The second world war was a time when tragedy hit from several directions with the Nazi regime ruling. Bauhaus was forced to close, due to them not agreeing with their views, seeing them as degenerates, artists were taken away their rights, for the very same reason. The second world war didn’t only cause devastation because of mass murders, but it also took important cultures away that they didn’t agree on. Something good appeared out of all that happened, and that was the migration of designers to the Americas, which helped us shape design as we see it today.
Form Follows function
Modernism is when form follows function, What a form looks like should dictate how it works
Like when you design a button, it should look like a button, so you know that you can interact with a button like you would like a button, that you can click on it, it works like a button. So the form of the object should follow the function. Futura became the font choice of the modernist movement since the typeface was about functionality because it emphasized clean and logical geometrical forms, is easy to use and read.
The term graphic design appeared in the 1950s when the graphic design programme at Yale university appeared in the united states. The term was, however, first created in 1922.
The new Typography
Jan Tschichold, a German calligrapher, typographer, and book designer became a leader in new typography during the 20th century, due to him releasing two publications, that outlined theories and practices of a wide range of Avant-garde designers. Jan set out to establish a standardized set of principles for the new typography. In his publications, he demonstrated “the new typography, where he, for instance, showcased how to use negative space, asymmetry, the usage of a grid, limiting the colour palette, and much more.
In 1933, Jan and his wife fled to Switzerland after getting arrested by the Nazis after the search party found Sovjet posters in his flat. The reason for this was, that after the election where Hitler came into power, both Paul Renner and Jan Tschichold were denounced as Bolshevists after Jan had taken a teaching post in Munich, desired by Paul Renner. This was because all designers had to register with the ministry of culture, and all teaching posts were threatened by anyone who was sympathetic to communism.
Jan began with working with Penguin books in the 1940s, working as a typographer which led to an international revival of traditional typography. He designed a lot of the layouts for the penguin books, that are still used today.
Degenerate art
Degenerate art was a label the Nationalist Socialist(Nazi) party applied to art they did not approve of, generally modern art after Hitler got appointed chancellor in 1933. The art was banned on the ground that it was un-german. These artists that were identified as degenerate artists were being dismissed from teaching positions, were forbidden to exhibit to sell their art, and in some cases, were forbidden to produce entirely. Modernism is a quite wide range of art movements, so some of those that were affected by it was, Expressionism, Bauhaus, Cubism, Dadaism, impressionism, and many more. In 1937, German museums were purged of their modern art by the government, only for the art to, later on, be put on an exhibition in Munich to encourage the public to mock the work. The exhibition was titled: “Entartete Kunst”.
Cultural Shift to the USA
Due to the circumstances in Germany, a lot of designers and artists moved to the USA, several hundred Artists, Architects, and graphic designers migrated, and they all had a significant effect on the development of design in the United States. A few of said artists that migrated were Otl Aicher, the graphic designer which is famous for his Olympic pictograms that were showcased in Munich as well as the Lufthansa branding identity.
The Americas
People began to slowly migrate to the Americas during the Nazi Regime in the 30s. The design language that many cultural leaders and graphic designers brought over to America, and the changes imposed on their work by their experience in America, formed an important phase of the development of American graphic design. The modernist design didn’t really have any impact in the states until the 1930s. One of the migrating designers was Herbert Bayer, an Austrian/American graphic designer, painter, and photographer who is Recognized to be one of the last living members of Bauhaus.
One of the American designers that were influenced by the art movements and designers from Europe was Lester Beall, an American graphic designer that was an important figure in US advertising. He created several designs, where you can see his inspiration being the modernist movement from Europe, using limited colours and harsh shapes.
Other designers mentioned:
Alexey Brodovitch (1898-1971) was a Russian-born American photographer, designer, and instructor, mostly known for his art direction, primarily for the fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar.
Prior to America, in 1920 he fled to Paris as an exile from the October Revolution in Russia, having previously served as a first lieutenant in the czar’s White army.
Some of his work as an art director.
Herbert Matter (1907-1984) was a Swiss-born American Photographer and Graphic designer. He arrived in America in 1936, after being offered a roundtrip passage as payment, after the tour was over he chose to remain in New York. Herbert was later hired by previously mentioned Alexey Brodovitch, as a photographer. He ended up working for several leading magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Baazar, and Town and Country.
He was known for his innovative visual approach, where he fused the Swiss style with American pop culture. His most recognizable work is the posters he created for the Swiss Tourist Office.
Said posters, that Herbert made for the Swiss tourist office.
Paul Rand (1914-1996) was an American graphic designer and Art director, that is known for his corporate logo designs, such as the logos for IBM, ABC, UPS, and many more. Paul rand is known for bringing Avant-Garde ideas to the US, mixing visual arts and commercial design.
He is said to transform corporate communication in North America, by persuading companies that design can be a powerful business tool. Paul was also well known for page design, being an art director at magazines like GQ(then Apparel Arts) and Esquire-Coronet.
Alvin Lustig (1915-1955) was a well-known American book designer and graphic designer. Alvin’s approach to his book design was unique, where he would read the content of the book, and later design the jacket off it, based on the writers’ direction in his own graphic style.
Resulting in a unique composition of montages, abstract and colourful illustration with an interesting approach of typography.
His approach to designing book jackets would change the future of cover designs of literature cover design.
Saul Bass (1916-1996) was an American Graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of corporate logos, film posters, and motion picture title sequences. During his career, he worked with well-known filmmakers, such as Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese. It is believed that Saul Bass might be the single most accomplished graphic designer in history, from creating iconic corporate logos we see daily to well-known film-posters, to designing film credits. All of which, were iconic and is highly celebrated and inspiring until today.
Herb Lubalin (1918-1981) was an American graphic designer known for his typographic logos. He would often break the rules of typography to create new and interesting approaches for logos and how you could use type. Herb had his own private studio, where he took on any projects, from posters, to package design and identity solutions. He was mostly known for his involvement with the Avant-Garde magazine and its logo, which later became its own typeface called ITC Avant-Garde.
Milton Glaser (1929-2020) was an American Graphic designer, known for several great designs, especially the ” I Love New York” logo, which has been interpreted in thousands, if not a million way until today. He also made well known graphic designs such as the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster, among with the logo for DC comics.
With a history of studying printmaking, Milton also funded the graphic design company “Pushpin Studio” in 1954. He was also involved with the New York magazine, where he designed the logo as well as a poster to promote a publication from the magazine.
