A brief history of the poster design and printing

The Poster design was one of the earliest forms of advertisement and began to develop as a medium for visual communication in the early 19th century. They influenced the development of typography because they were meant to be read from a distance and required larger type to be produced, usually from wood rather than metal. The poster quickly spread around the world and became a staple of the graphic design trade. Many artists as well, such as Henry Toulouse-Latrec and Henry van de Velde, created posters.

They were used to promote various political parties, recruit soldiers, advertise products and spread ideas to the general public. The artists of the international typographic style of design believed that it was the most effective tool for communication and their contributions to the field of design arose from the effort to perfect the poster. Even with the popularity of the internet posters are still being created every single day for all sorts of reasons.

The Birth of the Lithographic Poster design (1880 – 1895)

The process of lithography print was invented in the year of 1798, however for decades it was a sluggish and expensive for any sort of poster production. During these period posters used to be of simple wood or metal engravings with little color or design. This changed around in the year of 1880 with Cheret’s stone lithographic process. This was a breakthrough which allowed artists to achieve every color in the rainbow with as little as three stones – usually red, yellow and blue – printed in careful registration.

Cheret’s process nevertheless still demanded superb artistry and remarkable craftsmanship. The result was worthwhile –  a remarkable intensity of color and texture, with sublime transparencies and nuances impossible in other media (even to this day). The ability to combine word and image in such an attractive and economical format finally allowed the lithographic poster to usher in the modern age of advertising. An extremely gifted artist as well, Cheret ushered in that age by creating more than 1000 posters over a 30 year career.

Jules Cheret, Eldorado (Courrier Francais edition), 1894

Cussetti, Paris Lyon Mediterranee – Italie, 1895

Jules Cheret, Musee Grevin (before letters), 1900

1890 – 1900: The Belle Epoque & Art Nouveau

Alfred Mohrbutter, Kunst Austellung – Crefeld, 1897

1900 – 1914: The New Century & Early Modernism

A key outgrowth of these modernist efforts was the German Plakatstil, or Poster Style, which was begun in 1905 by Lucian Bernhard in Berlin and in Munich by Ludwig Hohlwein. Minimalized naturalism and emphasis on flat colors and shapes made their work the next step towards creating an abstract, more modern visual language.

1914 – 1919: World War I & the Bolshevik Revolution

World War I meant a new role for the poster: propaganda. The war ushered in the biggest advertising campaign to date, critical to the wartime communication needs of every combatant: from raising money, recruiting soldiers, and boosting volunteer efforts, to spurring production and provoking outrage at enemy atrocities. Utilizing contemporary Madison Avenue techniques, America alone produced about 2,500 striking poster designs and approximately 20 million posters – nearly 1 for every 4 citizens – in little more than 2 years.

The lessons of brilliant American advertising in WWI posters were not lost on the Bolsheviks, who turned to poster art to help win their civil war against the Whites. Lenin and his followers proved to be the pioneering masters of modern propaganda, and the poster became a weapon of choice throughout the century in both hot and cold wars everywhere.

Stoner, Official United States War Films (Infantrymen), 1917

1919 – 1938: Between the World Wars: Modernism & Art Deco

After World War I, Art Nouveau’s organic inspiration became irrelevant in an increasingly industrial society; the modern art movements Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, and Dadaism became chief influences.  At the same time, the first graphic design courses were launched in France, Germany and Switzerland, a key moment in the transition from illustration to graphic design in advertising.

This shift was quickly felt in the Soviet Union, where Constructivist art arose to help create the new revolutionary, technological society. The Constructivists developed an “agitational” style of poster composition, marked by strong diagonals, photomontage, and jarring color. The Constructivists’ aggressive stance, as  seen in the work of El Lissitsky, Rodchenko, Klutsis and the Stenberg Brothers, would have a major impact on Western poster design, primarily through the Bauhaus and de Stijl.

By the mid-Twenties, these often disparate modernist approaches would coalesce into a major new international decorative movement called Art Deco. In this machine age style, power and speed became the primary themes. Shapes were simplified and streamlined, and curved typefaces were replaced by sleek, angular ones that would reflect the jazz age. Ever eclectic, strains of Art Deco would also manage to incorporate the exotic arts of Persia, Egypt and Africa.

