Alexey Brodovitch

Alexey Brodovitch was born in Russia in 1898 and in 1920, he moved in Paris. He was a photographer, a designer and also an instructor who worked in Paris. 

In the beginning of the twentieth century, his career was continued in America. Later on, he became the art editor of Harper's Bazaar. He is considered to be one of the most influential 20th century designers when it comes to the graphic design sector. 

In 1924, he designed a poster for Le Bal Banal which is considered to be a vital design in his design career as it was selected over many other artists. Consequently he was in great demand and started to design posters, department store adverts, fabric, jewellery and restaurant decor. Brodovitch dedicated most of his life to teaching through which a generation of designers sharing the same belief in visual vitality and immediacy was created. In 1934, Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper's Bazaar saw his works and immediately hired him to be the art director. In the 1950's, he fostered an expressionistic approach which become a main photographic style. 

In his own words, "There is no recipe for good layout. What must bi maintained is a feeling of change and contrast. A layout man should be simple with good photographs, he should perform acrobatics when the pictures are bad."

Brodovitch helped to determine magazine's contents which included die-cuts, transparent pages and multi-page foldouts.


Alexei Brodovitch, editorial design at Harper's Bazaar, 1940's and 1950's. Here one can see how Brodovitch combined the such photography with typography by using the same form as the human body figure is placed, which in my opinion, inspires me and many others. 

Reference

Beazley, M., Aynsley, J., eds., 2004. Pioneers of Modern Graphic Design: A Complete History. London: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd.

Elif Ayiter, N/A. The History of Visual Communication. [online] Available at: <http://www.citrinit as.com/history_of_viscom/index.html> [Accessed December 2013].

Livingston, A. I., 2003. Graphic Design and Designers. London: The Thames & Hudson.