Graphic Design: A Medium for the Masses james.beighton@leeds-art.ac.uk
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 and Horses, c. 15,000 - 10,000BC, Cave painting, Lascaux, France
Giotto di Bondone, Betrayal, c. 1305, Fresco, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy
John Everett Millais, Bubbles, 1886, Pears Soap advertisement
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 printingdesigner’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’.
‘Whatever the information transmitted, it must, ethically and culturally, reflect its responsibility to society’. Josef Muller-Brockman
‘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
Alphonse Mucha, Job, c. 1898, poster for cigarette papers
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish Musical Review, 1896, poster
Koloman Moser, 13th Secession Exhibition, 1902, poster
Peter Behrens, AEG, 1910
Savile Lumley, Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?, c. 1915, poster
Alfred Leete, Britons [Kitchener] wants you!, 1914, poster
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
F.H. Stingemore (UK), London Underground Map, 1931 - 2
Henry C. (Harry) Beck (UK), London Underground Map, 1933
After Harry Beck, London Underground Map
Simon Patterson (1967 - ), The Great Bear, 1992, lithograph on paper
Simon Patterson (1967 - ), The Great Bear, 1992, lithograph on paper
Oskar Schlemmer (German), Bauhaus logo, 1922
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (Russian), Painting Photography Film, 1925, book cover
Herbert Bayer (German), Kandinsky 60th Birthday exhibition, 1926, poster
Piet Zwart (Dutch), Het boek van PTT, 1938 (Dutch telephone service book)
Herbert Matter (Swiss), Swiss Tourist Board, c. 1932 - 34, posters
A.M. Cassandre (French), L’Intransigeant, 1925, newspaper poster
A.M. Cassandre (French), Etoile du Nord, 1927, poster
Tom Purvis (UK), LNER, 1937, poster
Ludwig Hohlwein (German), Reichs Sports Day for the Association of German Girls , 1934, poster
Ludwig Vierthaler (German), Degenerate Art, 1936, exhibition poster
Hans Schleger (German, working in UK), Eat Greens for Health, 1942, poster
Josep Renau (Spanish), Industry of War, 1936
Josep Renau (Spanish), Stalingrad: The New Star of Freedom, 1942
Pere Catala i Pic (Spanish), Let’s Squash Fascism, 1936
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
Abram Games, catalogue for ‘Exhibition of Science’, Festival of Britain, 1951
Paul Rand, advert for Jacqueline Cochran, 1946
Helmut Krone for Doyle Dane Berbach, Think Small, advert for Volkswagen, 1959
Saul Bass, poster for The Man with the Golden Arm, 1955
Saul Bass, poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, 1958
Saul Bass, title graphics for Anatomy of a Murder, 1959
Paul Rand, logo for American Broadcasting Company, 1962 Paul Rand, poster for IBM, 1970
‘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
F.H.K. Henrion, Stop Nuclear Suicide poster, 1960
Seymour Chwast/Push Pin Studio, End Bad Breath poster, 1968
Art Workers Coalition, Q. And Babies? A. And Babies, 1970
Hipgnosis, 10CC, Deceptive Bends sleeve design, 1977
Jamie Reid, Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks ‌ sleeve design, 1977
Peter Saville, FAC 001, The Factory Club Night poster
Peter Saville, New Order, Blue Monday, sleeve design, 1983
Neville Brody, The Face magazine covers, 1980s
David Carson, Ray Gun, double page spread
David Carson, Don’t mistake legibility for communication
Public Image Limited, album, sleeve design, 1986
Public Image Limited, compact disc, cd packaging, 1986
Peter Blake, Band Aid, Do they Know its Christmas?, 1984
Chumbawamba, Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records, 1986
Designers Republic, Pop Will Eat Itself, Ich bin ein auslander, sleeve design, 1994
Julian House (for Intro), Primal Scream, Xtrmntr, sleeve design, 2000
Mark Farrow (Farrow Design), Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space, CD packaging, 1997
Mark Farrow (Farrow Design), Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space, limited edition CD packaging 1997
The Coup, Party Music, withdrawn CD cover, 2001
Time Magazine, cover, September 14th 2001
‘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
Jonathan Barnbrook, Bastard typeface, 1990
Jonathan Barnbrook, Olympukes