The term Art Deco is derived from the “Decorative Arts” Exposition of 1925 in Paris, which proved to be a spectacular showcase for the style. In Paris, the caricature style of Cappiello gave way to the geometric, intellectual images of A.M. Cassandre, who popularized air brush techniques that lent a machine-like surface to his images. His towering posters of the Normandie, Statendam and Atlantique ocean liners became icons of the Industrial Age. Art Deco, like Art Nouveau before it, spread quickly throughout Europe and to the U.S.

A.M. Cassandre, Nord Express, 1927

1938 – 1950: World War II & the End of Stone Lithography

The poster design again played a large communication role in World War II, but this time it shared the spotlight with other media, particularly radio and print. By this time, most posters were printed using the mass production technique of photo offset, which resulted in the familiar dot pattern seen in newspapers and magazines. The use of photography in posters, begun in the Soviet Union in the Twenties, now became as common as illustration. After the war, the poster declined further in most countries as television became an additional competitor.

The last gasp of the lithographic poster occurred in Switzerland, where the government heavily promoted the printing industry and poster excellence. Appealing to the Swiss sense of precision, the Sachplakat, or Object Poster Style, developed in the Twenties but blossomed during WWII and the early Fifties in the Basel area. Its artists delighted in making everyday objects into giant icons, utilizing spectacular Swiss printing to create wonderful trompe l’oeil effects. With roots going back to the Plakatstil of Lucian Bernhard and the Surrealist movement, visual elegance was often matched by gentle humor.

Herbert Leupin, Trink Lieber Eptinger! (Drink more Eptinger water!), 1947

1945 – 1965: Post-World War II & Mid-Century Modernism

Despite the looming tensions of the Cold War, the end of World War II ushered in a baby boom and a new consumer society with the arrival of television, jet travel and global brands fueling the way.

Advertising methods shifted to adapt to the times. A veritable “poster boom” occurred in the early 1950s, driving forward two distinct styles, one consumer and one corporate. The first, which we have labeled the ’50s Style, was brightly colored and whimsical, while the second, called the International Typographic Style, was more rational and orderly.

Posters designed in the ’50s Style used vivid colors and playful motifs to appeal to a broad audience. Artists like Herbert Leupin and Donald Brun in Switzerland, Paul Rand in the US, and Raymond Savignac in France exemplify the style’s lighthearted qualities. The ’50s Style was applied to consumer services as well as products. Ever present were marvelous airline campaigns by David Klein, Stan Galli and others which sought to attract travelers to destinations like Disneyland, New York, Las Vegas, and Paris.

The International Typographic Style, or Swiss Style, was also perfectly suited to the increasingly globally connected world.  Highly structured, systematic designs granted order and clarity to everything from highways and airports to product instruction manuals.

Influenced by the Bauhaus and Tshichhold’s New Typography, this style developed in Switzerland in the late ’50s and ’60s. It employed basic typographic elements with strict graphic rules and often replaced illustration with stark, “modern” photography. The concert posters of Josef Muller-Brockmann represent the classical apotheosis of this style – cool, elegant and systematically abstract. On the same level was Erik Nitsche’s “Atoms for Peace” series of spectacular posters for the first International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy.

David Klein, Las Vegas – Fly TWA (Constellation), circa 1955

1965 – 1972: The Sixties & the Art of Rebellion

Milton Glaser, Dylan, 1966

1970 – 1989: The Seventies & Eighties – Post Modernism

The International Style spread beyond Switzerland rapidly and became the leading graphic design style worldwide in the Seventies. By the early Eighties, the style began to give way to the Post Modernists, who sought to break the formal and dogmatic rules of the Swiss Style.

A young teacher in Basel named Wolfgang Weingart led the palace revolt which ushered in today’s predominant graphic style loosely known as Post Modern design. Weingart experimented with the offset printing process to produce posters that appeared complex and chaotic, playful and spontaneous – all in stark contrast to his elders’ teachings. Weingart’s liberation of typography was an important foundation for several new styles, from Memphis and Retro, to the advances now being made in computer graphics.

Paul Rand, IBM (Rebus – 1st Printing), 1981

1990 on: The Poster Design Today

The role and appearance of the poster design has changed continuously over the past century to meet the changing needs of society. Although its role is less central than it was 100 years ago, the poster will evolve further as the computer and the worldwide web revolutionize the way we communicate in the 21st century.

Ralph Schraivogel, Newman – Filmpodium, 2001

Article credit: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE POSTER

Animesh Niraj (24)