Postmodern Architecture vs Postmodern Graphic Design
Postmodern Graphic Design is the cross-discipline counterpart of Postmodern Architecture — the graphic wing of the broader postmodern revolt against modernist purity.
Postmodern Architecture
A playful rebellion against modernist austerity — color, ornament, historical quotation, and wit brought back into architecture.
- Historical references and ornament used freely, often ironically
- Bold color and varied materials
- Exaggerated or fragmented classical elements (pediments, columns)
- Eclectic mixing of styles and scales
- Wit, symbolism, and contextual gestures
Postmodern Graphic Design
The rule-breaking reaction against rigid Swiss modernism, fracturing the grid with tilted type, layered transparency, and an embrace of complexity, ambiguity, and digital experimentation.
- Fractured grids with tilted and diagonal type axes
- Layered transparency and overlapping image planes
- Exaggerated, irregular letterspacing and stepped rules
- Early embrace of digital noise and Macintosh bitmap imagery
- Collision of disparate textures, patterns, and typefaces
At a glance
| Postmodern Architecture | Postmodern Graphic Design | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1970s–1990s | c. 1970s–1990s |
| Discipline | Architecture | Graphic Design |
| Region | United States, Worldwide | Switzerland, United States |
| Family | Postmodernism | Postmodern, Digital |
| Formal traits | eclectic, ornamental, colorful, ironic | layered, tilted-type, letterspaced, grid-breaking |
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