‘Quite understandably, the people behind these campaigns have come to think of themselves as cultural philosophers, spiritual guides, artists, even political leaders. For instance, Benetton, rather than using its ads to extol the virtues of its clothing, opted instead to communicate what Oliviero Toscani believed to be fundamental truths about the injustice of capital punishment. According to the company’s communication policy, “Benetton believes that it is important for companies to take a stance in the real world instead of using their advertising budget to perpetuate the myth that they can make consumers happy through the mere purchase of their product”’. Naomi Klein, Truth in Advertising, 2000 (in Looking Closer 4, page 64)
Oliviero Toscani, Benetton adverts 1990 - 1992
‘It seems like a noble goal, yet Benetton’s political branding campaigns implicitly promise customers a happiness of another sort – not just beauty, status or style, the traditional claims fashion companies make, but virtue and engagement. And that’s where the problems arise, because this claim is simply not true. Benetton’s clothing has nothing to do with AIDS or war or the lives of prisoners on death row, and by using these issues in sweater advertisements, Benetton is inserting a layer of distance and mediation – represented by the Benetton name itself – between consumers and these important issues’. Naomi Klein, Truth in Advertising, 2000 (in Looking Closer 4, page 64)
Oliviero Toscani, United Colors of Benetton advert 1990
Reworked billboard ad by Saatchi & Someone, (original text United Colors of Benetton), 1990 - 91
‘While the publicity generated by such campaigns [Benetton] is immense – and their globalized distribution protects them from the effects of a ban in any one country – it is also surely shocking that the shock effect wears off so quickly. Perhaps the overall driving motive of such campaigns is in fact nothing new – but simply an astute loyalty to one of the oldest adages in the business: there is no such thing as bad Publicity’
Barbara Kruger, I shop therefore I am, 1987
Barbara Kruger/Selfridges, I shop therefore I am, 2006
‘Anyone entering the Selfridges store in London for their new year sale in January may have wondered if the store wasn't doing its best to put off potential customers. Bold red, black and white signs incorporating phrases extolling the distortion of desire that comes with commodity fetishism were everywhere. It was as if a bunch of Marxist subvertisers had crept in late at night and hijacked the space. Critiques of consumerism sourced from Malcolm X, Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allen Poe, among others, were everywhere - as part of a collaboration between New York artist Barbara Kruger and the store’ Noel Douglas, The Overall Sales Experience, March 2006, at http://www. socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=9706
Barbara Kruger/Selfridges, Buy Me. I’ll change your life/ You want it You buy it You forget it, 2006
‘For the last decade, as a profession, graphic designers have been either shamefully remiss or inexcusably ineffective about plying their craft for social or political betterment’ Steven Heller, 1991
‘Once we’ve acknowledged that designers have certain inherent limitations as message bearers, the question which must be asked is: “Can graphic designers actually do something to change the world?”’ Steven Heller, 1991
‘The answer is “yes”, if one disregards the fact that there are very limited outlets for this kind of work, and accepts the fact that being socially responsible means taking the initiative oneself, dealing rationally with issues, and having a commitment to a specific cause’ Steven Heller, 1991
Judy Blame, Keep Britain Tidy t shirt, 1992
Adbusters ‘We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.’ http://www.adbusters.org/
Final thoughts Graphic Design is a relatively young discipline ●Links between Graphic Design and different disciplines, e.g. Fine Art, Advertising are arguably becoming increasingly blurred ●Although born out of consumerist/capitalist interests, Graphic Design is arguably becoming increasingly concerned with social issues ●
Bibliography Bierut, M. (ed) Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design series (5 volumes), New York, Allworth Press Fiell, C. and Fiell, P. (2007) Contemporary Graphic Design, Cologne, Taschen Heller, S. and Ballance, G. (2001), Graphic Design History, New York, Allworth Press Hollis, R. (2001) Graphic Design: A Concise History, London, Thames and Hudson McAlhone, B. and Stuart D. (1996) A Smile in the Mind: witty thinking in Graphic Design, London, Phaidon Poynor, R. (1993) The Graphic Edge, London, Booth-Clibborn Editions Poynor, R. (2003) No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism, London, Laurence King