I also could do with more depth into the intro and conclusion and if possible I could add more quotes and references.
I took this feedback and used it to help improve my essay and this is its final draft.
Discuss the role that Graphic design can play during
periods of political and/or social upheaval
Graphic Design can,
and does, play a pivotal role in propaganda through reinforcing political
ideologies, controlling the
masses and influencing artists around the world by its use of image, text and
design choices.
This Huxley definition seems especially true of World War
2 propaganda and propaganda leading up to World War 2 with the rise of Nazism
and the alienating of many social and cultural groups highlighting non rational
propaganda and appealing to passion. The former; rational propoganda in favour
of action and self-interest seems to mirror the Allies propoganda machine of
building spirit, pride and a patriotic sense of duty from the home front.
Graphic Design in
the late 1930’s and early 1940’s main purpose was to propagandize the war, and
a main facet of Nazi propaganda
was made to force Hitler’s political ideologies upon the German people and
political establishments around the world; and was importantly used to form
Hitler’s cult of personality. This was due to Hitler blaming propoganda
supremacy amongst other nations leading directly to Germany’s defeat in World
War 1. Hitler even commissioned a book titled Das Politische Plakat: Eine Psychologische Betrachtung by Erwin Schockel as a
handbook for German propgandists.
This was chillingly followed through many media outlets;
but posters, prints, leaflets and advertisements were crucial in their role of
supporting the relentless propoganda machine.
Graphic design also was a massive and key aspect of the Allies
role in using propoganda to support the war effort, particularly from the Home
Front perspective. In Britain graphic design was used and implemented to
support many influential poster campaigns focusing directly on encouraging all men,
women and children on the Home Front that they had a vital supporting role in
making the Allies victorious. Graphic Design was also used very effectively to
keep spirits high and patriotism at the forefront through wartime difficulties.
“Propaganda posters
were, in reality, sales tools. Their aim was to sell the citizenry as a whole
on the war, and to get them to participate actively in the war effort in
various ways. Study the motivational tools they use: pride, fear, patriotism,
and a sense of duty”.
Both Germany and Britain used graphic design as a key
tool for reinforcing their message with very different outcomes; but although
clearly very different angles on propaganda were used, some graphic design
techniques and strategies were similar to achieve their impact. War Propaganda also influenced artists from
around the world in creating politically driven art pieces that have given them and name today. These
pieces, in turn, can be seen as propaganda tools and use graphic design elements
and influences themselves or go against political party’s they are meant to
follow.
The design choices
in aspects of the Nazi propaganda, such as posters, were of almost vital
importance, and became a weapon in itself though the messages projected onto
the masses.
‘Propaganda is a
truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert’ (Luckert,Bachrach,2011:1)
Propaganda can be
positive in some aspects, however it is commonly associated with Nazi Germany
and Adolf Hitler due to the success
it played in World War 2. Graphic design was instrumental in the propaganda
successes. Hitler was indeed an expert of propaganda and used it for many
varied and horrific means. This can be clearly demonstrated in his use of
Graphic design to support his horrendous portrayal of the Jews leading up to and
during the Holocaust. This can be
clearly shown by the propaganda poster ‘whoever Wears This Symbol Is an Enemy
of Our People” Munich 1942, (Luckert,Bachrach,2011:129)The poster includes the
Star of David with the word Jew in the middle to show the symbol that would
have been sown onto all Jewish peoples clothes. The typography is in a bold
sans serif font made to be straight to the point and easy to read. Posters like
this are made to isolate Jewish citizens and turn people against them.
This Propaganda
encouraged violence against Jews and was seen as being made to show that the
Nazis were stepping in to ‘restore order’ to Germany. With out this Nazi
propaganda it could be argued that the Nazi party would not have gained so much
power. Nazi Propaganda was essential to victimising Jewish citizens and
executing mass murder. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels knew propaganda was vitally
important and worked relentlessly to create an unwavering and ruthless propaganda
campaign which reminded German citizens of the ‘enemies’, i.e. the Jews and
Great Britain and in fact any distinct group not falling in with Hitler’s and
Nazism’ ideologies.
