Description:
Reading Graphic Design History uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction and typography, often addressing issues of class, race and gender.
David Raizman's innovative approach intentionally challenges the canon of graphic design history and various traditional understandings of graphic design. He re-examines 'icons' of graphic design in light of their local contexts, avoiding generalisation to explore underlying attitudes about various social issues. He encourages new ways of reading graphic design that take into account a broader context for graphic design activity, rather than broad views that discourage the understanding of difference and the means by which graphic design communicates cultural values. With a foreword by Steven Heller.
Review Quotes: Reading Graphic Design History is an important addition to the literature on Graphic Design. It serves a diverse audience of students, scholars, teachers and practitioners. This is the perfect companion volume to a survey text for anyone who teaches Graphic Design History. A collection of carefully researched and clearly presented case studies, each chapter offers a fresh and provocative reading of key works by important designers. Raizman's treatment covers a broad spectrum of issues from creative design through the production process to distribution and reception. Raizman is interested in the collaborative nature of Graphic Design as both an art form and a commercial enterprise. This is a gem of scholarship, treating multiple facets of a rich and complex subject in a masterful manner.