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Wim Crouwel
Dutch designer Wim Crouwel's design philosophy was less emphatic about universal form and standardized formats than that of other Dutch designers. He emphasized the designer as an objective problem solver who finds solutions through research and analysis, simplifying the message and the means for conveying it to an audience. He believed the flood of typographic messages in
contemporary society demanded clarity and simplicity. -
Fluxus
A 1960s neo-Dadaist movement that explored conceptual and
performance art, happenings, experimental poetry, and language art -
Total Design Firm
A group known as Total Design, which included graphic designer Wim Crouwel, product designer Frisco Kramer, and graphic and architectural designer Benno Wissing, was a comprehensive design firm whose goal was to conceive and implement “ideas on design in all fields, in order whenever possible to achieve a unity of thought…in these fields.” During the 1960s and 1970s, this firm played a dominant role in Dutch design. -
Pieter Brattinga
Dutch designer Pieter Brattinga designed posters for these exhibitions, which were constructed on a grid of fifteen squares. One or more of these modules always appeared as an element
in the design, such as the 1960 exhibition poster for “De Man Achter due Vormgeving van de PTT”. He also edited a square-format journal called Kwadraatblad (Quadrate), which was printed at De Jong and showcased the work of leading artists and designers while demonstrating printing capabilities. -
Ryuichi Yamashiro
Ryuichi Yamashiro, poster for a tree-planting campaign, 1961. The Japanese characters for tree, grove, and forest are repeated to form a forest. -
Pentagram Design
A design partnership, which formed in London in 1962, made significant contributions to international design. Thorough evaluation of the communications problem and the specific nature of the environmental conditions under which the design was to appear combined with British wit and a willingness to try the unexpected summarize the essence of Pentagram's approach to graphic design. -
Graphis, 1965
Alan Fletcher, Colin Forbes, and Bob Gill, cover for Graphis, 1965. The record of a parcel’s international journey carrying Pentagram work to the magazine also became the package carrying Graphis to its readers. -
Tadanori Yokoo
The work of Japanese designer Tadanori Yokoo, demonstrates a fascination with popular art, comic books, and mass media, television, movies, radio, and records. His 1968 poster for a printmaking exhibition entitled “Sixth International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo” combines a variety of techniques, including halftone, airbrush, calligraphic writing, and montage. -
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer became an important voice in renewing British graphic design after World War II through his writing, teaching, and graphic design practice. As editor and designer of the journal "Typographica" and author of "Pioneers of Modern Typography", an influential 1969 book that informed the postwar generation about the accomplishments of earlier twentieth-century designers, he encouraged a worldwide dialogue. -
The Provo youth movement
The Provo youth movement, which emphasized individual freedom and rejected social conformity inspired new expressionism in Dutch graphic design, which increased dramatically during the 1970s and 1980s. Late twentieth-century designers, such as Anthon Beeke, and groups such as Studio Dumbar, Hard Werken, and Wild Plakken, pushed beyond the traditional values of harmony, unity, and order in their quests for individual meaning and subjective expression -
Ikko Tanaka
Plane and shape are the nuclei of Ikko Tanaka’s work. His work is
influenced by traditional Japanese motifs and incorporates grid structures and vibrant planes of color that explore warm/cool contrast, close-valued color, and analogous color ranges. In his 1974 poster for Sensei Ikenobo’s flower arrangements, mountains and waves are created by a rhythmic sequence of blue and blue-green bands under a graduated tan sky. -
Shigeo Fukuda's “Victory 1945"
Unexpected violations of spatial logic and universal order characterize the work of Japanese designer Shigeo Fukuda. Playfulness, humor, and intentional ambiguity are abundant in his designs. In his poster “Victory 1945,” which commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the end of World War II, the folly of
war is expressed simply by turning a shell back toward a gun. The optical illusion featured in his 1975 exhibition poster for the Keio Department Store is typical of his work. -
Takanobu Igarashi
Takanobu Igarashi opened his own design office in 1970. Much of his studio’s work is in trademarks, corporate identity, and environmental and product design. By 1976, Igarashi’s experiments with alphabets drawn on isometric grids were attracting clients and international recognition. -
Wim Crouwel postage stamps
Wim Crouwel, postage stamps for the Netherlands Postage and Telecommunications (PTT), 1976. Absolute simplicity gains expression through color gradation. -
Anthon Beeke
A provocateur who pushed for maximum freedom of expression and thought, Dutch graphic designer and photographer Anthon Beeke sought unconventional solutions to visual communications assignments. Many of his works, like the 1979 theater poster for Leonce and Lena, contain jolting ambiguities and erotic overtones. His typographic oeuvre is unrestrained, from handwritten titles jotted onto photographs to eloquent classical typography, and sometimes both combined. -
Hard Werken
More of an informal association than a structured business, Hard Werken embraced the contemporary art scene and rejected design refinement. The group developed a relaxed, anything-goes attitude and rejected all styles and theories in favor of the subjective interpretation of a problem. They were open to any conceivable typographic or image possibility and emphasized the message as well as materials and methods used to convey the message to an audience. -
"Nihon Buyo"
Ikko Tanaka's 1981 "Nihon Buyo" poster for the Asian Performing Arts Institute uses planes of color on a twelve-unit grid to define the abstracted and expressive portrait. -
Wild Plakken
The group's work has addressed such issues as the environment, women’s rights, gay rights, and racism, such as the 1984 poster for the anti-apartheid movement of the Netherlands. It does all of its own photography, so its designers can feel free to experiment in the darkroom, cutting, tearing, and combining images without needing to maintain the integrity of an outside photographer’s work