Lecture: Graphic Design: A Medium for the Masses

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

 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

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