“The pleasure we derive from the representation of the present is due, not only to the beauty it can be clothed in, but also to its essential quality of being the present.”
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
One of the first, most overlooked, signs of representation appears on the walls of caves in France, about 17,300 years ago, and Argentina between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago.
Communication can be then seen to evolve to printmaking in Paris. Posters were sought after by many private collectors, because they were produced in their thousands and were less costly than prints. The most desirable examples were those printed before the advertising text was added. There are several reasons for this "print boom", these include: laws for postings bills had been relaxed, and designs were no longer subject to complex legal regulations and time-consuming approvals; advances in lithography printing allowed for brighter colours and larger formats; advertising, which helped create broader markets, was a new development in a burgeoning capitalist economy; and Paris, at the time, was a centre for avant-garde artists, with many needing the income and desired the recognition that poster commissions would bring.
Taking inspiration from this print-boom, came about artists such as Andy Hiroshige, Cheret and Alphonse Mucha, who recorded everyday life in their art. Cheret recorded everyday life realistically, whereas Mucha recorded a more warped version of reality. However, all of the artists following this style, fused 18th Century rococo, the decoration of flower and fashion with Japanese aesthetics of tone, space and economy of line.
Andy Hiroshige (above)
Alphonse Mucha (above)
Jan Tschichold was the son of a provincial sign-writer and was trained in calligraphy. It was his background and training, that set him apart from almost all other noted typographers of the time, since they had trained in architecture and the fine arts. During a time of unevenness in the printed world, fonts were chosen at random, with little-to-no regard for the text. 1928 saw the publication of his most influential work "The New Typography" which insisted on functionality in design.
Between 1947 and 1949, Tschichold lived and England and oversaw the redesign of 500 paperback books published by Penguin Books, leaving them with a consistent set of typography rules, named 'The Penguin Composition Rules'. Jan Tschichold is the reason why Penguin books have such a legacy and why the Penguin character is so well known, even to this day.
The Swiss School was led by designers Josef Muller-Brockmann at the Zurich School of Arts and Krafts and Armin Hofmann at the Basel School of Design. The style favoured simplicity, legibility and objectivity. The poster saw the combination of photography and typography come to life, and is often seen as the most effective way to communicate. The Swiss School saw artists such as Emil Ruder, Alvin Lustig, Ladislav Sutnar and Ernst Keller.
Emil Ruder favoured asymmetrical compositions, placing high importance on characters and negative space, and his use of grids have influenced the development of web design on many levels. Alvin Lustig bean to think about the cover of the book, the systems inside the book, how the back works and how the spine works etc. He attempted to get a sense of the writers direction from reading the book and then translate it into his own graphic style (whereas the previous trend was to summarise the book in one image). Ladislav Sutnar's work was rooted in rationality and the process of displaying massive amounts of information in a clear and organised manner for easy consumption by viewers. Ernst Keller avoided a specific style, and instead letting design emerge from its content.
I believe the print-boom was a massively important factor as to why, and how we have got to where we are today; even though a lot of these posters were designed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they are very, very similar to designs around today. You can tell that it has greatly influenced designers working today.
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