The Postmodern Design –The Innovative Style of Poster Design after 1960s (Part 2)

The major art movements and prevalent graphic design style in Western Country produced dominant effect in changes of poster design style in 20th century. The significant change of poster design style in 20th century was between the International Typographic style which continue the order of the modernist tradition and the Postmodern Design which was represented by a Swiss designer Wolfgang Weingart.

With the advent of information age, The global collaboration and international communication was quite intense during the post-World War II era. The cooperation relationship between hundred different countries made the global village possible. Demand for international identification and communicative clarity kept rising, especially the needs of a unified pictographs , and a international standard of visual communication . For the certain points the International Typographic style became a wide utilization of graphic design field by the 1950s. The clarity and legibility of this new style allowed people form the world to accept the same visual information. The style was flashed around the world after World War II. It remained its major force at the end of the 20^th century. The origin of the International Typographic style was found in the curriculum at the School of Design in Basel. The principle and foundation of their courses was based on the De Stijl and the Bauhaus. De Stijl (literally “The Style” in Dutch) which was a journal in 1917 played a key role of constructivism movement. It claimed a constructive idea of graphic design with simplified elements and geometric harmony. Basic designs were reduced to straight lines, right angles and the primary colours: yellow, red and blue. A design might only consist of straight and horizontal lines because, immediately and directly, they revealed its very essence.[1]

           As a leading representative of the international typographic style, Josef Muller-Brockman established a objective and mathematical design vocabulary. His clear use of graphic elements and mathematical structure presents legible and functional information. In his poster design, the precise use of constructivism idea created a harmonious graphic arrangement. The law of constructive poster is the structural harmony. The most important concern of constructivism is Arrangement, beauty and function.The essential working process of Muller-Brockmann’s poster design is that he kept exploring the possibilities of mathematically constructed grid and geometric forms. In the Musica Viva poster series, it present a intelligent use of geometric forms and primary color. He constructed a abstract express and absolute order. Thus, blocks of interesting forms meld to produce bursts of “color-sound” corresponding to Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite (October 1958); varying tones of red combine with black rectangles to distinguish the work of Erich Schmid (January 1959); or seven squares of elemental colors appear to “communicate” with one another, expressing the shared themes of Hauer, Speth, and Stockhausen (Nov. 1959).[2] His “Der Film” poster presents a international style by using mathematical grid system and bold typeface. The visual impact of this work was increased by controlling typographic elements. Muller-Brockmann achieved a effective result of visual communication.

By the 1970s The cultural climate in western countries changed rapidly. The authority and tradition of previous modernism was questioned. The developing trend of human society became more informative and pluralistic. The demand for equality of women and minorities was raised. Western culture was notably characterized by diversity. Went through the economic and culture changes of this era people firmly believed the modern aesthetic was outdated. The coming postindustrial society need a new meaningful term and progressive attitude . postmodernism became a wide utilization by different field to describe the cultural change of the period. Personal attitude and values were involved into design field. The design forms also carried political and social attitudes. Many designer emerged with postmodernism idea during the 1970s.The intuitive and playful aspects of postmodern design reflects personal involvement. Postmodern designers place a form in space because it “feels” right rather than to fulfill a rational communicative need. [3]

Opposite to International Typographic style of the modernist tradition the Postmodern Design style was pioneered by the Swiss Designer Wolfgang Weingart who Rejected modernism notion and principle.

Weingart fulfilled a playful and expressive design principle. With his achievement in film system Weingart transferred the typesetting process from metal to photographic systems. It allowed him to change the type size and letterspacing freely. He overlapped photos fragments and typographic information by using layering of images and type techniques. Most of Weingart’s posters have an irregular border. individual images, type and textures are placed in the harmonistic composition. the collage pictures with halftone dot screens shows the photomechanical process. Weingart measured the printed result by Layering transparent films during the first stage of collage design until it's overprinting through the letterpress.

            After he photographed the physical type the design process will be unrestricted. With reproduction camera he could be able to change the size, weight of elements. By Changing the quality of the photos Weingart could make the type looks blur or fatter. He further use the halftone screens to adjust the tone or gradation of the images.combining pictures of train tickets , family photos and framgent of text. Weingart created a montage with photographic images and abstract form. His posters also presented the dreams surrounded by The fragmentes of memories. The way I worked and the action of my scissor mirrored an inner reality: uninhibited, playful, complex, contradictory, and somewhat erratic- in short, quick snips.[4]

Compare to the Postmodern Design the absolute order and clarity of International Typographic style was completely refined and somehow reached it’s possibility. It is not surprising that the backlash of Postmodern Design emerged in the 1970s. Personal expression is the essential value of postmodern design. Designers involved their personal attitude into design form. The posters were no long only created for important activity. Posters also presented playful and expressive aspects of artists.

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1.      Müller-Brockmann, Josef, history of the poster (London ; New York : Phaidon Press, 2004.),157

2.      Purcell, Kerry William, Josef Müller-Brockmann / by Kerry William Purcell (New York : Phaidon Press, c2006), 173

3.      Meggs, Philip B, Meggs' history of graphic design (Hoboken, N.J. : J. Wiley & Sons, c2006), 466

4.      Weingart, Wolfgang, Typography / Wolfgang Weingart (Baden, Switzerland : Lars Müller ; New York, NY : Distribution USA and Canada, Princeton Architectural Press, c2000), 355
by Ai