Graphic Design in the Early 20th Century

During World War II propaganda was ubiquitous. It consisted of a wide range of carriers including leaflets, radio, television, and most importantly posters. Posters were used based on their appeal: they were colorful, creative, concise, and mentally stimulating. Posters often portrayed the artist's views on the war. They demonstrated the artist concern for the war, their hopes for the war, and reflected the way enemies were envisioned. Posters also show a nations political status: they reflect a nations allies and enemies, how the nation saw itself, and its greatest hopes and fears of the war.

During WWII, Great Britain would create propaganda posters to try to convince ordinary citizens to help the military effort in some way.

Posters are splashy, large-format images, which are accompanied by a short text. Usually, the purposes of the posters are to agitate, advertise, inform, or teach people. Posters from World War I and World War II often used metaphors, different figures, events, and places. During the First World War propaganda posters were enormously widespread. Artists used them to agitate people to conscription, subscriptions to war loans, and aid to the wounded soldiers. One of the most important posters from World War I and World War II is “I Want You for U.S. Army” by James Mantgomery Flagg. This poster is very influential because of its figure, the message, and the effect on the people.

Imagery uses color as well that is eye catching to anybody. For instance, in a poster with a large British solider, this shows that they are powerful and should be looked up to. Below the solider are hardworking citizens which do work and this helps aid to the solider to grow. Additionally, there is another poster that states "Woman of Britain" and has a picture of a factory worker standing right under war planes. It is stating that they have the power to aid with the war by working. Overall, imagery is a necessary part of posters and propaganda to persuade an audience.

During World War II, propaganda was used for a number of reasons, it not only showed how anyond could be of use to the war efforts, but it also showed that every person could contribute as well. These posters empowered everyone to stand behind their nation's Army, and to continue contributing to the war efforts. The posters showed that everyone is needed, that anyone could make a difference, and some even emphasized certain values to those who are already helping with the war effort.

     Alike, “The Poster” was the most prominent form of psychological manipulation during Stalin's reign. Until World War I the poster had avoided social themes. However, as Stalin’s Russia rose to war and as a world power, the posters took a turn to be commercial and cultural, an attempt to develop an expanding market and advertise various entertainments. The posters of World War II took on a new task: to mobilize the population in support of the war effort. Stalin’s Posters featured themes of mobilizing the armed forces, reconstructing the economy, as well as various specific war time problems. It was at this point that the government began to make efforts to “shape public opinion” and “arouse patriotic feelings”. The government assigned this task to the mass media. Every political event in Russia found resonance in

(Just as a side note, I had pictures of the posters in the original paper but couldn 't transfer them to here. The first link in the bibliography has tons of WW1 propaganda posters you can use.)

During World War II propaganda posters where used to influence many peoples value, beliefs and behavior. The use of propaganda had a huge impact on the allied and axis power during this time. Both enemy’s used posters to get support from there government and families back home. Creating these posters encouraged people to save their materials so that most of the weapons could be used during the war. Propaganda it was a smart way to get people to degrade the enemy. Furthermore it was a great financial investment for America and its allies during the war. The poster I will address are what I found to be the most interesting and significant during this time.

Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find a building that does not have exit signs or fire extinguishers in America. Whether in a university or at the work place, exit signs and fire safety instructions can easily be found by anybody. Fire drills are regularly practiced to ensure the least amount of casualty will occur if something goes wrong. However, a hundred years ago safety issues were barely taken into considerations and safety regulations were most of the time inexistent, as illustrates the terrible fire that happened a hundred years ago at the Triangle

in today's society and is important to have in life. Graphic design is used in media, the

During the 1950’s art took a major turn in history from traditional styles depicting people and scenes of everyday life to abstract thoughts and ideas that were transformed onto a canvas to express emotions and ideals in society. People, events, and society have always impacted several styles of art, but the consumer culture in the 1950’s impacted art in a new completely unique way. Post WWII society was more industrialized and more focused on developing and selling new products. The postwar generation had more disposable income to spend on the latest and greatest products and the market turned to advertisements in mass media to get their products out there to consumers. With televisions and films increasing in popularity the market flooded these forms of media with catchy flashy ads that showed favorable people like movie stars using products. With the increasing use of mass media, the culture shifted to consumerism which effectively shifted art as well. Art was directly impacted by the consumer culture because of society’s use of advertisements, photographs, and films which artists like Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol used those elements in their own works to portray the change of societal standards in a new modern style of art called pop art.

Wartime relations can cause a country to get down as we saw in the United States during Vietnam to a point where a large portion of the public doesn’t support the war. One of the ways countries, like the United States, curb this is by creating propaganda. In World War II, the United States used the propaganda to get the public behind the war effort and to unite the country. This propaganda included posters to advertise,

Tremendous technological advance and tremendous slaughter leave an artistic waste land of atrocity, emasculation and pointing posters used to manipulate the public into recruiting men to join the military around the globe. Skilled illustrators in America, less inventive but artistic allegory’s in Canada and France and plain typography in Britain leave many artists busy with supporting the war effort. On the outskirts of war were a contingency of international peoples with little means and a negative view of European culture and war that chose to defect to Switzerland where they created the art movement known as Dada.

In this summative essay I would like to explore and analyse the influence that Graphic design has had on popular culture and consumerism. Graphic design can be defined as “the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. The form of the communication can be physical or virtual, and may include images, words, or graphic forms.” (aiga.org) Designers are problem solvers and it is their job to come up with a suitable solution to a problem. They have to find the best suitable means to communicate a particular message. Graphic Designers are at the forefront of advertising and the battle of selling giving the designer even greater responsibility, because of this graphic designers play a big role in consumerism. Consumerism, “as a social and economic order and ideology encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-greater amounts.” (wikipedia.org) Society have been gradually made to believe that they can increase their happiness through buying and spending. Consumerism is an international problem, but has existed for many years, people purchasing goods that exceeded those of their basic needs dates way back to the first civilisations, in the eras of ancient Egypt and Rome. A turn in consumerism arrived just before the industrial revolution, people worked long hours and earned low wages, so they didn 't have the time or the disposable income for excess spending. The industrial revolution welcomed the use of assembly

According to Lowry (2014) it is vital to “know the emergency plans and evacuation procedures”. It is therefore also important to remember to ensure that all smoke alarms are regularly checked and that all corridors and doorways are kept clear of unnecessary obstruction at all times.