In 1966, the German graphic designer Olaf Leu (b. 1936) wrote that German design no longer had any national attributes. He observed that while some might favor this development, many others regretted it. At the time of Leu’s writing, the purist geometry of the International Typographic Style and the unbridled freedom of American design were harmoniously coexisting as important influences on both German design and design activity around the globe. A period of international dialogue was beginning.
In the same way that events in China and the Middle East may directly affect Europe, the Americas, and Japan, conceptual innovation and visual invention in one part of the world may spread rapidly to another. As one government’s foreign policy can have both local and global consequences, conceptual innovation and visual invention beginning locally may have a global reach that is rapid, powerful, and direct.
Today, an international culture embracing fine arts, performing arts, and design spans national boundaries, extending from rich design metropolises to every corner of the globe. This growth has been spurred by a compounding of factors, including graphic arts technology—which makes professional typography and printing possible in small cities and developing countries—and the exponential growth of graphic design education.
During the 1980s and 1990s the rapid development of electronic and computer technology began to change the processes and appearance of design. Overnight express mail, fax machines, the Internet, electronic mail, global televisual communications such as the continuous Cable News Network (CNN), and direct-dial international long-distance telephone service all served to further shrink the human community into Marshall McLuhan’s “global village.” The advanced technology of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries created a cultural milieu of simultaneity—ancient and modern cultures, Eastern and Western thought, handicraft and industrial production—until past, present, and future blurred into a continuum of information and visual form. This complex world of cultural and visual diversity has created an environment in which a global dialogue coexists with national visions, resulting in an explosive and pluralistic era for graphic design. The many countries and regions where designers have developed a unique national posture for design include the United Kingdom, Asia, the Netherlands, the Iberian Peninsula, the Americas, and the Middle East.
Pentagram, the formative years
The historical influence of the United Kingdom, a constitutional democracy uniting England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, has transcended its size. Under Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603), England became a major naval power and started its vast colonial empire, spreading English social customs and language around the globe. This international influence continues today.
In post–World War II England, graphic design was characterized by an international culture that embraced the fine and performing arts. Both the purist modernism of Switzerland and the graphic expressionism of New York were assimilated, but outstanding English designers succeeded in making significant contributions to international dialogue while avoiding becoming tied to those movements that influenced them. After the trauma of the war, Herbert Spencer (1922–2002) became an important voice in renewing British graphic design through his writing, teaching, and graphic design practice. Spencer’s understanding of modern art and design was translated into a rare typographic sensitivity and structural vitality. As editor and designer of the journal Typographica and author of Pioneers of Modern Typography, an influential 1969 book that informed the postwar generation about the accomplishments of earlier twentieth-century designers, Spencer helped stimulate the worldwide dialogue.
A design partnership that formed in 1962 became an early locus of British design. Alan Fletcher (1931–2006), Colin Forbes (b. 1928), and Bob Gill (b. 1931) launched a studio that carried their names. In 1965, after Gill left the partnership and architect Theo Crosby (1925–94) joined the firm, the name was changed to Crosby, Fletcher, Forbes. Exhibition design, historic conservation, and industrial design were added to the firm’s activities. As additional partners were added, the name of the studio was changed to Pentagram. Continued growth would make this five-pronged name obsolete, for by 1996 Pentagram had seventeen partners and 148 employees in its offices in London, Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas.
Intelligence and a talent for developing design solutions suited to the needs of the problem were the hallmarks of Pentagram design during its formative years in London. Asked to design a cover for a magazine containing an article about their work, the designers mailed a parcel from London to Zurich with a request for its return unopened. A color photograph documenting its journey through the postal system became the cover design (Fig. 23–1). British wit and a willingness to try the unexpected were combined with a thorough evaluation of the communications problem and the specific nature of the environmental conditions under which the design was to appear. This summarizes the essence of the Pentagram approach to graphic design.
In the best English tradition, Pentagram’s partners combined a sense of the contemporary (Figs. 23–2 and 23–3) with a strong understanding of history. The firm’s earlier design solutions range from clean geometric forms in corporate identity systems to a warm historicism in packaging design and graphics for smaller clients. Conceptual, visual, and often imbued with expressive humor, Pentagram’s graphic design work enabled Britain to establish an international presence in the field just as it had at the turn of the twentieth century and in the years after World War I. Pentagram’s expansion into other countries and continents is a testament to the organizational skills and creativity of the original partners.
Recent British graphic design
With its constantly changing consumer market and ever-expanding multicultural population, London is often characterized as transitory and enigmatic. Herein lies a visual culture embracing new media and the development of computer technology through a multitude of emerging design studios offering different approaches to visual problem solving. Many London graphic design studios embrace contemporary fine art that is eclectic and connected to ephemeral pop culture. Many also draw inspiration from traditional graphic design.
As a young designer with a passion for independent rock music, Vaughan Oliver (b. 1957) collaborated with Ivo Watts-Russell (b. 1954), the founder of the 4AD Records label. Employed by Watts-Russell’s South London company, Oliver created a remarkable series of record covers and promotional print collateral for well-known musical groups such as the Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, the Pixies, Bush, and Lush. Motivated by his intense bond with music, he committed himself to high standards, bold exploration, and the imaginative use of found imagery. Oliver has often worked with the photographer Nigel Grierson in a partnership called 23 Envelope, and he more recently collaborated with Chris Bigg (b. 1962), producing graphic design for such clients as Microsoft, Sony, the BBC, JP Morgan Private Bank, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Harrods, Virgin, Warner Bros., and Raygun Publishing (Fig. 23–4).
Other recent British designers include Michael Johnson (b. 1964), who got his start at Wolf Olins in the 1980s. After a short time working in Australia and Japan as an art director, he returned to London and set up his own graphic design studio. His work is witty and clever, using wordplay and strong visual puns as a communication strategy (Fig. 23–5). Why Not Associates was established by Andrew Altmann (b. 1962), David Ellis (b. 1962), and Howard Greenhalgh (b. 1963) in 1987. This multidisciplinary, experimental London-based design company has worked on diverse projects, including postage stamps, corporate identity, exhibition design, environmental design, television titles, and motion graphics. Clients include the typography magazine U&lc, the Royal College of Art, the Kobe Fashion Museum in Japan, Armani, Nike, Saab, and First Direct (Fig. 23–6).
Pentagram’s philosophy continues to be based on the concept of a mutual interdisciplinary design practice and an intuitive exchange among partners. The London office hosts public events such as lectures and exhibitions in its Notting Hill gallery. Pentagram has diversified with the addition of architect Lorenzo Apicella (b. 1957), book designer Angus Hyland (b. 1963) (Fig. 23–7), and Colors magazine creative director Fernando Gutiérrez (b. 1963). Other notable members of the London office include David Hillman (b. 1943) (Fig. 23–8), who was previously commissioned to design the French daily newspaper Le Matin de Paris; John McConnell (b. 1939), whose previous clients include the leading 1960s boutique Biba; the distinguished product and package designer John Rushworth (b. 1958); and the industrial and vehicle designer Daniel Weil (b. 1953), whose work can be found in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
With offices in Sydney, Australia, and London, England, Vince Frost (b. 1964) solves graphic design problems through his close collaboration with photographers, illustrators, and writers. This association is exemplified in the design and editing of the literary magazine Zembla. Although it ceased publication in 2005, Zembla represented a new era in magazine design by fusing writing, photography, illustration, and expressive typography in a manner that challenged all previous mores (Fig. 23–9).
A graduate of the London College of Printing, Siobhan Keaney (b. 1959) creates work that is both independent and experimental. Her self-described “maverick” stance and “non-mainstream” approach is evident in her work for many important commercial and cultural clients, including the Royal Mail, London (Fig. 23–10). Her carefully structured yet seemingly spontaneous designs are recognized worldwide; she has exhibited and lectured widely throughout North America, Europe, the Near East, and Asia. Her designs are part of the permanent collection of the Twentieth Century Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and she is one of forty European designers and architects to have work featured at the Design Centre in Osaka, Japan. Keaney has also held academic appointments at some of the United Kingdom’s leading design programs, including the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art, London.
The rise of Japanese design
Eighty percent of the island nation of Japan consists of rugged, uninhabitable mountains, and both food and fuel have to be imported. Japan remained an isolated and feudal society until the middle of the nineteenth century. The country’s rapid industrial development over the course of the twentieth century, particularly during the decades after World War II, is a major testament to the will and energy of the Japanese people. During the postwar period technological leadership and an awareness of Western social patterns and lifestyles raised philosophical issues for Japanese graphic designers as they sought to maintain national traditions while simultaneously incorporating international influences. The tree-planting poster (Fig. 23–11) by Ryuichi Yamashiro (1920–97) demonstrates just how successfully this could be accomplished, as Eastern calligraphy and spatial concerns unite with a Western communications concept.
European constructivism is a major resource for Japanese design. However, the systematic organization and strong theoretical foundation of constructivism is tempered by a traditional Japanese inclination toward intuitive problem solving and a heritage of simplified emblematic form. Japanese designers more often use central placement and organize space around a median axis, reflecting the compositional traditions of many Japanese arts and crafts, rather than employing the relational asymmetrical balance of European constructivism. An important inspiration for Japanese graphic designers is the traditional family symbol or crest, the mon (Fig. 23–12), which has been used for a thousand years. A mon is a simplified design of flowers, birds, animals, plants, or household objects contained in a circle, which was applied to belongings and clothing.
