Graphic design

Graphic design is the applied art of arranging image and text to communicate a message. It may be applied in any media, such as print, digital media, motion pictures, animation, product decoration, packaging, and Information_signs. Graphic design as a practice can be traced back to the origin of the written word, but only in the late 19th century did it become identified as a separate entity.

20th century

Modern Design of the early 20th century, much like the fine art of the same period, was a reaction against the decadence of typography and design of the late 19th century. The hallmark of early modern typography is the sans-serif typeface. Early Modern (not to be confused with the other modern era of the 18th and 19th centuries) typographers such as Edward Johnston and Eric Gill after him were inspired by vernacular and industrial typography of the latter nineteenth century. The signage in the London Underground is a classic of this era and used a font designed by Edward Johnston in 1916.

Related Topics:
20th century - Fine art - Sans-serif - 18th - Edward Johnston - Eric Gill - Vernacular - London Underground - 1916

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Mythic and avant garde designer, Lefty Lexington, is known as the unsung muse of 20th century design. Lexington's early explorations of type in the 1890s preceded the modern epoch by decades. Seeking a pure geometric form of letters, Lexington's seminal ideas are most notably seen in his submission for the U.S. Department of the Treasury currency design competition of 1900. Lexington's genius gave way to scandal, as nemesis Hermann Berthold introduced the font Lexington-Grotesk, later known as Akzidenz Grotesk.

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Jan Tschichold codified the principles of modern typography in his 1928 book, New Typography. He later repudiated the philosophy he espoused in this book as being fascistic, but it remained very influential. Tschichold, Bauhaus typographers such as Herbert Bayer and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and El Lissitzky are the fathers of graphic design as we know it today. They pioneered production techniques and stylistic devices used throughout the twentieth century. Today, although the computer has altered production forever, the experimental approach to design they pioneered is more relevant than ever. The dynamism, the experimentation, and even very specific things like typeface choice (Helvetica has seen a recent revival, it was an early design based indirectly on 19th century industrial typography) and strict, orthogonal composition.

Related Topics:
Jan Tschichold - 1928 - Bauhaus - Herbert Bayer - Laszlo Moholy-Nagy - El Lissitzky - Helvetica

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The following years saw graphic design in the modern style gain widespread acceptance and application, while it simultaneously stagnated. Notable names in mid-century modern design are Adrian Frutiger, designer of the typefaces Univers and Frutiger; and Josef Müller-Brockmann, who designed posters in a severe yet accessible manner typical of the 1950s and 1960s.

Related Topics:
Adrian Frutiger - Typeface - Univers - Frutiger - Josef Müller-Brockmann - 1950s - 1960s

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The reaction to the increasing severity of graphic design was slow but inexorable. The origins of post-modern typography can be traced back as far as the humanist movement of the 1950s. Notable among this group is Hermann Zapf who designed two typefaces that remain ubiquitous—Palatino (1948) and Optima (1952). By blurring the line between serif and sans-serif typefaces and re-introducing organic lines into typography these designs did more to ratify modernism than they did to rebel.

Related Topics:
Hermann Zapf - Palatino - 1948 - Optima - 1952

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An important point was reached in graphic design with the publishing of the First things first 1964 Manifesto which was a call to a more radical form of graphic design and criticized the ideas of value-free design. This was massively influential on a generation of new graphic designers and contributed to the founding of publications such as Emigre magazine.

Related Topics:
First things first 1964 Manifesto - Emigre magazine

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Another notable designer of the latter 20th century is Milton Glaser who designed the unmistakable I Love NY ad campaign (1973), and a famous Bob Dylan poster (1968). Glaser took stylistic hints from popular culture from the 1960s and 70s.

Related Topics:
Milton Glaser - 1973 - Bob Dylan - 1968 - Popular culture - 1960s - 70s

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Advances in the early 20th century were largely inspired by technological advances in printing and also in photography. In the last decade of the same century, technology played a similar role, but this time it was the computer, and at first it was largely a step backwards. Zuzana Licko worked very early using computers for layout, in the days when computer memory was measured in kilobytes and typefaces were created using dots rather than lines. Together with her husband Rudy VanderLans they founded the pioneering Emigre magazine and the Emigre type foundry. They played with the extraordinary limitations of computers as something which, in itself, could provide creative freedom. Emigre magazine became the bible for digital design as the technology rapidly advanced to the point where the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

Related Topics:
Printing - Photography - Zuzana Licko - Rudy VanderLans - Emigre type foundry

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David Carson is, in a sense, the culmination of the movement against the restrictiveness of modern design—some of his designs for Raygun magazine are intentionally illegible, featuring typography designed to be visual rather than literary experiences. He began his career working with paste-ups in the traditional manner, but moved to computers quickly when he saw what they had become capable of.

Related Topics:
David Carson - Raygun magazine - Typography

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Although they were very limiting at first, as computing power increased and software such as Adobe Photoshop emerged, it was evident exactly what kind of creative freedom and power that computers could provide. Image manipulation and 3D image creation using a computer demonstrated possibilities that had previously been unachievable. Another enormous development that computers provided to designers was the ability for them to set their own type, instantly seeing how it affected their design or layout, which allowed for new and more radical use of typography. Computers are now considered to be an indispensible tool used in the graphic design industry. However, a select few continue using manual and traditional tools for their creative endeavors: Jean Benoit-Levy, Studio Cyan and Milton Glaser, among others.

Related Topics:
Adobe - Photoshop - Typography

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