"Entering a design office in the mid-1980s, and then again ten years later, the second visit gave the impression of a completely new profession." With this sentence graphic designer Jens Müller begins the second part of his "History of Graphic Design". The first volume was about the time between 1890 and 1959, the epoch in which designer became a profession in the first place. The second part explains the graphic design from 1960 to today: six decades in which the profession has changed fundamentally.

Where, in the eighties, people still glued, marked, fixed, and cut by hand, the design process took place, at least from the nineties, primarily on the computer. Already well ahead of the Internet, software and hardware solutions had become established in graphic design offices, simplifying and accelerating production processes. Finally, digitalisation ensured that both the concept of design and that of the designer were completely new. So this book tells of a structural change, because also in the economy something changed: Corporations grew and looked for new, comprehensive identities.

A wide field that Müller has set himself. In the end, it fills around 480 large-format pages. It also needs it. The picture atlas shows 3500 designs from all over the world, Müller analyzes 80 key works in detail. The web design remains a side note. Müller rarely moves away from classic, ie printed graphic design.

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Image and idea: Graphic design from six decades

His visual journey through aesthetics begins chronologically with modernist designs and often reduced, sometimes purely typographic works. Designs as they were in demand in the sixties, for example Karl Gerstner's work for the furniture company Holzäpfel or Otl Aicher's Lufthansa redesign. Interestingly, these days often resonate in the work of young graphic designers.

Later, the flower-power and then the punk aesthetically caused shock, before finally, in the eighties, new technical possibilities sparked the joy of experimentation. The posters became wilder, more escapist, more eclectic, more daring with color. The rather rigid rules of the great post-war designers were broken up. Where previously one of the rule of thumb was "Do not Play With The Logo", the music channel MTV did just the opposite. The brand of the music channel, the big M with the seemingly scrawled TV, suddenly moved, becoming an animated cheese sandwich, a yellow smiley face, or, perhaps best of all, a picture of Bob Ross.

Brands, brands, brands

This book not only tells of an art discipline, but is also a renewed indication that everything is designed around us. Thousands of advertising messages reach each of us every day. But also culture and activism do not come without design: In addition to many record covers and movie posters Müller also shows French posters of the '68 movement or the long-iconic "nuclear power No thanks!" - Logo of the Swede Anne Lundt.

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Jens Müller:
History of graphic design. Volume 2, 1960 until today

bags; 480 pages, 50 euros

Side strands and inserts ensure that there is never a sensory overkill despite the picture fullness. The strict temporal order breaks Müller again and again by footnotes. For example, when we leaf through 1972, we see not only the colorful book cover by Willy Fleckhaus for Edition Suhrkamp, ​​or the at that time unveiled logos by Adidas, Atari and Citroën, published for the first time that year. The London office Pentagram, founded in the same year, will also be presented. As one of the most influential design bureaus, the company still determines what part of the world looks like - from the Pet Shop Boys' CD case, to the logo of the British fast food chain EAT, to posters by Amnesty International.

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Trump illustrator Edel Rodriguez: "Just oppose insanity"

Müller also takes the time to introduce individual graphic movements and currents. He explains that the disco era, with its neon tube aesthetics, has definitely infiltrated graphic design, showing the tremendous impact that magazine covers from such papers as the German "Twen" in the 1960s or the British "The Face" had two decades later ,

The book ends with the characteristic drawings of the Cuban-American illustrator Edel Rodriguez. Shown are not only his "Time" designs, but also those he made for the "Spiegel": sensational comments on political events, "visual weapons" (Rodriguez), which are part of the collection of the Smithsonian Museum and several awards have won.