Yusaku Kamekura (1915–97) was apprenticed to an architect and then worked as art director for several Japanese cultural magazines from 1937 until 1948. During the postwar recovery period Kamekura emerged as an influential design leader who earned the reverential name “Boss” in Japanese design circles. Under his leadership, Japanese graphic designers dispelled the widely held belief that visual communications must be hand-drawn. The notion of applied arts being inferior to fine art also weakened as Japanese designers established their professional status.
Kamekura charted the course of this new Japanese movement through the vitality and strength of his creative work; his leadership in founding the Japan Advertising Art Club, bringing professionalism and focus to the new discipline; and his role with the Japan Design Center, newly established in 1960. As managing director of this organization, Kamekura brought leading graphic designers together with industry.
Technical discipline, a thorough understanding of printing techniques, and careful construction of visual elements characterize Kamekura’s work (Fig. 23–13). The logo and posters he created for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo received international acclaim and established Japan as a center of creative design (Fig. 23–14). Kamekura’s works are conspicuously modern yet often evoke the poetic traditions of Japanese art. Through the emblematic simplicity of his constructivist geometry and international style–inspired typography (Fig. 23–15), all parts are unified into an expressive whole.
An imaginative approach to photographic design was developed by Tadashi Masuda (b. 1922). His growing involvement in the use of photographic illustration to solve graphic design problems, combined with his interest in collaborative and team design, culminated in the establishment of the Tadashi Masuda Design Institute in 1958. Many art directors and graphic designers view photographers and illustrators as subcontractors on call to give form to the designer’s concepts. In Tadashi’s collaborative team approach, unexpected solutions and new ways of seeing things emerged. Type placement on, above, or below the photograph is done with great sensitivity. A favored layout approach uses a structure of fine, ruled lines as a vessel to contain the typographic information. Color is used very effectively: brightly colored backgrounds are sometimes juxtaposed with objects of contrasting hue, and a consistent color cast is often used to unify an image. Focal points such as the rich blue paper wrapping the printing plates on a Brain magazine cover (Fig. 23–16) are examples of the technique of using one intense color in an otherwise muted photograph.
As Japanese design evolved, the constructivist impulse was developed by original thinkers who combined personal visions with the universal harmony of geometric form. Kazumasa Nagai (b. 1929), a sculpture major at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, turned to graphic design after graduating in 1951. His oeuvre might be considered ongoing research into linear form and the properties of line as a graphic medium for spatial modulation. His explorations of the nature of line through fine-art drawings and prints are the wellspring for his posters, abstract trademarks, and advertisements. The technical perfection of his designs and their printed production is formidable. His poster for a Paris exhibition of works by twelve Japanese graphic designers, Tradition et Nouvelles Techniques (Tradition and New Techniques) (Fig. 23–17), creates a universe of geometric forms evoking planets and energy forces moving in space.
While Nagai bases his designs on line, Ikko Tanaka (1930–2002) used plane and shape as the nucleus for his work. Over the course of the 1950s, Tanaka assimilated many of the Bauhaus design traditions and then opened Tanaka Design Studio in 1963. A pluralistic designer, he explored many directions. Two underlying visual concepts in much of his work are grid structure and vibrant planes of color that explore warm/cool contrast, close-valued color, and analogous color ranges. Traditional Japanese motifs, including landscape (Fig. 23–18), Kanze Noh theater, calligraphy, masks, and woodblock prints, are reinvented in a modernist design idiom. In some of his most original works, color planes are arranged on a grid to signify abstracted and expressive portraits, as seen in his “Nihon Buyo” poster for the Asian Performing Arts Institute (Fig. 23–19). These visages have remarkable individual character and personality.
Takenobu Igarashi (b. 1944) has created a paradigm for the blending of Eastern and Western ideas. After graduating from Tama Art University in 1968, Igarashi earned a graduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. Upon returning to Japan, he found design firms and corporations unreceptive to a designer who had spent time abroad, so he opened his own design office in 1970. Much of Igarashi Studio’s work is in trademark, corporate identity, environmental, and product design. By 1976 Igarashi’s experiments with alphabets drawn on isometric grids were attracting clients and international recognition. The isometric alphabets have evolved into three-dimensional alphabetic sculptures that Igarashi calls architectural alphabets. These have been applied to signage as part of visual identity programs (Fig. 23–20). Igarashi achieves unexpected variety in his isometric alphabets. The dynamic letters of his Expo ’85 poster (Fig. 23–21) become a metaphor for the materials and processes of the built environment. In 1983, Igarashi began the ten-year project of designing the Igarashi Poster Calendar, starting with five years for the Museum of Modern Art in New York and then continuing with five more for the Alphabet Gallery in Tokyo. As shown in the 1990 calendar (Fig. 23–22), each month has a different design theme and each number is a unique drawing.
Igarashi says 95 percent of his designs are based on a grid system. His work is composed from elemental forms: the dot, the smallest component of perception; lines, which define positions and create boundaries between planes; grids, whose x and y axes bring mathematical order to his work; surfaces, which can be visual and tactile; flat or dimensional planes; and the basic geometric forms of circle, triangle, and square. Igarashi’s best works achieve boundlessness (Fig. 23–23), an expansive power created by color, texture, and ambiguity.
The work of Tadanori Yokoo (b. 1936) replaces the order and logic of constructivism with the restless vitality of Dada and a fascination with mass media, popular art, and comic books. During the mid-1960s Yokoo used the comic-book technique of black line drawing as a vessel to contain flat areas of photomechanical color. He often collaged photographic elements into the designs and translated traditional Japanese images into the pop art idiom (Fig. 23–24). During the late 1960s and into the 1970s Yokoo’s design vocabulary and range of art and printing techniques became increasingly uninhibited. The “Sixth International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo” poster (Fig. 23–25) combines a variety of techniques: a halftone group portrait in pink; a sky with an airbrushed brown band across the top and a red band at the horizon; calligraphic writing on vertical bands, a figure towering over a lighthouse on a bank across water. During the 1970s and 1980s Yokoo’s work often moved toward unexpected and even mystical images (Fig. 23–26). Yokoo expresses the passions and curiosity of a Japanese generation that grew up with American popular culture and electronic media—television, movies, radio, and records. Accordingly, shifting values and a rejection of tradition find symbolic expression in Yokoo’s uninhibited graphics, gaining him a cult reputation.
Designs by Shigeo Fukuda (1932–2009) are disarmingly simple, as readable and immediate as a one-panel cartoon, yet they engage the viewer with their unexpected violations of spatial logic and universal order. Fukuda achieved early renown for his unconventional views of the world, which form the core of his work. His disarming directness is seen in “Victory 1945,” awarded first prize in an international competition for a poster commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the end of World War II (Fig. 23–27). In other works, he expressed a nonverbal concept or presented an inexplicable visual phenomenon (Fig. 23–28). His images are a construct of memory and association rather than a direct impression of the senses.
Playfulness and humor are abundant in Fukuda’s work. The enigma and contradictions of Dada and surrealism are reinvented not with high-minded seriousness but with a joyful affection for everyday life (Fig. 23–29). Given his humor and simplified drawing, one might ask what separates Fukuda’s work from ordinary comics. Intentional ambiguity and purposefulness pervade his work, giving it a life beyond the ephemeral or disposable. With the simplest of means, a complex idea is projected with disarming clarity and unexpected imagery.
Part of the Japanese understanding of nonverbal communication comes from Zen Buddhism, which teaches the use of all five senses in receiving communication, and even states, “silence is communication.” In this tradition, Koichi Sato (b. 1944) brings delicate color motifs and metaphysical forms to his quietly poetic designs. Sato graduated from Tokyo University of Art and Music in 1968 and opened his own studio two years later. His painting of a white tray—which he tilted so the blue-colored water filling it gradated toward one end—became an important inspiration for his evolution. His first use of gradation in graphic design is in a 1974 concert poster (Fig. 23–30).
Sato thinks in opposites: traditional/futuristic, organic/mechanical, East/West, light/dark. He writes haiku, and his graphic designs share the multiple levels of meaning and expression of deep emotion found in this traditional form. Auras and glowing luminosity are found in his work, bringing a metaphysical poetics to the printed page (Fig. 23–31).
The postwar miracle of Japan, which rose from the ashes of defeat to become a leader in technology and manufacturing, is paralleled by its emergence as a major center for graphic creativity. The finest contemporary Japanese graphic design has a strong emphasis on the aesthetic dimension, not at the expense of communicating the client’s message but as a means of reinforcing and extending it.
Design in the Netherlands
World War II and the German occupation completely disrupted Dutch society; with a severe shortage of raw materials transportation and communications came to a virtual halt. The postwar years were a time for rebuilding the economy and working to restore prewar cultural and social life. As Dutch design evolved, two strong currents became evident: a pragmatic constructivism inspired by Dutch traditions from the first half of the century, including the De Stijl movement, Piet Zwart, and Paul Schuitema as well as postwar influences from Switzerland; and a vigorous expressionism, with jolting images and spontaneous spatial syntax. This duality is not surprising, for the Dutch have a reputation as people who favor order and structure while also being broad-minded and tolerant of diverse political, religious, and artistic ideas. Perhaps the former stems from the cooperative spirit of a densely populated small country, much of which lies below sea level and must be protected by 2,400 kilometers of dikes, while the latter stems in part from Holland’s traditional role as a seafaring nation, with international influences flowing through its ports. Exposure to diverse ideas and cultures spurred an attitude of tolerance. From the 1500s, Dutch printers were free to print material banned in other countries, while scientists and philosophers whose radical theories made life uncomfortable for them elsewhere sought refuge in Holland. Dutch citizens prize their individuality and free expression and extend this freedom to others, creating a social climate that encourages innovation.
