Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic

400 Pages·2009·146.35 MB·English

by  Armin Vit, Bryony Gomez Palacio

A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE LANGUAGE,
APPLICATIONS, AND HISTORY
OF GRAPHIC DESIGN
© 2009 by Rockport Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without written permission of the copyright owners. All images in this
book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the
artists concerned, and no responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher,
or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from
the contents of this publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that
credits accurately comply with information supplied. We apologize for any
inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or missing
information in a subsequent reprinting of the book.
First published in the United States of America by
Rockport Publishers, a member of
Quayside Publishing Group
100 Cummings Center
Suite 406-L
Beverly, Massachusetts 01915-6101
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.rockpub.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gomez-Palacio, Bryony.
Graphic design, referenced : a visual guide to the language, applications, and history of graphic design /
Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vito
p.cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-447-0
ISBN-lO: 1-59253-447-3
1. Graphic arts. 2. Commercial art. I. Vit, Armin. II. Title. III. Title: Visual guide to the language,
applications, and history of graphic design.
NC997.G5652009
741.6--dc22
2009007126
(il)11
DESIGN, LAYOUT AND PRODUCTION
UnderConsideraton, LLC: Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Armin Vit
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Regina Grenier
COVER IMAGES
The full images and their corresponding credits can be found
on the following pages:
Front cover, TOP TO BOTTOM
209, 370205,256,238,58,95,383,312,194
Back cover, TOP TO BOTTOM
240,199,380,200,199,141,97,176,57,94,100,369,49,46
TYPOGRAPHY
Graphic Design Referenced is typeset in Mercury Text by
Hoefler & Frere-Jones and Stag Sans by Christian Schwartz,
who also created an all-caps stencil edition for this book.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Printed in Singapore
Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
III
l1li
•
•
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III •
• • • •
j.\(:I(N()\~\'I.I:I)(i~"~I:NTS
First and foremost, we want to thank every single person Many thanks to all these wonderful individuals who
who answered our emails and phone calls and took the helped us with the most simple and complex requests
time to provide the materials and information that are the (appearing in the chronological order they assisted us):
essence of this book. Stephen Coles, Michael Pieracci, and Yves Peters, FontShop
International; Rich Kaplan, Finlay Printing; Kurt Koepfle,
Graphic Design, Referenced would most likely not exist had
Susannah McDonald, Tamara McKenna, Adi Wise, Simon
it not been for the vision of Rockport's Winnie Prentiss,
Beresford-Smith, Pentagram; Bob Zeni, STA; Dmitry Utkin,
publisher, and Emily Potts, acquisitions editor, who ap-
designyoutrust.com; Emmet Byrne, Walker Art Center;
proached us with the idea of creating an ambitious tome
Design Maven; Elaine Lustig Cohen; Laetitia Wolff; Markus
about graphic design. Most important, we thank them for
Rathgeb; Derrick Schultz and Katie Varrati; Emily Roz and
their patience as we extended our delivery dates months-
Mike EssI, Herb Lubalin Study Center; Marian Bantjes;
and months. Also at Rockport, we would like to thank
Stephen Eskilson; Joe Kral; Kari Horowicz and David Pankow,
Regina Grenier, art director and senior design manager,
Cary Graphic Arts Collection, RIT; Michael Evamy; Marc J.
for her support in the design of this book, and Tiffany Hill
Frattasio; Thomas Phinney, Adobe; Jennifer Bass; Louise
and Cora Hawks for their apt management skills.
Sandhaus; Grant Hutchinson; Robert Jones and Jordan
For helping us avoid major embarrassments we extend Crane, Wolff Olins; Ian Lynam; David Pearson; Heather
our deep gratitude to Aaris Sherin, assistant professor of Strelecki, AlGA; Sarah Coffman; Michelle French; Mark
graphic design at St. John's University, for her indefatigable Kingsley; Maaike de Laat; Allan Haley; Steff Geissbuhler;
fact-checking, and to Madeline Gutin Perri, for making us Jose Nieto; Joe Miller; Kevin Reagan; Richard R. Anwyl, The
sound like better writers with her acute copyediting. Center for Design Study. Apologies if we left anyone out.
The early advice and suggestions of Michael Bierut, Tobias To our parents and brothers, our most fervent cheerleaders-
Frere-Jones, Jonathan Hoefler, Adrian Shaughnessy, and without their support and confidence in us, this would have
our readers at Speak Up were integral to getting us on the been a constant uphill challenge.
right track. Preliminary research by Nikita Prokhorov
And, above all, to our daughter, Maya, whose unbridled
helped ease the burden, and suggestions of design projects
sense of curiosity and discovery fuel our own.
to illustrate some of the entries by Joe Marianek unearthed
true gems. Extended appreciation to Steven Heller, Michael
Johnson, and Patrick Burgoyne for their consistent help in
matters large and small through this project.
8 INTRODUCTION and notes about the book
terms, typefaces, methods, events, brands,
magazines, and numerous other verbs, nouns, and
proper nouns that act as reference points for
INTIIC)I)IJC:TIC)N
graphic designers- hence the title. Adopting the
word reference allowed us to look at graphic de-
It is both painful and cathartic to admit this in But, as we soon found out, it was impossible to sign in two ways: first, as an acknowledgment of
print and in the very first sentence of our intro- cover everything, be it for time constraints, the how graphic designers colloquially reference their
duction: This book is one of the hardest, most limitations of our already generous page count, own history, constantly pointing to particular
challenging, and most stressful projects we've the availability of reproducible images, or the designers or specific projects as sources of
undertaken. One part was simply the physical participating consent of designers or those hold- inspiration or comparison; and, second, as a
and logistical implications we experienced- ing the rights to the work, putting us in a posi- challenge to create a book that serves as an au-
writing close to 115,000 words, gathering more tion where for every dozen successful inclusions thoritative reference of both textual and visual
than 2,500 images and their respective release there were a handful of upsetting omissions- information, documenting and chronicling the
forms, and keeping track of the 3,500 emails and we realize the latter are as significant as the scope of contemporary graphic design. Perhaps
we wrote, not to mention facing the writing former in a field as rich and diverse as graphic a better way to explain the book is with our
deadlines we embarrassingly had to push back design. These conditions, however, don't exempt elevator pitch: If you find yourself in the sole
time and again. The other part of this gestational us from criticism on the conscious exclusions company of graphic designers, this book will
burden-and the one that bears most heavily on we made. If asked politely, we will be happy to likely address every professional subject that
us despite the joy of finishing the project-is that explain our position, whether it was blissful might arise, giving you enough information to
the book is, relatively speaking, incomplete. ignorance or premeditated judgment. Of course, laugh at an inside joke or nod in knowing agree-
this is not all irremediable: Pending the success ment at a thoughtful reference.
At the outset, we established that Graphic
of this first edition (wink, wink), many of these
Design, Referenced would serve as a metaphorical Because the material of this book treads territory
gaps could be mended.
clearinghouse for graphic design information, similar to that of Philip B. Meggs's A History of
covering its basic principles, formative history, The final content of the book is the result of Graphic Design, Richard Hollis's Graphic Design:
seminal projects, and influential practitioners. a constantly fluctuating whirlpool of names, A Concise History, and even the latest entry
Notes about the book and how to use it
STRUCTURE Recommended Reading ~~ ____
Each chapter (for example, "Principles") is composed of subchapters This icon appears at the bottom of some entries; it points you to page
(for example, "Principles of Typography"), and within those are broad 390, where you can find accessible suggestions.
labels that cover several entries (for example, "Black Letter" is one
entry under the label "Classification" in "Principles of Typography"). Bibliography and Footnotes
The broad labels are explained on each subchapter page, establishing Sorry, there are none. This is not to imply we did not consult vast
the context and criteria of the entries. numbers of books, journals, magazines, and video and radio interviews.
