Introduction

The history of graphic design is not only a study of what is past, but also we can extrapolate what will come in the future.  It is not only a study of an ancient culture, but rather how this ancient civilization created ways of seeing and communicating.  A practice that we still use in our societies today.  It really should be a study of how primitive humans or ancient civilizations came up with the their ideas of form and how we utilize the same ideas thousands of years later.  

Graphic Design as a Cultural Practice

In the beginning there were no 'graphic designers' only a primitive human who wanted to express or communicate to the rest of the tribe.  As the evolution of the graphic designer progressed, they became artisans, working with manuscripts and painted signs, then tradesmen working in print shops.  Now they are professionals with specialized skills and recently some have even reached celebrity status!  Although we may not recognize this fact, it is in everything we see on a daily basis.  Things we take for granted today follow a certain convention that was established long ago.  The most basic would be how our writing looks.  The letterforms individually may have evolved from Greek and Roman times, but the way we write, how a page looks, the spacing of the letters are constantly evolving.  Is it even possible for us to image a time when text read from left to right, then right to left written backwards?  Undoubtedly that would be a stretch for any person today.

Technology

The way we conduct our designs today is affected by the technology that is available.  Style choices are not completely controlled by the designer or the technology.  Rather it is a marriage of the two.  For example, when mass production was required, there needed to be technology that helped this process, therefore the high speed press was invented.  Sometimes technology advances much quicker than the style conventions of the day.  It is a relationship, if technology advances, then the designer has to learn how to utilize new ideas best suited for that purpose.

Style

The images or designs that attract us are often ingrained into our minds as beautiful or pleasing but every culture has their own particular styles.  Graphic artifacts have their own point of view and whether or not it is evident to the viewer is irrelevant.  The control the design has over the viewer is what is important.  It excites the viewer in good or bad ways, but either way the work elicits an emotional reaction.  It is unlikely that a person will look at an advertisement with absolutely zero reaction.

Prehistoric Prelude to Graphic Design

Evolutionary Foundations of Communication

The Stone Age artists were the first to establish conventions that are used even today in design and art.  We often would like to believe that modern humans are evolved and do not use such primitive ways of communication, but it is likely that at some point every one has resorted to pictures to tell a story or communicate with another person.  The way we look at things today are also indicative of how we evolved and our past.  A drawing is almost always shown in relation to some type of ground or surface.  We use drawings to communicate yet these images represent an abstract idea as well.  We make the associations to what we are seeing as we are seeing it.

When humans first started to draw and communicate visually, it was a big leap in evolution.  No other animal have such a sophisticated way of communication.  The images that early humans created was not done by chance.  There was careful thought and preparations that went into everything.  From the placement of the bison in relation to the ground, the size of the humans in relation to an animal, and the planning involved with mixing the pigments in order to create a certain color all indicates to a development of visual communication.

Invention of Proto-Writing

Perhaps one of the inventions that catapulted the human evolution was the invention of writing.  Even though it was not a finalized version, like what we see today, early writing was developed in order to deal with the increased population and help with social organization.

As humans were more and more successful with cultivating grains, the writing system was updated accordingly so that cataloguing was possible.  For the first time, writing became an integral part of human socialization and development.  As more grains were harvested, accounting and other systems were developed to monitor ownership, distribution, and storage.  Although these developments happened later among Northern European, Asian, and African settlements, it did occur nonetheless.  

We can see how crucial it was when the first humanoids made their mark in the caves.  Because of that step forward, other advances occurred, especially writing.  The primitive images lead the way to create more sophisticated ways of communicating visually.  This is the foundation for all of our graphic advances today.  Where would be today if early humans didn't develop visual communication?  Would we still be in those caves trying to figure out how to survive?  Or would we have developed other skills?  The possibilities are endless and perhaps frightening as well.

Glossary

Symbolic Form - signs or objects whose value derives from their meaning as representations rather than from their material properties or literal form.

Conventions - rules or approaches that have come to be accepted through use but for which explicit guidelines or manuals may not exist.

Sign System - finite networks within which symbols circulate and gain their value.

Proto-Writing - signs, glyphs, marks, and other forms of inscription that anticipate more systematic writing systems but do not have a stable representational relation to language.

Works Cited

Sanford & A Lifetime of Color: Study Art.  1998.  2005

Early Writing: Mark-Making, Notation Systems, and Scripts

Mark-Making

From making primitive marks on the cave walls in France to writing whole codes of law in Babylon, it is a constant evolution of how thoughts and ideas are represented and recorded.  It is hard to imagine that the languages around the world today could be directly related to the breakthrough of mark making in the earliest forms.  It is truly remarkable that our ancestors were the first designers and graphic artists.  Could that be the legacy of the human race?  The development and evolution of a single written expression that has blossomed into over 100 different languages in the world today? 1

Proto-Writing Systems

Although some of the early writing may have evolved from pictorial origins, others were often more schematic.  There are some notation systems found in the Near East that could be considered proto-writing.  These proto-writing systems differ from the pre-writing systems in the sense that the notation had stable meanings and value.

