Müller Extra

The poster was commission by the Hollerbaum und Schmidt advertising agency and created in Berlin. Requirements of the competition and the need to communicate contents faster and in a clearer and more concrete manner was a stimulus to establish a new, functional style of the advertising poster (sachplakat), started in 1905 by Lucien Bernhard with his design for a matches manufacturer.

In 1912, Julius Klinger was an already renown advertising graphic designer. We can admire his master skill both of synthetic depicting of the theme itself and its graphical presentation.

The poster's surface was planned in a very consistent manner. All shapes are limited to the necessary minimum. Flatly applied colours and lack of decorations give it an ascetic character. The artist grasped a characteristic moment of the consumption process – the gesture of serving an alcoholic beverage. Be the presented person a waiter (implied by the black jacket and white bow-tie) or a restaurant's guest (suggested by the monocle in the eye), the advertised product remains in the limelight – the exquisite Müller Extra – a drink of highest quality, delivered even to the Emperor's court. The writing with alcohol's brand name is composed of a heavy block typeface and clearly dominates over the image, which juxtaposed with the lettering seems to be just a contour drawing.