In 1919 Bauhaus was founded in Weimar (Germany) and in the next 1-2 years typographers such as Herbert Bayer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and El Lissitzky join it and contributed a lot to the graphic design as we know it today. They used for the first time production techniques and stylistic devices that were used throughout the twentieth century. However, the use of today's computer changed the course of graphic design they established, but their approach to design is more relevant than ever; their work contains dynamism, specific things like typeface choice and strict, orthogonal composition. Other figures: Herbert Bayer, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Laszio Moholy-Nagy and Wilhelm Wagenfeld.

The following years "helped" graphic design in the modern style gain widespread acceptance and application, while it simultaneously stagnated. Among the notable names in mid-century modern design is also Adrian Frutiger the designer of the typefaces Univers and Frutiger. His words describe well the change that appeared in graphic design and also explains how he had some of its creative ideas regarding new typefaces: "(...) the task of adapting the typefaces of the old masters from relief type to flat film was my best school. When we came to the "Grotesk" style of san serif, however, I had my own ideas which led to the UniversT family. Technological progress was rapid. Electronic transfer of images brought the stepping, followed by my feelings for form. But today, with curve programs and laser exposure, it seems to me that the way through the desert has been completed."

Josef Müller-Brockmann, another notable figure of the mid-century, started his design work in Zurich, where he opened a studio and specialized in exhibition design, commercial art and photography. His work in designing posters and books was greatly acknowledged and was an inspiration for many others; he also was named "Pioneer of Swiss Graphic Design".