A visual and comprehensive guide to a hugely popular graphic style.
The distinctive aesthetic of mid-century design captured the post-war zeitgeist of energy and progress, and remains hugely popular today. In Mid-Century Modern Graphic Design Theo Inglis takes an in-depth look at the innovative graphics of the period, writing about the work of artists and designers from all over the world. From book covers, record covers and posters to advertising, typography and illustration, the designs feature eye-popping colour palettes, experimental type and prints that buzz with kinetic energy.
The book features artworks from a wide selection of international designers and illustrators whose work continues to inspire and influence today, including Ray Eames, Paul Rand, Alex Steinweiss, Joseph Low, Alvin Lustig, Elaine Lustig Cohen, Leo Lionni, Rudolph de Harak, Abram Games, Tom Eckersley, Ivan Chermayeff, Josef Albers, Corita Kent, Jim Flora, Ben Shahn, Herbert Bayer and Helen Borten.
Theo draws from a broad range of sources including advertising, magazine covers, record sleeves, travel posters and children’s book illustration to show the development of the design style globally, and how this continues to influence design today. The book is packed with hundreds of colour illustrations, including classic designs, such as Saul Bass’ film posters and Miroslav Šašek’s children’s books, alongside lesser-known gems.
Great historical information and a who’s who of graphic arts during this time period. My favorite part is the abundance of illustrations with great captions.
Very aesthetically pleasing book! A lot of people accuse it of being heavy on images and not text, and they are correct, but if you're mainly perusing it to see some incredible examples of graphic design, then I do recommend it.
Writing was top notch. Overall eye candy met expectations. The choice of content however seemed skewed. Why the focus on classical album covers? Curious about other genres too. I guess I would have preferred to see a more chronological order and then a wider range within the categories. I also would have liked to see works by the same designer and same subset of styles together particularly when crossing types of media.