During the 1960s and ’70s, American graphics from the New York area, as well as European graphics from the International Typographic Style, influenced designers around the world.

In postwar Japan, for example, when the country emerged as a major industrial power, graphic design evolved into a major profession serving the needs of industry and cultural institutions. European Constructivism and Western design exerted an important influence on Japanese design, but these lessons were assimilated with traditional Japanese art theory. For example, the Japanese tradition of family crests inspired many Japanese designers’ approach to trademark design. Similarly, symmetrical composition, central placement of iconic forms, harmonious colour palettes, and meticulous craftsmanship—all characteristics of much of Japanese art—were often elements of Japanese graphics.

The first generation of graphic designers to emerge after the war was led by Kamekura Yusaku, whose importance to the emerging graphic-design community led to the affectionate nickname “Boss.” Kamekura’s poster proposal (1967) for the Japanese World Expo ’70 in Ōsaka, for example, displays his ability to combine 20th-century Modernist formal experiments with a traditional Japanese sense of harmony.

In counterpoint to the formalist tendencies found in much Japanese graphic design, some Japanese designers drew upon other sources of inspiration to arrive at individual approaches to visual-communications problems. Iconography from diverse mass media—including comic books (manga), popular science-fiction movies, and newspaper photographs—provided a rich vocabulary for Yokoo Tadanori, whose work beginning in the 1960s inspired a new generation of Japanese designers. In his early posters and magazine covers he utilized a variety of contemporary techniques; for example, he used crisp line drawings to contain photomechanical screens of colour. He worked in a Pop-art idiom, but he used revered Japanese imagery as source material, rather than the contemporary imagery usually found in Pop art. In his poster publicizing four Noh theatre productions (1969), for example, he placed iconic images on a luminous gold-and-blue field, combining traditional imagery with a contemporary sense of whimsy. Over time, montage effects became increasingly important to Yokoo as he built his designs from photographic and graphic elements filled with dramatic luminosity.

A very different vision emerged in the work of Satō Kōichi, who from the 1970s created an otherworldly, metaphysical design statement. He used softly glowing blends of colour, richly coloured and modulated calligraphy, and stylized illustrations to create poetic visual statements that ranged from contemplative quietude to celebratory exuberance. For example, in his poster (1988) for a musical play—which was itself adapted from a nursery rhyme about soap bubbles—Satō combined an astronomical sky chart and a handprint glowing with a lavender-and-blue aura to evoke a feeling of ephemeral atmospheric space. Such designs achieve a rare level of visual poetry.

Postmodern graphic design

By the late 1970s, many international architectural, product, and graphic designers working in the Modernist tradition thought that the movement had become academic and lost its capacity for innovation. Younger designers challenged and rejected the tenets of Modernism and questioned the “form-follows-function” philosophy that came to be associated with the diluted, corporate version of Modernism that derived from the International Typographic Style. Designers began to establish and then violate grid patterns; to invert expected forms; to explore historical and decorative elements; and to inject subjective—even eccentric—concepts into design. This reaction to Modernist developments is called postmodernism, and it took design in many new directions.

During the late 1970s, April Greiman was acclaimed for her postmodernist experimentation. (In the 1970s and ’80s, increasing numbers of women entered the graphic-design field and achieved prominence.) Her dynamic typographic innovations and colourful montages were often made in collaboration with photographer Jayme Odgers. A cover for WET magazine, for example, evokes the vibrant cultural scene in southern California. In this work from 1979, a colour photocopy of singer Rick Nelson, collaged images from magazines, Japanese papers, and airbrushed blends of colour are combined into a cohesive design. Greiman also explored the application of video imagery to print graphics.

The dynamic spatial arrangement and decorative geometric patterns that enliven many postmodern designs are seen in a 1983 poster designed by William Longhauser. The letters forming the last name of postmodern architect Michael Graves become fanciful edifices, which echo the patterns and textures found in Graves’s buildings. As with much postmodern design, the result is strikingly original.

Such a disruption of expected forms and grids was also apparent in the work of Japanese designer Igarashi Takenobu. After studying design fundamentals in Los Angeles, Igarashi began his independent design practice in Tokyo and used basic design elements—point, line, plane, grids, and isometric perspectives—as the building blocks of his work. This design vocabulary enabled him to invent imaginative solutions. His poster proposal (1982) for Expo ’85, an international exposition of the dwelling and construction industry, turns the letters into structural forms pulled apart to reveal their inner structures. In this way, his experimentation with form fulfilled both an aesthetic and a commercial purpose: the deconstructed forms clearly make reference to his client, the construction industry.

Graphic design in developing nations

Late in the 20th century, increasingly accomplished graphic-design activity began to appear in developing nations. These advancements occurred because of a number of factors, including expanded access to professional education at local schools and abroad, the increased availability of computer and printing technology, and a growing base of industrial, cultural, and communications-industry clients. Designers from these nations often drew upon established design approaches from industrialized nations, but they commingled these lessons with local and national traditions in their quest for effective visual communications.

In the Middle East, graphic designers often applied new technology to depictions of traditional subject matter and iconography. Throughout the late 20th century, Iranian graphic designer Ghobad Shiva evoked the colour palette, traditional Arabic calligraphy, and page layouts of ancient Persian manuscripts in his graphic work, which ranged from packaging to advertising and editorial design to stage sets. His poster (1984) celebrating the 800th anniversary of the birth of the renowned Iranian poet Saadi, for example, displays his exquisite control of colour and his ability to create a vibrant image. These stylized illustrations continued the traditions of ancient Persian manuscript books, but within the context of a contemporary design idiom.

Graphic design developed slowly in Africa after World War II, but by the end of the 20th century, a number of designers there received international acclaim for their individual creations. In Zimbabwe, filmmaker and designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies created films and graphic designs in the late 1980s and the 1990s. His posters, advertising designs, and magazine covers captured the spirit and life of his nation and often promoted social change. At the turn of the 21st century, Maviyane-Davies was living in the United States. His interest in photographic symbolism, prop building, and computer manipulation were seen in a powerful poster series that included The Last Portal of Truth 42, produced just before the 2002 Zimbabwean elections.

In Latin America, professional graphic design similarly developed slowly after World War II. Eventually, in Argentina and then in other nations, a graphic-design profession began to evolve. Latin American designers often built upon European and North American influences to develop distinctive communication designs. For example, a film festival poster (1992) by Venezuelan designer Santiago Pol utilizes clear symbolic forms within a highly sophisticated spatial configuration, both elements of Modernist graphic design. In this work, dynamic shapes signify three peppers, symbols that are redolent with regional symbolism; the central pepper is formed by the white, or negative, space between the red and green ones. These peppers are punctuated by film sprocket holes, which connect the image to the poster’s theme of film. In this way, Pol’s creative combination of symbols provides a distinct regional image for the film festival.