Join Sean Adams for an in-depth discussion in this video American modernism, part of Learning Graphic Design History.
- The incredible work of Cipe Pineles, Joseph Binder,…and Alexey Brodovitch, and Vogue, Harper's Bizarre,…and Seventeen introduced modernist ideas,…and the European avant garde to the United States.…These magazines however,…reached only a small, elite audience.…The average American in the midst of the Great Depression,…did not need luxury items,…expensive cruises, or couture fashion.…Unemployment during the Depression…was as high as 25 percent.…Franklin Roosevelt initiated a new federal program,…the Works Progress Administration, or W.P.A.…
The W.P.A. employed millions of Americans.…They built dams, bridges, roads, and federal buildings.…One division, the Federal Art Project, employed designers,…illustrators, photographers, sculptors, and painters.…The Federal Art Project introduced modernism…to a wider audience in America through posters.…Designers were urged to speak to the masses…in the least elitist way possible.…Imagery was representational, but not overly realistic.…
The subject matter ranged from…travel posters to local art exhibitions.…
Beginning in the Victorian age, Sean explores the need for design in Industrial age advertising, the use of graphic design as propaganda during the two world wars, and the rise of the massively influential Bauhaus school. He sheds light on the development of poster, film-title, magazine, and album-cover design; the changing relationship between design and typography; and graphic design's role in various art movements, ranging from Art Nouveau to new wave. Get started with Foundations of Graphic Design History and discover the power of imagery.
- Why study graphic design history?
- Art Nouveau
- The Arts and Crafts movement
- The Soviet Revolution
- European avante-garde
- New Typography
- The great age of posters
- American modernism
- Post-war optimism
- The rise of the corporate identity
- Exploring the fused metaphor and the "big idea"
- Reviewing Swiss typography
- The West Coast shift
Skill Level Beginner
Graphic Design Foundations: Typographywith Ina Saltz2h 23m Beginner
Designing a Typographic Bauhaus Book Coverwith Nigel French33m 27s Intermediate
Where next?2m 19s
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