A pale winter sun against a pitch-black sky—this is how Eugen Bachmann depicts the dark season in his tourism poster. The poster vividly illustrates the significance of the sun and how much people long for the spring sun again after long, dark winters. In the posters on display, however, the focus is on the depiction of artificial light. The promotion of a gas stove with blue-flickering flames—as seen in a 1967 poster—would no longer be possible in today’s era of the climate crisis. 

In posters for exhibitions that explore lighting design or the effects of light, graphic designers face the challenge of visually capturing the impact of light. A contrast between light and dark, combined with the layered superimposition of different color values, often creates a flickering effect, making the light appear to vibrate. In the 2005 Winterhilfe poster, however, the chandelier hanging from a tree becomes a symbol of prosperity, security, and a warm home—things that are denied to many people even in wealthy Switzerland.

Since 2000, thematically selected posters from the extensive holdings of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich’s poster collection have been on display in the windows of the Swiss National Bank’s centrally located building in Zurich. The posters can be viewed in the ground-floor windows along Stadthausquai, Börsenstrasse, and Fraumünsterstrasse.