Grahic Design: A Medium for the Masses
Hand out Notes:
The lecture will consider the history of Graphic Design, and the status of the medium/discipline in relation to Fine Art and Advertising, as a tool of Capitalism, and as a political tool.
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‟.
Some definitions:
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‟.
The role of Graphic Design
„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
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‟.
Some definitions:
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‟.
The role of Graphic Design
„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
First Things First
„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 ...
„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 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
James Beighton, October 2012.
james.beighton@leeds-art.ac.uk
„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 ...
„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 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
James Beighton, October 2012.
james.beighton@leeds-art.ac.uk
Powerpoint Images and notes i took from this lecture
Early forms of graphic design
Bison and Horses, c.
15,000 - 10,000BC, Cave painting, Lascaux, France
This not specifically graphic designs show that visual language was used at this time, due to the fact people could not read at this time they used images and pictures to show others what they meant. Which is what graphic design is a visual communication.
Giotto
di Bondone, Betrayal, c.
1305, Fresco, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy
Again visual communication comes into play with these images to tell the religous story of Jesus' life, you can tell which one is Jesus and you can tell who the bad guy is within the left image uses symbols and images. Again not specifically graphic design and seen more as art but the visual language is there to tell the story.
John
Everett Millais, Bubbles,
1886, Pears Soap advertisement
Does putting type on an image make it Graphic design? Turning it into an advertisement. Unsophisticated design of early advertisements.
'Whatever the information transmitted, it
must,ethically and culturally, reflect its
responsibility to society’.
Josef Muller-Brockman
Edouard
Manet
(1832 - 83), A Bar at the Folies
Bergeres,
1882
‘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
‘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
‘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)
‘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)
‘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’
Cook,
G. (1992), The Discourse of Advertising,
London, Routledge,
page 229
‘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
‘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
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
