History of Graphic Design Presentation

The 1940s were a very pivotal time in the history of graphic design. European artists were fleeing from the war in Europe and moving into the states, bringing the ideals of European modernism and the cultural focus to New York.

One of the early pioneers of the New York School was Paul Rand. Rand was an editorial designer for Apparel Arts, Esquire, Ken and Coronet. Rand had a strong knowledge of graphic design and his designs were simple and still were able to convey his point while at the same time keeping the eye interested. His methods often included collage and montage techniques much like those seen during the DaDa era. Rand was able to bring together concepts, images, textures and objects into a cohesive whole. Later in his career he stepped into advertising where he changed the ads of the time with creative wordplay and a mix of photography, drawing, and logos. Rand also defined design as "...integration of form and function for effective communication".

Another important designer greatly inspired by Paul Rand's designs was Saul Bass. Saul Bass, known as the "Master of the Film title", created logos, posters, ads and animated titles for movies starting in 1933. His designs were reduced to a single dominant image usually centered in the middle of the page much like the designs of plakastil and sachplakat. When designing he would experiment with type by cutting letters out of paper, painting letters with a brush and often freely drawing them.

In the 1940s editorial designs saw a creative revolution. Three magazines were designed well at the time, Fortune, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar. Alexey Brodovitch, art director of Harper's Bazaar, changed layouts by allowing pages to bleed, cropping photos in new ways, and using type as images themselves. He would often direct his employees to astonish him, and when he went on to teach later in life would "...dump photostats, type proofs, colored pieces of paper, and someone's shoelace, if it happened to become untied on a long table together with rubber cement. He would fold his arms and with a sad expression he would challenge us to do something brilliant."

Brodovitch's unique deisgn philosophy went on through the work of his student Otto Storch. Storch who was an art director for Better Living and McCalls unified type and photography in both magazines. He explored scale and would plan out his spreads and shoot the photographs around the type. His philosophy was that idea, copy art, and typography should all be one.

The advertising world was turned upside down when the firm of Doyle Dane and Bernbach opened at 350 Madison Avenue. The legendary firm responsible for Volkswagon's "Think Small" ad combined the forces of their art director and copywriter to create a fluis energy between text and image. For each campaign they would develop a strategy surrounding something different, interesting, or superior in the product.

One of the most successful and well known art directors to come out of Doyle Dane and Bernbach was George Lois. Lois, known for his crazy tactics, took the philosophy of DDB and went on to create some of the most iconic ads of all time. Later in his career he went on to save Esquire magazine from failing with his interesting and eye catching covers. He would make jokes, play off irony, and us unique graphics to pull readers into buying the magazine.

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