Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide

by Johanna Drucker, Emily McVarish

Graphic Design History traces the social and cultural role of visual communication from prehistory to the present, connecting what designers do every day to a history of innovative graphic forms and effects. It offers a unique and exciting set of critical lenses for thinking about the cultural purpose and historical dimensions of the graphic designer’s work, placing emphasis on the relevance of the history to the practices of designers today. Designed by the authors, the book is beautiful, spacious, and elegant. Clearly organized into three content-rich layers, it is informative yet lively and driven by ideas that offer ways of thinking about graphic design from a wealth of historical examples

Genres: Design, Art, Art Design, Nonfiction, School, History, Textbooks

416 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2008

About the author

Johanna Drucker, book artist, visual theorist, and cultural critic, is Martin and Bernard Breslauer Professor in the Department of Information Studies at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Shtwaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book, in a class all its own. As opposed to most publications on graphic design history, it's not satisfied to be just a pretty picture book, but it offers mountains of relevant contextual insight, put in perspective within contemporary theory and worded for optimum comprehension. Priceless.

[icy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why is this book so poorly designed? The pages were cut off by random writing, making continuous reading such a pain.

[Yokusun Basi]

Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide by Johanna Drucker (2008)

[Johannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was actually an e-book file and I'm comparing it to the Graphic Style New edition sadly... and this text book was boring and sucked. It was okay, if I just wanted information about Graphic Design History - but if I wanted to be inspired and get ideas on other designs... this lacked images.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was required for my History of Communication and Design class at school, overall good. The book had more information than my teacher did so thumbs up on that one!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to use this book as my textbook for my History of Graphic Design class. Really gave detailed info on each of the eras and changes in graphic design from the start to now. Definitely a good read!