Cuneiform

These marks were made on a clay tablet with a wedge like tool and to a modern day viewer it does not look like anything more than a bunch of triangles and lines.  In reality the cuneiform writing system may be the oldest system of writing.  The development of the cuneiform was to make writing systems more efficient by simplifying the pictorial signs to more schematic ones.  It was used and integrated into the languages of the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians.

Example of Akkadian Cuneiform 2

Varieties of Early Writing

It is interesting that not all writing evolved from Mesopotamia.  It appears that Egyptian and Chinese writing systems evolved independently from the Mesopotamian cuneiform.  The Egyptians were not the only culture to have developed hieroglyphic writing.  Both the Mayan and Aztec cultures utilized hieroglyphic languages and organization.  It is definitely curious to see different cultures on completely different parts of the world develop languages that are similar to each other.

Example of Mayan hieroglyphs 3

Literacy

Many scholars seems to think that literacy began with the advent of the Greek alphabet, yet there is a considerable list of cultures prior to this period that had written language.  Some earlier texts include: Hammurabi's Code of Babylon, the developed philosophical systems of India and Asia, and civic structures and administrations.  Perhaps when defining civilized cultures, one should ground their ideas in archaeological fact.  In order to advance technologically and socially, the culture most move from spoken word to written text.

Glossary

Acrophonic - the principle of naming a letter with a word that begins with that letter.

Cuneiform - writing composed of wedge-shaped signs made in web clay with a stylus by ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and others.

Logographic - of or pertaining to writing that represents words with visual signs.

Pictographic - of or pertaining to writing that represents words or ideas with pictorial signs

Hieroglyphic - literally, sacred carvings.

Works Cited

1.  "Language Listing." Languages of the World. 2007. National Virtual Translation Center. 07 Oct. 2008.

2.  "Language Affinities of Unspecified Analytic Weapon." 07 Oct. 2008.

3.  Ford, Anabel.  "Eyes Wide Shot: Exploring Solutions Past." 02 Oct. 2006. 07 Oct. 2008.

Classical Literacy

Variations of Literacy and the Alphabet

In Greece and southern Italy, variants of the alphabet were used during the Classical period.  With the exception of early indigenous writing in Crete, all were derived from scripts in the ancient Near East and dispersed by the Phoenicians along their trade routes.  In Greece literacy was a requirement for citizenship and its rights, however it is still debated whether or not Greek writing caused the advent of this form of democratic government.  These early scripts consisted of only uppercase letters and the format of writing was varied, including orientation of the writing, reading direction, and word spacing had not been fixed yet.  One of the most significant modifications made by he Greeks to the alphabet was the addition of vowels.  These vowels provided considerable flexibility in adapting the script to a wide range of tongues.  Perhaps it was this addition that made it easier to read than its predecessors.

1. The Greek alphabet and how it is written.

The Function of Graphic Codes

Writing had served many purposes in Egyptian, Babylonian, and Canaanite cultures.  Legal and literary texts, business records accounts, official decrees, ritual prayers, and expressive graffiti had been developed.  Tablets and scrolls remained the basic portable media, while stone carving indicated site-specific and official text.  When writing functioned as a form of personal expression in a letter or graffiti, it usually took the form of a cursive script that was gestural and informal.  Commemorative statements on funeral steles, tributes celebrating victory, and inscriptions marking other civic occasions took on considerable gravity when carved in the most elegant majuscules.

Models of Writing: Gestural and Constructed

The use of models for lettering was essential to the development of a culture of literacy.  Scribes relied on models to help train their hands to render the specific shapes.  Such knowledge became somatic and gestural patters of production became habitual.  Cursive writing can be rapidly produced handwritten versions of the alphabet.  This type of writing was rarely used for important or monumental documents.  However, the purpose of cursive was to produce texts that were legible and efficient, rather than something that based on aesthetic forms.

2. Early Roman cursive writing.

Glossary

Constructed forms - letters made up of drawn parts, often with the aid of a mechanical device, such as a compass or straight-edge, often according to mathematically calculated ideals of proportion and distinguished from letterforms that bear the trace of a (continuous) hand gesture.

Cursive - a script with rounded, looped forms, often with letters joined within words and made by hand in a continuous motion without raising the writing instrument from the paper or breaking letters into individual strokes.

Gestural - pertaining to movements of a hand, limb, or other part of the human body.

Majuscules - upper case letters.

Minuscules - lower case letters

Mono-line - type or writing in which ascenders and descenders are the same height as the body of the letters.

Ostraca -plural of the Greek ostracon (shard), fragments of pottery or stone used as writing surfaces.

Uncial - from the Latin uncia (inch), rounded letterforms in which ascenders and descenders extend slightly beyond the x-height and baseline (beyond the lines used as guides for the height of the body).

The Graphic Effects of Industrial Production

Industrialization

The time of the industrial revolution brought about many changes that affected the course of art and graphic design.  Several new inventions allowed for the presses to become more efficient and more productive.  Instead of printing one sheet at a time, the new cast iron presses had larger tables as well as heavier pressure.  Also paper was now being made in machines and not by hand which also increased the speed of paper production.  Because of all these exciting changes, the literacy rates increased as businessmen and publishers promoted inexpensive educational materials.