A strong impetus toward functional design in the Netherlands began in 1963. A group including graphic designer Wim Crouwel (b. 1928), product designer Friso Kramer (b. 1922), and graphic and architectural designer Benno Wissing (1923–2008) joined forces in Amsterdam to form a large, multidisciplinary design firm, Total Design (TD). Before TD, the Netherlands had no comprehensive firms capable of large-scale projects; these were being assigned to designers in other countries. TD offered extensive design programs for business, industry, and government. Its intention was to conceive and implement “ideas on design in all fields, in order whenever possible to achieve a unity of thought, or ‘total design’ in these fields.” Crouwel played an important role in establishing TD’s philosophy and direction. During the early 1950s he had been in direct contact with Swiss designers forging the International Typographic Style. However, Crouwel’s design philosophy was less emphatic about universal form and standardized formats; he emphasized the designer as an objective problem solver who finds solutions through research and analysis, simplifying the message and the means for conveying it to an audience. He believed the flood of typographic messages in contemporary society demanded clarity and simplicity. Crouwel achieved a remarkable minimalism imbued with an aesthetic spirit (Fig. 23–32).
TD sought a “total image” for clients through integrated graphics, architecture, and products. During the 1960s and 1970s the firm played a dominant role in Dutch design, initiating a purifying process through programs with limited typeface choices, standardized formats for paper and typography, and consistent schema for layouts. Projects included visual-identity programs (Fig. 23–33), museum exhibitions with related graphics (Figs. 23–34 and 23–35), book design, signage, and environments. TD used a team approach, with each team headed by a senior designer who established its direction.
Kramer left TD in 1967 and Wissing departed in 1972. Crouwel remained as a guiding force until 1981, when he became a full-time professor, although he continued as an adviser to TD. The firm became an important training ground for young designers, who gained experience there and then left to launch new firms. TD, now Total Identity, continues as a major force in European design, with offices in six cities and over fifty professionals on staff.
Another thrust toward modern design came from Pieter Brattinga (1931–2004), who learned all aspects of printing by working at his father’s printing firm, De Jong & Co., at Hilversum, near Amsterdam. During the 1950s, Brattinga functioned as a mediator between designers and printers. From 1954 until 1973, he curated exhibitions held in a small gallery at the printing firm, which introduced advanced art and graphic design to a wider audience. His posters for these exhibitions (Fig. 23–36) were designed on a grid of fifteen square modules, with one or more always appearing as an element in the design. Brattinga edited a square-format journal, Kwadraatblad (Quadrate), published by De Jong & Co. to demonstrate its printing capabilities while providing leading artists and designers an opportunity to explore the limits of the print medium. Often controversial, these publications showed clients and designers an extended range of possibilities. Brattinga also designed posters and publications for the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo.
In addition to major corporations, Dutch cultural institutions and government agencies are major patrons of graphic design. Each government agency has a visual-identity program, called a house style in the Netherlands, and consciously tries to communicate effectively with citizens. Cities have commissioned visual-identity programs; postage stamps and currency have achieved distinction in design. The Dutch PTT (Post, Telephone, and Telegraph) emphasized the importance of design as early as 1919, when Jean François van Royen (1878–1942) became general secretary of the PTT board. He believed his government agency shouldered responsibility for aesthetic excellence in all areas, from telephone booths and buildings to postage stamps. He continually struggled to overcome obstacles to good design.
In 1942, Van Royen died in a concentration camp. After World War II ended, PTT established its Aesthetic Design Department, headed by an aesthetic adviser whose office commissioned all designs produced by PTT. This department functioned as an intermediary between PTT, the public, and artists and designers who received commissions. For two decades after the war decorative and pictorial approaches prevailed, but from around 1966 the Aesthetic Design Department moved in more contemporary and adventurous directions. In 1976 R. D. E. Oxenaar (b. 1929) was appointed aesthetic adviser; under his leadership, PTT design moved onto an extraordinary plane. Oxenaar embraced a philosophy of autonomous expression coupled with utilitarian needs. This enabled PTT to achieve visual innovation while meeting the requirements of the agency and its audiences. Netherlands postage stamps have been unusually adventurous in their design, with a wide range of approaches from classical modernism to expressionism (see Figs. 23–32, 23–51, and 23–53). Young designers have received stamp design commissions early in their careers.
PTT implemented its first comprehensive visual-identity system in 1981. Two design firms, Total Design and Studio Dumbar, were commissioned to collaborate on this extensive and far-reaching project. Rigorous graphic standards were established, but certain items—including postage stamps created by diverse artists, unique publications including annual reports, and interiors of post offices in historical buildings—were exempt from the design system.
On 1 January 1989, PTT was privatized and thus faced new competition in many of its services. The Aesthetic Design Department was renamed the Corporate Policy Unit for Art and Design, and today it continues to procure art for PTT facilities and commission product and graphic designs. PTT believed the existing identity system was effective but that changes were necessary to communicate the shift from government agency to private corporation. Studio Dumbar received the commission to revise the identity system (Fig. 23–37). Prominent use of PTT’s sans-serif initials continued, with more vibrant colors and geometric elements (squares, dots, and lines) used to intensify and energize PTT graphics, products, and environments. Bright hues become identifiers, with red used for the postal service and intense green for the telephone service. Telephone booths, which need to be located quickly in emergencies, form bright green oases in urban environments, highly visible regardless of season or time of day.
In 1965, the Nederlandsche Bank selected R. D. E. Oxenaar to design Dutch paper currency. He was disappointed with his first design, a green five-guilder note, and agreed to design additional currency only if he could be involved in every step from the beginning to final production. His design process addressed production requirements, safeguards against counterfeiting, and ease of use. A major advance occurred in 1978, when a new hundred-guilder note was needed and Oxenaar was given the freedom to select the subject. He rejected traditional symbols of authority such as engraved portraits of venerated figures and national emblems. His new design featured a snipe, a long-billed brown bird found in marshy areas. The public responded positively to this bank note, so Nederlandse Bank permitted Oxenaar to select additional currency subjects (Fig. 23–38), including a sunflower and a lighthouse. Each note had a dominant color and large sans-serif numbers for the denomination. Composition and color were used to achieve an energy and expressiveness unprecedented in currency design. Oxenaar’s work confirms a critical realization: the personal and subjective interests of the artist can be brought to fruition while fulfilling the needs of public communication.
While the 1960s saw a strong impetus toward functional corporate design in the Netherlands, evinced by the founding of Total Design, it also saw the emergence of the Provo youth movement, which emphasized individual freedom and rejected social conformity. The prevailing climate provided fertile ground for a new expressionism in graphic design; this tendency in Dutch design increased dramatically during the 1970s and 1980s. The traditional values of harmony, unity, and order have long been emphasized in Dutch art and design. Late twentieth-century designers, including Anthon Beeke and the groups Studio Dumbar, Hard Werken, and Wild Plakken, pushed beyond these traditional values in their quest for individual meaning and subjective expression.
Jan van Toorn (b. 1932) has been a graphic designer since 1957 and has taught in the Netherlands and the United States. From 1991 to 1998 he was the director of Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, where he developed programs in fine arts, graphic design, and design theory. Since 1989, he has been a visiting professor at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island.
Van Toorn’s work has inspired many expressionist designers, and he has explored means of organizing information to influence the viewer and to transmit social values. His memorable designs of calendars, museum catalogues, and posters are often assembled of intentionally provocative images and idiosyncratic font choices in unfinished montages rather than seamless compositions. His philosophy of “dialogic design” presents a critical challenge to the viewer to participate in the perception process and examine the meaning and motives of visual messages (Fig. 23–39).
Mainly self-educated, Anthon Beeke (b. 1940) participated in Fluxus, a 1960s neo-Dada movement exploring conceptual and performance art, happenings, experimental poetry, and language art. This exposure helped Beeke seek unconventional solutions to visual communications assignments; he emerged as a provocateur pushing for maximum freedom of expression and thought. His posters (Fig. 23–40) often use photographic depictions of the human figure, which are frequently embellished with objects, fragmented, distorted, or altered to create jolting ambiguities, unexpected perceptual experiences, and shocking messages. Many of his works have erotic overtones. His typographic oeuvre is unrestrained, and the visual style of tabloid journalism, handwritten titles jotted onto photographs, or even eloquent classical typography might be used and, on occasion, combined. Beeke, and those inspired by his example, define design not as a quest for ideal form or beauty but as a search for underlying truth. This search is undertaken from a philosophical vantage point acknowledging dark undercurrents running beneath the surface, and in the belief that design should not avoid the true nature of the human condition by glossing over reality (Figs. 23–41 and 23–42).
Like the early twentieth-century designer H. N. Werkman, Ghislain (Gielijn) Daphnis Escher (b. 1945) cannot be placed in any category. Through their simplicity and flat surfaces of color, Escher’s posters stand out from the urban surroundings where they hang, and through their quiet dignity they attract attention on crowded streets. His posters are uncompromising aesthetic statements, far removed from the mainstream of modern graphic design. With their anecdotal appeal they subtly reach the essence of the subject at hand (Figs. 23–43, 23-44 and 23–45).
