Essay

In different eras, designs of different designers were suited to the culture of their time, sometimes affecting also the society or culture in which they emerged. Furthermore, such influences, by using a number of different materials and techniques changed the attitude towards design and culture.

Paul Rand

Paul Rand is one of the most famous graphic designers in the world. Paul Rand was the key figure within the New York School Movement. Such movement was a distinctive style applied by American designers starting from the 1940s. Designers adopted the European Modernist Avant-grade aspect of design then added the economic and ethnic heritage of the American culture. Paul Rand introduced modern art into corporate industry, in which he designed multiple posters and corporate identities. For instance, one of Rand’s most memorable corporate identities is his IBM logo modified in 1960. It was Rand’s ability to sell the importance of the corporate brand and how it needed to evolve and grow with the corporation itself that has given us the permission to see that brands are not held still in time. Rand not only changed the way how design was executed and respected – he also changed the way businesses saw the need for design and branding. Rand experimented with the introduction of themes normally found in fine arts, into his graphic work, forming new ways of looking at graphic design, more as art than just a way to simply fill a page. Rand gained popularity and changed our industry by struggling against everything he knew and by which he was bound.

IBM logo done by Paul Rand

Josef Muller-Brockmann

In Switzerland, after the Second World War (in the 1950's) the Swiss Style which is also known as the International Typographic Style emerged. Techniques involving uniformity, geometry, the use of negative space, the use of the grid system and the sans-serif type were developed. The international popularity of such designs extended further in the 1960's and 1970's with artists like Josef Muller-Brockmann who was the founder and editor of the Zurich published journal Neue Grafik, which introduced the Swiss Style into America. Muller-Brockmann was highly influenced by Constructivism and his works involved a mathematical harmony of formal elements. Muller-Brockmann's works involved a series of concert posters, powerful public health and safety posters (most of the time using the photo-montage technique) and also the creation of theatre sets in Zurich. Together with other artists, Josef Muller-Brockmann saw design as part of the industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective and visual communication. That's why, amongst other techniques Muller-Brockmann chose photographic images rather than illustrations, and typefaces that were industrial looking rather than those designed for books as his main techniques. Designers of this era, like Josef Muller-Brockmann believed that designers are visual communicators rather than simply artists infect simplicity was much more powerful than a mashup of elements. Its universal massage of objectivity and simplicity still informs designs today. Muller-Brockmann’s designs of the 1950s aimed to create posters that communicated with the masses. Nowadays, with the web this is crucial: a simple layout is instantly understood by those with different languages and cultures. It was the harmony and simplicity of these pieces that influenced a post-war world, a time in which society felt need for globalisation.

Posters done by Josef Muller-Brockmann  

Paul Rand and Josef Muller-Brockmann are two key figures in different eras whose works and designs were suited to the culture of their time. Their works left an impact not only in the societies in which they worked – they gained popularity on an international level. Furthermore, their ideas and education still apply today so much so that many contemporary artists incorporate such techniques in their own works.

Reference

Speider Schneider, 2011. Paul Rand will change your life!. [online] Available at: <http://www.
noupe.com/inspiration/paul-rand-will-change-your-life.html.> [Accessed January 2014].

Nora Reed, 2010. Paul Rand - Corporate Identity Designs, Innovation and Excellence. [online] Available at: <http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/paul-rand/> [Accessed January 2014].

Novin, G., 2012. A History of Graphic Design. Chapter 42; The Swiss Grid System -- and the Dutch Total Grid, [blog] 10th November. Available at: <http://guity-novin.blogspot.com/ 2011/07/chapter-42-swiss-grade-style-and-dutch.html> [Accessed January 2014].