Posters have quite a special place
in the history of graphic design.
They were one of the first commercial opportunities to explore design and its impact. They’ve also been with us for over 300 years, serving as a canvas for generations of graphic designers. While the poster may not be the primary method of message dispersal in the 21st century, it has informed nearly every other approach used. In some ways, the poster will always be at the heart of graphic design.
The technology to produce lithographs came into being in the late 1700s. As is so often the case with new technologies, it was costly and lacked ready availability. As such, carving-based printing continued to dominate the scene until the 1870s.
During the 1870s, the poster became
a dominant force in Europe.
Cities were plastered with posters featuring both imagery and typography in an attempt to curry favor with consumers, to announce sales opportunities and to introduce new products. In the 1890s, Toulouse Lautrec became the most celebrated poster artists. Some of his works, including his Moulin Rouge poster, were almost immediately recognized as a legitimate form of fine art, even though they had clearly commercial purposes.
By the 19th century, however, Lautrec abandoned poster art and the genre was in something of a slump. Filled with uninspired imitations of previous decades’ successes, it appeared as if the commercial poster design landscape might be destined to become a commercialized wasteland. Fortunately, a new generation of artists embraced the poster, reviving the relevance of the form.
Leonetto Cappiello’s posters were a marked departure from earlier offerings. He tended to focus on a single, simple image and used wild attention-getting strategies and/or humor to evoke an audience response. His work was a hit and it inspired a new approach to poster art.
Commercial graphic design in posters took a backseat
to the global war effort during World War I.
Between the first and second World Wars, however, it became a launching pad for approaches steeped in the modernist perspective and for art deco. World War II, predictably and necessarily, turned poster art back to war-oriented concerns.
As the post-war economy advanced, the era of the poster slowly slipped away. Television, radio and newsprint carried more power and reach than the old poster. It was well past its heyday. That didn’t prevent innovation, however. The psychedelic posters of the 60s, the Warholian pop art of the 80s and the structured, straightforward approach embodied in the International Typographic Style all found homes in the world of commercial posters.
Today, posters are used less often than they have been for well over a century.
However, they do still make appearances and they still serve as an exciting opportunity for graphic design specialists to put their techniques and creativity on display.
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A Comment on Poster Graphic Design
Posters have quite a special place
in the history of graphic design.
They were one of the first commercial opportunities to explore design and its impact. They’ve also been with us for over 300 years, serving as a canvas for generations of graphic designers. While the poster may not be the primary method of message dispersal in the 21st century, it has informed nearly every other approach used. In some ways, the poster will always be at the heart of graphic design.
The technology to produce lithographs came into being in the late 1700s. As is so often the case with new technologies, it was costly and lacked ready availability. As such, carving-based printing continued to dominate the scene until the 1870s.
During the 1870s, the poster became
a dominant force in Europe.
Cities were plastered with posters featuring both imagery and typography in an attempt to curry favor with consumers, to announce sales opportunities and to introduce new products. In the 1890s, Toulouse Lautrec became the most celebrated poster artists. Some of his works, including his Moulin Rouge poster, were almost immediately recognized as a legitimate form of fine art, even though they had clearly commercial purposes.
By the 19th century, however, Lautrec abandoned poster art and the genre was in something of a slump. Filled with uninspired imitations of previous decades’ successes, it appeared as if the commercial poster design landscape might be destined to become a commercialized wasteland. Fortunately, a new generation of artists embraced the poster, reviving the relevance of the form.
Leonetto Cappiello’s posters were a marked departure from earlier offerings. He tended to focus on a single, simple image and used wild attention-getting strategies and/or humor to evoke an audience response. His work was a hit and it inspired a new approach to poster art.
Commercial graphic design in posters took a backseat
to the global war effort during World War I.
Between the first and second World Wars, however, it became a launching pad for approaches steeped in the modernist perspective and for art deco. World War II, predictably and necessarily, turned poster art back to war-oriented concerns.
As the post-war economy advanced, the era of the poster slowly slipped away. Television, radio and newsprint carried more power and reach than the old poster. It was well past its heyday. That didn’t prevent innovation, however. The psychedelic posters of the 60s, the Warholian pop art of the 80s and the structured, straightforward approach embodied in the International Typographic Style all found homes in the world of commercial posters.
Today, posters are used less often than they have been for well over a century.
However, they do still make appearances and they still serve as an exciting opportunity for graphic design specialists to put their techniques and creativity on display.
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