We did. And, surprisingly, most of these reference materials are easily
Text accessible through online searches. When they are not fully available
Most entries range from 150 to 300 words. This is not much. So we online, the original sources can be acquired at bookstores, libraries, or
bluntly admit that many details have been left out and certain stories from acquaintances who hoard design literature. We take this opportu-
might feel incomplete. We made every effort to include the most nity to praise Google Books and Amazon.com's "Look Inside" feature,
relevant information, but it wasn't always possible. When available, which gave us access to many books that would have made for much
we have made further reading recommendations. costlier research had we bought them.
INTRODUCTION and notes about the book 9
into the historical survey category, Stephen J. combination of comprehensive (although admit- and nimble point of view on the many facets
Eskilson's Graphic Design: A New History, we tedly not exhaustive) bursts of text and-testing of our profession. We are neither historians
sought to differentiate our content- which our puzzle-solving skills- as many images as the nor critics, simply practicing designers who
wholeheartedly builds on these giants' shoul- layout was willing to accommodate. Despite the acknowledge the importance of being aware of
ders-by offering a new organizational perspec- aforementioned stress and challenges, this has the path our profession has taken so it can be
tive through which we can parse our past and been a thrilling book to define, research, write, steered in new directions. This book is ultimate-
present while offering new inclusions from the and visualize. While this may not be every- ly a reflection of our own formative experiences,
growing canon of our profession. In "Principles," one's idea of a good time, we loved immersing and its content represents what we have found
we look at the foundations of graphic design ourselves in the world of graphic design. Design important, relevant, and influential over the
to establish the language, terms, and relatively books, sporting dozens of Post-it notes, are course of many years. We are anxiously confi-
objective concepts that govern what we do and scattered through our office; our scanner always dent and eagerly unsure about the relevance and
how we do it. In "Knowledge," we explore the has a queue of materials waiting to be digitized; reception of Graphic Design, Referenced- but we
most influential sources through which we learn our Web browser history is miles long; the u.s. trust it will serve as a worthy stepping-stone, for
about graphic design, from the educational in- Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx are constantly us and the profession, to forge a new history and
stitutions we attend to the magazines and books delivering packages containing original design practice in the twenty-first century.
we read. With "Representatives," we attempt to artifacts that designers have sent us or that we
Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit
gather those solo or group practitioners who, have purchased on eBay; our transfer server is
over the years, have been the most prominent or endlessly active with uploads and downloads of
have steered the course of graphic design in one files; and we have used this project as an excuse
way or another. Finally, through "Practice," we to visit graphic design archives in our vicinity.
highlight the iconic work that both exemplifies It may sound corny and perhaps paradoxical
best practices and illustrates the potential legacy to the opening paragraph, but this has been an
of the work we produce. unexpectedly enriching experience.
With this framework in place, we forged ahead The result is a book we believe - or, at the very
in filling in the nearly 500 blanks through a least, hope- provides an informative, energetic,
Related Contemporary Images
One goal we wanted to achieve with this book was to show the web of For entries that did not require specific design projects, we made a
connections in our industry, and in the spirit of the Internet we have conscious effort to find fresh and previously unpublished work from
created links between related items. These are made evident in the around the world. Much of it was harvested from websites like
running text by a gray underline and arrow gently pointing you to the ffffound.com, manystuff.org, monoscope.com, and thedieline.com.
appropriate page, like this >1 0. Some, however, you may have seen before.
Historical Images For Further Consideration
To our dismay, design projects dating to the 1950s and earlier are In the course of the book are ten entries we singled out through a
painfully expensive to acquire from universities, museums, and special different design and longer narratives. These are projects or topics
collections. If money and time were not at issue, this book would be we feel deserve extended consideration and attention.
flooded in them. Given our time constraints and budget, we have lim-
ited their inclusion, and for our two timelines we have made our own Feedback
interpretations of some of the most iconic and best-known images.
We look forward to receiving corrections, questions about omissions,
or any other kind of feedback. Please visit undercollsideration.com/gdr.