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Milton Glaser Essay

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Throughout history new approaches for illustration emerged in graphic design. During the first half of the twentieth century narrative illustration ruled American graphic design. Conceptual designers were concerned with the design of the entire space of the page and the integration of word and image. Designers convey not merely information about the product or idea that the poster or ad is displaying but also promotes an larger or separate concept as well (Rossi 80). The shift of the conceptual image in poster design was significant from the pictorial modernism era in 1895 to the conceptual image era in the 1960s. The Beggarstaffs, Lucian Bernhard, Milton Glaser, and Wes Wilson all proved why the conceptual image and simplification was a success …show more content…

In 1957 he was co founder of Push Pin Studios in New York, where he executed designs for record covers, books, and posters. The Bob Dylan poster was created in 1967 and the transcending subject and function of this image became a symbolic crystallization of its time (Kiehl 28). The brightly-colored pattern in Dylan's hair, inspired by Islamic design, contrasts against the black silhouette of Dylan's profile. The energetic design with its swirling streams of color evokes the visual effects of the psychedelic drugs that were gaining popularity amongst members of the culture. Glasers took inspiration from the Art Nouveau era. The organic shape and line of the hair shows characteristic of Art Nouveau. He also took inspiration from a black and white silhouette cutout by Marcel Duchamps. Glaser says it was in the back of his mind when he created the Dylan poster. Glaser worked in an illustrative, often playful style that offered an alternative to the utilitarian sparseness of the Bauhaus tradition brought to the United States (Collins 31). This conceptual image style poster is different from the one during the pictorial modernism era because it is more stylized and colorful. His poster of Bob Dylan is one of the most memorable images of the 1960s, embodying for many people the spirit of the period (Heyman

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