Mixing messages: contemporary graphic design in north america - Tapa blanda

New technologies, developments in communication and interactive media, the emergence of distinct cultural and vernacular styles and the increasing prominence of minority groups and women in the visual arts have all given rise to an exhilirating and diverse culture of styles and images, media and messages, makers and users of information. This work explores the themes of aesthetics, "mixing" and technology. It opens with a description of the cultural and historical contexts of the period from 1980 to the present, including the significant advances in the media industries. The central chapters discuss typography and the creative use of letterforms; corporate identity in the expansive 1980s; the proliferation of new and avant-garde forms of publishing in the age of the desktop; and the role of theory, research and education in graphic design.