Graphic Design From Nineteenth Century

Graphic Design

From Nineteenth Century Mexican Pamphlets to Modern Day Websites: A Comparison of Styles in Graphic Design

The modern world is full of visual information, to the point that it is almost impossible to avoid being bombarded with text and other meaning-laden symbols -- often in the form of advertisements -- no matter where one looks. Billboards, bus benches, bus sides, storefronts, and sandwich boards on sidewalks all clamor for attention on the morning commute; television ads often contain brightly colored text, display dynamic company logos, have as their background very carefully constructed visual landscapes; even clothing is more often than not emblazoned with specific designs in purposefully selected colors. All of these are examples of graphic design, which has become so ubiquitous in modern culture that the phenomenon itself goes unnoticed even as individual instances stand out in sharp relief.

The Internet is also a major gathering ground for elements of and innovations in graphic design in the modern era, with a variety of applications and purposes for specific instances of graphic design. Like television before it and the printing press centuries before that, this new medium has created vast new possibilities in the features, creation, and implementation of graphic design. Many texts have already been written about the new styles of graphic design that are emerging or have already been established in the Internet Age, with profound effects on the way that individuals perceive and process visual information. These changes also have major implications on the overall perceptions of reality that lie underneath.

This does not mean that the Internet is the only medium where a useful study of graphic design can be accomplished, however, and in fact a look at certain historical uses and trends in graphic design can illuminate the workings of modern graphic design to a large degree. One historic era in graphic design that is especially interesting in terms of the suddenness and importance of its innovations occurred in nineteenth century Mexico, as the country moved away from its period of imperialist control and developed its own very distinct and stridently independent national character and cultural flavor. The boldness and variety of graphic design in the period is akin in many ways to the developments that have occurred in graphic design on the Internet, though in form and aesthetic there are, of course, some key differences. A comparison of graphic design styles from nineteenth century Mexico to those of the modern Internet Age provides very useful fodder for discussion and innovations regarding the future trajectory and progression of graphic design.

Pamphlets and Posters

The confluence of cultures and the political turmoil that existed in Mexico in the latter half of the twentieth century had an enormous impact on the artistic and aesthetic styles of the period. Religion and politics both started moving away from strong and domineering centralized authorities and became more homespun and democratic, yet at the same time industry and mechanization were advancing rapidly (Zarur & Lovell 2001). This combination of forces produced distinct and powerful alterations in graphic design and also found such design applied to new purposes.

As the tools for designing and mass producing graphic design and text-based artifacts became more widely available in Mexico, they were increasingly put towards political ends. One of the most momentous occasions around the middle of the nineteenth century, at least according to certain eyewitnesses that were present, was the production by Jose Maria Gutierrez Estrada of a pamphlet calling for a constitutional monarchy (Sanders 1970). The language and political implications of this pamphlet were important in and of themselves at the time and historically, of course, but the fact of the pamphlets existence and its design elements are also quite noteworthy. The publication of pamphlets was a decidedly European activity, and in calling for a monarchy headed by a European prince Estrada specifically chose a medium that could support his reasoning. The pamphlet was also meant to appeal to the larger Mexican public, however, and was reproduced in an unadorned typeface that spoke of the simplicity and independence of Mexico that remained an important factor in public thinking as the political debates in the country waged on (Sanders 1970).

Ongoing turmoil actually led to the eventual development of a wide variety of distinctly Mexican typefaces and other graphic features, many of them collected and/or created by Ignacio Cumplido. This graphic designer (before the term had been coined) and printer created graphics and fonts that were at once bold and striking yet exceedingly simplistic and direct, providing hundreds of different varieties and endless combinations for use on posters and pamphlets advocating a wide range of figures and issues (Gravier & Brandt 2002). Intricate and fanciful graphic work was reserved for certain illustrations and became quite common as borders on many posters, calling interest and attention to as well as framing the still-simple text that delivered often pointed messages and announcements (Gravier & Brandt 2002).

Graphic Design Goes Online

In this regard, the graphic design elements of nineteenth century Mexico during the latter half of the century has much in common with graphic design elements found on many standard web pages seen today around the world. There are also significant differences in the needs and approaches of graphic design on the Internet when compared to those of nineteenth century Mexico, however. At the time and place that saw Jose Maria Gutierrez Estrada and Igancio Cumplido producing their pamphlets and posters, the simple existence of visual information inherently called attention to these artifacts and their message; in the modern world where individuals are constantly inundated with visual information, graphic design -- especially on the Internet -- must take competition for attention into account.

One of the most well-known and widely-read books on the subject of web design is Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think (2005), in which the author focuses on usability and simplicity as the paramount necessities of websites and the graphical elements that guide users therein. The interactive nature of graphic design is something that is almost entirely unique to the Internet and other computer applications, and usability must be enhanced by graphic design. This has made the directness and simplicity of text that was found in Mexican pamphlets and posters of the nineteenth century an important element of twenty-first century websites (Krug 2005).