Marie Andrus
Design Theory and History
Why does the Graphic Designer of today need to know about Graphic Design of the past?
What is Graphic Design? While there are many definitions the simplest would be that Graphic Design is the combination of type and image to create a visual message that communicates to an intended audience successfully in a visual way. So is it really necessary for a designer to know the history of graphic design? For me personally I think a graphic designer does need to know about the past history of graphic design. The history of Graphic design is the basic building blocks of theory that we use as a designer, it helps us have an understanding and gain knowledge of graphic design from the past to help the graphic design of future.
There was not a single moment when something called “graphic design” appeared. Graphic design has separate practices like Typography that began in the fifteenth century even though bookmaking itself has been done earlier than that. To me it was by the 19th century were the separate practices comes together. An example from the 19th century was the work of the journal Das Plakat (The Poster) that urged artists to work for industry. Das Plakat promoted the idea that posters, logotype, and lettering could be done by the same artist. Today’s graphic design came about because of the past and evolved to what it is today. There is much today that is similar to the past, an example is the Print Magazine cover to the Das Plakat Journal Cover.
I personally do think a graphic designer should know about the history of graphic design. It gives us theory and understanding about the decisions made in design. Graphic design’s past gives us theory. It has us think about the audience, the conditions a design is made, what the design’s purpose is, and how we can use it in an effective way. One example of graphic design in the past that is still used today in theory and that influences us is the graphic design from the Bauhaus School. Knowing the how and why behind these works and other designs from the past and how they were developed helps us as designers use them today.
Graphic Design’s helps our understanding. Designers can see and make connections in their designs, seeing how one idea evolves into a visual communicator. By looking into the history we can better understand the decisions that were made then about cleanliness, simplicity, form, and other design elements that graphic design strived avidly for. Just looking at the surface won’t help you understand the design. You have to dig deeper. By digging deeper you can find many more connections with philosophy, world culture, the state in which we live in, etc. Just understanding the history helps the designer to build their own philosophy and expand their designs.
I know if I learn the history of graphic design it will help me to build my understanding of my work and others. I would be able to learn about the good design decisions and the bad. My work would expand in style and in layout because of the influence of the movements and styles I will learn throughout this Fall semester. Lastly I would be able to use theory to question my design, to see if the message is being communicated how it wants to be. History is important and I do support that designers should know about it.
