The latest graphic design history articles
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1910s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
A great way to visualise these stylistic variations and their progression is by looking through magazine covers and interior pages produced during the movement. The covers of Typografia that best represent the Czech Secese style of Art Nouveau were produced between 1907 and 1911.
- Design Archive Feature
I came across two sample books containing printed examples of the work executed by the students in the Composing and Machine Departments of the Polytechnic School of Printing, between 1907 and 1910. I couldn't resist adding these to the archive.
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1920s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
A 1925 article on Karl Schulpig, originally in German and published in Archiv für Buchgewerbe und Gebrauchsgraphik, March 1925.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
The dedication of Gebrauchsgraphiks editors and publishers significantly influenced the spread and impact of graphic design, documenting countless designers who might otherwise have been forgotten over the last century since its first issue hit newsstands. Design magazines play a crucial role in supporting the design profession and remain vital resources for designers and historians alike.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
Joseph Binder established his studio, Wiener Graphik, in Vienna. One of the first clients was the City of Vienna’s Music and Theater Festival, followed by many other posters and logos for clients in Austria and beyond.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
Japan's first foreign film venue, Shochikuza Theatre (1923) is an icon of Modernism. Its Art Deco-influenced advertising, showcased in the 1925 Shochikuza News magazine, offers a glimpse into Japans influences from the West.
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1930s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
A brief summary of a poster designer’s tasks from the late 1930s. I have illustrated the article with a selection of scanned posters from Cooper’s book.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
A 1936 article on Walter Spiegel, originally in German and English, published in Gebrauchsgraphik, February 1936.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Paul Schuitema emerged as one of the Dutch pioneers of new typography. This article features a selection of the cover designs and a few inner spreads from my collected issues of De 8 en Opbouw.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
The dedication of Gebrauchsgraphiks editors and publishers significantly influenced the spread and impact of graphic design, documenting countless designers who might otherwise have been forgotten over the last century since its first issue hit newsstands. Design magazines play a crucial role in supporting the design profession and remain vital resources for designers and historians alike.
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1940s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
Westvaco Inspirations was founded in 1925 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company. Bradbury Thompson’s produced approximately sixty issues, experimenting with typography, photography, and illustrations.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
These advertisements marked a move away from the illustrated American ads of glamour and American life, and instead used modernist principles and illustrated animals and characters to have a friendlier, more distinctive style of communication.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
In 1949, the Bund Deutscher Gebrauchsgraphiker held the first Die besten Plakate des Jahres competition to showcase top German poster design. Hanns Lohrer was one of eight award winners. Designs scanned from Gebrauchsgraphik, 01, 1951.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Each year, leading Dutch artists were commissioned to design the covers and inner pages of Drukkersweekblad en Autolijn. Including designers included Dick Elffers, Willem Sandberg, Jan van Toorn, Wim Crouwel, and Jurriaan Schrofer. The journal documented important design trends and developments in The Netherlands.
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1950s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
Westvaco Inspirations was founded in 1925 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company. Bradbury Thompson’s produced approximately sixty issues, experimenting with typography, photography, and illustrations.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Following on from my previous article on publicity design from 1957-58, an additional annual from 1959-60 showcases another year of great advertising and design from Italy.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Studios & Collectives
Winter + Bischoff’s work blends fine art and graphic design and is a fine example of commercial design featuring a heavy use of stylistic illustration. In fact a lot of German graphic design in the 1960s has this strong relationship of commercial and professional typographic layout with the roughness and organicness of art.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Pubblicità in Italia 1957-58 gathers the best advertising in Italy, showcases the diverse talents and styles and the clients who were commissioning and embracing modern design.
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1960s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
An overview of Graphic Design from Japan from the year 1960, complemented by 50 scanned images from Annual of Advertising Art in Japan 1960 (Bijyutu Shuppan Sha, 1960).
- Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Following on from my previous articles on post-war Italian publicity design, an additional annual from 1962-63 showcases more examples of Italian advertising.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
The clear, rational, and functional design of 1960s industrial design brochures.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
One of the main features in Gebrauchsgraphik 08, 1962 is focused on the 1961/62 annual poster awards in Germany. Over 400 posters were submitted to the awards.
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1970s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
Scanned posters by the great Michele Spera. Many use a strong use of geometric form, often paired with sans-serif typefaces like Helvetica. Their simplification of form and use of colour create timeliness, recognisable posters that would have stood out alongside the posters of the 1970s which tended to have a heavy use of photography.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
An Anthology of Blues features a blend of typographic compositions and illustrations by Hans-Ulrich “Hazy” Osterwalder, alongside black and white photography, all working together in a limited palette of black and blue.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
A while back, I bought a set of around 14 French travel guides produced by Shell that came in a leather pouch, each bearing the signature ‘D. Hamot.’ Determining the designer's full name proved to be a challenge. Their aesthetic could reflect the shifting design trends of the late 1960s.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
Illustrated tourist brochures designed by Alain Cornic. Little is known about Cornic, at least in the magazines and books I have collected, his clients included Shell, Air France and the French Tourist Office.
Articles focused on graphic design history from the 1980s
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
This article is part of my ongoing effort to spotlight the unsung heroes of design history. I'm especially passionate about sharing voices and designs that have been overlooked or forgotten. In this piece, I focus on the work of 1980s American graphic designers, in particular, the women who broke boundaries and shaped American visual culture.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Movements
A 1,500 essay on the transformative era of graphic design from the 1970s to the 1990s. Moving beyond the constraints of modernism, designers like Wolfgang Weingart and April Greiman redefined visual communication through bold experimentation with type, colour, and early computer graphics. This essay highlights how postmodernism and New Wave design introduced complexity, individuality, and digital innovation in to graphic design.
- Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content
In 1997 Tadanori Yokoo showcased 31 new silkscreens at the Ginza Graphic Gallery in Tokyo. Many of these works were previously unseen, and I was fortunate enough to discover a feature in a back issue of Idea magazine that showcased the full collection of silkscreen posters.
- Design Archive Feature
Systematic Surface Design eliminating the hindrance of searching for strategies and starting points, allowing designers to quickly find optimal solutions.
Interviews
