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On the Current State of Brazilian Graphic Design Historiography

2015; Oxford University Press; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/jdh/epv040

1741-7279

Priscila Lena Farias,

Graphic Design and Typography

This review is a reflection on the current state of studies on the history of Brazilian graphic design. It has as its centre Linha do Tempo do Design Gráfico no Brasil (Timeline of Brazilian Graphic Design), edited by Chico Homem de Melo and Elaine Ramos and published in 2011 by Cosac Naify [1],1 and also takes into account earlier books: O Gráfico Amador (The Amateur Graphic), by Guilherme Cunha Lima (1997) [2];2O Design Brasileiro Antes do Design (Brazilian Design Before Design), edited by Rafael Cardoso (2005);3 and O Design Gráfico Brasileiro: anos 60 (Brazilian Graphic Design: The 1960s), edited by Chico Homem de Melo (2006).4 I must confess that, as a design student in the 1980s, and also in my early years as a graphic design practitioner, I didn’t care much about design history. Topics related to the history of design were then (and in some cases still are) treated as part of the history of art (or of architecture), and Brazilian design students were trained to look ahead, towards the future, maybe using a few examples of international design as reference. Growing up during the military dictatorship (1964–1985), I also developed a strong suspicion towards any topic that would sound patriotic or nationalist (‘Brazil: love it or leave it’ was the military regime’s motto). It was only many years after, when I began my career as a design educator, that the fact of not having enough examples of Brazilian design (and in particular of Brazilian typography and type design) to show my students started to bother me. Soon it became clear that I would not find such examples in foreign design history books, if for no other reason than that the history of Brazilian design was yet to be written. Fortunately, I was not the only one bothered, and the situation has changed in the last twenty years, due to the efforts of researchers from different parts of Brazil, many of them with a background similar to mine.