AMERICAN MODERNISM The Growth of Graphic Design
AMERICAN MODERNISM The Growth of Graphic Design
Designed by Carissa L. Sudjono Corcoran College of Art + Design
Table of CONTENTS Introduction 6 History of Modernism
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Development of Graphic Design
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American Corporate Identity
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“ In the 1800 the United States did not have its own national cultural form— it relied instead on the prevalent Victorian style from Britain and Europe.” R. Roger Remington
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This statement conveys that there was already an artistic movement in Europe that influenced artistic style in America in early 19th Century. However, since then there have been no vast changes in the American arts and design. Modernism is an ideology that was established in early 20th century Europe avant-garde, which covers a range of styles including Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Suprematism, Constructivism, Bauhaus, and De Stijl. All of these movements have a common thread: experimentation, and in the urge to create radical changes in society. These radical movements came to America through cross-pollination of ideas from European designers who migrated and/or travel to America and vice versa. The philosophies of these movements highly influenced the development of early 20th Century of Graphic Design as it flourished in America. Modernism in America is significant to the design movement because it was a breakthrough from traditional styles of the Victorian Era. Modernism impacted the development of contemporary design and the growth of corporate identity design. Its impact on both corporate identity and graphic design in general is still felt today.
“Elementare Typographie� Jan Tschichold’s 1925
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THE HISTORY OF MODERNISM
Modernism emerged because of a group of artists in Europe who are eager to break the traditional style of the Victorian Era. The Victorian Era around late 18th century is a movement which all of the works are very decorative and consisted of embellishments. Artists, designers and writers who were breaking the rules are referred as the “Avantgarde�. It is a French term, that means new, innovative or experimental and as such describes the transition from traditional to Modernism of that period. Artist and designers in this period were engaged about expressiveness and interested in total visual organization.
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“ Some of these movements, such as fauvism had a limited effect on graphic design. Others, such as cubism and futurism, Dada and surrealism, De Stijl, suprematism, constructivism, and expressionism directly influenced the graphic design language of form and visual communications in this century. The evolution of twentieth-century design closely relates to modern painting, poetry and architecture.� Phillip B. Meggs and Alson W. Purvis
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Each of these movements had an influence on American Modernism.
Futurist: The most influential futurist poet was Filippo Marinetti.
Cubism: The artist well known for his cubist work was Pablo Picasso. He saw things in a different and more simplified way. One of his inspirations was derived from the African mask that is made of out simple geometric shape. This new way of thinking and drawing challenged the traditions of Victorian era and or the Renaissance representational through its exploration of art traditional of pictorial art (Meggs 256-9). This movement contributes to graphic design of unconventional visual composition that encourages experimentation. The abstraction of simplified geometric shapes also urges design to have a new perspective.
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He wrote a manifesto to test ideas and forms against the scientific and industrial society. His manifesto was published in the most uniquely outrageou[s typography treatment at that time that resembles the manifesto, “italics for quick impression, boldface for violent noises and sounds�(Meggs 259). This form of typographic style enforces graphic designer address meanings through visuals.
Surrealism: entered in Paris scene in 1924 (Meggs 270).It
Dada: “was a protest against the war” (Meggs 265) it is a movement that is acceptable but not really pleasant to today’s audience, and it was also shocking to the public. The most memorable artist for the movement is Marchel Duchamp. He altered a Mona Lisa painting and painted a mustache on it. This act was a reaction embracing freedom but it was received as an attack of Mona Lisa. Meggs call it the “ingenious assault on tradition and a public that had lost the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance”. This movement is rebellious. Dada inspires and pushes designer to be more innovative bringing design away from traditional typographic style.
wasa groundbreaking movement and broadened designers creations at the time. It is when artist search for something “real” in a connotative sense. Salvador Dali was a dramaturgical painter in the movement that influenced graphic design in many ways. His use of deep perspective in his painting inspires designers to create depth to the flat printed pages (Meggs 271). His The Persistence of Memory for example gives the audience how fantasy and intuition can create effectiveness in conveying meanings and intentions.
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Expressionism: It is a movement that concentrates more on expressing feelings and away from showing realities. It encourages color, drawing and proportion to be exaggerated or distorted and emphasizes on symbolic contents (Meggs 273). Artists concentrate more on meanings and direct expressions than the representation. Sometimes the work of the artists in this period is too abstract; but its aim is to convey feelings from the color, pattern and spaces that are created by the artist. At that time, the techniques and the subject matter of expressionism has an emphasis on ”addressing the problems of the human condition and environment.” (Meggs 273) which influences the objectives of graphic designers.