Photography was also developed during this time and images were reproduced even faster with more details.  No longer does an artist have to make an engraving for the weekly publications.  A photograph was much easier to capture and reproduce.  These new technologies allowed images to circulate much more freely, ideas blossomed, and new ways of thinking emerged.

Culturally, Europe and the United States moved towards romanticism where nature, passion, and imagination flourished.  The romantics rebelled against the ways of the old: they promoted public education, introduced images and text on a daily basis, and reinforced the standards of style and beauty.  Knowledge was no longer limited to the upper class, rather it was integrated into the working and middle classes.

1.  Newspapers were printed easily and distributed daily as a result of the invention of the cast iron press.  Also photographs were used instead of engravings which drastically decreased the amount of time it took to produce an illustration.

With the invention of photography, illustrations no longer had to be planned out weeks in advance.  An article could be written on the same day as making the image.  Instead of 4-6 weeks of planning, engraving, and proofing, a photograph would only take several hours.  The reproducibility of photographs also allowed more copies to be made, since the plate did not wear down after several runs through the press.

Illustrated Papers

The development of illustrated papers is perhaps one of the most radical contributions of the industrial revolution.  In the beginning, papers focused mainly on scandals and other 'news' that was merely for entertainment.  The images used were found in stock agencies.  However, the more liberal businessmen brought forth new material that was based on education.  Some publishers sought to provide this new printed material as a means to make money.  

For pennies, people could buy papers and gain extra knowledge for the betterment of themselves rather than read tabloids for the entertainment and pleasure.  The consumption of information quickly fueled imagination and fantasy.  

Niches were developed as different types of papers/magazines were developed.  Some were for a broad audience and others catered to the more discriminating audiences.  Self image could very well have been started during this time with women's journals that presented the subject of beauty through fashions of the day.  

More technical manuscripts were developed such as the Mechanic's Magazine but none were as successful as papers about scandals.  Perhaps people are more drawn to something that takes them away from the daily life of themselves and into the daily lives of others.  Much is the same in today's society.  Far more people read fashion magazines or tabloids than The Journal of the American Medical Association.  Probably even the people who read JAMA read Vogue as well!

Books and Printed Images

Now that more people can and like to read, novels and poems gained a wider audience.  It was not until the invention of the steam powered press was book widely available.  While the production was catching up to the demand, many of the books of poetry and fiction were still decorated with illustrations.

 

2.  Examples of illustrations from an eighteenth century alphabet book.

Although books were being mass produced during this time, there was not much care put into them.  Often times the pages bled into each other and the text smeared because of worn type.  The layout was not done with thought of creating wide margins or well leaded lines.  Instead they were produced with more economical means.  The production grew tremendously during this time but the graphics element still had much catching up to do.  

Books were not the only printed material to gain popularity during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Images became a widely reproduced commodity as well.  In the beginning of the eighteenth century, printed images were a luxury as they were copper engravings or relief woodblocks.  However with the development of lithography, the production capabilities expanded exponentially.  Also the development of photography brought about new ways of seeing and producing images.

3.  An early (perhaps the first) daguerreotype made by Louis Daguerre in 1837.

Advertising and Typography

The once public notices of laws or decrees are now becoming more advertisements for lost possessions, sales of properties, or criminal behavior in the neighborhood.  The notices were carefully composed with extra attention to graphic details and line breaks.  This industry grew and the advertisers and printers began to invest in their designs to attract more clientele.  People were consuming these designs at an extremely rapid rate which in turn created more opportunities for emerging graphic artists.  

Posters, handbills, and other advertisements were quickly becoming common place in urban centers where there were professional billposters!  Typefaces had to be designed so that on a crowded wall plastered with many different posters, the type would stand out and still be legible.  The art of type was only limited to the imagination of the designer.  

4.  Early 19th century handbill.

Works Cited

"The Wonderful World of Early Photography." 28 Oct. 2008

DorsetLife On-Line Magazine. 28 Oct. 2008

Mass Mediation

Printed Mass Media

There was a tremendous increase in the volume of printed material during the late 19th century as electricity quickly replaced steam machines and further automation accelerated the production of the presses and paper manufacturers.  Paper was used for almost everything during this era and it had been taken for granted.  There was an abundance of paper.  Advertising grew and mass produced goods proliferated.

Graphic designers became professionals with increasing specialities within the field.  There were specialists in layout, illustration, composition, typesetting, as well as many other areas of graphic design.  

The world was shaped by the opinions regarding style and form, social priorities and prohibitions, as well as behavior and decorum.  Advertising campaigns were developed to coordinate strategies which tried to reach local and national audiences.  

Print Technology

The methods of creating text and images are continually evolving.  During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, new printing presses became available.  At the same time, paper making techniques were also changing.  Earlier paper were made in single sheets from cotton or linen which was expensive and there was tremendous pressure to find a cheaper way to produce paper.  Wood pulp was the answer and paper was then machine made into rolls.  At first, this paper was of poor quality but it solved the issue of cheap and abundant source of paper.  The linotype press was a technical marvel designed in the 1880s.  The setting of type was now aided by a keyboard.  This was a huge leap forward in printing technology.  Without this, people would still have to set type by hand or draw each individual letter.

1. Guttenberg press

2. Linotype press

Other advances include photogravure which was a process of reproducing photographs using ink on paper.  Many manipulations could be done to the photograph such as cropping, adjusting contrast, etc before it was sent to the printers.  This furthered the rise of illustrated papers from previous centuries as replication was now even easier.

Graphic Design and Advertising

Now that the technologies have developed even more, there are far more applications where the graphic designer can reach.  Advertisements were a direct byproduct of the industrial revolution.  More goods were being produces, so ads were created to sell more goods.  Technologies must be invented so that ads could be reproduced quickly and distributed to a wide audience.  

Graphic designers were an integral part of this rise as they were able to reach the consumers.  Not only did the product need branding, labeling, and packaging, but the design of the package was crucial in fostering product recognition.  

Posters and Public Space

Many posters were now created using the lithographic process but it still took an artist's vision to push the poster production to new heights.  Without artists, we would not associate the this period to the golden age of poster art.  The great posters of this time were created by artists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha, and Grasset.  Posters crossed the line between collectable art works and mass produced advertisements.  

3.  A poster by Jan Theodoor Toorop

Glossary

Ephemera - literally, lasting only a dap; printed matter for short-term use such as handbills, tickets, announcements, and menus.

Linotype - a mechanized process of setting type with the aid of a keyboard and casting it in lines of text.

Photogravure - an etching process renowned for rich tonal values that involves coating a plate with photosensitive gelatin and powdered resin, exposing it, and etching it in an acid bath.

Works Cited

"Burlington Press & Electrical Press." Metal Type. 28 Oct. 2008

Gutenberg - The Printing Press - 1440. 28 Oct. 2008

Formations of the Modern Movement

Responses To Industrialism

Many important changes came about in the late nineteenth century where designers were eager to participate in more socially conscious businesses created by the Arts and Crafts movement.  Vision of socialist alternatives emerged during this time as criticisms of labor practices and industrial pollution grew.  At the same time there were several influential theories brought forth by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles regarding the condition and power of the working classes.  Artists ad designers sought to restore the dignity of labor and the pleasures of craft making.

Click here for more information on Karl Marx and suggested readings.

Click here for more information on Friedrich Engles.

Arts and Crafts Publications

This movement provided huge impact on the design of fine press and trade books as well as artists' journals.  The Arts and Crafts movement created a distinct style and the ideals were closely linked to the economic force and cultural reach of the British Empire.  Though short lived, there were many artists and writers that created their own journals in order to internationalize this movement and took control of every aspect of these publications.  They sought out handmade papers and collaborated with printers through the entire production of their books.

The mass produced books of the time lacked in quality, design, and workmanship so the new sensibilities challenged the conventional view of books and pushed the designers to create 'beautiful books'. 

1.  An example of images created during the Arts and Crafts movement.  During this time the aesthetic became more refined and artists took pride in what they were creating.  The new styles included a preference of clean lines and clear organization.  They banished the idea of the excessiveness of Victorian domesticity.

Art Nouveau

This term emerged during the late 1800s and was generally applied to anything that rejected historical references and brought forth 'new' sensibilities.  Originally established by a gallery owner, Siegfried Bing, it soon became wide spread and a successful style adopted by many artists.  The goal of Art Nouveau were anti-elitist aimed at cultivating and gratifying the taste of the bourgeois.  It integrated shapes and expressions into the overall form of the object and structure.  It drew on a more eastern philosophy of design, primarily Japanese, where the compositions were asymmetrical.  This proved useful in many graphic design projects including logos, books, type, and packaging.

2.  An example of Art Nouveau style by Alphonse Mucha

Viennese Design

The Viennese design style took another turn in the evolution of graphic design.  Whereas previously in the Victorian era where the idea was the more the better, Viennese designers chose to simplify, distill, and modernize design.  Gustav Klimt initiated the Vienna Seccession and attempted to forge a relationship between fine art and applied art.  The first exhibition of the Seccession proved to be a tremendous success and achieved public acclaim and recognition.  Part of the Seccession movement was the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Weerkstatte) where they tried to consolidate their comittment to merging fine and applied arts even more.  This emphasized the notion of modernity in style and approach to creating art.

3.  Click here to read more on Gustav Klimt.

Decadence and Aestheticism

During the same time of the Arts and Crafts movement, a separate art movement gained momentum in denying the functionalism of art.  They tried to express through their art that the function of art was not to be used practically, but more for amusement and aesthetic purposes.  They took the anti-utilitarian and anti industrial stance.  

Glossary

Bohemianism - the unconventional sensibility of late nineteenth century artists who eschewed bourgeois values and engaged in imaginative behaviors and expression.

Functionalism - an attitude according to which the effective operation of an object, space, or communication is of paramount value in its design.

Modern Movement - any of of several artistic groups that aimed to define styles, forms, or values for contemporary life.

Modernity - the historical period of cultural change associated with the effects of industrial revolution.

Works Cited

"Arts and Crafts Movement Philosophy." Handicraft Guild. 4 Nov. 2008.

"Gustav Klimt." 4 Nov. 2008.

"Friedrich Engels." Politics Professor. 4 Nov. 2008.

"Marx." 4 Nov. 2008.

Innovation and Persuasion

Visual Culture and Avant-Garde Design

By the beginning of the twentieth century there was an amazing variety of different typographic and visual styles and materials that were available for editorial and advertising design.  The mechanical production techniques gave designers enormous freedom and print media thrived as a result.  Photographs were becoming widely accepted while illustrations persisted, enhanced by color and new printing techniques.  It wasn't until the early twentieth century did the artists and designers exploited and revealed the true potential of the technical inventions of the nineteenth century.  Although there were no radical changes in technology, the designers did have to find a way to visually translate the social meanings.  They readopted a more functional and anti historical approach to design.

The Graphic Impact of Futurism and Dada

Almost overnight a new movement developed where artists felt compelled to define their work by the dramatic rejection of all inherited aesthetics an values.  In 1909 the Italian poet Filippo Martinetti exploded into the spotlight with his Futurist Manifesto.  He attacked the decorative typography of the old-fashioned.  The modern meant new, which meant machine made or at least something the looked machine-like.  

1.  A cubo-futurist painting by Kazimir Severinovich Malevich.  This was a short lived movement lasting perhaps a year or two.  It was a combination of French Cubism, Italian Futurism, and Neo-Primitivism.  

However, not all avant-garde art was influenced by Martinetti's futuristic ideals.  A second movement emerged and called themselves 'Dada'.  This symbolized the outrageous attitudes of their movement.  These publications and performances appeared in Germany, France, and even the United States.  The Dadaists were comprised of a curious group of people including pacifists, anarchists, and radicals.  Their behavior shook the citizens of Zurich and later other major cities in the world.  

2.  The Dada movement was based on the principles of anarchy, cynicism, and rejecting the laws of social organization and beauty.

Propaganda and Mass Communication Studies

In the beginning of the twentieth century many of the avant-garde's internationalism stemmed from social uprising.  Political shifts caused large groups to move across nations and fostered artistic exchange.  Technical advancements in communication provoked the revisions of traditional beliefs and values.  World War I was happening during the 1914-1918 and it killed and traumatized millions of soldiers.  The Great War ruptured and destroyed all that defined modern life and also promoted the development of mechanized military technologies.  Propaganda developed because it could reach wide audiences and was tremendously effective with the use of vivid flat colors and bold lines.

3.  UK World War I propaganda.

Graphic Persuasion and Its Effects

While the public relations campaigns were essential to maintain an effort to win the war, it also included a new form of communication: information graphics.  The new information campaigns in a post revolutionary Russia included the task of educating the working class.  At the same time in the United States, the women's suffrage movement launched their own campaigns to allow women to have the right to vote.  Images were created for propaganda for both the supporters and opposers of women's rights.

4.  Images of the women's suffrage for both sides of the argument used as propaganda.  

Institutionalizing Graphic Design

Probably the most enduring legacy of the early twentieth century came from institutionalizing graphic design.  Institutions were training young designers in accordance to the Constructivist principle and major figures of the prewar avant-garde sought new ideals and reforms.  The Bauhaus could arguably be the most legendary of the new institutions for graphic design (established in 1919).  The Bauhaus style characteristics included formal reduction, dynamic asymmetry, and a systematic structuring of the graphic design elements.  

5.  Laszlo Moholy-Nagy described typography as a "tool of communication" type must be clear, legible, and communicate its message.

Glossary

Bourgeoisie - a social class between the aristocracy and the proletariat that enjoys a ertain amount of material wealth and status and benefits from the status quo.

Duplicating Machine - mechanical devices that produce more than one copy of an image or text.

Futurism - an artistic movement of the early twentieth century that called for a radical break with the past and all tradition sin the name of creating an art for the future.

Suprematism - a name coined in 915 by Kasimir Malevich to describe experimental art that aimed to transcend the limits of all past art and create works that were concerned almost entirely with geometric forms.

Works Cited

"The Bauhaus." History of Graphic Design. 5 Nov. 2008.

"Dada art period, Dada paintings, Dadaism, Dada artists, and Dada history." Dada Movement, Dada Art Pictures, Neo Dada, Dada Period, Dada History. 5 Nov. 2008.

