Mantex

Tutorials, Study Guides & More

  • HOME
  • REVIEWS
  • TUTORIALS
  • HOW-TO
  • CONTACT
>> Home / Archives for Design history

Design in the USA

July 9, 2009 by Roy Johnson

Product design in America 1800-2000

Design in the USA is much more interesting than its rather plain title suggests. It’s a very scholarly approach to the subject, incorporating both the economic and social history of design in America from its revolutionary origins to the present day. Jeffrey Meikle’s first chapters deal with America’s ambiguous relationship with Europe (and England in particular) before native designers begin to emerge towards the end of the nineteenth century in the form of Charles Eastlake (furniture) and Tiffany (lamps) – though I was glad to see that the novelist Edith Wharton got a mention for The Decoration of Houses (1897). Then there’s something of a leap from the end of the nineteenth century to the arrival of art deco in the 1920s.

Design in the USASince the art deco designers were influenced by the motifs they picked up from “automobiles, airplanes, zigzag bolts of electricity, and Manhattan’s skyscrapers”, one wonders why the engineers and architects who produced them are not given more consideration.

He claims that “The profession known as industrial design emerged during the Great Depression of the 1930s”, and he certainly provides a very detailed account of the design consultancies set up by Norman Bel Geddes, Raymond Lowey, and Henry Dreyfuss.

He’s particularly good at documenting the sociology of his subject – the movement of designers within their profession, and the effect on design of economic and political changes in society.

The good part of this survey is that issues of design are firmly placed within the context of American history, economics, and social change. It’s almost like reading an account of the social development of the USA in the last two centuries.

His account ends, quite tantalisingly, just as more-or-less universal access to the personal computers makes designers of us all. Now with the proliferation of web sites and blogs – plus the additional tools of digital photography and software to personalise everything from page layout to typography – the arts of design are truly democratised, which he points out is where they began in the USA two centuries earlier.

The book is very well illustrated, and there’s also a full scholarly apparatus – references, further reading for each chapter and its principal topics, a timeline matrix of design and related subjects; and a list of museums and websites.

© Roy Johnson 2005

Design in the USA   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Design in the USA   Buy the book at Amazon US


Jeffrey L. Meikle, Design in the USA, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp.252, ISBN: 0192842196


More on design
More on media
More on web design
More on information design


Filed Under: Product design Tagged With: Design, Design history, Design in the USA, Product design

Dictionary of Graphic Design

July 4, 2009 by Roy Johnson

illustrated encyclopedia of all matters related to design

This is a comprehensive guide to international developments in graphic design. From pre-industrial printing presses and medieval typography to computer graphics and avant-garde stylistic advances. The Dictionary of Graphic Design provides information about graphic designers, typographers, journals, movements and styles, organisations and schools, printers and private presses, art directors, technological advances, design studios, graphic illustrators, and poster artists. The entries are in alphabetical order ranging from the ABC system of standard paper sizes via Mackintosh and John Maeda to typographists Hermann Zapf and Piet Zwart.

Dictionary of Graphic DesignEntries are cross-referenced, and there’s also a chronological chart which outlines the relationship between movements, technology and designers around the world.This second edition has been completely revised, updated, and completely redesigned by Derek Birdsall. It includes 485 wonderfully varied illustrations which give a stunning visual record. It’s a shame they are mainly in black and white, but in such a bargain-price book I don’t suppose we can have everything.

They cover a wide range of media, including advertising, corporate identity, posters, packaging, magazine and book design, as well as fine art and illustration.

It’s very well informed and clearly based on in-depth knowledge of the subject. The authors cover all aspects of graphic design from 1840 to the present day – from William Morris, inspired by nature, and El Lissitzky’s Constructivist design, to the Designer Republic’s visuals for the music and club scene and John Maeda’s computer graphics.

There’s an illustration of almost every individual designer mentioned, and they are particularly generous towards younger contemporaries such as Mark Farrow and Peter Saville, whose work has been in CD and LP record cover design industry.

I checked out their entries on popular designers such as Neville Brody, David Carson, and Paul Rand, and all of them were spot on. The collection also introduced me to many designers whose work I recognised but who I had never heard of before.

© Roy Johnson 2004

Dictionary of Graphic Design   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Dictionary of Graphic Design   Buy the book at Amazon US


Alan and Isabella Livingston, Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, pp.239, ISBN: 0500203539


More on design
More on media
More on web design
More on information design


Filed Under: Dictionaries, Graphic design, Product design Tagged With: Design history, Dictionaries, Dictionary of Graphic Design, Graphic design, Product design

Graphic Design: a concise history

June 27, 2009 by Roy Johnson

popular potted history of 19th and 20th century graphics

This is an introduction to graphic design in a series from Thames and Hudson which offers very good value for money. Richard Hollis takes as a starting point the idea that graphic design begins in the late nineteenth century with the development of the poster which combined word and image. If you are happy to ignore what went before, what he presents is thought provoking and a visual treat.

Graphic Design: a concise historyThe main feature of the book is that each point of his argument is illustrated by small marginal pictures which function like a lecture slide show (which I suspect is their origin). It’s not quite clear if he is following a chronological, a thematic, or a national structure – but this isn’t really important, as the main pleasure of his account is the exuberant variety of illustrative examples he discusses. These act as a fascinating introduction to the subject.

It’s rather like a very entertaining series of illustrated undergraduate lectures. He starts with the poster in the nineteenth century, then goes on to chart the development of word and image in brochures and magazines, advertising, television and electronic media, and the impact of technical innovations such as photography and the computer.

The strength of his approach is his internationalism and excellent choice of materials. He covers the main figures in Swiss, Dutch, French, American, and British design, and en route there are special features on movements such as Italian futurism, Soviet constructivism, and German expressionism.

His exposition and analysis of the various movements is handled with a light touch, which makes the subject accessible to non-specialists. The most successful parts of the book are his detailed tracing of artistic influences and his arguments for the relation between design and function.

He knows the names, the products, and the businesses which produced the commissions. Maybe the book should have been called ‘Twentieth Century Graphic Design’, but this is excellent value, and always in print.

© Roy Johnson 2000

Graphic Design   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Graphic Design   Buy the book at Amazon US


Richard Hollis, Graphic Design: a concise history, London: Thames and Hudson, 1994, pp.224, ISBN: 0500202702


More on design
More on media
More on web design


Filed Under: Graphic design Tagged With: Art, Design history, Graphic design, Modernism

Get in touch

info@mantex.co.uk

Content © Mantex 2016
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Clients
  • Contact
  • FAQ
  • Links
  • Services
  • Reviews
  • Sitemap
  • T & C’s
  • Testimonials
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2025 · Mantex

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in