‘Adolf Hitler as
orator became one of the Nazi Party’s most important propaganda tools,
reflecting his belief that the mass meeting, as a means of exploiting the
dynamics of crowd psychology.’(Luckert,Bachrach,2011:32)
Hitler demonstrated his hatred for anyone not ‘Aryan’ by
his use of relentless propaganda, street violence, rallies and film. His
oration skills were the fundamental basis for the Nazi propaganda machine but
Hitler also purposefully, intentionally and directly used all means at his
disposal-Graphic Design, through visual representation, unquestionably sustained
and also proved essential to the propoganda thrust upon German citizens
supporting and also exploiting the dynamics of crowd psychology. This was successful in increasing their
support base and forcing his ideologies on the masses. The Nazi party saw the
youth as the future and crucial to Germany prospering, they did this by various
indoctrinating means such as the abolishment of other youth groups that did not
adhere to Nazism, and altering school curriculums to suit there ideology. This
was also reinforced using graphic design through propaganda.
‘When Hitler took
over the party he wasn’t particularly interested in German adolescents because
they could not vote. Yet propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels saw Germany’s
disenfranchised youth as the key to the Nazi’s future.’[internet] Available
from http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=6957[28/12/15]
Hitler Youth
posters such as ‘Youth serves the leader: All 10 year olds into the Hitler
Youth’ [Internet] Available from http://www.master-of-education.org/10-disturbing-pieces-of-nazi-education-propaganda/ (28/12/15) demonstrate Hitler’s impact
onto Children’s ideologies. This popular poster showed a boy with Blonde Hair
and blue eyes in a uniform gazing up and Adolf Hitler who is made to look
powerful and important by the size of the image compared to the boy and by the
serious look on his face. The large text reads ‘Youth serves the leader’ and is
shown in sharp lettering to show the severity of it. It also has the common
theme of dark shadows and dull colours which was a typical design choice on
Hitler youth posters as they were made to be orders and not to be considered
lighthearted.
These design
choices Romanticised Adolf Hitler as a great leader and one who is deemed so
great that he must be served.
Nazi propaganda became worse by not just persecuting the
Jewish citizens but also black people. Hitler separated Black people from white
and they were marginalised. The poster ‘The Result! A loss of Racial Pride’ [Internet]
Available from(http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005479) Shows
the friendship between a ‘Aryan’ and black women through a black and white
photography of the two women with their arms around each other smiling. This
poster was designed to put shame onto Germans who were friends with black
people. The words ‘The Result!’ is positioned over the German girl to show this
is what it looks like to go against the Nazi party rules.
British propaganda
had more of a positive impact on Britain with posters such as ‘Dig For Victory’
which was made to encourage citizens to make their gardens into allotments and
grow vegetables due to a lack of imported food coming to Britain. This form of
activism was key to helping Britain get through its tough times. The ‘Dig for
Victory’ poster (Aulich,2007:168) had a simplistic design using bold sans serif
fonts and a single black and white picture. The Design was produced in bulk and
was seen on many scales from billboards to shop windows. It needed to encourage
citizens and make them feel like they were helping their country. The
photograph used on the poster was of a foot pushing a spade into a pile of
dirt. This image was taken front a low angle making the person look more power
and although it was simple by 1943 over 1.4 million people were growing
vegetables in their own allotments.