Gert Dumbar (b. 1940) founded Studio Dumbar in 1977 and was creative director there until he retired in 2003. First located in The Hague and then in Rotterdam and Seoul, this studio has a comprehensive range, designing everything from experimental graphics for cultural clients to corporate identity programs (see Fig. 23–37) and literature. Dumbar rejected what he calls “dehumanized forms” and advocated graphic design with “stylistic durability to survive beyond its time.” As a design student at London’s Royal College of Art in the early 1960s, Dumbar developed a technique he called staged photography, consisting of still life arrangements and environments incorporating found material, papier-mâché figures, and objects sculpted or assembled for the project (Fig. 23–46). These were photographed, often by Lex van Pieterson (b. 1946), in front of collage backgrounds that became part of the overall composition. Illustration, photography, typography, and sculpture were integrated into a lively visual syntax. Fragmented, sometimes complex to the edge of chaos, and layered with complex typography, many Dumbar projects caused consternation among advocates of a more ordered aesthetic. But by the late 1980s many European designers were mimicking Studio Dumbar’s approach, causing Gert Dumbar to place a moratorium on these techniques within his firm.
Dumbar values the role of humor and impulse in design and believes an element of fun and play should permeate visual communications whenever appropriate. Studio Dumbar makes a conscious effort to produce innovative and provocative graphics; the goal is to achieve the level of freedom and diverse techniques usually associated with fine arts while successfully meeting client objectives. Dumbar says, “We follow our fingertips,” meaning the intuitive sense of the designer should lead the project.
Teamwork and dialogue are important in the studio’s process. Dumbar is generous in recognizing the accomplishments of his staff and encourages individual approaches, as in the work of Bob van Dijk (b. 1967) (Figs. 23–47 and 23–48) and Dennis Koot (b. 1976) (Fig. 23–49). The structure of the studio is unique: there is almost no overhead or bureaucracy; designers are free to express themselves in their work. The rectangle printing format is often challenged by producing posters in die-cut shapes whose configuration is determined by the imagery. The role of enlightened clients was acknowledged by Dumbar, who says he hopes there is never a monument to Dutch designers but one to Dutch clients!
In 1978 a group of Rotterdam designers launched a new monthly magazine titled Hard Werken (Hard Working) (Fig. 23–50); two years later they formed Hard Werken Design, which was more an informal association than a structured business. The group included Henk Elenga (b. 1947), who later opened Hard Werken L.A. Desk in Los Angeles, Gerard Hadders (b. 1954), Tom van der Haspel (b. 1953), Helen Howard, and Rick Vermeulen (b. 1950). Joining in a reaction to formalism and modernism, Hard Werken developed a relaxed, anything-goes attitude. Rejecting all styles and theories, its members sought solutions from their subjective interpretation of the problem (Fig. 23–51). Their openness to any conceivable typographic or image possibility resulted in surprising and original results. Hard Werken emphasized not just the message content but also the methods and materials used to convey it to an audience. Formal precepts governing design were suspended. Unlike the collaborative atmosphere at Studio Dumbar, Hard Werken was initially a collective of autonomous designers who could decide whether others could participate on projects.
Hard Werken embraced the contemporary art scene and rejected design refinement; its work could be raw and offensive. It adhered to no fixed political or aesthetic position but embraced creative anarchy. Rejecting boundaries, Hard Werken designed audiovisual presentations, exhibitions, furniture, interior designs, lamps, and theater sets. By 1990 the group had evolved into a more structured company. Then, in 1994, it merged with the Ten Cate Bergmans design office to form a large communications firm named Inízio.
Hard Werken embraced a cultural agenda; by contrast, the collaborative group Wild Plakken, formed in 1977 by Frank Beekers (b. 1952), Lies Ros (b. 1952), and Rob Schröder (b. 1950), had a definite social and political mission: it created designs for clients actively working for meaningful social or political change. The designers closely collaborated on each project. The name Wild Plakken can be translated as “Wild Pasting” or “Unauthorized Bill-Posting.” The name was thrust upon the studio in the early 1980s because it illegally pasted posters in the center of Amsterdam; Schröder was jailed several times for illegal posting. Wild Plakken accepted or rejected commissions based on the client’s ideological viewpoint; the group believed designers should match their beliefs to the content of their graphic designs. Wild Plakken’s work addressed such issues as racism, the environment, abortion, women’s rights, and gay rights. Clients included trade unions, left-wing political parties, women’s rights organizations, museums, and performing-arts groups.
In its formative years Wild Plakken used clear, straightforward images that might be called closed texts because viewers could only interpret them in one specific, carefully controlled way. As its work evolved Wild Plakken offered viewers what might be called open texts, giving viewers greater freedom for imaginative interpretation (Figs. 23–52 and 23–53) by introducing surrealist imagery, photomontages using torn and fragmented images, and brightly colored shapes. Its work projects a raw power when juxtaposed against the refined photography of conventional print advertising.
Wild Plakken did virtually all of its own photography because the designers then felt free to experiment in the darkroom or cut, tear, and combine the images unencumbered by the need to maintain the integrity of another photographer’s work. Wild Plakken designers believed the way a design looks should be determined by the nature and content of the subject. They thought designers risk becoming superficial or mere reflectors of fashionable trends if they are not deeply committed to the design process, clients, and content. After eleven years of close collaboration, Beekers left Wild Plakken to launch his own studio.
Irma Boom (b. 1969), who specializes in making books, founded the Irma Boom design office in Amsterdam in 1991 after five years as a designer for the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office at The Hague. She sees books as sculptural objects that can provide an additional aspect to a text. Published in English and Chinese, one of her most important works is the SHV Think Book 1996–1896, which chronicles a century of the SHV (the largest Dutch trading company) (Fig. 23–54). Committed to design education, Bloom teaches at Yale University and the Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Working with national and international clients in the cultural and commercial sectors, she believes effective work is achieved through a close collaboration between designer and client.
Experimental Jetset is an Amsterdam-based graphic design studio founded in 1997 by Marieke Stolk (b. 1967), Erwin Brinkers (b. 1973), and Danny van den Dungen (b. 1971). They recall being initially inspired by designers such as Wim Crouwel and Benno Wissing and consider modernism their “mother tongue.” In their work, they consistently attempt to blend the Dutch modernist heritage of the 1970s with the international post-punk tendencies of the 1980s (Figs. 23–55 and 23–56).
The creativity and vitality of Dutch graphic design continues to inspire graphic designers throughout the world to push the limits of the printed page. Reinforced by a unique artistic tradition, it is the consequence of many exceptional talents as well as a highly open-minded clientele and society.
The new conceptual poster
In spite of (or perhaps because of) advances in technology, print design continues to thrive in the Internet age. Some designers, such as Helmut Brade (b. 1937), remain faithful to the more traditional methods as well. A native of Halle, Germany, Brade works as a graphic and stage designer. Displaying wry humor, his colorful and highly illustrative posters effectively penetrate to the core of the subject depicted (Fig. 23–57).
In addition to being a poster artist and textile designer, Gitte Kath (b. 1948) is scenographer and director at the Mill Theatre in Haderslev, Denmark. Except for a few posters for organizations such as Amnesty International, the Paralympics in Sydney, Australia, and the Umbrella Theatre in Copenhagen, Kath has created most of her posters for the Mill Theatre. Intensely meditative, the posters usually take several months to produce. Her design process involves collecting material, photographing it, and then introducing paint and text, the latter often her own handwriting or enlarged typewritten letters. Many of these visual elements reflect the transitory nature of life, and she has sometimes used a worn and discolored wall in her home as a background for the photographed objects. Kath approaches her posters more as a painter than as a graphic designer—they relate to both traditional still-life painting and twentieth-century assemblage. Although imbued with a poetic resonance that alludes to the essence of her subjects, her uncompromising approach inevitably requires a dialogue with the viewer (Fig. 23–58).
Having received her artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, artist and designer Luba Lukova (b. 1960) has lived in the United States since 1981. Now working in New York, she has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Savignac/World’s Most Memorable Poster at the International Poster Salon, held in Paris in 2001. Employing radically contrasting images (Figs. 23–59 and 23–60), her subtle and lucid statements often bluntly confront social and political issues such as war and environmental conservation.
Conceptualism, a common attribute of Japanese graphic design, is profusely present in the complex designs of Hideki Nakajima (b. 1961). Laden with ambiguities, his elegant posters consist of highly abstract minimalistic and direct images of color and light. A painterly and harmonious use of space is created by blending digital imagery, linear moiré patterns, flat planes of color, and bold typography (Fig. 23–61). In “I Am Walking,” a large poster in nine sections, Nakajima subtly guides the reader through the text of a poem about walking in a forest.
Makoto Saito (b. 1952) is active as a design director, architecture designer, and graphic designer. Armed with a fecund imagination, he orchestrates an arcane symbolic content that follows no previous models. Serendipity plays a prominent role as he discovers his solutions during the creative process. His 1988 poster for Alpha Cubic Co. consists of an intricately reconstructed face. With no text other than the name of the company, it proves to be both a quandary and source of intrigue for the onlooker (Fig. 23–62). It is a mistake to read too much into Saito’s pieces. He once stated, “Ten people looking at one of my posters can imagine ten different things.” So far, Saito refuses to use a computer, saying, “No matter how fast a computer can work, my imagination is much faster.” Saito’s 1999 poster “Sunrise Sunset” is an elegant and touching tribute to the late Yusaku Kamekura (Fig. 23–63).
Shin Matsunaga (b. 1940) presents commonplace objects as fresh, rich, and unexpected images. Using simple geometric elements, he endows his images with vibrant color and a balance, warmth, and softness that seems almost spiritual. His 2002 poster for the JAGDA Members’ Poster Exhibition uses the familiar rising sun theme as a central element (Fig. 23–64).
