Iron Fists: Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State

by Steven Heller

It was just over 60 years ago that Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, two of the world's most powerfully imposing leaders, died and their regimes crumbled. One of the most illuminating facts about this dark era of history is the way in which these tyrants, and others like them, used graphic design as an instrument of power. But how did these regimes succeed in influencing the minds of millions? It is in the visual language the imagery, the typeface, the color palette that the answers truly take shape.



Phaidon Press is pleased to announce the publication of Iron Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State by Steven Heller, the first illustrated survey of the propaganda art, graphics, and artifacts created by the totalitarian governments of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Communist regimes of the USSR and China. The book sets the disturbingly powerful graphic devices in historical context.



The infamous symbols produced by these regimes are recognized the swastika and gothic typography of Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's streamlined Futurist posters and Black Shirt uniforms, the stolid Social Realism of Stalin's USSR and Mao s Little Red Book. Author Steven Heller, a world-renowned design historian, who has long collected two-and-three-dimensional examples from this period, reveals how these symbols were used in a wide variety of propaganda, from posters, magazines and advertisements to uniforms, flags and figurines.



In addition to using logos and symbols, all of the leaders researched in this book deliberately cultivated certain personal characteristics (Hitler's mustache, Mussolini's baldness, Lenin's goatee, Mao's smile), in an attempt to transform their corporeal selves into icons. These regime personalities were blanketed across public venues, from monuments to postage stamps. The Nazis, for example, installed an intricate graphic program that featured Hitler s face as a ''logo,'' a system remarkably similar to modern corporate identity creations.



By integrating color images of artifacts with archival black and white photographs, Iron Fists offers unique insight into how these regimes were effective in using graphic design to further their causes. In the section on Fascist Italy, for example, there are numerous reproductions of stylized posters, magazines and handbooks designed to excite impressionable youth. Heller then connects this printed propaganda with historic photographs of Italian children dressed as men prepared for battle stoic and serious their small hands clutching guns instead of toys.



Divided into four sections by regime, Heller also explores the color systems (each dictatorship had a distinctive palette), typefaces, and slogans used to both rally and terrorize the populace. In result, he demonstrates how these elements were used to ''sell'' the totalitarian message. The first extensively illustrated book on the subject, Iron Fists will have an obvious appeal to graphic designers but will also be an important contribution to the study of the history of the totalitarian state.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art, History, Politics

224 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2008

About the author

Steven Heller writes a monthly column on graphic design books for The New York Times Book Review and is co-chair of MFA Design at the School of Visual Arts. He has written more than 100 books on graphic design, illustration and political art, including Paul Rand, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, Graphic Design History, Citizen Designer, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer, The Push Pin Graphic: Twenty Five Years of Design and Illustration, Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design. He edits VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design, and writes for Baseline, Design Observer, Eye, Grafik, I.D., Metropolis, Print, and Step. Steven is the recipient of the Art Directors Club Special Educators Award, the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the School of Visual Arts' Masters Series Award.

Reviews

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is reactionary as hell, and probably good to look at it as propaganda in its own right. But it's great for design nerds. Oftentimes it's companies or commodities that are privileged in discussions about design and branding, so the topic of "branding movements" is interesting to me. Very bold and rich on the eyes, so many more implications and moods that come with this history compared to the friendly-yet-impersonal branding of popular goods whose only prerogative is to cozy up to you and tell you it doesn't hurt to buy.

[Inknscroll]

I read about "Iron Fists" in Books-A-Million's "BookPage." As the article states, it is about the "frighteningly successful design program instituted by the Nazis" & other totalitarian governments during the 20th century. Here is the book review by MiChelle Jones: (http://bookpage.com/reviews/5882-iron...).

[Mylesgorton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating study of the use of art and designed artefacts in totalitarian regimes. The first three sections, Nazi Germany, Facist Italy, and Communist Russia were more interesting than the section on Communist China, but overall a well researched and written book with numerous examples of the oeuvre, many of which were new to me. you would benefit from a magnifying glass to study some of the finer detail of some of the images.

[Eugenia Montiel Aceti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read some of the chapters of this book in order to write an undergraduate university paper.

[Justin Cormack]

Ooh a new book on this most compelling (literally) of subjects. Looking forward to reading it if I can get Matt away from it...