‘Victory at all
costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road
may be; for without victory there is no survival’ Winston Churchill[internet]
Available from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4196084/Churchill-asked-for-victory-at-all-costs-but-the-reality-was-worse.html
[29/12/15] British Propaganda purpose was to create a good vision of England
and usually includes slogans that relied on patriotic belief. A particularly
famous slogan said by Winston Churchill was used on a propaganda poster that
inspired citizens to unite. ‘Let us go forward together’(Aulich,2007:185) was
by an unknown artist but was a successful piece of propaganda. It showed a
powerful looking image of Winston Churchill in black and white with fighting
planes and tanks behind him. The image makes people want to listen to him and
trust him because it displays him as a powerful and authoritative person who is
doing the best for his country. This type of design can be seen as similar to
the Nazi propaganda due to there being a strong political figure that is shown
as being a leader and looking important through design choices. A similar Nazi poster is,
‘one nation one empire one leader’ (Rhodes,1975:23) The poster shows the German leader Adolf Hitler in a strong pose, and
has the slogan ‘one nation one empire one leader.’ However there are strong
differences between the two being that the British poster shows positivity
through the use of colour and theme of unity. Whereas the German poster uses
dark colours, a sharper more harsh font and stronger less positive image.
A
common theme in British propaganda is unity, many propaganda posters were made
and distributed to show citizens working together to make it through the war
and become victorious. However Britain felt a somewhat cut off from other
countries and therefore felt like they were fighting alone so propaganda was
made to reassure people that Britain is not alone in this war. The poster
‘Together’ [Internet] Available from http://www.world-war-2-diaries.com/british-world-war-ii-posters.html (10/01/16) The poster showed soldiers from Canada,
Australia, India, South Africa and more marching with the Union Jack. The word ‘Together’
is uppercase in a large sans serif font which is bold and stands out. The
purpose of such propaganda was to prove to citizens that the British Empire and
Common Wealth would work together to become victorious and that was what was
going to be successful.
‘Posters today are
not pictures to sell pills, but to save civilization however clever, are a
waste of paper unless they kill Germans’ (Aulich,2007:166) was wrote in a Art
& Industry magazine by J.B.Nicholas of the British Advertising Service. The
country was going under paper shortages but they knew it was still important to
have forms of propaganda. Propaganda in Britain during World War 2 was also
used to inspire and encourage everyone to have a part in helping Britain
through the war. A successful poster during this time was ‘England Expects
National Service’ which was inspired by Lord Nelson’s speech ‘England expects
that every man will do his duty’ during the battle of Trafalgar. The poster
shows service men and women who are helping in the war. They appear to be soldiers,
nurses and other important civilians that play an important role in the war.
They are made to look heroic standing tall and proud in the smart uniforms,
this romanticised their jobs and made it look easier than it really was. The
main aspect of the poster is the silver statue of a woman who is dressed like a
soldier and holds a shield, which has the Union Jack upon it. The people look
noble and like they are serving the statue and this encourages citizens to want
to help the country.
Similarly German
Propaganda uses posters which include images of service men and women but in
very different ways. A famous piece of German propaganda is ‘Germany Lives’
made in the 1930’s by K.Stauber (Rhodes,1975:44) Adolf Hitler is shown as the main focus of
the poster which connotes that he is an important German figure. This is
different to British propaganda as it tends to be about Britain as a whole and
the civilians, whereas German propaganda seems to be centered around fighting
for the leader. Within the poster there are many swastika symbols which are
known in Nazism as the sign for Germany during World War 2, the symbol was
powerful at the time because it resembled Germany and there views. This is why
the poster includes Hitler carrying a swastika flag along with other soldiers.
During World War 2 the swastika was use in a majority of Nazi propaganda to
immediately show what its intended purpose was. The poster also includes
thousands of soldiers behind Hitler doing the Nazi salute. This connotes that
Hitler had many men behind him and showed them to be followers rather than
heroic like in the British propaganda. The poster includes a bird in the sky
which could connote freedom and that the message has a higher more important
meaning. There is light shining through the clouds down onto the soldiers and
Germany as if to symbolise that God agrees with their actions.
