A collection of the world's most memorable, provocative, best-selling
and groundbreaking posters from Johannes Gutenberg to Barack Obama.
Classic posters from the last 300 years and the stories behind them.
Posters have always been designed to seek an immediate response. From
the time when paper was first affordable, the poster has been used to
provoke a direct reaction, whether a public appeal, a legal threat, a
call to arms, or the offer of entertainment. Newspapers might have the
advantage of ubiquity in spreading
the word, but a poster could be tightly targeted by its location.
Organized chronologically, 100 Posters That Changed the World charts
the history of poster design from their earliest forms as a means of
information communication to the more subtle visual communication of the
21st century.
As printing became cheaper, posters were used for more than just
promoting the capture of local villains or announcing government
decrees. Advertisements took over, citing up-and-coming events,
auctions, public meetings, political rallies, sports games, lectures and
theatrical performances.
The technological leaps from engraving to aquatints to lithography,
chromolithography and the offset press, all had their impact on what
could be advertised by poster, and the art form took off spectacularly
in the late 19th century with the influence of Lautrec and the Paris
nightclubs. From then on, the poster became a sophisticated means of
visual communication.
In the West it was used to sell products - in the East it was used to
sell regimes and control behaviour.
Along with historic moments in poster evolution, 100 Posters That
Changed the World charts the most impactful designs of the last 300
years - images that communicate a message whether commercial or
political, images that sell a film, a musical, a cause or used for
decoration, inspiration, motivation and affirmation. The affirmation for
teenagers in the 1970s that Farah Fawcett was looking at you.
