1960s design publication

issue one

1960s Design & Typography

1960s Graphic Design and Typography is renowned for it’s complete evolution and lasting influence on the industry. This is the first of a two part series looking at whether it was 60s counter-culture that influenced design or visa versa

The 1960s was a period that saw the breakdown of long held views, norms, behaviours and the conventionalism of the 50s. The emergence of a youth movement dedicated to creating an egalitarian society, free from all forms of social discrimination was founded, resulting in the complete evolution of all facets in society. The period’s youth questioned social, cultural and political norms and it was these changing societal views that juxtaposed the lingering placidity of 50s graphic design at the time. As the rising counter-culture evolutions occurred the sun set on the design ways of the 50s, resulting in the complete evolution of graphic design and typography.

There were very clear visual hallmarks that characterised 1950s design, some of these included; symmetrical layouts built around a mathematically constructed grid, an unadorned approach to the presentation of content, the

use of sans-serif type and a preference for photography over illustration. 1950s design focused on presenting content in a clear and concise manner, which valued structure and order rather than creating aesthetically pleasing content. Univers and Helvetica were the decades two most renowned typefaces.

Helvetica is the perfect example of the principles that created the foundation of 50s Graphic Design and Typography. Helvetica is a font of practically, “the typeface was designed to merely be a clean, useful alphabet that could convey important information in the clearest way�. As society started to perceive and react to the world differently in the 60s, so did the way designers and typographers approached their craft. Rather than putting no importance of the visual aesthetics of design, the 60s created an environment in which designers could focus on how to convey meaning, emotion and content in a way that was also visually appealing.

The 1960s was all about the evolution of graphic design.

Prominent designers such as Saul Bass, Paul Rand, Alan Fletcher and Erik Nitsche were still just as influential as they were in 50s, however in the 60s they started to experiment more and more, which was synonyms with the cultural values and viewpoints at the time. Designers started to play around with LSD-inspire psychedelia, animation, lithograph, illustration and editorial design. The 60s was the decade of the psychedelic

The 60s pushed designers to start seeing their works in a larger social and worldly context. Without the ideologies that created the foundation for 1960s culture, Graphic Designers and Typographers would of still be stuck in the stagnant and sterile ways of conventional 50s design.

movement, where youth experimented with mindaltering drugs. LSD-inspired distorted perceptions gained significant impact in graphic design, appearing in a myriad of rock concert posters, as a way to express the feelings they were experiencing. The geometric layouts of the 50s were turned on their heads in the 60s, taking straight lines and angles in an entirely different direction and using them as a way to create dizzying optical illusions and repeating patterns.