Intro
The history of graphic design is very interesting and has taken many different turns throughout the course of history. I find it fascinating how some design concepts can change and evolve through the course of time making it fun to look back upon. Although there were many good designs, the ones I liked best were Dada, Surrealism, De Stijl, and Constructivism.
Dada
Dada was a design that sparked up around the time of the First World War in the time period between 1914-1918. This was during the first war where we had seen advanced technology being used such as tanks, poisonous gas, and machine guns. I personally found the great wars very interesting and I loved learning about them in history class growing up. Artists would use this Dada design to show how the world has gone crazy over the years with all the war and destruction. A big statement made by Dada artists was that in any form of regular art, Dada would follow the opposite rules. I liked how this is used because it shows that Dada doesn’t have to follow the rules of regular everyday art and can be its own thing. Dadaist’s ultimate goal was to break away from the traditional art styles that had been in place at that time with a whole different style.
Surrealism
Surrealism is another design concept that caught my eye and it pooped up right at the end of the Dada era in about 1924. Surrealism was based on pictures that would shock or surprised their audience so that they could get some kind of reaction. I thought this was a very cool way of getting a message or design across to whoever is looking at it. Surrealism was a form of art that most people weren’t used to seeing and was a factor in its popularity. My favorite part of this design was that it was uncontroversial and acted as a gateway to the unconscious allowing there to be no space for wrong answers. Any form of art could be placed in this category as long as it was conveying a message to the audience.
De Stijl
De Stijl was definitely one of my favorite designs primarily because of its use of straight lines, right angles, and primary colors. This designed was founded around the same time as Dada in the year 1917 but was a much different style of design. The purpose of this design was to make the art piece have order and be geometrical so that it can grab the reader’s attention. I really like how it uses balance to make the design look neat and carefully made with a purpose.
Constructivism
Constructivism seemed to be the oddest out of all the designs I picked but I found it to serve an important purpose in design. Although I wasn’t a fan of how it embraces Communism, I found it interesting how people believed Constructivism was a way of giving art a social purpose. One of the design’s biggest ideas was that it rejected art for art’s sake and wouldn’t follow the traditional style that had been taken place. I enjoyed how this design, like many others, didn’t follow a specific rule and pretty much allowed the one making the design to do what they like.
Conclusion
All of these forms of design have led us to the major design concepts that use today in our everyday lives. I found this to be an interesting project because I liked learning about past designs and how they were used throughout the course of history. It’s amazing how these designs have all changed and evolved into the modern design styles of this century. I believe that the history of graphic design is important and should be taught through generations to come.