The application of layers of ethereal light is a recurring design device in posters by the Tokyo graphic designer Mitsuo Katsui (b. 1931). As with Matsunaga, the familiar circular shape is used in his majestic 1998 poster “En hommage à Yusaku Kamekura,” a design fully worthy of its subject (Fig. 23–65).
Born in Austria, Stefan Sagmeister (b. 1962) received his first diploma in graphic design from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and while on a Fulbright scholarship he earned a master’s degree from Pratt Institute in New York. After first working in New York and later as creative director for the Hong Kong office of the Leo Burnett advertising agency, he returned to New York in 1993 to found Sagmeister, Inc. He has designed graphics and packaging for the Rolling Stones, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Aerosmith, and Pat Metheny, among other clients. Sagmeister’s graphic design is consistently characterized by an uncompromising and harsh directness. On a poster for an album by Lou Reed, lyrics from one of Reed’s songs are handwritten across his face like graffiti (Fig. 23–66).
Werner Jeker (b. 1944) works as a graphic designer in Chatillens and Lausanne, Switzerland, mainly for cultural institutions. In his poster “Saison,” a single image is endowed with a double meaning through a simple modification, a change in color (Fig. 23–67). Jean-Benoît Lévy (b. 1959) divides his time between San Francisco and Basel, where he studied at the Basel School of Design under Hofmann and Weingart from 1978 until 1983. Lévy is one of the few poster designers from the Basel School of Design who remained in Basel. Combining figurative elements, frequently a face, with typography and natural or geometrical forms, his posters invite reflection and contemplation. His designs witness the rigor of his Swiss training blended with a conceptual vision (Fig. 23–68).
Before moving to France during the 1960s, Rudi Meyer (b. 1943), a native of Basel, studied with Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder at the Basel School of Design. He has taught at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and as a graphic designer produces visual identity programs, posters, logos, exhibitions, products, and cartography. As a teacher, he has inspired a generation of graphic designers by stressing the importance of basic design principles, typographic research, and the rich tradition of French poster design. Whether typographical or image-based, Meyer’s work consistently displays a graceful elegance (Fig. 23–69).
Niklaus Troxler (b. 1947) was introduced to graphic design while working as a typographic apprentice. He went on to receive formal training at the Art School of Lucerne from 1967 until 1971. He worked as an art director for Hollenstein Création in Paris before starting his own graphic design studio in Willisau, Switzerland, in 1973. An avid jazz fan, he has created many posters for jazz concerts and festivals. Equally at home with typographic and illustrative interpretations, Troxler is one of the leading forces in poster design today (Figs. 23–70 and 23–71).
Beginning his graphic design training with Ernst Keller and Johannes Itten at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zurich, Karl Dominic Geissbuhler (b. 1932) completed his graphic art studies at the School of Art in Berlin. After working as an art director for a German advertising agency, he became a freelance graphic designer. During his long career, Geissbuhler has designed over two hundred posters for such clients as British Airways and the Zurich Opera House, where he has also created notable stage designs for seasonal festivals of music and theater. As demonstrated by his poster for Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, Geissbuhler is a master of the understatement (Fig. 23–72).
In 1956, Paul (Pabrü) Brühwiler (b. 1939) began his graphic design studies in Lucerne, and in 1960 he continued his education in Paris. From 1965 until 1973, Brühwiler lived in Los Angeles, where he collaborated periodically with Saul Bass and opened his own studio. He returned in 1973 to Switzerland, where his clients included the Swiss National Tourist Office, Swissair, Kunsthaus Zürich, and Museum Reitberg. In 1976, he returned to Los Angeles and then moved back to to Switzerland in 1979. In 1983 he began teaching at the School for Art and Design in Lucerne, where he continues to work as a graphic designer (Figs. 23–73 and 23–74). Brühwiler’s painterly and direct approach distinguishes his singular poster designs.
In the same vein, Uwe Loesch (b. 1943), a native of Dresden, Germany, provides the viewer with few clues to the meaning of his minimalist and arcane messages (Fig. 23–75). The Berlin/Hamburg graphic designer Holger Matthies (b. 1940) delights in presenting ordinary objects and situations in unusual ways: tomatoes become sunglasses (Fig. 23–76).
The Parisian Philippe Apeloig (b. 1962) was educated at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. He then worked as an intern for Total Design in Amsterdam, an experience that greatly enhanced his interest in typography. In 1985, he began working as a designer for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and in 1988 he worked and studied in Los Angeles with April Greiman. After returning to Paris, Apeloig began his own studio and became the art director for Jardins des modes. In 1997, he became a design consultant for the Louvre Museum and then he became the art director. Whether image-based or typographic, Apeloig’s designs are dominated by an expressive and decisive use of typography that not only provides information but also functions as a visual pun (Fig. 23–77).
After studying design in Munich, Annette Lenz (b. 1964) moved to Paris in 1990, where she worked at the cultural-political design group Grapus. Having launched her own studio in 1993, she works mainly in the social and cultural sector, designing elegant works for public spaces. Among others, her clients include the City of Paris, the French Ministry of Culture, Radio France (Fig. 23–78), and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
Keith Godard (b. 1938) graduated from London College of Printing in 1962 and from the Yale University School of Art and Architecture MFA graphic design program in 1967. In 1968, he started Works Design Group with architect partners; since 1987 he has been the principal designer for StudioWorks and is involved with exhibition design, wayfinding, print design/publishing, public art, and information design. He has taught at the Philadelphia College of Art, Cooper Union, the School of Visual Arts graduate program, and the New York State College of Art and Design. Godard’s recent work could be described as “sculptural posters.” Ambitious special effects employing die cuts, stamping, and folds add a third dimension that have no precedent in poster design (Figs. 23–79 and 23–80).
The conceptual book cover
The designs of Charles I. “Chip” Kidd (b. 1964) for Alfred A. Knopf have helped foment a revolution in book jacket design. In a monograph on Kidd's work, Veronique Vienne focuses on the essence of his appeal: “By distancing the title from the image on the cover, Kidd puts a very specific kind of pressure on readers: he asks them to bridge the gap between what they read and what they see. In the process he empowers them by demanding they take control of the communication.” Like Gitte Kath, Kidd frequently uses vintage images such as old prints and family albums found in flea markets and junk shops. His visual cues are elusive and require the viewer to excavate the message. He has said, “I never really know if the readers get the subtle visual puns of my jackets, but I can’t let that inform my design to the point where I will compromise” (Figs. 23–81 and 23–82).
In the late 1980s Katsumi Asaba (b. 1940), who founded the Katsumi Asaba Design Office in 1975, transformed a surviving pictographic script, Dongba (Tompa), used by the Naxi tribe in China, into a personal design language titled “Katsumi Asaba’s Tompa Character Exhibition: The Last Living Pictographic Script on Earth.” As demonstrated by the jacket for the book Spy Sorge, one of his goals has been to forge a connection between contemporary graphic design and ancient writing systems (Fig. 23–83).
Founded in 1991 by Joanne Lefebvre and Louis Gagnon in Montréal, the Paprika studio imbues all of its designs with a lasting elegance. The firm specializes in graphic design and strategic communications for business. This encompasses book design, identity programs, branding, annual reports, brochures, catalogues, billboards, packaging, exhibit design, signage, and websites.
In 2008, Paprika was asked to create a new image for a Les Allusifs book series. Les Allusifs is a Montréal-based publisher that distributes international fiction and nonfiction books in French-speaking countries. Paprika’s covers, illustrated by Alain Pilon, achieve a sense of unity in the jacket designs; they are intellectually challenging and stand apart from those of larger and more commercially aggressive concerns (Fig. 23–84).
Design in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America
While one cannot define graphic design from Spain and Portugal as one and the same, these countries share analogous and at times parallel heritages, which have only recently been critically examined within the context of design. From the 1930s through the 1970s, both countries were, to a large extent, cut off from the rest of Europe by repressive governments, political turmoil, and financial misfortune. For this reason, European modernism and Russian constructivism had little influence during this era. However, this seclusion also helped engender a unique approach to graphic design.
Graphic design from Spain and Portugal shares similar aesthetic qualities and often reflect a tranquil view of life: charming, warm, colorful and, at times, imbued with the sensual, the surreal, and the witty. It suggests the Iberian visual culture—opulently textured architecture, local arts and crafts, and modernist art by Gaudí, Picasso, Miró, Dalí, José de Almada Negreiros, and Amadeo de Souza Cardoso.
A former student of Glaser and Ed Benguiat (b. 1927) at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Emilio Gil (b. 1949) has been creative director of Tau Design in Madrid since its founding in 1980. Tau Design is one of the pioneering graphic design studios in Spain, specializing in visual communication and corporate identity programs. Gil is also creative director of Digital Tau, a company specializing in web design. Clients have included the Madrid City Council, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank Group. He has developed corporate identity programs for Natwest Bank, Centennial Carlos V and Felipe II, and Goya 96, among others. He wrote and designed the book Pioneers of Spanish Graphic Design (2007), the leading publication on this subject (Figs. 23–85 and 23–86).
Initially studying architecture, Manuel Estrada (b. 1953) and five colleagues founded the Sidecar graphics group in the early 1980s. After working for several years in advertising design, Estrada opened his own graphic design studio in 1989. During the 1990s the studio expanded to a team of ten people involved with corporate design, book design and editorial projects, visual identities for museums, event graphics, signage, and architectural graphics. Striving for a balance between reflection, feeling, and intuition, Estrada works initially with words and drawings, developing and refining ideas before taking them to the computer (Figs. 23–87, 23–88, 23–89, 23–90 and 23–91).
In recent years, Estrada has directed a master’s degree program in editorial design at the Istituto Europeo di Design (European Design Institute) in Madrid, and for nine years has conducted a summer design workshop at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayao in Santander. He is currently chair of the Madrid Designers’ Association, which manages the Central de Diseño de Matadero in Madrid (Figs. 23–92, 22–93 and 23–94).
After studying drama in Paris, Isidro Ferrer (b. 1963) began working as a graphic designer in Barcelona in 1989 and formed his own studio in Huesca in 1996. His wide-ranging work includes editorial design, illustration, animation, exhibition design, and television graphics. His sculptural book covers often combine found objects with simple graphic elements resulting in whimsical, humorous, and diverse solutions (Fig. 23–95).
As in Spain, graphic design in Portugal is a relatively new discipline. Although it came to the country long before the 1960s, it was only then that it came to be considered a profession in itself. From 1926 until the 1970s, Portugal was largely isolated from the political, economic, and artistic developments occurring in other parts of Europe. During much of this time, Portugal was governed by the repressive dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar. Although the country experienced financial hardship during this period, the economy slowly began to improve starting in the 1950s. Real estate developers from across the globe discovered the beauty of Portugal’s shores and began buying land and building luxury resorts. By the 1960s, Portuguese designers had a new client base—the hotel industry and tourism—and all of these new ventures needed visual identities, including signage, advertising, and promotional material. During this time many Portuguese designers went to study in Switzerland, rapidly immersing themselves in the international style and bringing newly acquired skills back to Portugal. Although censorship was still very much in practice, corporate identity systems were largely considered apolitical, and their role as investments in Portugal’s growing tourist industry was deemed good for the economy. Thus, Portuguese graphic designers at last had an outlet for their creativity.
Sebastião Rodrigues (1929–97) is generally considered the father of Portuguese graphic design. His early designs reflected his research into indigenous Portuguese popular culture. Between 1940 and 1941, he attended the Industrial School of the Marquis of Pombal, and in 1948 he began working at the studio of Manuel Rodrigues (1924–65). Beginning in the 1960s, Sebastião Rodrigues created the identity for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a private Portuguese institution dedicated to the arts, charities, education, and science. The foundation maintains an orchestra and a choir, and it organizes solo and group exhibitions for both Portuguese and foreign artists. In addition, the foundation is active in publishing, especially university textbooks. It also supports projects with Portuguese-speaking African countries and East Timor and promotes Portuguese culture abroad. In 1959 Rodrigues was awarded a grant from the foundation, allowing him six months for exploring and collecting popular graphic material from the northern part of Portugal to use in his design projects. From 1959 to 1961 he was art director for the monthly magazine Almanaque (Fig. 23–96).
Following Salazar’s death in 1970 and Portugal’s disastrous wars in its African colonies, the governing regime was weakened and started to crumble, leading to a peaceful revolution in 1974. Six decades of repression and dictatorship were over, and a new era of democracy and modernity flourished. Portugal joined the European Union in 1986 and in 1999 was one of the first countries to adopt the euro. Because of the country’s subsequent cultural, scientific, and economic development, it today has an increasingly service-based economy.
Henrique Cayatte (b. 1957) attended the College of Fine Arts in Lisbon and early in his career was inspired by Sebastião Rodrigues. In 1990 he founded the Henrique Cayatte Studio in Lisbon, where he has been working with a large team on cultural, education, and scientific design; design for exhibitions, public spaces, and accessibility; illustration and editorial production; and signage. He also serves as a multimedia and communication design adviser (Fig. 23–97).
Educated at the College of Fine Arts in Porto, João Machado (b. 1942) graduated with a degree in sculpture in 1968. In 1982 he opened his studio in Porto, concentrating on poster design, illustration, and packaging. His posters are typified by exuberant colors, a playful arrangement of geometric elements, and strong contrasts between flat surfaces and textured patterns (Fig. 23–98).
Alva is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Lisbon, consisting of three principal designers: Ricardo Matos (b. 1974), Valdemar Lamego (b. 1975), and Diogo Potes (b. 1977). Their projects include identities, books, posters, typography, illustration, websites, motion graphics, and environmental design. They are also involved in the promotion of cultural events and organizations in historic Lisbon (Fig. 23–99).
Mexico has close to 111 million people, who speak Spanish as well as Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages. European and pre-Colombian cultures are major resources for the Mexican design movement, and modern interpretations of ancient traditions have helped preserve Mexico’s cultural heritage. With energy and spirit, many Mexican designers have successfully expressed motifs and themes from their culture. In recent years, Mexico’s expanding business environment has provided contemporary Mexican graphic designers with incentives and challenges.
A number of Mexican designers, including Félix Beltrán, were born in other countries. A native of Havana, Cuba, Beltrán moved to New York in 1956 to study painting and graphic design at the School of Visual Arts, the Art Students League, the American School of Art, and Pratt Institute. In 1962 he returned to Cuba, where he designed a series of social and political posters about the Cuban revolution, indigenous art, public safety, and the new economy. In recent years, Beltrán has lived in Mexico, where he works as principal designer for the Beltrán-Asociados Studio. With its architectural, structural framework, Beltrán’s graphic design follows the traditions of the international style (Fig. 23–100).
Although from Mexico, Luis Almeida (b. 1946) has an international background, having studied architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, industrial design at the University of Florence, Italy, and semiotics at the Sorbonne in Paris. The corporate identities he has designed include the Mexico City emblem and the National Council for Culture and the Arts, Mexico. His main work is as an editorial designer for the magazines Saber-Ver and Artes de Mexico and the journals El nacional and La cronica. As demonstrated by his poster “Cervantes XXXII,” honoring the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, Almeida’s designs are often direct and confrontational (Figs. 23–101 and 23–102).
Gabriela Rodriguez (b. 1956) studied graphic design at the Escuela de Diseño del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. She has worked on many children’s books, magazines, posters, and contemporary art catalogues. Her whimsical designs, like Montalvo’s, are inspired by Polish poster designers such as Roman Cies´ lewicz (Fig. 23–103). Most recently, Rodriguez has engaged in designing for political, social, and cultural causes in Mexico. Her poster “Goya Posada,” designed for a cross-cultural exchange project and exhibition held in Mexico and Madrid, pays homage to two great artists from Spain and Mexico: Francisco Goya (1746–1828) from Spain and José Posada (1852–1913) from Mexico. Both are considered pivotal figures in the art of their respective countries (Fig. 23–104).
The work of independent graphic designer Alejandro Magallanes (b. 1971) also has roots in the Polish conceptual realm. With overtones of surrealism, he employs collage and freehand drawing with wit and intellectual prowess (Fig. 23–105).
Brazilian graphic designer Rico Lins (b. 1955) received a degree in industrial design in 1976 from the Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial in Rio de Janeiro. Later, he received a diploma of advanced studies in the arts from Université de Paris VIII in 1981 and a master of arts degree from the Royal College of Art, London, in 1987. Over the years he has worked in Paris, London, New York, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo for clients such as CBS Records, Time Warner, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, MTV, Le Monde, and the Centre Pompidou.
Highly acclaimed for his pioneering work in graphic design, Lins has received numerous awards from organizations such as the Society of Publication Designers and the New York Art Directors Club. Lins has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Istituto Europeo di Design in São Paulo, where he is director of the graphic design master’s program. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at solo exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (Figs. 23–106, 23–107 and 23–108).
Headed by Rubén Fontana (b. 1942), the innovative design firm Fontana Diseño has been highly influential in increasing a public awareness of graphic design throughout Argentina. Fontana introduced typography at the University of Buenos Aires, where he taught until 1997. In addition, he has lectured in graphic design at universities in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Spain, and the Netherlands, and his design work is included in major collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York. From 1987 until 2006 he directed the international event Bienal Letras Latinas, and for twenty years he was the publisher of the magazine TipoGráfica (Figs. 23–109 and 23–110).
A new aesthetic of modern Chinese graphic design
A new aesthetic of graphic design arose in the confluence of intellectual, economic, social, and political forces in the modernization of greater China. Since 1979, as China embraced international commerce, a dramatic change has occurred in which design education programs have begun to emphasize modern Western design movements over five-thousand-year-old Chinese artistic and calligraphic traditions. Design education and practice in China has become an extraordinarily rich field, developing a unique visual language for the rapidly growing environment of cross-cultural dialogue and collaboration, all serving to advance China’s objective of becoming a leader in the design industry.
Two pioneers of contemporary Chinese graphic design who embrace modern design, Henry Steiner (b. 1934), and Bingnan Yu, continue to inspire a younger generation of graphic designers. Steiner is among the earliest Western-trained modern designers to practice in Hong Kong, and his work has a significant influence on graphic design in the Pacific Rim. Steiner’s family escaped Vienna in 1939 and moved to New York City. He was educated at Hunter College and the Yale University School of Art, studying under Paul Rand, and he received a Fulbright scholarship to the Sorbonne. In 1961, he arrived in Hong Kong on a nine-month assignment as the Asia Magazine’s first design director, and in 1964 founded the design firm Graphic Communications Ltd. Among his notable designs was a long-lasting series of banknotes for Standard Chartered Bank, developed in 1978 and modified in 1993 to include Hong Kong’s official flower as a distinctive icon. Each banknote is based on mythical Chinese animals to reflect an orderly arrangement and straightforward hierarchy based on denomination (Fig. 23–111). In 1995, Steiner and Ken Haas wrote Cross-Cultural Design: Communicating in the Global Marketplace, the first anthology to examine and document the accomplishments of leading graphic designers practicing for clients outside their own countries.
An influential leader in Chinese graphic design, Bingnan Yu (b. 1933) first studied art at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in China and continued his education at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, Germany. In addition to being one of the earliest practitioners of modern graphic design in China, Yu is a former professor at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University. As a teacher, he has inspired a generation of Chinese graphic designers by emphasizing the significance of traditional Chinese arts, painting, and calligraphy as well as the principles of both his Eastern and Western design education. In 1992 he became the first ethnic Chinese member admitted to the Alliance Graphique Internationale. In 1998 Yu received the Gutenberg Prize from the city of Leipzig for “rendering outstanding, exemplary services to the advancement of the book arts” (Fig. 23–112).
A leader, in both education and practice, in the Chinese embrace of Western design movements is Wang Min, dean of the School of Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. Educated at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, he later studied with Alvin Eisenman and Paul Rand at Yale University’s School of Art and joined Adobe Systems Creative Services department in 1990. With Sumner Stone, he was a key member of the design team that developed Adobe’s first font catalog (Fig. 23–113). He developed a strong cross-cultural perspective that would prove a prescient design strategy on his return to China. His ability to fuse East and West is clearly evident in his font designs for Adobe (Fig. 23–114), in the typography workshop he taught at Yale for ten years, and in the work he designed as a partner in his design firm, Square Two Design (Fig. 23–115).
As discussed in chapter 20, Wang served as design director for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games graphics program. His skill in fusing modern Western design, traditional Chinese aesthetic and cultural influences, and Olympic Game design traditions enabled the development of an extraordinary cross-cultural design program.
Xu Bing (b. 1955) is a pioneer of modern design who came to wide recognition in the 1980s. His thought-provoking work examines the foundations of Chinese culture and the nature of communication, calligraphy, and art-making through graphic design, conceptual art, and animation. His experience in China during the turbulent Cultural Revolution period transformed his thinking and views of China’s traditional culture and the function of language and calligraphy in communication.
Xu studied printmaking at CAFA, graduating in 1981, earned a master’s degree at CAFA in 1987, and taught printmaking there. His woodcut prints have been exhibited and collected by many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His wide-ranging conceptual art projects have been exhibited extensively in China, Europe, and the United States, where he lived for eighteen years and where he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship grant in 1999. Xu returned to China in 2009 to become vice president of CAFA.
His explorations of Chinese calligraphy bridge Eastern and Western graphic design to produce books “written” and designed of iconic signs or of invented Chinese calligraphic characters. In Square Word Calligraphy he transformed Chinese calligraphic characters into English alphabetic letters, and in Book from the Sky, he created a six-volume book exhibited as a scroll incorporating a calligraphic vocabulary of 4,000 invented characters of no conventional meaning to bring attention to writing as the “essence of culture” and the dangers of distorting communication and the Chinese identity (Fig. 23–116).
Song Xeiwei (b. 1963), a graphic designer and professor at CAFA in Beijing, has inspired a generation of graphic designers. Song’s work as both a designer and an art director encompasses a wide range of print projects in which he combines postmodern visual language and modern paper-production methods with traditional Chinese cultural arts. He developed interior designs for the Olympic Line of the Beijing subway stations, wayfinding information column designs for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Park, and an exhibit identity design for the 2009 ICOGRADA World Design Congress in Beijing. His book design was awarded the World’s Most Beautiful Book prize at the Leipzig Book Fair in 1998, and has been exhibited in international design festivals including the Germany-China Design Bienniale in 2010 (Fig. 23–117).
Jingren Lu (b. 1947) is one of China’s most influential modern book designers and illustrators. He is the principal of his own design firm, Jingren Art Design Studio, and is a professor at the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University. He began his design career in the late 1970s at the China Youth Publishing House where he became a senior art editor. In 1989, he studied with designer Sugiura Kohei at the College of Art Engineering in Kobe, Japan. Jingren opened his own design agency in 1998 and has won a succession of book design awards, including the Most Beautiful Book in the World award from the Graphic Arts Association of Hong Kong in 2009.
In his book designs Jingren creates multiple levels of texture and meaning focused on what he describes as the “five senses” of reading a book: cover design, binding, text design, layout, and editing. His designs emphasize the book as an interactive three-dimensional object (Fig. 23–125) in which a text may unfold as a scroll as often as a single page to turn. His use of unique materials, elegant bindings, and incised cover treatments draws on China’s rich aesthetic traditions and expressively joins them with postmodern Western design (Fig. 23–118).
Among a new generation of Chinese graphic designers to embody a developing contemporary aesthetic are He Jianping (b. 1973) and Jiang Hua (b. 1973). He first studied art at the China Academy of Art at Hangzhou. After studying at the Berlin University of the Arts, he remained in Berlin, where he opened Hesign Studio. With their remarkable blend of type and photography, his posters exhibit the majesty and serenity of traditional Chinese landscape painting (Figs. 23–119 and 23–120).
A graduate of the Design School at Wuxi University of Light Industry, Jiang Hua taught graphic design at Ningbo University and is now a member of the design faculty at CAFA. In 1998 he formed his design studio with partner Pan Qin. In his own design work, Jiang explores modern Chinese typography and its development, basic structure, and history. This research forms the basis of his unique methodology, visual explorations, and creative approach towards his recent work (Fig. 23–121).
Zhao Jian (b. 1966) studied at the Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University under his mentor, Bingnan Yu. He now teaches at Tsinghua University and is a graphic designer in Beijing specializing in visual communication for publishers. Frequently blending traditional Chinese illustrations with Chinese typography, his book designs express a harmonious refinement (Fig. 23–122).
Ma Quan (b. 1962) is a professor of design in the Academy of Art & Design at Tsinghua University. He is both a graphic designer and environmental graphic designer focused on visual identity design and visual communication design for city planning in China. His texts are widely used in planning public visual identity design, wayfinding, and large-scale outdoor advertising for cities in China. (Fig. 23–123)
Wu Yong (b. 1965) creates exceptionally elegant book designs that often emphasize three-dimensionality and combine traditional Chinese book arts, shaped page layouts, die-cuts, and unique folds to illuminate the subject matter. Yong studied at the Academy of Art & Design at Tsinghua University in Beijing with Jingren Lu, graduating in 1988, and then joined China Youth Publishing House as a designer. He became a vice director of arts editors before starting his own studio in 1998. He is now the dean of the Design Department at Shantou University Cheung Kong School of Art and Design (CKAD), and he was the recipient of the Most Beautiful Book in the World prize in 2010 (Fig. 23–124).
Cao Fang (b. 1956), a professor at the Nanjing Arts Institute, incorporates ancient Chinese themes and rich cultural symbolism into her work. Cao’s designs reflect a complex layering of hand drawings, musical notes, Western typography, Chinese calligraphy, and photographs, which she knits smoothly together. Her work has appeared in exhibitions worldwide, including a series entitled Chinese Characters and Music that was seen between 2000 and 2006 at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica, California, and the Zürich Design Museum (Fig. 23–125).
Han Jiaying (b.1961) graduated from Xi’an Academy of Fine Art in 1986 and taught design there until 1990, when he moved to Shenzhen, China’s first special economic zone city, where economic reforms widely expanded opportunities for graphic design. He established his own design firm in 1993. Working on a range of identity and branding projects, he has poetically deconstructed traditional Chinese calligraphy, combining it with cultural signs to create new signs and new interpretations (Fig. 23–126).
Han Xu (b. 1971) is an innovative graphic designer and a professor of graphic design and motion graphics at the China Academy of Art (CAA) in Hangzhou. His poster designs and public design projects dedicated to modernizing wayfinding for cities often show a complex mix of traditional Chinese characters and modern Western design, reflecting a process he sees creating new signs in “conceptual balance” (Fig. 23–127).
Bi Xuefeng (b. 1963) belongs to the third generation of Chinese graphic designers. His often experimental designs emphasize Chinese cultural traditions influenced by modern Western design processes, which are “used to serve our culture’s progress.” He graduated from CAA in 1989 and then joined colleague Wang Yufei’s design firm in Shenzhen, where their work was instrumental in defining the early 1990s modern movement of Chinese design that began in Shenzhen. In 1997 Xuefeng founded his own firm, IMAGRAM Graphic Design, in Shenzhen (Fig. 23–128).
Chen Zhengda (b. 1977) studied at CAA, graduating in 2002, and stayed on to become an instructor. He began work as an independent designer in 2002 and founded his design studio, Superdesign, in 2007. He is one of the founders and curators for the China International Poster Biennial that began in 2003 to showcase new work of designers developing a modern visual language of design in China. His designs of posters, identity programs, environmental graphics, and books emphasize postmodern type and image relationships. His work has been included in many exhibitions, including China Design Now at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2010 (Fig. 23–129).
Born in Guangdong, Wang Xu (b. 1955) is a graduate of the Design Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Between 1986 and 1995, Wang worked as a graphic designer in Hong Kong before he returned to Guangzhou and founded WX Design. In addition, he is the design director of the Guangdong Museum of Art and a professor at the Design & Art College of Hunan University. Wang’s expressive designs reflect the grace and beauty of traditional Chinese calligraphy and brush painting (Fig. 23–130). He has edited and designed more than eighty design books and magazines, including Design Exchange and numerous volumes of the book series Graphic Designers’ Design Life. Wang has received more than one hundred international design awards, including the Icograda Excellence Award and the International Biennale of Graphic Design Moscow.
