Graphic Design – A medium for the masses
Areas for consideration
The origins of Graphic Design
Graphic Design in relation to Fine Art
Graphic Design in relation to Advertising
Graphic Design as a tool of Capitalism
Graphic Design as a Political tool
Graphic Design and Postmodernism
Graphic Design and Social Conscience
Bison & horses 15000-10000BC – Cave paintings Lascaux France
Giotto di Bondone, Betrayal, c. 1305, Fresco, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy
Illiterate society / Halos / Visually illustrating a message
Introduction of the term ‘Graphic Design’:
1922, William Addison Dwiggins (successful designer):
‘In the matter of layout forget art at the start and use horse-sense. The printing-designer’s whole duty is to make a clear presentation of the message - to get the important statements forward and the minor parts placed so that they will not be overlooked. This calls for an exercise of common sense and a faculty for analysis rather than for art’.
Herbert Spencer: ‘Mechanized art’
Max Bill and Josef Muller-Brockman: ‘Visual Communication’
Richard Hollis: ‘Graphic Design is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea’
Paul Rand: ‘… graphic design, in the end, deals with the spectator, and because it is the goal of the designer to be persuasive or at least informative, it follows that the designer’s problems are twofold: to anticipate the spectator’s reactions and to meet his own aesthetic needs’.
‘Although graphic design as we know it originated in the late nineteenth century as a tool of advertising, any association today with marketing, advertising, or capitalism deeply undermines the graphic designer’s self-image. Graphic design history is an integral part of advertising history, yet in most accounts of graphic design’s origins advertising is virtually denied, or hidden behind more benign words such as “publicity” and “promotion”. This omission not only limits the discourse, but also misrepresents the facts. It is time for graphic design historians, and designers generally, to remove the elitist prejudices that have perpetuated a biased history’.
Steven Heller, Eye, No. 17, 1995, reprinted in Bierut, M., Drenttel, W., Heller, S. and Holland, D.K (eds.), (1997), Looking Closer 2, New York, Allworth Press, pages 112 – 119
Edouard Manet (1832 - 83), A Bar at the Folies Bergeres, 1882
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Aristide Bruant, 1893, poster
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, La Goulue, 1890s, poster
Clubbing of 120 years ago,
Alphonse Mucha, Job, c. 1898, poster for cigarette papers
Early stages / different disciplines
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish Musical Review, 1896, poster
Koloman Moser, 13th Secession Exhibition, 1902, poster
More aesthetic graphic design emerging
Peter Behrens, AEG, 1910
Savile Lumley, Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?, c. 1915
Alfred Leete, Britons [Kitchener] wants you!, 1914, poster
Conservative / stiff upper lip / upholding what it means to be a citizen
James Montgomery Flagg, I want you for U.S. army, 1917, poster
Julius Gipkens, Trophies of the Air War, 1917, poster
Wassily Kandinsky (1886 - 1944), Composition VIII, 1923
El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, c.1919, poster
Abstract shapes from fine art start appearing in graphic design / shapes / colour
F.H. Stingemore (UK), London Underground Map, 1931 - 2
Henry C. (Harry) Beck (UK), London Underground Map, 1933
More graphic / information / global language
Simon Patterson (1967 - , The Great Bear, 1992, lithograph on paper
Celebrities as stations / artists using graphic design
Oskar Schlemmer (German), Bauhaus logo, 1922
Cutting edge of graphic design / Hitler shuts it down, doesn’t agree with modernist ideas
Herbert Bayer (German), Kandinsky 60th Birthday exhibition, 1926, poster
Hitler selected key areas of art to highlight good and bad
Hans Schleger (German, working in UK), Eat Greens for Health, 1942, poster
Promotes good health
Josep Renau (Spanish), Stalingrad: The New Star of Freedom, 1942
Celebrating the star of freedom
Pere Catala i Pic (Spanish), Let’s Squash Fascism, 1936
Running aesthetic / doesn’t need text / visual communication
V. Deni & N. Dolgorukov (Russian), Our Army and Our Country are strengthened with the Spirit of Stalin!, 1939
G. Klucis (Russian), In the Storm of the Third Year of the Five Year Plan, 1930
G. Klucis (Russian), Long Live the USSR – Fatherland of Workers of the World, 1931
All red and white / revolutionary / communist colours / political
Abram Games, catalogue for ‘Exhibition of Science’, Festival of Britain, 1951
Still conservative / cutting edge not needed
Paul Rand, advert for Jacqueline Cochran, 1946
Promotes economic boom
Helmut Krone for Doyle Dane Berbach, Think Small, advert for Volkswagen, 1959
Minimalism / negative space / becomes instantly recognisable – role of graphic design / keeps running themes / branding / public conciseness / visual imagery
Paul Rand, logo for American Broadcasting Company, 1962
Commercialism / growth of branding / corporate / capitalism / making money
‘We have been bombarded with publications devoted to this belief, applauding the work of those who have flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as: cat food, stomach powders, detergent, hair restorer, striped toothpaste, aftershave lotion, beforeshave lotion, slimming diets, fattening diets, deodorants, fizzy water, cigarettes, roll-ons, pull-ons and slip-ons …
Ken Garland, First Things First Manifesto, 1964
‘There are other things more worth using our skill and experience on. There are signs for streets and buildings, books and periodicals, catalogues, instructional manuals, industrial photography, educational aids, films, television features, scientific and industrial publications, and all the other media through which we promote our trade, our education, our culture and our greater awareness of the world’
Ken Garland, First Things First Manifesto, 1964
Neville Brody, The Face magazine covers, 1980s
Hipgnosis, 10CC, Deceptive Bends sleeve design, 1977
Over elaborate – to match the music / becomes the norm and gets a backlash / post punk - slightly more sophisticated
Peter Saville, New Order, Blue Monday, sleeve design, 1983
Elaborate / lots of typefaces / lost 30p every sale because of its design / how important actually is packaging? – More than the product?
‘Evidence of designer concern is found in the form of well-meaning but woefully masturbatory poster exhibitions and portfolios organized on general humanistic themes such as peace, human rights and the environment’
Steven Heller, 1991
‘We are a global network of culture jammers and creative’s working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.’
Adbusters
