Bauhaus
The influential Bauhaus design school, founded by Walter Gropious, opened its doors in 1919. The school’s approach to design saw preference given to simplified form, function and rationalisation underpinned by a belief that commercial design could co-exist with artistic merit. Its curriculum fused fine art and arts and crafts.
The Bauhaus is attributed with influencing the rise of modernism and modern graphic design. Integral to its curriculum was typography usage and design. Amongst its teachers and resident artists, the school contributed to the rise in popularity of san-serif typefaces signifying the departure of traditional German black letter.
International style
Also referred to as the International Typographic Style or The New Typography, the International Style stemmed from Switzerland. Throughout the 1940s International Style formed most of the development of graphic design.
The style positioned clarity before aesthetics and placed emphasis on structure, balance and spatial intervals. The primary influential works were developed as posters, an influential communication format of the period. These posters were predominantly type-based and featured asymmetrical compositions.
Like the Bauhaus’ thinking on design, International Style utilised sans-serif typography and was lead by influential designers such as Armin Hofmann and Josef Müller-Brockmann.
Identity / Visual systems
During the 1960s the rise of the branded corporation saw the development of corporate identity and visual identity systems. With a society focused on technical innovation and achievement, this in turn fuelled the need for brands to reinvent themselves with a modern image.
This period of design drew inspiration from International Style with its need for order and systematic visual structures and extended to advertising, marketing and packaging collateral.
Today, brand standards and guidelines are still heavily used, with their underlying approach still able to be traced back to this period — particularly the way brands are described and presented.
Conceptual image
In stark contrast to the structured and systematic style of the decade preceding it, the emergence of a design style based on a loose, illustrative style gained traction during the 70s and continued to influence the work of graphic designers into the early 80s.
Inspired by hallucinations, the style rejects sans-serif typography exchanging it for hand drawn letterforms, playing with bright colour palettes and obscure swirls and shapes.
The rise in popularity of LP and their cover artwork provided a suitable medium for these illustrations, fuelling — and being fuelled by — the emerging counter culture.
Despite its hand-drawn origins, this period of graphic design would continue to influence designers well into the rise of desktop publishing and computer-based layouts.
Information visualisation
The launch of the personal computer in the mid 1980s triggered a fundamental shift in graphic design thinking. This was reflected not only in the change of processes and workflow, but also in the opportunities it brought; With the ability to collect large amounts of data also came the challenge of needing to present it in logical and meaningful ways.
In order for the visualisation of information to be successful, emphasis must be given to the clear and effective graphical interpretation of data. This required a shift from the loose and psychedelic -inspired period of the 70s and a return to a more pragmatic approach. However, to give meaning to information, graphic designers drew inspiration from the previous decade to communicate, using techniques such as metaphor and layering information with narrative.
Global, social conscience
During this period, the graphic design industry started to re-evaluate their role in an overly commercialised marketplace. The excess and trappings of the advertising industry were replaced by an altruistic conscience, more concerned with environmental and social good than the promotion of corporate messages and products.
Along with this came a push for more environmentally responsible and sustainable design solutions, partnerships with not-for-profit organisations, and increased awareness that graphic design skills could be used to give a voice to wider social issues.
With the connectedness brought about by the internet, designers could have a wider audience and a louder voice. Memorable partnerships between design and industry were seen in bespoke publishing, such as Colors Magazing, art directed by American designer Tibor Kalman and funded by Benetton clothing group.
Digital / New media
From film titles, websites, motion graphics and digital advertising, the impact that new media / digital media has had on the design industry has been nothing short of seismic. Although the predicted demise of the print industry did not eventuate, the proliferation of digital technologies has created more opportunities than it has taken away.
This digital revolution also signalled an identity change for graphic design, with disciplines of motion design, animation design, and interface design being introduced. The merging of programmer and designer has also created demand for specialist skill sets that combine traditional design skills with technological proficiency.
Despite this shift, demand for techniques such as visual narrative and metaphor remain high, helping to create engaging and stimulating experiences.
Experience and human centred design
The rise of the digital revolution showed that designers were no longer limited to solving problems within traditional mediums.
Closely connected to interface and screen-based design, the transition from tangible to intangible outcomes has shown the power of design thinking and the solutions-based framework that experience design sits in. Although not always visual, the underling design process has been successfully used to design customer experiences and engagement journeys.
Additionally, the graphic designer has evolved to solve environment problems in retail and commercial spaces, enhancing the interaction between customer and retailer.
Sources:
Heller, S. (2001). Graphic Design History, Allworth Press
Hollis, R. (2001). Graphic Design: A Concise History, Thames and Hudson
Meggs, P. Purvis, A. (2006). Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fourth Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
DSGN6027 Design Contexts 