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Suprematism and Constructivism: Kasimir Malevich and El Lissitzky are one of the most relevant artists in this movement that is highly influential in Graphic Design Studies today. Malevich Suprematist Composition (1915) is a “visual ideals about balance, space and form” (Meggs 300) that is derived from basic shapes and basic colors. This is a study of gestalt, which is the most basic skill that is needed for Designers. In addition to Gestalt, El Lissitzkly also incorporated photomontage and typography in his work to convey his intentions of designing.
In these movements the decorative quality of the 19th Century of Victorian work is transformed to the simplest geometric form. The notion of these radical changes of concepts, images and method became the paragon for graphic designers and it is still influence artists, designers and illustrators until today. The transformation from the Victorian Era towards the Avant-garde movement conveys the challenges towards design. Each movement built upon other movements that opened up to a larger field of experimentation.
De Stjil: was started in 1917(Ayiter). Piet Mondrian was one
They then contributed the characteristic that defined Modernism in Graphic Design, which are: 足足- To be more direct in their work. - To reduce graphics of objects into the simplest form: use geometric shapes and primary colors. - The use of simple typography: use mostly sans serif. - The use of white space.
of the famous artists for this movement. His memorable series of Composition with Red Yellow and Blue (1927) evoke a very grid-like work that also uses a limited amount of color palette. This style is very minimalistic.
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DEVELOPMENT OF GRAHIC DESIGN
“ Designers who migrated to America brought a powerful spirit of experimentation, which was lacking in America.” R. Roger Remington
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This was proven by the release of Jan Tschichold’s (German Typograper) “Elementare Typographie” in the United States. Editors and writers call it as ‘typography fireworks’ and ‘typography revolution’ (Meggs 350). And together with the availability of new typeface in 1928-29 including Futura and Kabel Modernism is taken to another level in America. William Dwiggins Addison, one of the most reputable American Modernist designers created Metro that was aimed to compete with Futura and Kabel (Meggs 350). In addition, Articles such as Lester Beall’s spread from the PM magazine featured ‘The Bauhaus Tradition and New Typography’ that was written by Sandusky (Remington and Bodenstedt 49) also spurred cross-realization of Modern movement even more. American designer furiously wanted to learn about European Avant-garde artist and designer. Lester Beal, cover for P.M in 1937 is a proof that American designer adopted characteristic of European Modernism (Meggs 351). The color and the diagonal typography suggest the influence of the Bauhaus and constructivism. However, he incorporate a Victorian Style embellished typeface on the lower left that gives the work its own dimension.
PM Magazine Cover Lester Beal 1937
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CCA advertisement Cassandre 1937
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Modernism speak aloud on functionality.
In this period, designers started to create juxtaposition and cinematic effect by using photography. Cassandre’s commissioned design for Container Corporation of America (CCA), (which was a leading American packaging company) in 1937 speak aloud on functionality. He was commissioned to design a series of CCA advertisements that defied America advertising conventions, in one specific work, he successfully creates a strong statement by using minimal wording “Research, experience and talent focused on advanced paperboard packaging” with a somewhat hypnotic illustration. It is a simple and direct solution compared with most 1930s advertising.
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Symbol System for Citizen Defence Corp Charles Coiner 1937
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In early 1950, Modernist design was utilized for national propaganda in America for World War II. The United States needed supports from its citizen. Modernist design was very effective in conveying images because of the simplicity and directedness that the work has. Lester Beal, an American Designer created “Don’t Let Him Down” war poster (Remington and Bodenstedt 93). He uses a monotone tank and a very simple typography treatment that are directing downwards. This work was aimed to motivate the army in the war. In addition, the creation of information graphic became more and more important. It’s simple geometric construction and straightforward images are an effective graphic to identify the object. Charles Coiner designed graphic symbol system; series of which related symbols for bomb squad, nurses, firemen, and etc. for Citizen Defense Corp (Remington and Bodenstedt 87). The symbolism is now still in used. This project predicted the corporate design system that manifest in America which still in practice until today.
Don’t Let Him Down Lester Beall 1941
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In America, Modernism has found its home. The cross-pollination of ideas from Europe to America eliminates the design ambiguity, the industrialization that was taking in place contribute to the advancement of Graphic design, and its simplicity and directedness of the character of the Modernist design makes it acceptable and noticeable for universal use. Consequently, modernism not only advance the field of Graphic Design, but also, became the view of life. It is an “active agent of social change.� (Drucker 53).
