Mô tả

The century of graphic design is a delight to watch, with the cultural sensitivity of the Ephemera and the depth in the everyday with which the history of graphic design complements the history of the fine arts. It is, however, not a joy to read. The prose is dry and the book neither conveys what others have said about changes in mind and being, nor contributes a new point of view about the designers featured. The text often contains attribute values without elaboration. Passes to individual designers disappear into the list of studios where they trained. However, as a visual encyclopedia the book is a valuable resource, and not a bad place to start learning about who influenced whom in the twentieth century. The collection of images does a good job of covering the breadth of the period, with all the peoples, individuals and movements that have contributed to the way we see things in this rapidly changing time. There is already a history of constructivists, designer heroes of subverting the Stalinist and Nazi dictum of how the pure master race was to be portrayed. But there is room for a broader interpretation for the rest of the era, as well. Looking over the ashtray of the century is an invitation to Grand to think about the objects that were, about how they marked their world. The stacked neon movie theaters that lined every major street in America since the 1930s were offshoots of the paintings that Art Deco graphic designers were adopting on posters. The whole city is like the fantasy worlds of a designer who worked long before the architects and builder made the ideal city of real brick and stone. The designer leaves the world behind. What this world means for the citizens of the century is a subject still waiting to be explored.