Books, type and Cyprus: A digital archive on the web
Date Issued
June 15, 2023
Author(s)
Abstract
Graphic design, as a professional field, is arguably a young discipline.
The commercial trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, the labeling
of conflicts and wars, political agendas and propaganda formed
this new visual language into projects that were archived and exhibited,
stories that were printed and disseminated, courses that were
taught and studied. Graphic design history is based on popularity,
personal preference/taste, predefined agendas and the social status
of the people that have written and rewritten about it. A selection of
figures and collective movements that have impacted the evolution
and history of the modern design world. Graphic design history, for
the most part, is made of movements that stretch only as far as the
Western eye has been trained to see. But what about the design happening
at the peripheries and in the margins? I would argue that it
is our shared visual experiences, and not global trends, that mean
the most for communities at the fringes of design history. In an interview
in 2008, the Dutch design group Experimental Jetset said:
‘True, graphic design is being marginalized, but let’s not forget that
margins are in fact graphic spaces; the margins are ours.’ Cyprus is
such a case of a marginalized country with its own messy history. Α
bite-size xenomaniac postcolonial country, wearing proudly its European
cape, over its middle eastern core. There has been little to
no documentation of its graphic design (previously commercial art)
footprints and a handful of references in the academic world.
This research project titled Books, Type and Cyprus is a study
on typography and images found οn covers of literature and poetry
books in Cyprus. This archive is an attempt to build an appreciation
towards the local graphic design scene, writing its own design narrative,
oriented for designers, book enthusiasts, writers, and the humanistic
field.
The commercial trade of the 18th and 19th centuries, the labeling
of conflicts and wars, political agendas and propaganda formed
this new visual language into projects that were archived and exhibited,
stories that were printed and disseminated, courses that were
taught and studied. Graphic design history is based on popularity,
personal preference/taste, predefined agendas and the social status
of the people that have written and rewritten about it. A selection of
figures and collective movements that have impacted the evolution
and history of the modern design world. Graphic design history, for
the most part, is made of movements that stretch only as far as the
Western eye has been trained to see. But what about the design happening
at the peripheries and in the margins? I would argue that it
is our shared visual experiences, and not global trends, that mean
the most for communities at the fringes of design history. In an interview
in 2008, the Dutch design group Experimental Jetset said:
‘True, graphic design is being marginalized, but let’s not forget that
margins are in fact graphic spaces; the margins are ours.’ Cyprus is
such a case of a marginalized country with its own messy history. Α
bite-size xenomaniac postcolonial country, wearing proudly its European
cape, over its middle eastern core. There has been little to
no documentation of its graphic design (previously commercial art)
footprints and a handful of references in the academic world.
This research project titled Books, Type and Cyprus is a study
on typography and images found οn covers of literature and poetry
books in Cyprus. This archive is an attempt to build an appreciation
towards the local graphic design scene, writing its own design narrative,
oriented for designers, book enthusiasts, writers, and the humanistic
field.
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Name
Abstract Panayides.pdf
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