Essay on Graphic Design History
The development of the graphic design in the 1960s – 1970s was vulnerable to the growing impact of the popular culture, sexual revolution, and appearance of iconic figures in music and pop culture, such as Elvis Presley. At the same time, the graphic design of the 1960s – 1970s became closer to the mass audience. One of the mainstream trends of the graphic design of that time was the emergence of celebrities and their wide involvement in the graphic design, when graphic designers used celebrities as icons that created the particular brand image and conveyed specific messages which designers wanted to convey to the audience. In this regard, the development of the graphic design contributed to the increasing role of celebrities in the cultural and social life. On the other hand, the graphic design also benefited from the wider involvement of celebrities because celebrities allowed attracting the attention of the audience to the particular products of the graphic design of that time.
On analyzing the development of the graphic design of the 1960s – 1970s, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that one of the most popular celebrities of that time was Elvis Presley, who attracted not only the mass audience but also professional graphic designers, who, in their turn, used his popularity to create their own products and manifest their skills and making the graphic design a true art. In fact, Elvis Presley was one of the key figures, the icon of the 1960s – 1970s, whose contribution to the music and culture of that time can hardly be underestimated.
Elvis Presley was extremely popular in his time and his creative work became particularly interesting for graphic designers, who created their own works being inspired by Elvis. At the same time, his style influenced the graphic design in a way because the public just wanted to be “like Elvis”. As a result, graphic designers used the full potential of the popularity of Elvis Presley among the audience and used his image and style to attract the target audience to their products.
The huge popularity of Elvis Presley was beneficial for graphic designers, who could use his image in their products. However, such cooperation of the celebrity and graphic designers was beneficial for both parties. Elvis Presley also benefited from works of graphic designers because they made him even more popular. As they used his image in their works, Elvis Presley became the iconic figure, who was almost everywhere. In such a way, the popularity of Elvis Presley grew stronger, while companies using graphic design depicting Elvis Presley could also rip off maximum profits benefiting from effective promotion of their products.
In such a way, graphic designers, who remained devoted to traditional family values, could be inspired by Elvis Presley. The theme of traditional family values was historically very popular in the US and Elvis Presley also contributed to the maintenance of the ideal view on the family as the main value of the American culture (Dundy, 2004). Even though Elvis Presley divorced, his images with his family were very popular and inspiring for Americans and graphic designers used it successfully.
In such a way, the image of Elvis Presley has been commercialized successfully and even today various brands use his image to promote their products and services. The enormous popularity of Elvis Presley was the result of his talent as well as media and graphic design, in a way, because his image was well-recognized and the attention of media and graphic designers to his personality made him even more popular.
At the same time, the theme of sexual revolution and gender relations had had a considerable impact on the graphic design of the 1960s – 1970s.
In such a way, the graphic design of the 1960s – 1970s still reserved a considerable impact of the traditional view on males and emphasized male individualism. However, the popularity of the male individualism in the US was also the result of the traditionally positive attitude of Americans to individualism (Stanizsewski, 2009). The cult of hero is deep-rooted in the American culture and the graphic design just mirrored the trend to the popular view on the male individualism in the US.
The 1960s were marked by the growing attention to the family planning and gender roles (Stanizsewski, 2009).
In such a way, the graphic design mirrors the growing trend to the change of gender roles due to the emerging feminism and steady elimination of gender gaps. At the same time, the aforementioned image reveals the sense of human that have finally appeared in the graphic design in the 1960s. The change of gender roles and the humor which is present in the image show clearly that the American society has started to change, while the graphic design became the powerful tool with the help of which the change was recorded and presented in mass media. The transformation of the US culture of the 1960s – 1970s was the result of profound changes in the US society, but the graphic design has managed to notice all those changes. This is why it is possible to trace key changes in the US society throughout time through the analysis of works of graphic designers. For instance, it is hardly possible to find implications to the change of gender roles in the pre-World War II graphic design, whereas those changes become obvious in the graphic design of the 1960s and, especially, the 1970s.
Thus, the development of the graphic design in the 1960s – 1970s was marked by the increasing role of celebrities in the American culture and the wide use of celebrities in the graphic design. In this regard, Elvis Presley was one of the most influential figures of that time. He became the cultural icon, whose steep decline in the 1970s became the tragedy for millions of his fans. However, the graphic design has used the full potential of Elvis Presley as the iconic figure in the US culture. At the same time, the graphic design mirrored other profound changes that took place in the US society in that time, including the sexual revolution, changing gender roles, male individualism, and others.
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