Paul Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook, which aimed to teach basic drawing and visual understanding. In her curatorial text for the exhibition Corinne refers to Klee’s quote: “An active line on a walk, moving freely, without a goal. A walk for a walk’s sake,” to education. Considering it not confined to school, but a lifelong process where you ‘walk your own line.’ A Point Shifting its Position Forward is being developed as part of a residency at Krabbesholm Højskole, Denmark.