Felix Pfäffli

Felix Pfäffli is a young Swiss designer based in Lucerne whose posters are an arresting amalgam of precision and pop. They command attention with vivid colors and inventive, geometric type. Pfäffli’s interest in graphic design began in high school, when he started creating posters and brochures for a local concert house. In this capacity, he received a practical education in design fundamentals, from composition and technique to digital modes of production. Since then, he has gravitated toward the poster format, which he favors precisely for its limitations; he has explained that its size restrictions engender discipline and economy of design.
Pfäffli’s largest project to date is an ongoing series of posters for Südpol, a Swiss cultural center and arts space. He has also designed magazine covers, record sleeves, and posters for Herman Miller, AGI, and the Graphic Design Festival in Breda, among others. His typographical experiments have yielded one animated project for Wired Magazine, and another for the largest LED screen in the world. His work has appeared in exhibitions such as Chaumont Design Graphique (2014), 100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design (2012), 100 Best Posters 2011, and the 2011 China International Poster Biennial. Pfäffli teaches poster design, narrative design, and typography at the Lucerne School of Graphic Design.

Works associated with this person or group

  • Poster, Efterklang [Echo], 2013

    Poster for Efterklang concert at Südpol, February 2013. The band’s name broken into two columns, in which angled letters read from bottom to top of the poster. These letters are…

  • Poster, Weltformat 13, 2013

    Weltformat festival poster. Sections resembling torn paper overlap with one another. Each section is printed in one of the following patterns: black with grey dots, blue rectangular stripes, and pink…

  • Poster, Holy Other, Südpol, 2013

    Poster for Holy Other concert at Südpol, March 2013. Large purple letters read “Holy Other” sideways in this vertical poster. The letters appear to wrap around a three-dimensional cylinder, so…

  • Poster, Monotales, 2012

    Poster for Monotales concert at Südpol, November 2012. Green text reading “MONO/ TALES” is vertically stacked. The poster is designed to look three-dimensional, with 6 horizontal “folds” in the paper.…

  • Poster, Salzhaus, 2014

    February poster for the Salzhaus. Tall, multicolored letters span the height of the vertical poster. They overlap and intersect with one another, to spell “SALZ / HAUS.” The letters are…

  • Poster, Werkschau 2013, 2013

    Poster for the Werkschau of the Lucerne University of Design and Art. Poster features a large red squiggle that begins in the lower left as spray paint, before morphing into…

  • Poster, Au Revoir Simone, 2013

    Text “AU REVOIR” and beneath it “SIMONE” is printed in blue letters. As the letters progress from left to right across the page, they become more condensed and linear.

  • Poster, Future Islands, 2014

    Text “FUTURE ISLANDS” printed in bold, black letters on white background. A white circle obscures the text in the center of the poster.