World War 2
graphic design has an impact on artists influencing them to make politically
driven art that is now famous to the world. John Heartfield is an artist who is
known in the artist movement of Dadaism. He was inspired by Hitler and the Nazi
party when creating some of his photomontages. Heartfield was originally named Helmut
Herzfeld but changed his name to go against the German movements. His anti-Nazi
pieces were brave and meant he had to leave Germany during World War 2. This
shows that Hitler’s Propaganda is not fully effective at getting all German
Civilians to agree with his political decisions. One of Heartsfield’s most
famous pieces was ‘And yet it moves’. The piece shows Adolf Hitler’s face put
onto the body of a monkey, which is sitting on a globe. The piece was designed to be
satire and to people laugh at Hitler and question him as a powerful leader. It
implies that Hitler is trying to rule the world but people see him as foolish. Another
one of Heartfield’s pieces was called ‘Adolf The Superman: Swallows
Gold And Spits Tin’ [Internet] Available from http://www.actingoutpolitics.com/john-heartfield’-1891-–-1968-two-photomontages-–-the-role-of-money-in-political-discourse/
(10/01/16) It is a photomontage of Adolf
Hitler and a x-ray. Inside the chest is a swastika acting as a heart and gold
coins to resemble Hitler’s interest in financial power. He created this piece
in 1932 and took influences from propaganda and turned Hitler into an
undesirable leader. This use of photomontage was an interesting use of making
propaganda due to most propaganda at the time being more illustrated and
realistic. Furthermore there is no use of typography within his designs which
is a key part of Nazi Propaganda. A common font used in Nazi design was Fraktur,
the type was seen as legible and was used on many publications. It has sharp
edges and spikes which is good for putting across the harsh and powerful words
of Nazi propaganda.
Propaganda
in World War 2 although vital globally Nazism and Britian’s propaganda was very
different due to the design choices and purpose. Nazi propaganda was used for
evil to brainwash citizens and victimize the masses. Whereas Britain’s
propaganda was used for good, inspiring and rallying citizens to help the
country and encouraging people that we as a nation would be victorious.
Although the impacts of the graphic design is different, some of the design
choices were similar in many ways from using an idealised images of political
leaders and service men and women. To the use of symbols, colours and thought
provoking slogans.
Graphic design, in the form of mediums such as posters
and campaigns, was absolutely essential to supporting and continuing the
messages relayed to civilians, armed forces and marginalised groups in lead up
to, and during the Second World War Both Nazism and Britain relentlessly used
Graphic Design elements to ensure their ‘messages’ made the largest impact
possible. Nazism used images of Aryan citizens, Hitler and his troops to
marginalize, enforce ideologies, threaten, and ‘inspire’ German people to
follow Nazism to the patriotic and misguided extremes.
British propoganda used many of the same elements, such
as images of service men and women and Winston Churchill to promote a very different message, patriotism through
supporting the war effort by doing ‘their bit’ ie, growing their own vegetables
in the ‘Dig to Victory’ campaign through posters and
adverts.
It is clear how Graphic Design played a
crucial, clear, and at times, brutally dangerous role in the propoganda
approaches. This was evidenced with the persecution of the Jews, enlisting of
the youth and marginalizing of any group not pertaining to the Nazi ideologies
noticeably evidencing the ‘terrible weapon’ of propoganda from the Nazi
perspective. The same Graphic Design features, paradoxically, also had a
massive impact in the seemingly gentler message of inspiring Home Front support
and inspiring civilians by ‘doing what is right’ rather than threatening and
aggressive messages and Graphic Design forms.
Graphic Design, through its usage and clever integration
with propaganda, is absolutely vital in supporting and delivering ideologies,
messages and intentions to the masses. Its impact is massive, defining and cannot
be underestimated.
Bibliography
Anderson,C.(2011)http://www.world-war-2-diaries.com/british-world-war-ii-posters.html
Aulich,J.(2007)’War Posters Weapons of Mass Communication,
UK, Thames & Hudson
Heartfield,J.(n.d)http://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/helmut-herzfeld-john-heartfield/biography-german-artist-heartfield
Heartfield,J.(n.d)http://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/helmut-herzfeld-john-heartfield
Luckert,S.Bachrach,S.(2011)’State of Deception The Power
of Nazi Propaganda
Novin,G.(n.d)http://guity-novin.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/chapter-29-propaganda-posters.html
Payne,D.(2015)http://sluggerotoole.com/2015/01/24/going-forward-together-or-not-winston-churchill-and-the-unionist-cause/
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