Its tradition is shaped by graphic design pioneers Armin Hofmann, Emil Ruder, and Wolfgang Weingart.

The name of the school represents an educational approach which perpetuates their ideas: to lay a strong and broad foundation for the major design disciplines.

The Weiterbildungsklasse für Grafik (Advanced Class for Graphic Design) was an international postgraduate program that ran from 1968–1999 to address the growing interest of many trained designers who were searching for a means to deepen or extend their knowledge or skills.

For thirty years, students from all over the world attended the program and it became an outstanding model for a modernist design education.

In 1999, part of the Schule für Gestaltung Basel was assimilated by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW).