Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context explains key ways of understanding and interpreting the graphic designs we see all around us, in advertising, branding, packaging and fashion. It situates these designs in their cultural and social contexts. Drawing examples from a range of design genres, leading design historians Grace Lees-Maffei and Nicolas P. Maffei explain theories of semiotics, postmodernism and globalisation, and consider issues and debates within visual communication theory such as legibility, the relationship of word and image, gender and identity, and the impact of digital forms on design. Their discussion takes in well-known brands like Alessi, Nike, Unilever and Tate, and everyday designed things including slogan t-shirts, car advertising, ebooks, corporate logos, posters and music packaging.

Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She is the editor of Iconic Designs (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2014) and Writing Design (Berg, 2011), co-author of Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019), and co-editor of Made in Italy (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013) and The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010, second edition forthcoming). She is also co-editor of Bloomsbury's Cultural Histories of Design series.

Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context explains key ways of understanding and interpreting the graphic designs we see all around us, in advertising, branding, packaging and fashion. It situates these designs in their cultural and social contexts.

Drawing examples from a range of design genres, leading design historians Grace Lees-Maffei and Nicolas P. Maffei explain theories of semiotics, postmodernism and globalisation, and consider issues and debates within visual communication theory such as legibility, the relationship of word and image, gender and identity, and the impact of digital forms on design. Their discussion takes in well-known brands like Alessi, Nike, Unilever and Tate, and everyday designed things including slogan t-shirts, car advertising, ebooks, corporate logos, posters and music packaging.

Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Illustrations

Reading Graphic Design in the Expanded Field: An Introduction, Grace Lees-Maffei

Part One: On Message and Off Message
1 - Branding as Sign System: Semiotics in Action, Grace Lees-Maffei
2 - The Responsive Brand: Uniformity and Flexibility in Logo Design, Nicolas P. Maffei
3 - Whose Wall? From Posters to Digital Displays and the Colonization of Public Space, Nicolas P. Maffei
4 - Slogan T-shirts: Billboards of Identity Politics, Nicolas P. Maffei

Part Two: On Legibility and Ambiguity
5 - Seeing Clearly? Legibility, Word and Image in Postmodern Print Design, Grace Lees-Maffei
6 - Signifying Orientalism, Chinoiserie and Japonisme: Fashion Photography in Vogue as a Case Study, Grace Lees-Maffei
7 - A Good Read? Corporate Literature and Brand Stories: Alessi SpA as a Case Study, Grace Lees-Maffei
8 - Information Overload: Negotiating Visual Complexity in a Data Rich World, Nicolas P. Maffei

Part Three: On Paper and On Screen
9 - How To? Visual Techniques of Persuasion in Guidebooks and Manuals, Grace Lees-Maffei
10 - Driving Sales: Print and TV Advertising of Cars to Women Drivers, Grace Lees-Maffei
11 - Picturing Music: The Rise and Fall of Music Packaging, Nicolas P. Maffei
12 - EBook, iBook, weBook, youBook: Declensions of Digital Design, Nicolas P. Maffei

Index