History of Modern Art &

Graphic Design
18102210
Other 20th Century Developments
 Propaganda Graphic Design
(World War – I & II)

• Propaganda is defined as; the systematic propagation of official government

policies through manipulative communications to the public.

• The propaganda may provide true or false information, but the information is
selectively presented in a provoking style to have its maximum emotional effect.

• This was the classic propaganda battle that could help change the course of any
war due to its ability to either mobilize and encourage or demoralize its target
audiences.

• Besides the nationalism, jingoism, and patriotism that were undoubtedly also a part
of the reason for this propaganda, there was also a more straightforward reason for
design: the need to raise money and keep wartime economies going.
• Propaganda posters were most wildly known for being used for recruitment, plus to
inform the public.

• Propaganda Graphic Design is also called a Heroic Realism.

• While the Belligerents were engaged in the deadly combat on the ground the
graphic designers used the communication medium to fight another kind of war but
always in support of their nation.

• There was no radio, TV, internet or social media but new and cost effective printing
techniques allowed for mass production of posters and these became the primary
tools for war propaganda.

• The most popular and iconic design of this nature was American Uncle Sam poster.
Image Source: https://time.com/4725856/uncle-sam-poster-history/
• During world war I & II, graphic design was used by both the sides to try and
gain an advantage over the other.

• The Axis forces used graphic design to promote their Nazi values and creating
an illusion of the perfect immortal Aryan race.

• Swastika was the most influential and successful design of Nazi identity.

• With the help of graphic design, the Nazis demonstrated Jews by presented
them as conspiring, warmongering and greedy people.
• Some Nazi propaganda used positive images to glorify the government’s
leaders and its various activities, projecting a glowing vision of the “national
community.”

• Graphic design played a role of hugely powerful tool behind the heinous and
horrendously successful propaganda machine.

• The Allied Nations of World War - II used graphic design as a powerful

recruitment machine a means to educate the public and to trivialize and
weaken the Nazi regime.
Image Source: https://creativemarket.com/blog/propaganda-graphic-design
Image Source: https://creativemarket.com/blog/propaganda-graphic-design
Image Source: http://arh346.blogspot.com/2011/03/world-war-ii-propaganda.html
 The Bauhaus
• The Bauhaus School has had a huge influence on the history of design and it
continues to do so.

• It was state funded school set up by an architect Walter Groupis in 1919, in

Germany. The school was moved to Dessau in 1924 and then was forced to
close under the pressure of the Nazi political party in 1933.

• It favored simplified forms, rationality functionality and the idea that mass
production could live in harmony with the artistic spirit of individuality.

• Bauhaus taught typography as part of its curriculum and was instrumental in

the development of sans-serif typography, which they favored for its simplified
geometric forms.
• The Bauhaus movement was unique because it asked how the ‘modernization
process could be mastered by means of design.’

• Bauhaus movement was a reaction of excess of industry and manufacturing, they

felt art was losing its place in the society.

• Herbert Bayer, one of the key topographer of this movement developed Universal
Typeface in 1925.

• "Form follows function" was the key teaching of the Bauhaus school.

• The designing principal at the Bauhaus school was that design could make the world
a better place.

• Key designers of this time were Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, Paul Klee.
Image Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bauhaus
Image Source: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-bauhaus-shaped-100-years
 American Modernism
• Much like modernism movement in general, modernist movement emerged in
America in various media - advertising, information design, brand identity,
magazine design and posters.

• This modernism was historically influenced by various similar movements.

• The development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities
followed by the horrors of World War - I, depression and unemployment were
among the factors that shaped modernism.

• American modernism, benefitted from the diversity of immigrant cultures,

artists were inspired by different cultures and they embedded these exotic
style in their work.
• After the closing of Bauhaus,
many of its artist immigrated
to US. They greatly influenced
American architecture and
graphic design.

• Moholy Nagy came in 1937

and opened New Bauhaus
which shortly converted into
Institute of Design and
Moholy ran it till 1946.

Image Source: https://www.thenewbauhaus.com/

 Swiss Style
• This style of design originated in Switzerland in 1940s and 1950s. It is often
referred to as International Typographic Style.

• The style was marked by the use of mathematical grid to provided an overall
structure. This logical modular grid system provided a structural framework to
align different elements, something was considered an essential for most forms
of graphic design.

• Sans Serif typefaces especially Helvetica was introduced in 1957.

• The style was refined at two design school in Switzerland. One is Basel led by
Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder and the other in Zurich under the leadership of
Josef Müller-Brockmann.
• This style still holds much
power today especially in
corporate
communications.

• The visual characteristics of

this style include a visual
unity achieved on a
mathematically
constructed grid ,
objective photography
and type that presents
information in a clear and
factual manner. Image Source: https://99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/swiss-design/
 Memphis Movement
• In 1981, Italian designer Ettore Sottsass founded a group of artists and designers
called Memphis.

• The Memphis Group created furniture, fabrics, patterns, ceramics and other products
in a distinctly Postmodern style. The group's colorful furniture has been described as
"bizarre", "misunderstood", and "a shotgun wedding.

• Initial critical reaction to the designs produced by the Memphis Group was not
positive.

• The Memphis group people were bored with the restrained lines and minimal color
palette of modernism, and wanted to create something completely different.

• Their designs were wild and exuberant, often composed of brightly colored
geometric shapes rendered in a simple, almost two-dimensional way, which gave
them a playful, even childlike feel.
• However, we can now reflect on the designs created by the Memphis Group
and recognize that they were groundbreaking.

• Memphis’s fresh approach to design, which was characterized by creativity

and humor, came to be a lasting stylistic hallmark of the 1980s.

• After six years of creative productivity, in 1987 the Memphis Group disbanded.
Despite being described as a fad at the time, the group’s trademark style is
now experiencing a revival.
Image Source: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/a-brief-history-of-memphis-the-design-group-that-defined-the-look-of-the-80s-226747
Image Source: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/a-brief-history-of-memphis-the-design-group-that-defined-the-look-of-the-80s-226747
Image Source: https://d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net/uploads/2016/04/memphis-design-5.jpg
 The Digital Revolution
• Until the late 20th century graphic design discipline had been a handicraft
process. Layouts were drawn by hand and in order to visualize the design.

• Rapid development in computer hardware and software technology in 1980s

and 90s brought about a radical change in the graphic design industry.

• Software such as MacPaint by programmer Bill Atkinson and graphic designer

Susan Kare had a revolutionary human interface.

• The Postscript page description language by Adobe systems Inc. enabled

pages of type and images to be assembled into graphic design on screen.

• The digital revolution in graphic design was followed quickly by public access
to the internet, this gave the birth to a new era.
Image Source: Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay