Government-sponsored programs, modernism and American graphic design

Corporate leadership and government-sponsored programs helped usher modernism into American graphic design during the first half of the twentieth century. Discuss how government-sponsored programs (specifically, the Rural Electrification Administration, the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration and the U. S. Office of War Information) helped usher modernism into American graphic design. Identify designers and links to examples of their work that aren’t found in Meggs’s A History of Graphic Design in your post.

Keeping up with science (LOC) Weisberg, Shari,, artist. Keeping up with science Illinois : Federal Art Project, WPA, [between 1936 and 1939]

See America. Welcome to Montana. Richard Halls Designer Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project, NYC Maker United States Travel Bureau, Washington, D.C. Commissioner

No enemy sub will dare lift its eye if you lend your Zeiss or Bausch & Lomb bino culars to the Navy : pack carefully, include your name and address : send to Naval Observatory Washington D.C. [between 1941 and 1943]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-USZC2-5161.

Keep mum - the world has ears / Grigware. Edward T. Grigware. [between 1941 and 1943]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-USZC2-5554.

New Deal WPA poster - Federal Art Project

East side, West side exhibition of photographs. Anthony Velonis. 1938. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-6179.

Cellar ceilings must be fire-retarded : Keep cellars clean / MW [monogram]. Martin Weitzman. [1936 or 1937]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-USZC2-5397.

Rural Electrification Administration Advertisement Source: NRECA

Design for Container Corporation of America. Egber Jacobson 

Design for Container Corporation of America. Egber Jacobson

Design for Container Corporation of America. Cassandre

Jan Tschichold and the new typography

The essence of the new typography “was clarity, not simply beauty; its objective was to develop form from the functions of the texts” and emphasized “rational design planned for communicative function.” Discuss Jan Tschichold’s background and role in the spread of the new typography. Include at least three links to examples of his work that aren’t found in Meggs’s A History of Graphic Design to support your discussion.

de Stijl!

What are the underlying philosophies and characteristic elements of the de Stijl style? How are these principles applied when creating de Stijl inspired visual communications? Include in your answer specific names of designers and links to their work.