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Motopomo: 20th Century Graphic Design investigates the historical passage of twentieth century graphic design, from modernism into postmodernism, in order to provide a backdrop against which the issues surrounding contemporary graphic design can be better understood. The implications that the socio-cultural features of the modern era have in terms of graphic design practice are examined in order to reveal, amongst other issues, how the complex, diverse, modern aesthetic´ has more to do with depth-oriented cultural and intellectual attitudes than it has to do with superficial styling and fashion´. Here the passage from modernism to postmodernism traces its lineage: from modernism´s early provenance in eighteenth century Enlightenment thinking, industrialisation and modernisation; and the emergence of the early modern avant-garde movements; to modernism´s coming of age in the high´ modern movements; and to its eventual maturation into the International Style and its assimilation into commercialism as well as its domestication´ into museums; until its final (though not complete) demise in its battle with postmodernism.

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Inge Economou is a lecturer of Visual Communication at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

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