"The Futurist Manifesto." The Futurist Manifesto. 5 Nov. 2008

"Kazimir Severinovich Malevich: Taking in the Harvest (1911-1912)." Malevich: Harvest. 5 Nov. 2008

The National Archives. 5 Nov. 2008

"UK WWI Propaganda Poster." Listphile Beta. 5 Nov. 2008

The Culture of Consumption

 

Designing the Modern Lifestyle

The polished image of the modern lifestyle was in part the creation of the graphic designers.  The production of each new product was the result of planned obsolescence on the part of the manufacturers.  However, not all was progress was as it appeared.  European countries were still recovering from the devastating effects of World War I and in the United States, uncontrolled financing contributed to the decline and subsequent economical crisis of the late 1920s.  Electricity was now available and reliable as well as petroleum products which now changed work routines, production parameters, transportation, communication, and entertainment habits.  Prior to the crash of the stock market in 1929, advertising campaigns equated style with currency and currency with success.  It became a new culture of consumer capitalism where cool, streamlined, and sophisticated images thrived.

1. Example of a 1920s fashion ad where the emphasis is on streamlined yet sophisticated looks, even in fashion.

Modern Style in Graphic Design

The previous movements had left an imprint on European graphic design.  Many of the characteristics was carried forward into the modern movement such as: asymmetrical typography, abstract forms, heave rule, black and red inks, strong shapes, and striking arrangements were just some of the innovation left by the previous designers.  European designers also used photography in many of their work making it a hallmark of modern design.  While the legacy of Constructivists was carried on in many of the cosmopolitan centers of Europe, the Russian counterparts had become isolated in their increasingly totalitarian regime.  The dream of the utopian socialist state disappeared in the mid-1930s because faith in this conviction had begun to wane.  

In America, the field of graphic design was being defined by a high profile innovator, William Addison Dwiggins.  His published works and lectures talked about the rules and elements of design.  Dwiggins helped bridge the gap and linking the technical aspects to the aesthetics and philosophy of design.  Many European designers emigrated to the United States and the advertising executives quickly hired them to provide the sophistication of European style.  

Consumer Culture

Graphic design promoted consumption as an ideal, not just something practical.  Advertising presented products as the solutions for problems that might have been emotional or social.  The visual metaphors of the American dream invited the vision of prosperity even during the Great Depression and while this fantasy may have been ironic, it provided a powerful image.  The notion that graphic design had a mission soon crept into the profession.  The designers were charged with a task of creating an aura that had little to do with the practical issues, rather the promotion of lifestyles as self realization and expression.  The fantasy channeled consumption into market driven patterns and the consumer was a concept, a generic figure who followed the trends with personal interest.

Glossary

Consumer capitalism - an economic system based on assumptions about the widespread development of markets, rather than on earlier models of production.

Moderne - a French term for a style that became popular after the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris.  Associated with the cool, streamlined look of the 1920s in which the elaborate motifs of an earlier era were banished in favor of more industrial forms.

Planned obsolescence - a strategy for increasing sales by designing products that will quickly need to be replaced, either because they wear out or because they are surpassed by more effective or stylish models.

Public Information Campaigns and Information Design

Public Interest and Education

Designs for public interested was already a well established category of visual communication by the 1930s.  Promotion of public safety and personal hygiene was a feature of the early 20th century, spreading the middle class assumption and values.  Moral virtue was aligned with physical hygiene and cleanliness in the domestic and work environments in order to control the spread of disease.  The presentation of this information rode a fine line between informing the public and prescribing conformity.

From 1936-1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Project Administration (WPA) with brought graphic deign into a new relation with the public.  Over 2000 posters were created across the country.  Several thousand artists, designers, photographers, and writers earned weekly salary for working for the WPA.  Although this was a new program in America, Soviet Union artists had been state workers since the revolution in 1917.  The two countries had two very different styles: American imagery still featured the heroic individual while Soviet graphics drew attention to the importance of the designer's place in the larger social system.  Education and literacy was important for Soviet designers to cultivate a trained labor force therefore newly formed clubs encouraged participation in reading and discussions. 

Photojournalism and Documentary

By the 1930s documentary photography had become an important and powerful instrument of political and social commentary.  The WPA established the Farm Security Administration which commissioned photographers to document the lives of America's rural poor.  Perhaps one of the most famous photos from this period is Dorothea Lange's photo "Migrant Mother".  Other photographs of this time included Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, and Margaret Bourke-White.  Other images from the FSA can be seen here.   

1.  Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother".

As photographic printing technologies improved, reproduction became more affordable and more efficient for use in magazines and other publications.  The integration of documentary photography was brought into the mainstream by major modern photographers during this time.  Many photographers with established careers as fine artists or journalists also had successful careers in fashion photography.  

2.  Life magazine built its reputation and audience based on photographic work.

Wartime Propaganda and Information

As World War II broke out in Europe, graphic media were used to mobilize sentiment and action on all sides of the conflict.  Government agencies and programs utilized graphic strategies to raise awareness and support.  Women were also encouraged to volunteer and enlist for military service and other war related work.  These designs often included more realistic imagery to leave strong and lasting impressions on the viewers.  However, flat and bold imagery were equally strong with clear and symbolic messages.  The directness of these images implied that action was required and could not be delayed.

During the war, official diagrams and charts were used to deliver important information.  Both the British Ministry of Information and the US Office of War Information hired designers of stature and skill to create educational posters and develop signage.  It was imperative that the dense amounts of information was displayed in a well organized fashion while maintaining a high level of aesthetics.  