Kan Tai-keung (b. 1942) is a pioneer of modern design in China who immigrated to Hong Kong at age fifteen to become a tailor. After ten years in the cloth trade he began studying drawing and painting and then enrolled in design courses at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 1976 he founded his own firm, now known as KL&K Creative Strategies. Kan and his partner Freeman Lau have been at the center of modern design in Hong Kong, developing cross-cultural designs fusing traditional Chinese arts and modern Western design. Kan’s graphic designs and ink paintings have earned international recognition. He was named one of the one hundred world’s-best graphic designers by IDEA magazine in Japan in 1993 and in 1995 became the first Chinese designer included in Who’s Who in Graphic Design (Fig. 23–131).
Freeman Lau (b. 1958) was born in Hong Kong and educated at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He joined the design firm of one of Hong Kong’s most respected designers, Kan Tai-keung, in 1988 and became Kan’s partner in 1996 in KL&K Creative Strategies. Lau’s poster designs display fine art influences, as he joins traditional calligraphic arts and modern design in a unique synthesis of contrast and metaphor that emphasize layers of meaning (Fig. 23–132).
Tommy Li (b. 1960) brings a decidedly Western and postmodern visual language to his graphic design work, which he combines with elements of traditional Chinese arts. Li incorporates layered, textured, and deconstructed digital design in his work, particularly in publications such as Vision Quest (Fig. 23–133), a bilingual (English and Chinese) large-format magazine he designed and published (1999–2000). Li attended the School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and began his own design firm in 1993 in Osaka, Japan, before returning to Hong Kong.
Another designer who uniquely embraces modern Western design is Hong Kong–based Stanley Wong (b. 1960). A graduate of the Hong Kong Technical Teachers’ College, he refers to himself as a “social worker of visual communications.” His designs juxtapose Chinese aesthetics and modern visual language to emphasize social messages that frequently call attention to interpersonal human relations (Fig. 23–134). He has won many awards worldwide in graphic design and advertising, and his designs are in permanent collections of Hong Kong museums and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 2005, his poster series on addressing “the spirit of Hong Kong” was one of the two artworks from Hong Kong presented at the Venice Biennale (Fig. 23–134).
Graphic design in the former Portuguese colony of Macau displays both Iberian and Chinese influences. Ung Vai Meng (b. 1958), a native of Macau, was educated in Portugal and later at the Academy of Fine Art of Guangzhou, China. From 1985 until 1998, he was a designer for the Macau Cultural Institute, and from 1999 until 2008 he was director of the Macau Museum of Art. He is currently president of the Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau (Fig. 23–135).
In the decades since 1979, China has undergone a revolution in its design education and professional design practices to become an active participant in the design dialogue shared among many cultures worldwide. The biennial Icograda World Design Congress and the Beijing Design Week held in China in 2009 was the first ever large-scale design event in China, and it presented unique opportunities, through public forums and exhibitions, for a free exchange of ideas on the future of design and design education in China. Accelerating economic and social development is producing new creativity in China and is offering Chinese designers great opportunities to advance a cross-cultural dialogue and meet the country’s goal of becoming a world leader in design.
South Korea
In the early 1980s the Korean graphic designer Ahn Sang-Soo (b. 1952) designed a succession of experimental letters based on older Korean typefaces. This series was the first to deviate from the rigidity of Hangul typography, a Korean alphabet created in the mid-fifteenth century, and the square frame of Korean writing. In his poster and publication designs, Ahn incorporates letters as free and playful elements (Fig. 23–136). Since 1985 he has been the art director, designer, and editor for the underground art-culture magazine Bogoseo/Bogoseo (Report/Report) (Fig. 23–137).
Kum-jun Park (b. 1963) graduated from Hong-ik University’s Department of Communication Design in 1988 and received his master’s degree in advertising and public relations from the same university in 1999. From 1988 until 1998 he worked first as a designer in the public relations department of the SsangYong Group, and later as the art director for the advertising agency Cheil Communications. In 1998 he founded his own design studio, 601bisang, and he continues to serve as its president and creative director. He has received numerous national and international design awards, including the New York Art Directors Club Gold and Silver Medals. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Denmark Danske Plakat Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Center for Contemporary Art (Japan), and the Museum of Modern Art (Toyama, Japan). In works such as the “Five Years Recycling Calendar,” Park’s designs blur the border between typography and painting (Fig. 23–138).
The Middle East
The Israeli graphic designer David Tartakover (b. 1944) studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem before graduating from the London College of Printing in 1968. Since 1976 he has served as a senior lecturer in the visual communication department at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and has been a frequent speaker at professional seminars and art colleges in Israel and elsewhere. Since 1975 he has operated his own studio in Tel Aviv, specializing in visual communications on cultural themes (Fig. 23–139).
Graphic design in Iran has developed an increasingly idiosyncratic flavor. In the late 1960s, Morteza Momayez (1936–2005), who is universally considered the father of Iranian graphic design, left Tehran to study at the Paris Decorative Arts School. While there, he was exposed to the work of his European contemporaries and was deeply influenced by the Swiss school of international typography and the Polish poster movement. Momayez did not seek to copy their work. Rather, he developed his own style, drawing from Iran’s distinctive visual culture. By combining Iran’s centuries-old traditions in illustration and calligraphy with new approaches to working with typography and image, he created something new and uniquely Iranian (Fig. 23–140). Momayez also did much to foster the practice of graphic design and design education in Iran. He established the Iranian Graphic Designers Society (IGDS), brought together the country’s most talented designers, involved them in education, and inspired and engaged new generations of artists. Today, the IGDS is one of the most vibrant, dynamic, and robust design associations in the world.
A student of Momayez, Majid Abbasi (b. 1965) earned a degree in visual communications from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran. He is part of a generation of designers who emerged after the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88), and in 1989 he opened his own studio, Did Graphics. Under Abbasi’s direction, Did Graphics became one of the most prestigious studios in Iran. Like Momayez, Abbasi has stylistically broken away from—but not abandoned—traditional approaches to Persian illustration and calligraphy. Abbasi embraces these traditions and recombines them in unique ways, often inspired by the Swiss and Polish poster schools and work from Germany and France. In his poster for Boof-e Kour (The Blind Owl) (Fig. 23–141), designed for the First Iranian Typography Exhibition, he arranged traditional Persian calligraphy with great restraint and a minimalist, almost Swiss, approach. The poster is also a visual pun, with blurred text creating the eyes, and crisp text the nose, of the “blind owl.” Other works, such as his poster for an exhibition of the photographs of Sadeq Hedayat (Fig. 23–142), suggest the surrealist influence of the Polish poster movement. Here he seamlessly combines iconic Persian imagery with Western-style photography. The resulting image is an arresting display of traditional Persian motifs melding into the form of a figure.
The expressive typographic posters of the Iranian graphic designer Reza Abedini (b. 1967) reflect both his training in graphic design and his later education as a painter. Often combining Persian with English or French, his posters radiate a graceful elegance. As with his prize-winning poster for the film Rêves de sable, his type and image frequently become one and the same (Figs. 23–143 and 23–144).
The book covers of Saed Meshki (b. 1964) are ethereal and speak of a separate world. They transport the viewer to a spirited place and time indicative of the poetry and stories contained within. His work is painterly, yet every composition is made of individually scanned and digitally manipulated elements. Nevertheless, the work is organic and tactile and the sense of human touch is readily apparent. The incorporation of calligraphy produces an aesthetic strikingly different from that of Western design traditions (Figs. 23–145 and 23–146).
A voice from Africa
Chaz Maviyane-Davies (b. 1952), called “the guerilla of graphic design,” creates posters with richly metaphoric and hopeful messages. The risks he has taken in his personal life and in his work result in cross-cultural images that communicate with incisive effectiveness. Born and raised in Rhodesia, known as Zimbabwe since it became independent in 1980, Maviyane-Davies eventually went to London, where he studied graphic design. He has worked in Japan, where he studied three-dimensional design, and in Malaysia for the International Organization of Consumers Unions and the JUST World Trust. His professional experience in London has included time with Fulcrum Design Consultants; Newell and Sorrel Design, and the graphic design department of the BBC. From 1983 until January 2001, he had his own design studio in Harare, Zimbabwe, creating a human rights poster series for which he has gained worldwide renown (Fig. 23–147). Maviyane-Davies believes that design is a powerful tool for social change. His last fourteen years in Zimbabwe saw a consistent loss of freedom and none of the economic improvement promised by the government of President Robert Mugabe. Maviyane-Davies has incorporated his political convictions into many of his own projects (Fig. 23–148). He originally produced the human rights series at his own expense, but it was eventually adopted by the United Nations. By the time he left Zimbabwe for Boston in 2001, he was Africa’s best-known graphic designer.
The next and final chapter will address how, beginning in the 1980s, access to high-end computer systems and early generations of desktop microprocessors enabled designers to explore the digital realm. Phenomenal developments in digital technology continue to revolutionize the visual communications industry today. As the field of graphic design continues to expand and evolve, a process of revitalizing the very nature of visual communications is in progress. Graphic designers are now extending their profession into self-initiated and fine-arts experimentation, including a reinvestigation of past crafts such as letterpress printing. A dynamic transformation, with rapidly expanding technical capabilities, will continue to offer limitless creative possibilities.