Dramaturgy for content and form
One who advocates more care. As Managing Director of Crafft, Michael Rütti wants to wants to give the term "craftsmanship" a modern meaning. In the design of his "Craftsmen", intellect and creativity are to be combined with content and form with content and form.
Content is king!" Michael Rütti agrees. "But our aim is to dramatize content once again," says the Managing Director of Crafft, describing his agency's somewhat different core competence. The name is a combination of the English word "craft" - coupled with an additional f for form and function. Michael Rütti found the theoretical basis for this work in a book by Richard Sennett. In his latest treatise "Handwerk", the great thinker and sociologist describes how craftsmanship is characterized by the ability to be completely absorbed in the moment or in the detail - and at the same time "to always have the next step, which leads to the whole, in mind". The spirit of craftsmanship in Sennett's sense is therefore not characterized by perfectionism, but by a "carefulness".
"When I read Sennett's book, it dawned on me: This is exactly what our agency is like. We have an eye for detail - and on the other hand, we have the brand's strategy. We have to harmonize this in our messages," explains Rütti. The familiar logo for Aids-Hilfe Schweiz, the golden emblem for the Château Gütsch and the forthcoming redesign of the Kunsthaus Zürich magazine are concrete visualizations of what Crafft can ultimately imagine thanks to this additional f.
Michael Rütti was already aware of his passion for shapes and design as a child. "I copied the logos on my cars onto paper in the toy world." Later, he wanted to become a graphic designer, but his parents were less than enthusiastic. Even an escape from secondary school to an art school in San Francisco was thwarted by his environment. Rütti ended up studying business administration in Fribourg, specializing in marketing and corporate management. After graduating, he found an assistant position at the university and spent some time researching a dissertation on "Corporate Design for Associations". However, the work on the proposal soon became too theoretical for him.
A job at Bernet PR in Zurich led more specifically to the field of communication and design. Here, Rütti learned above all "the craft of how to create a good concept". For the implementation, he enjoyed the contact with many freelancers. One of them was graphic designer Daniel Schneider, the owner of Inform at the time. They got on well - and so Rütti joined Schneider's team in 2002. Together they wanted to turn the graphics studio with three employees into a proper agency. Rütti was to contribute the corporate knowledge and concepts. Schneider was the designer. "We complemented each other perfectly." A limited company was founded, they moved into spacious premises in a loft on Zurich's Hohlstrasse and the company was eventually renamed the Agency for Visual Communication. One of the first important clients was ETH Zurich. Social and cultural commitments as well as commissions from the federal authorities also played an important role for the agency.
When Schneider wanted to do more of his own things again in 2007, Michael Rütti took over the majority of Inform and brought two new partners into the team, Alexander Kranz and Cédric Tribolet. "I knew that we had to expand in the digital sector and also in terms of content."
The new orientation was rewarded with a pitch win for Helsana. Crafft produces all customer magazines and the internal employee magazine for the insurance group. Erdgas Zürich and Edisun Power Europe also won the pitch to revise their corporate design. With the Aarau and Winterthur cantonal hospitals and the Triemli city hospital, the agency has now become an established name in the healthcare sector. But the agency is also open to other sectors.
As an outward sign of its take-off with an even broader range of services, the agency, which now has 14 employees, also changed its name this year from the formal-sounding Inform to the stronger Crafft. Martin Kurzbein's commitment also shows where the development is heading. The experienced art director of Saisonküche recently moved from Migros' Food Competence Center to Crafft as the new Head of Design. "New customer budgets and competitions will bear his signature in future," promises Rütti. His arrival comes at the right time: Kurzbein can show what he can do in two current major competitions in the field of corporate publishing. The agency also has a lot to offer medium-sized companies in the area of corporate design. "We are interested in clients for whom we can do brand development with design and then also take on the communication."
For such orders, Crafft appreciates the fact that customer contacts of this size still take place directly with the CEO. "This is the best level at which to talk and make decisions." Crafft has not yet felt the effects of the much-cited crisis. With the same number of employees, the agency had already generated more turnover by August than last year. And two new talents are soon to be integrated into the team. Michael Rütti is delighted that both future employees are represented with their diploma thesis in the ZHdK's anniversary book "Visual Communication", which features the best work of recent years.
Andreas Panzeri
"When I read Sennett's book, it dawned on me: This is exactly what our agency is like. We have an eye for detail - and on the other hand, we have the brand's strategy. We have to harmonize this in our messages," explains Rütti. The familiar logo for Aids-Hilfe Schweiz, the golden emblem for the Château Gütsch and the forthcoming redesign of the Kunsthaus Zürich magazine are concrete visualizations of what Crafft can ultimately imagine thanks to this additional f.
Michael Rütti was already aware of his passion for shapes and design as a child. "I copied the logos on my cars onto paper in the toy world." Later, he wanted to become a graphic designer, but his parents were less than enthusiastic. Even an escape from secondary school to an art school in San Francisco was thwarted by his environment. Rütti ended up studying business administration in Fribourg, specializing in marketing and corporate management. After graduating, he found an assistant position at the university and spent some time researching a dissertation on "Corporate Design for Associations". However, the work on the proposal soon became too theoretical for him.
A job at Bernet PR in Zurich led more specifically to the field of communication and design. Here, Rütti learned above all "the craft of how to create a good concept". For the implementation, he enjoyed the contact with many freelancers. One of them was graphic designer Daniel Schneider, the owner of Inform at the time. They got on well - and so Rütti joined Schneider's team in 2002. Together they wanted to turn the graphics studio with three employees into a proper agency. Rütti was to contribute the corporate knowledge and concepts. Schneider was the designer. "We complemented each other perfectly." A limited company was founded, they moved into spacious premises in a loft on Zurich's Hohlstrasse and the company was eventually renamed the Agency for Visual Communication. One of the first important clients was ETH Zurich. Social and cultural commitments as well as commissions from the federal authorities also played an important role for the agency.
When Schneider wanted to do more of his own things again in 2007, Michael Rütti took over the majority of Inform and brought two new partners into the team, Alexander Kranz and Cédric Tribolet. "I knew that we had to expand in the digital sector and also in terms of content."
The new orientation was rewarded with a pitch win for Helsana. Crafft produces all customer magazines and the internal employee magazine for the insurance group. Erdgas Zürich and Edisun Power Europe also won the pitch to revise their corporate design. With the Aarau and Winterthur cantonal hospitals and the Triemli city hospital, the agency has now become an established name in the healthcare sector. But the agency is also open to other sectors.
As an outward sign of its take-off with an even broader range of services, the agency, which now has 14 employees, also changed its name this year from the formal-sounding Inform to the stronger Crafft. Martin Kurzbein's commitment also shows where the development is heading. The experienced art director of Saisonküche recently moved from Migros' Food Competence Center to Crafft as the new Head of Design. "New customer budgets and competitions will bear his signature in future," promises Rütti. His arrival comes at the right time: Kurzbein can show what he can do in two current major competitions in the field of corporate publishing. The agency also has a lot to offer medium-sized companies in the area of corporate design. "We are interested in clients for whom we can do brand development with design and then also take on the communication."
For such orders, Crafft appreciates the fact that customer contacts of this size still take place directly with the CEO. "This is the best level at which to talk and make decisions." Crafft has not yet felt the effects of the much-cited crisis. With the same number of employees, the agency had already generated more turnover by August than last year. And two new talents are soon to be integrated into the team. Michael Rütti is delighted that both future employees are represented with their diploma thesis in the ZHdK's anniversary book "Visual Communication", which features the best work of recent years.
Andreas Panzeri