3.  War time propaganda using bold shapes and colors to convey a sense of urgency.

Glossary

American Regionalism - an artistic movement that focused on rural or local imagery and often expressed agrarian cultural values as an answer to the modern world of industrial and urban development.

Informatics - the study of data or knowledge represented in a form that can be stored or manipulated by digital or computational means.

New objectivity - an approach to photography and other arts of the 1920s that valued (an emulated) the rationalism afforded by new technologies capable of replacing subjective rendering and that rejected the mystical, pseudo-primitive, and emotional aspects of Expressionism.

Works Cited

"Dorothea Lange." Wikipedia. 23 Nov. 2008

"Photographers of the FSA: Selected Portraits." Portrait Sampler -- FSA Photographer. 23 Nov. 2008

"WWII Propaganda Posters." WWII Propaganda Posters. 23 Nov. 2008

Corporate Identities and International Style

Image and Identity Systems

By the 1950s the entire way business was conducted had changed.  Business now had multiple divisions and activities.  These corporations hired graphic designers to help with the branding so that they could be recognizable in different nations across the world.  A unified image allowed the corporation to exude authority and reliability.  The work of the graphic designer did not only include layout, composition, and style choices but it now also included slogans, catch phrases, logotypes, and other compact messages that the corporation needed.  There were many more opportunities for the graphic designers to show off their work: corporate reports, annual financial achievements, and other materials were not the responsibility of the graphic designer.

International Style

The Swiss style used clean and neutral forms which were perfectly suited for the nature of the new business patterns and models.  There was emphasis on the grid structure as well as the use of objective photography and sans serif type.  The aim was to create clean, direct, and clear images.  Some critics found this new style to be too formulaic and predictable.  However the International Style proved to be durable and functional in many different situations.  

1.  A manual designed with International Style.  Clear grid system is applied.

Technology

As technology evolved, many of the graphic designers began to utilize more of the photographic means of production.  Still graphic designers were trained to hand letter type and create thumbnails with pencil and ink, however, handwork became a sign of eccentricity.  Individualism vanished in the photographic production of type, images, and layouts.  American TV and film industry blossomed in the 1950-1960s and new markets for graphic designers opened.  Graphic work entered a new time based media and no longer confined to the page.

Industrially produced elements such as the transfer type, screen patterns became available for the graphic designers.  Also phototypesetting offered lower costs and yielded more flexibility than traditional metal type.  Designers were now beginning to experiment with the possibility of electronic type as well.  There was a newfound freedom with phototype.  No longer were designers constrained with the metal lines any longer.  

Other improvements with the photographic technologies allowed images prepared photographically to have finer details and tighter registration.  Process color became common and high quality, low-cost color printing was widely available.  Photo offest was becoming the norm and graphic possibilities seemed liberating compared to earlier relief printing methods.

2.  A phototypesetter's work station.

The Profession

As the corporate and civic organizations created their in-house design teams, the role of the designer continued to broaden as well.  Charged with coordinating campaigns, designers no grappled with the intangible but essential concepts.  The formulaic publications relied heavily on the cover designs to attract the attention of potential readers at the newsstand.  Branding often included single word typography as well as designing for gender, interest, and activity defined by the publication.

Glossary

Functionalism - an attitude according to which the effective operation of an object, space, or communication is of paramount value in its design; a principle of early twentieth-century movements that applied art to design problems and ran counter to art-for-art's-sake's embrace of purposelessness.

Identity - a unique profile for a group or enterprise, designed to be established in the public mind or marketplace through formal devices, such as logos and slogans.

International Typographic Style - an approach to design premised on the conviction that formal choices and effects could be governed by rational principles that transcended historical and cultural frameworks.

Logotype - two or more letters cast as a single graphic on the same block.

Universal language - the idea of a form of expression that could be understood by all people regardless of their native tongue and that would accurately encode knowledge in a systematic way.

Universal style - an approach to design based on the presumption that the truth of certain formal principles do not depend on history or culture but is shared by all human societies and could be articulated as a logical ideal.

Pop and Protest

Pop Culture and Style

Although the International Typographical Style continued to prevail during this period, hip graphic approaches transformed the world of advertising, editorial, and packaging design.  To be sophisticated meant a style that was cutting edge, smart, self-reflexive, and openly sly.  Consumers assumed they were being manipulated and instead of hiding that fact, designers flaunted it in campaigns.  Graphic design became chic, designers became hip, and the profusion of images increased.

1.  Perhaps one of the most famous pop art images created by Andy Warhol of Marilyn Monroe.

Self-Conscious Graphic Design

In the 1960s, chic graphic style became desirable and graphic designers became self-conscious and also developed a sense of humor.  Editors and advertisers realized that the consumer had outgrown the 'message' mode of graphic design and successful marketing techniques had been grounded in analysis and profiling.  Cutting-edge publications pushed the envelope of what was permitted.  