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“ Modernism had a fertile new place for growth in graphic design in America. It took ‘the New World” to embrace this ‘culture of newness’ and bring it to a place of relevance and appropriateness for business and industry. ‘Modernist pursuit of function, simplicity, clarity, honesty and timelessness will remain priorities because these qualities are integral to the evolution of our species.” R. Roger Remington
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AMERICAN CORPORATE IDENTITY
“ The 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s graphic design became a profession. Swiss designers like Josef Müller-Brockmann and Karl Gerstner turned revolutionary avant-garde ideals into formal methodologies, detaching design from a disruptive aesthetic agenda. The resulting International Style leapt from Europe to the United States, spreading values of neutrality, objectivity and rationality expressed through tightly gridded layouts and restricted typography. Business and design joined forces as iconic American designers Paul Rand and Bauhaus immigrant Herbert Bayer used Swiss to approaches to construct powerful corporate identity systems.” Helen Armstrong
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The notion of corporate identity in America started in as early as the 1920s. A New Yorker designer, Clarence P. Hornung has designed over 300 marks by 1937. (Remington and Bodenstedt 50) His remarks of his design was, “At this time I became interested in the sore need for re-styling American trademarks, and this form, morethan any other, fascinated me.” Honrung also stated that, “The designer of marks for modern business must think beyond the printed page into all the materials of manufacture.” His remarks foreshadow the rise of corporate Identity in America in graphic design of the 1950 (Remington and Bodenstedt 50). Coincidently Hornung’ book titled Trade = Marks, which is a collection of his trademark design in 1930 is similar to book was published in Germany titled XX Eigen Maarken in 1921. In this note, the Avant-garde and -modernist movement derived the creation of symbols and marks that evident in early 20th century.
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Rand smartly customized his designs to create a meaningful logo that relates to the corporations. His IBM logo is still used until today. He then created new identity programmers for many American companies, businesses and products. He stated, “To design is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dramatize, to persuade and perhaps even amuse. To design is to transform prose into poetry.” Lester Beal (1903-69) moved to New York in 1935 from Kansas City because he wants to participate in the fast movement of modernism. He was known as an eclectic modernist designer (Remmington 151). He mentioned that “An effective company or corporate symbol must represent and accomplish many things. It is a company’s identifying mark… indicating the company’s field of business or its products: reflecting its attitude; signifying the character of its management: and intimating command of the future” One of this most known corporate logo is that he invented for International Paper Company in 1960 and it is still in use today (Meggs 420). His design was very simple and geometric. Within the circle of the IP mark, Beal created element that conveys timelessness harmony but it also has ambiguity quality to it, which address the perception of process. Moreover Beall then create package branding which then allowed him to develop a complete visual identity program. His achievements also include the designs for one of the first graphics standards manuals (Remington and Bodenstedt, pp. 32).
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IBM Logo Paul Rand 1937 International Paper Company Logo Lester Beal 1960
This era of corporate identity was only the beginning of the period in which Modernism reach its height in American graphic design.
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The approach of corporate communication in America during the 50s went beyond Modernism. As Paul Rand say that corporate identity is like ‘’thread and needle’—“Good design satisfies both idea and form.” This era of corporate identity was only the beginning of the period in which Modernism reach its height in American graphic design. Among corporations with commitment to design excellence came the need for in-house corporate design departments. Many leading companies in America then hired formally trained designers. These designers are responsible for corporate identity program, designed collateral materials and corporate propaganda. This created more demands in graphic designer and the interest of graphic design to many.
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In a nutshell, America did not have a definitive culture and tradition that could precipitate graphic design in the 1920s. The rise of Nazism in Europe in the 1930s forced the intellectually creative Europeans to flee and finds a place to facilitate their innovative mind. The emergence of Modernism that was brought by the Europeans to America was significant because it derived graphic design into a professional practice. The characteristic of the movement was taken from the European Avant-garde movements that were caused by the cross-realization. Together with the technology and interests that were developing in America, Modernism advanced the development of graphic design and opens up for a larger and in depth experimentation. In addition, the beauty of simplicity and straightforward messaging of the Modernist design was used to create for corporate identity. This brand identity went beyond modernism and is crucial to today’s contemporary consumer culture.
Together with the technology and interests that were developing in America, Modernism advanced the development of graphic design and opens up for a larger and in depth experimentation.
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Works Sited Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory, Readings From The Field. New York: Princeton Architectural Pr, 2009. Print. Ayiter, Elif. “The Avant-garde.” The History of Visual Communication. N.p.. Web. 10 Oct 2012. <http://citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/avantgarde.html>. Drucker, Johanna, and Emily McVarish. Graphic Design History. 2. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print. Meggs, Philip B. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. 5th. New Jersey: John Wiley , 2012. Print. Rand, P. (2009). Good Design is Good Will. In H. Armstrong, Graphic Design Theory Readings From The Field (pp. 64-69). New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Remington, R. R. (2003). American Modernism. New Haven: Yale University Press. Remington, R. Roger, and Lisa Bodenstedt. American Modernism, Graphic Design 1920-1960. New Haven: Yale Univ Press, 2003. Print.
Fonts: Metro and Bulmer Instructor: Debra Naylor Course: Theories and History of Graphic Design Semester: Fall 2012