Italian graphic design history documented through artefacts, articles, and projects exploring the influence of design studios, advertising, and production.
Italian graphic design in the postwar decades blended art, commerce, and industrial ambition. Well-known designers include Franco Grignani, Giovanni Pintori, and Max Huber, their work of quality for clients including Olivetti and Pirelli. The archive documents this era through scanned issues of Pubblicità in Italia from 1957 to 1963, Italian magazines and more, alongside profiles of Italian designers.
Membership from £2.49/month unlocks articles researched and inspired by the artefacts in the collection.
Advertising Design, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Following on from my previous articles on post-war Italian publicity design, an additional annual from 1962-63 showcases more examples of Italian advertising.
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Advertising Design, Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Following on from my previous article on publicity design from 1957-58, an additional annual from 1959-60 showcases another year of great advertising and design from Italy.
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Advertising Design, Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Pubblicità in Italia 1957-58 gathers the best advertising in Italy, showcases the diverse talents and styles and the clients who were commissioning and embracing modern design.
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Design Archive Feature, Designer Profiles, Members Only Content, Poster Design
Scanned posters by the great Michele Spera. Many use a strong use of geometric form, often paired with sans-serif typefaces like Helvetica. Their simplification of form and use of colour create timeliness, recognisable posters that would have stood out alongside the posters of the 1970s which tended to have a heavy use of photography.
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Design Archive Feature, Illustration, Members Only Content
An Anthology of Blues features a blend of typographic compositions and illustrations by Hans-Ulrich “Hazy” Osterwalder, alongside black and white photography, all working together in a limited palette of black and blue.
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Advertising Design, Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Franco Grignani’s ability to push design boundaries with his clients is a testament to his artistic eye and talent. His work on Bellezza d’Italia remains a fantastic example of how design can elevate and transform pharma goods.
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Advertising Design, Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Franco Grignani (1908-1999) was one of the twentieth century’s most important Italian graphic designers. Scanning the inner pages of Gebrauchsgraphik 04, 1962, I have managed to collate a selection of the advertisements created in the 1950s and early 1960s, showcasing his groundbreaking design work.
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Advertising Design, Design Archive Feature, Members Only Content, Regional Histories
Ezio Bonini's work for "Società del Linoleum" in Milan, showcasing advertisements designed for various Italian newspapers aimed at expanding the linoleum market
Read ArticleExplore designers central to Italian graphic design including Giovanni Pintori, Max Huber, Franco Grignani, Bruno Munari, and Salvatore Gregorietti. See also Italian Modernism and 1950s graphic design history.
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