Mainstream Modernism and Corporate Culture

This section explores the relationship between corporate identity, brand strategy, and the graphic designer. We look at the American version of Modernism as corporate identity design and advertising in the 1950s-1960s, and the integration of modernism into mainstream American culture.

Modernism in the United States showed a commitment to “less is more” and a strong reliance on images and geometric forms. The approach was impartial and direct. Corporate identity design came into being during this time and favored a simplification in visual approach. Simple, sharp, and clean, designers developed cohesive brand identities. Commonplace today, designers like Paul Rand, started to use acronyms for logos and corporate brand identity. The identity manuals used today for fully branded company identities came into being.

Below are a series of videos and readings that take you through the history of advertising, corporate identity design, and mainstream designers that influenced the field. We end with a look at contemporary branding and social media brands that provide a feeling of connectedness and belonging. As we will explore in the next section “Media is the Message,” what is the cost of social media connectedness?

American Corporate Identity

Watch the Graphic Design History section on American Corporate Identity on LinkedIn Learning (this is the best option to view the work clearly!).

Or, if you must, watch the YouTube video below. NOTE: In the following video, watch from 1:25:45 to 1:30:32

Paul Rand

Branding and Belonging

Questions

If branding is how we designate meaning through language, symbols, and words, how do the brands (in the broadest sense) that you affiliate with, connect you with others?

What is the meaning or message behind the brands you affiliate with?

Key Ideas from the Readings

Paul Rand “Good Design Is Good Will” 1987

Paul Rand was one of the most influential American graphic designers of the 20th century, known for the clear aesthetics that he adopted from European Modernism. Rand was prompted to write this article in response to what he considered poor design decisions from major corporations.

• The relationship between designer and client should be a reciprocal one, at the highest level of management.
• Neither the field of design nor that of marketing require any accreditation, which can lead to the proliferation of poor design that does not work well
• Design is “a calling” rooted in the “creative impulse of an individual” and “self-realization.” Thus designers must dedicate themselves to uncovering good ideas based on instinct, aesthetics and taste.
• The contrast between the modern surroundings of an office and the traditional setting of most homes confuses notions of quality and good design
• Contributions of good design build the reputation and integrity of a company, which in turn has a “cultural responsibility” to “help shape its environment” and to develop goodwill toward consumers.

Steven Heller, “Underground Mainstream,” 2008

Steven Heller takes a look at the advertising industry as he delves into the complex relationship between underground and mainstream design.

• Mainstream, corporate culture steals ideas from underground counter-cultural movements
• ‘The avant garde is usurped when its eccentricity is deemed acceptable.’
• Psychedelia is one example of an ‘alternative code’ that spread through youth culture before it was commodified and diluted for the mass marketplace
• Culture-jamming appropriates the visual language of the mainstream to critique or undermine mass culture 
• In contemporary advertising, underground and mainstream have been folded into one

Readings and Other Media:

Use Hypothesis to annotate as you read the texts. See Using Hypothesis for details.

1. Rand, Paul. “Good Design is Goodwill.” in Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009: 64-69, ProQuest Ebook Central [City Tech Library Card Required]
2. Lasn, Kalle “1600-1886: The Birth of the Corporate ‘I.’” http://www.graphicdesigntheory.net [website]
3. Heller, Steven. “Underground Mainstream” Design Observer, April 10, 2008 https://www.designobserver.com/feature/underground-mainstream/6737 [website]