History is a complex business. Fortunes boom and bust, empires wax and
wane, and change--whether social, political, or technological--has its
winners, its losers, its advocates, and its enemies. Through all the
turbulent passage of time, graphic design--with its vivid, neat
synthesis of image and idea--has distilled the spirit of each age.
This book is an in-depth history of graphic design from the end of the
19th century to the '50s. It traces the evolution of this creative field
from its beginning as poster design to its further development into
advertising, corporate identity, packaging, and editorial design.
Organized chronologically, the volume features over 2,500 seminal
designs from all over the world, 71 of which are profiled in detail
besides 61 leaders in the field, including Alphonse Mucha (chocolate
advertisements), Edward Johnston (London Underground logo and typeface),
El Lissitzky (constructivist graphics), Herbert Matter (photomontage
travel posters from Switzerland), Saul Bass (animated opening titles),
and A. M. Cassandre (art deco posters).
With his sweeping knowledge of the field, author Jens Müller curates the
standout designs for each year alongside a running sequence of design
milestones. Meanwhile, in his introductory essay, David Jury situates
graphic design from its point of origin in early printing, engraving,
and lithography to striking creative developments in the 19th century.
Each consecutive decade is then prefaced by a succinct overview as well
as a stunning visual timeline, offering a vivid display of the variety
of graphic production in each decade as well as the global landscape
which it at once described and defined.
As we move on from and reflect upon the 20th century, this first volume
examines the foundations of what would influence some of the
fastest-changing creative fields. Combined with Volume Two--which spans
from the 1960s until today--the tomes offer the most comprehensive
exploration of graphic design to date and a long-overdue recognition of
its enormous contribution to economics, politics, social causes, the
arts, media, and the way we see the world.
