Jean Widmer studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, in Zürich, under Johannes Itten. He arrived in Paris 1953 and studied at the École des Beaux Arts. For him functionalism took precedence over decoration, characterized by reductive design and very simple forms. From 1955–70 he worked as art director and photographer for the agency SNIP, the Galeries Lafayette department store and the fashion magazine Jardin des Modes. In 1960 he joined the faculty of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, where he remodelled the graphic design curriculum, stressing mastery of typography and colour as fundamental skills. In the early 1970s Widmer designed the first tourist signage system for French highways. He produced the identity programme for the Centre de Création Industrielle and the total identity for the Centre Pompidou, and the same for the Musée d’Orsay in the 1980s, in collaboration with Bruno Monguzzi. Since the early 1990s he has taught at the Atelier de la Recherche Typographique.