People’s Graphic Design Archive

[History Student Work] commentary zine - Advertisement- Ad vivum or Ad hominem?

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 01:41:00 +0000

personal commentary on paul rand's essay from a modern perspective, utilizing graphics from his storybook Listen! Listen!

[History Student Work] The Legacy of An Age of Plunder

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:10:45 +0000

For my “History of Design” class, I responded to Jon Savage's "Age of Plunder", reflecting on his observations about appropriation in the music industry and how they eventually developed into authentic communities. I designed the booklet in the style of the Futurismo cover by Marinetti, as a nod to Peter Saville's appropriation of the same design

[History Student Work] Critical Commentary on William Bernbach's Sometimes I Play Things I Never Heard Myself

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:10:24 +0000

This booklet outlines and follows William Bernbach's arguments and philosophies discussed in his 1964 critical essay, Sometimes I Play Things I've Never Heard Myself. Although not classified as a graphic designer, Bernbach was a pioneer as an advertising man and formed ideas and fundamental's that has shaped advertisement design into what it is today. He believed that all good design is advertising design because all good design prioritizes communication, truth, or innovation.

[History Student Work] Small Commentary on Marshall McLuhan's Decline of the Visual (Booklet)

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:05:32 +0000

A small booklet containing an opinion essay on Marshall Mcluhan's Decline of Visual (1964)

[History Student Work] The Designer and The Client. A Critical Commentary

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:06:15 +0000

A booklet featuring a critical commentary on “The designer and the client” by Sir Misha Black. The design was created to express how the despite the difference in views, designers(represented by red) and clients( represented by blue) can come together to create something beautiful (purple).

[History Student Work] Feminism and Emotional Labor

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:05:58 +0000

This is a critical commentary on Sheila Levrant de Bretteville's 1973 Essay SOME ASPECTS OF DESIGN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A WOMAN DESIGNER. The cover and spreads are inspired by her design of Arts in Society of 1970. The back cover is the first few paragraphs of her essay. I tried to match the font of the first image.

[History Student Work] Criticism over aesthetic

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:04:29 +0000

This is a short writing based on Massimo Vignelli's “Call for Criticism Essay” where I add to his argument and direct his theory based on societies advance.

[History Student Work]Modern Design

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:04:01 +0000

Booklet for a commentary on Mehemed Fehmy Agha's essay, "What Makes a Magazine Modern?."

[History Student Work] I Am Type Booklet by Ezzio Tarazona

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:02:40 +0000

Booklet about Frederick W. Goudy's Essay “I am Type” for a University Assignment

[History Student Work] Call for Criticism

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 01:42:49 +0000

A critical commentary on the preface “Call for Criticism” originally written by Massimo Vignelli.

[History Student Work] A commentary on Posters: Advertisement, Art, Political Artifact, Commodity

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:01:37 +0000

This is a booklet on the essay Posters: Advertisement, Art, Political Artifact, Commodity by Susan Sontag, discussing what makes posters an art form and how they document historical and political changes.

[History Student Work] The Legible Revolution | A Critical Commentary on Aldous Huxley's “Printing of Today”

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:00:07 +0000

This project is my short response to Aldous Huxley's 1928 piece on printing, where I use my own experience with dyslexia to test his claim that hard-to-read type never lasts because readers won't put up with it. It matters to design history because it connects Huxley's old argiment about legibility to modern research and tools (like variable fonts and accessibility guidelines) that let you type adjust to different readers instead of assuming one style works for everyone. I argue that Huxley was right that legibility always wins in the end, but wrong to assume “legible” means the same thing for every reader.

Graphic Design Final Project Sub- Critical Commentary 1

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:58:17 +0000

Booklet on “The New Typography,” By Lazlo Moholy-Nagy.

[History Student Work] Capturing the Consumer

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:56:53 +0000

In the Essay “What Pleases the Modern Man,” Alexey Brodovitch discerns that everyday industry products, should be viewed as works of art because they reflect innovation and the combined efforts of society. This idea is relevant today, considering the vast advances in technology often cause designers to overlook the beauty in systems and machines that make up our environment. considering Brodovitchs argument I believe designers can be successful and convincing simply by focusing on their visual language in an already existing environment.

[History Student Work] Critical Commentary: Alvin Lustig’s “What Is a Designer?” (1954)

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:53:23 +0000

A commentary on Elliot Lustwig's, “What is a Designer”. I incorporated subtle inspirations that I've taken from Lustwig.

[History Student Work] A Call For Evolution

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:52:38 +0000

This booklet is my commentary on Massimo Vignelli's Call For Criticism. It discusses that while Vignelli wants criticism to create borders around the design field, I think that criticism should be used to help design move past borders and ensure to promote evolution and exploration in the field. My booklet design shows this tension by moving from structured layouts to maximalist color and typography with imagery that promotes breaking beyond bounds.