Counterculture and the Alternative Press

The underground press thrived in the 1960s as inexpensive offset printing provided a platform for a range of expressions aimed at establishing communities of opinion and belief.  Independent presses established a widespread network of alternative publishing though they rarely had economic success.  the fantasy of mass distribution for independent artistic expression resulted in a new surge of interest in artists' books and magazines.

Revolutionary Culture and Protest

In the United States, protests against the Vietnam war intensified during the 1960s.  Organized resistance to official policies produced an enormous output of graphic images.  Many professional designers did pro bono work for the antiwar movement.  No movement utilized graphic imagery as efficiently and effectively as the antiwar movement although many have tried since that time.

2.  Anti war movement posters in the 1960s.

Changes in the Profession

Type cast in hot lead became and outmoded technology, replacing it was phototypesetting which had been adopted by the end of the 1960s.  There was capabilities of phototypesetting seemed to have every advantage.  Letter could be drawn using almost any graphic approach or technique.  It would have been physically impossible to overlap letters with metal type but there were no such limitations with photo fonts and overlapping text became one of the hallmarks of photocomposition.  

Glossary

Counterculture - any movement or group, whether formally organized or not, that promotes values opposed to those of the mainstream.

Establishment - the mainstream bulwark of power, institutions and individuals aligned with traditional values and maintenance of the status quo.

Mail art - an artistic movement that used the postal system, both as a means of distribution and as an element of the work itself (in the form of cancellations stamps and other official notations).

Op art - an artistic movement of the late 1950s and 1960s that explored and manipulated optical effects, especially of geometric patterns.

Postmodernism in Design

Postmodern Styles

The first signs of postmodern graphic design appeared in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Postmodernism entered the built environment, and a dialogue developed in which architecture and graphic design were mutually influenced.  A generation of young designers seemed to be parodying their modern teachers and disregarded the rules of International Style.  Not only did they dispense with adherence to formal organization, they also seemed to throw out legibility as well.  Postmodern formal manipulation was often anti functional and deliberately chaotic.  The postmodernism period did not comprise of a single unified graphic style, rather the characteristics were all conspicuous trends.

Retro style was superficial in its relation to historical sources.  Techno style had a streamlined, metallic quality, hard-edged and robotic, almost electronic.  Punk style took Pop nonconformism and pushed it to extremes.

1.  Retro style posters

2.  Punk style poster.

Postmodern Consumption and Conservatism

A period of economic depression followed the end of the Vietnam War in the early 1970s and smaller, more conservative governments shrank benefits and programs that had been considered central to the social contract in earlier decades.  The 1980s were fraught with boom and bust economic cycles, oil shortages, and global tensions.  

Critical Theory and Postmodern Sensibility

Postmodernism was an attitude toward origin and change.  Utopianism was gone along with the unwavering faith in progress that had been characteristic of modernity since the industrial revolution.  The suspicion that everything had already been said, drawn, photographed, written, recorded, or thought stood in contrast to the modern enthusiasm for innovation that had dominated in the early part of the century.  Postmodern design seemed largely a matter of style, but in reality postmodern designers questioned assumptions about representation and communication that had been the basis of graphic design since its origins.

Postmodernism and Activism

A flexible sense of history and a free association of styles made postmodern design feel like it had no rules or restraints.  critical analysis of social conditions and the rise of cultural studies had an impact on the graphic design industry, offering tools for thinking, intervention, and change.

Changes in the Profession

Technological advances were on the horizon in the 1970s, but early postmodernism design was a photomechanical production, not an electronic one.  The use of photographic negatives to layer and manipulate content preceded the desktop computers by 10 years.  By the 1980s, graphic designers were not only working in advertising, packaging, and editorial, but it also involved special effects, animations, films, and television.  Many designers also combined their roles as teachers and critics while their design work shed the last vestiges of modern decorum, their teaching and writing took on critical issues.  Designers often expressed ideas graphically without a full appreciation of their theoretical implications.

Glossary

Deconstructive - of or pertaining to a philosophical method of interpretation premised on the idea that texts and images do not reveal truths but create fields of signification and that reading their signs through a play of difference produces meaning that is always shifting.

Grunge -a word meaning dirt achieved through neglect, appropriated to describe a style of music identified with a nihilistic or self-consciously apathetic attitude that originated in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

Hybrid - an organism produced by mixing genetic material

Hyperreal - of or pertaining to appearances in which it is impossible to distinguish reality from illusion, either because a representation is so believable or because conditions of perception or cognition do not allow for distinctions between real and imagined phenomena or experience.

Postmodernism - a cultural moment at which modernism's claims for universal, formal, and autonomous qualities in works of art or design were replaced by notions of relativism, contingency, and play within sign systems.

Punk - a rebellious counterculture movement that began in Britain and the United States, whose harsh sound and abrasive lyrics attached the pretenses of middle-class culture and conservative politics.

Retro - of or pertaining to rhetoric, the art of persuasion or effective presentation.

Sign systems - finite networks within which symbols circulate and gain their value.

Simulacra - illusions that pass for reality.

Techno - of or pertaining to a style that uses the imagery and motifs of contemporary technology not as functional forms but as elements of an aesthetic.