Graphic design movements

Eighteen movements, and the wording that gets the look of each one.

A design movement is a set of rules somebody argued for: which shapes are allowed, how the type is set, how many colours, and where the eye goes first. Name the movement and a model brings the whole set. That is the fastest way to a poster that does not look like every other poster, and a trap when you only wanted one rule from it.

Ornament first

4

The decades before the grid. Drawn line, plant forms, and lettering that belongs to the picture rather than sitting on top of it.

Arts and Crafts: Flat repeating plant pattern, a heavy border, and lettering that looks hand cut.

Arts and Crafts

Flat repeating plant pattern, a heavy border, and lettering that looks hand cut.

Art Nouveau: Whiplash curves, a woman with long hair, and lettering bent to follow the line.

Whiplash curves, a woman with long hair, and lettering bent to follow the line.

Vienna Secession: Art Nouveau squared off: grids of small squares, gold, and severe drawn capitals.

Vienna Secession

Art Nouveau squared off: grids of small squares, gold, and severe drawn capitals.

Glasgow Style: Tall thin verticals, a rose motif, and long stretched letterforms in a pale palette.

Tall thin verticals, a rose motif, and long stretched letterforms in a pale palette.

Geometry takes over

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The 1920s and 1930s, when the drawn line lost to the compass and the set square. Shapes you can name, and type built from them.

Art Deco: Stepped forms, a sunburst, and gold on black with everything symmetrical.

Stepped forms, a sunburst, and gold on black with everything symmetrical.

Streamline Moderne: Horizontal speed lines, rounded corners and chrome, all leaning forward.

Streamline Moderne

Horizontal speed lines, rounded corners and chrome, all leaning forward.

Bauhaus: Circle, square and triangle in primary colours, arranged off centre.

Circle, square and triangle in primary colours, arranged off centre.

Constructivism: Hard diagonals, red and black, photomontage, and type set at an angle.

Hard diagonals, red and black, photomontage, and type set at an angle.

De Stijl: Black rules, white fields, and three primary rectangles. Nothing else.

Black rules, white fields, and three primary rectangles. Nothing else.

The grid and the system

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Postwar design decided that a poster is information. Photographs, a grid you cannot see, and type that gets out of the way.

Swiss Style: A strict grid, one accent colour, and Helvetica doing all the talking.

A strict grid, one accent colour, and Helvetica doing all the talking.

Mid-century Modern Graphic: Flat cut shapes, a warm muted palette, and printed texture over the top.

Mid-century Modern Graphic

Flat cut shapes, a warm muted palette, and printed texture over the top.

Wayfinding: Looks like a transport sign: icons, arrows, colour-coded routes and a clear rule system.

Looks like a transport sign: icons, arrows, colour-coded routes and a clear rule system.

Contemporary Editorial: A big elegant serif headline, one full-bleed photograph, and a lot of air.

Contemporary Editorial

A big elegant serif headline, one full-bleed photograph, and a lot of air.

The revolt against the grid

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What came after the system: illustration brought back, type broken on purpose, and layouts that argue with their own rules.

Push Pin Studios: Flat decorative illustration in a borrowed historical style, with drawn lettering to match.

Push Pin Studios

Flat decorative illustration in a borrowed historical style, with drawn lettering to match.

Memphis: Squiggles, confetti, clashing pastels and shapes that have no job.

Squiggles, confetti, clashing pastels and shapes that have no job.

New Wave Typography: The Swiss grid taken apart: letterspaced words, stepped rules and type at angles.

New Wave Typography

The Swiss grid taken apart: letterspaced words, stepped rules and type at angles.

Grunge Typography: Layered dirt, damaged letterforms and text that fights the image.

Grunge Typography

Layered dirt, damaged letterforms and text that fights the image.

Brutalist Graphic Design: Raw default type, heavy black blocks and layout that refuses to be pleasant.

Brutalist Graphic Design

Raw default type, heavy black blocks and layout that refuses to be pleasant.

Make one of them

Copy a prompt into an image model and pay for that one run. No subscription.

Open an image model

Other style groups

Art movements as postersTwenty-one movements, each written as a poster the movement might have printed.21 art movements Print and reproduction looksEleven printing processes, and the wording that gets what each one does to ink.11 print processes Handmade and folkNine ways to make a poster that looks like a person made it, not a studio.9 handmade looks Place and eraFourteen national and period styles, each with the rules that made it local.14 regional styles Propaganda and protestSeven political traditions, and the visual rules each one used to move people.7 political traditions Music scenesTen scenes, and the graphic rules each one used to say who the night was for.10 music scenes Screen and digitalTen looks that came from a screen, and the wording that gets each one.10 digital looks

Cinematic techniquesShooting a video rather than printing a poster? The same reference, for the camera.

Pick against the wall it will hang on. Most local posters default to pastel craft illustration, so Bauhaus, Swiss Style, Constructivism and brutalism all stand out simply by being different. Match the movement to the tone: Deco for a gala, wayfinding for a site with many stalls, mid-century for a market.