Hollis,R (2001),Graphic Design: A Concise History

Hollis,R (2001)
Graphic Design: A Concise History
London: Thames & Hudson


Excerpt

“Visual Communication in its widest sense has a long history when early man hunted for food and spotted the imprint of and animal in the mud. He was looking at Graphic Design.
Graphics can be signs like letters of an alphabet or form part of other sign systems.
Graphic Design is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea.
As a profession it has existed only since the middle of the 20th Century. It has now overlapped the work of the agencies and studios. The lone designer has become part of a team in the communications industry.”

The Book starts with an introduction to Graphic Design, its origins and various stages of evolution.

From 1890-1914: It starts by talking about the "The Art of Posters”, 2-D Design, Graphic Reproduction, Information Design, Bauhaus Typography, Photography and sequence and Printing Techniques, Design, Color and Visuals.

Further the book goes on to describe design from the Savant Garde Period to the origins of Modernism (1914-1990) in which it talks about Futurism in Italy, Soviet Russia, Germany and the Netherlands.

National Tendencies until 1940 is discussed with special reference of trends to Switzerland, France and Britain.

The author further focuses upon variants of Modernism in Europe specifically looking at Switzerland and New Graphik, Italy and the Milanese Style, France and Northern Europe.

The late 1960's depicts Psychedelic, Protest and New Techniques with special reference to Cuba's 1959 revolution and its energy into Graphic Design (Che Guevara), California and Protest of the Vietnam War and its effects.

The Last chapters go on to conclude with New Waves: 1970's and 1980's and from 1990 to the New Millennium. It concludes by saying that with the advent of the Electronic Publishing systems came the era of a new Avant Garde where there are no barriers or structure being followed. From the Benetton Campaigns to new fonts created by specialized software’s.

Concluding on the paradoxically underling the view point of Dutch ‘lay outer’ Piet Schreuders in Lay in-Lay out stating that Graphic Designers “are criminal in that they practice a highly specialized profession that the world could well do without” while designers, as well as the public, when asked for a definition of a good design will answer ”Does it do the job? ‘Did message A get communicated to audience B? ’