Class 14.1

The Rise of a

Commercial

Culture

A r t 1 0 0

U n d e r s t a n d i n g V i s u a l C u l t u r e

today's agenda

• early communications media

• arrival of print

• early print media

• print culture and the public sphere

• technological changes in the 1820s

• new print media: ephemera, magazines, newspapers,

books and prints

• the birth of graphic design

from handwritten manuscripts

on parchment to printed

paper...• print permits a greater degree of standardization and

modularization

• more information can be exchanged more quickly

• linked to rise of science, ongoing development of human

rights

Jost AMMANN (1539-1591)

“The Printer's Workshop,” from

The Book of Trades

woodcut

1568

early printed formats

broadsheet/broadside:

a single sheet that was used to print announcements or

notices on one side only.

posted publicly and read/viewed by all

the printer made the design decisions

Bibles and other religious texts such as prayerbooks

some treatises on science, law, government, etc. but this

will increase later

broadsheet or broadside

a single sheet, printed on one side only, to be nailed up in

a public public and read/viewed by all

the broadsheet has a long history continuing into the 19th

century

used for public announcements, warnings, news bulletins,

and advertisements

broadsheet announcing British naval victory, 1805

broadsheet warning

1831

crime broadsheet

1831

broadsheet advertisement

1853

how does print matter?

Commerce

, opinion,

and coffee

in England,

1798

shaping a public sphere

• what makes a sphere public?

• people come together who are not necessarily from the same

background

• different classes represented

• different occupations

• different points of view

• but all equal as one voice in the conversation (do not have to

defer to your social superiors)

• a space of heterogeneous opinion

Salon conversation

coffeehouse vs. salon

COFFEEHOUSE

men only

public; open to all ranks for

price of a coffee

(mixed by social class)

SALON

men and women

by invitation only, so more

exclusive

(mixed by gender and

profession)

James Gillray

Very Slippy Weather, Indeed!

1808

Vicesimus Knox, "On the Effects of Caricatures

exhibited at the Windows of Printsellers,"

Winter Evenings (London: 2 vols. Charles

Dilly, 3d. ed., 1795): 139-144.

“The lower classes in London, it might be

supposed, have not time, inclination, or ability,

to read much, but their minds are filled with

ideas, not only by the multitude of occurrences,

but also by the prints that are obtruded on their

notice, in the windows of shops conspicuously

situated in the most frequented streets. And I

believe, they often receive impressions, either

favourable, or unfavourable, to their honesty

and happiness as they loiter at a window, with a

burden on their backs, and gape, unmindful of

their toil, at the comical productions of the

ingenious designer.”

Vicesimus Knox, "On the Effects of Caricatures

exhibited at the Windows of Printsellers,"

Winter Evenings (London: 2 vols. Charles

Dilly, 3d. ed., 1795): 139-144.

“ The mode of ridiculing by prints has

some advantages over that by writing and

argument. Its effect is instantaneous; and

they who cannot read, or have not sense

enough to comprehend, a refined piece of

raillery, are able to see a good caricature,

and to receive a powerful impression from

it.”

stereotype,

caricature,

satire

Charles Philipon, Les Poires,

Charivari, 1832

Satirical cartoons remain an important vehicle for political critique.

new combination of

technologies in the 1820s

steam power

iron presses

higher pressure for reproduction of images

larger printing area

endgrain wood engraving (produces harder, smoother

surface that can hold finer lines)

These technological improvements led to an explosion of printed

materials in the 19th century.

hand-cranked printing press,

but now in cast iron, allowing

greater pressure to be exerted

on the plates

early design for steam-powered printing press

Charles Frederick

Ulrich

The Village Printing

Shop, Haarlem,

Holland

1884

Oil on panel

21 1/4 x 22 15/16

inches

Published in The Illustrated London News, June 15, 1861, p. 555.

what happens when print is

mechanized?

• Ephemera: printed paper meant to be thrown away:

tickets, menus, billheads, public notices and posters

• Illustrated weekly magazines begin publication.

• There is enough work for skilled designers,

illustrators, caricaturists, beginning of advertising

profession.

• Also impacted publication of books and prints,

increasing print runs and opening up a mass market.

cover of Harper’s Weekly,

February, 1895

changes in advertising

These small text-based

ads will give way to an

entirely different regime

of promoting products.

let's take a moment to

analyze this advertisement

together

Sir John Everett MILLAIS

“A Child’s World”

1886

oil on canvas

“Bubbles” Pears Soap ad, 1890

what is graphic design?

visual communication using combinations of text and images,

organized to produce maximum impact

a modern design field of relatively recent origin, arising as

mass print communications reached ever wider audiences

earlier, the printer would design the printed material, choose

the font, etc.

1820 to present, the graphic designer handles only the

design aspects, the printer handles only the production

aspects

so, graphic design today is a profession, but if you've ever

made a flyer or a sign for a garage sale, you have done it

not professionally designed

birth of graphic design

• ongoing innovation in production methods continues to

increase volume and variety of printed media

• communicating through print comes to be expected

• every single sheet of paper produced has to be designed,

by someone, at some point

• commercial artists separate into a distinct category

separate from fine artists

• trade publications and advertisements for graphic design

services demonstrate the rise of a professional group

1880s-1910s

• as industrialization progresses, a craft revival gets

underway

• valuing the traditions of the handmade and the singular

vs. mass-produced items in quantity

• stylistically, folk and historical motifs coexist with abstract

forms (both geometric and organic)

Advertisement Calendar, 1885

Jugend No. 14

April 1896

Peter Behrens, Corporate logo design and publications for AEG, 1907

1910-1930

• new modern world demands new modern forms—in

architecture, product design, and graphic design as well

• Bauhaus revolutionized design thinking and design

education

• designers have a significant role in the creation of social

protest art and propaganda

• graphic design is a key player in the rise of consumer

culture; rise of brands

• commercial artists and layout designers are joined by art

directors as the profession becomes increasingly

differentiated

Bauhaus "Building House"

(1919-1928)Walter Gropius was appointed

Director of the Academy of Fine

Arts in Weimar.

He merged it with School of Arts

and Crafts—no distinction

between the arts, all are

governed by the same basic

principles.

Collaboration and context were

key principles.

1930s and 1940s

• wartime imagery

• propaganda

• public service campaigns

mixed messages for women

1960s

• Pop, protest, and counterculture complicated the picture

• rise of humor and anti-advertising

• era of McLuhan's Understanding Media (1964): analysis of

different communications media and their impacts on our

human existence

layout, type, and

photography collaborate

to produce sensation

Jimms Nelson

Handbill for The Doors Concert, 1968

Sarah Whitcombe,

jacket design for

The Electric Kool-Aid

Acid Test, 1968

John Alcorn

7 Up

late 1960s

1970s

• graphic designer's role expands from composing and

styling specific messages to creating total brand identities

• corporate logos drew on Bauhaus principles of universal

design

• television means brand identity must be coordinated

across a variety of platforms

Paul Rand (1914-1996)

Rand's impact

“He almost singlehandedly convinced business that design

was an effective tool. [. . .] Anyone designing in the 1950s

and 1960s owed much to Rand, who largely made it possible

for us to work. He more than anyone else made the

profession reputable. We went from being commercial artists

to being graphic designers largely on his merits.”

—Louis Danziger, 1996

The evolution of logos across time. What trends do you notice?

Well-known logos today.