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Graphic design | Art, Typography, & Layout Techniques | Britannica
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[graphic design](https://www.britannica.com/art/graphic-design)

Table of Contents


- [Introduction](/art/graphic-design)

- [Historical foundations](/art/graphic-design#ref242758)



- [Manuscript design in antiquity and the Middle Ages](/art/graphic-design#ref242759)

- [Early printing and graphic design](/art/graphic-design/Early-printing-and-graphic-design)

- [Graphic design in the 16th–18th centuries](/art/graphic-design/Early-printing-and-graphic-design#ref242761)



- [Renaissance book design](/art/graphic-design/Early-printing-and-graphic-design#ref242762)

- [Rococo graphic design](/art/graphic-design/Early-printing-and-graphic-design#ref242763)

- [Neoclassical graphic design](/art/graphic-design/Neoclassical-graphic-design)

- [Graphic design in the 19th century](/art/graphic-design/Neoclassical-graphic-design#ref242765)



- [The Industrial Revolution and design technology](/art/graphic-design/Neoclassical-graphic-design#ref242766)

- [William Morris and the private-press movement](/art/graphic-design/William-Morris-and-the-private-press-movement)

- [Art Nouveau](/art/graphic-design/William-Morris-and-the-private-press-movement#ref242768)

- [Graphic design in the 20th century](/art/graphic-design/Graphic-design-in-the-20th-century)



- [Early developments](/art/graphic-design/Graphic-design-in-the-20th-century#ref242770)

- [Modernist experiments between the world wars](/art/graphic-design/Graphic-design-in-the-20th-century#ref242771)

- [Graphic design, 1945–75](/art/graphic-design/Graphic-design-1945-75)

  - [The International Typographic Style](/art/graphic-design/Graphic-design-1945-75#ref242773)

  - [Postwar graphic design in the United States](/art/graphic-design/Graphic-design-1945-75#ref242774)

  - [Postwar graphic design in Japan](/art/graphic-design/Postwar-graphic-design-in-Japan)

- [Graphic design, 1975–2000](/art/graphic-design/Postwar-graphic-design-in-Japan#ref242776)

  - [Postmodern graphic design](/art/graphic-design/Postwar-graphic-design-in-Japan#ref242777)

  - [Graphic design in developing nations](/art/graphic-design/Postwar-graphic-design-in-Japan#ref242778)

  - [The digital revolution](/art/graphic-design/The-digital-revolution)

[References & Edit History](https://www.britannica.com/art/graphic-design/additional-info) [Quick Facts & Related Topics](/facts/graphic-design)

[Images](https://www.britannica.com/art/graphic-design/images-videos)

[![Egyptian Book of the Dead](https://cdn.britannica.com/98/148998-004-24D56393/Scene-Egyptian-Book-of-the-Dead.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/98/148998-050-04CCE7D7/Scene-Egyptian-Book-of-the-Dead.jpg)[![Neẓāmī: Khamseh illustration](https://cdn.britannica.com/46/73946-004-334194C3/front-Khosrow-II-palace-illustration-Shirin-Khamseh.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/46/73946-050-F883B655/front-Khosrow-II-palace-illustration-Shirin-Khamseh.jpg)[![Gutenberg Bible](https://cdn.britannica.com/99/73199-004-C45CD210/spread-Johannes-Gutenberg-Bible.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/99/73199-050-8B10012A/spread-Johannes-Gutenberg-Bible.jpg)[![Title page for Regiomontanus's Calendarium (1476).](https://cdn.britannica.com/01/73201-004-57780145/title-page-Kalendarium-Regiomontanus.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/01/73201-050-F6ADB731/title-page-Kalendarium-Regiomontanus.jpg)[![Two-page spread from the Aldine Press's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499).](https://cdn.britannica.com/98/73198-004-FEB2ED07/spread-Aldine-Press-Hypnerotomachia-Poliphili.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/98/73198-004-FEB2ED07/spread-Aldine-Press-Hypnerotomachia-Poliphili.jpg)[![Two-page spread from Geoffroy Tory's Book of Hours (1531).](https://cdn.britannica.com/28/73228-004-9E043635/spread-Geoffroy-Tory-Book-of-Hours.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/28/73228-004-9E043635/spread-Geoffroy-Tory-Book-of-Hours.jpg)[![Black-and-white print of an engraved trading card by Robert Clee, 18th century.](https://cdn.britannica.com/86/73186-004-8778B765/print-trading-card-Robert-Clee.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/86/73186-004-8778B765/print-trading-card-Robert-Clee.jpg)[![Two-page spread from Jean de La Fontaine's Contes et nouvelles en vers (1762), printed by Joseph Gerard Barbou and illustrated by Charles Eisen.](https://cdn.britannica.com/00/73200-004-22751977/spread-Jean-de-La-Fontaine-Contes-et.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/00/73200-050-E505901D/spread-Jean-de-La-Fontaine-Contes-et.jpg)[![Two-page spread from Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis, a book containing three works by Virgil, printed by Pierre l'aîné Didot, 1798.](https://cdn.britannica.com/05/73205-004-210F4193/spread-book-works-Bucolica-Georgica-Aeneis-Pierre-1798.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/05/73205-050-73452BF3/spread-book-works-Bucolica-Georgica-Aeneis-Pierre-1798.jpg)[![Poster for the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, 1854.](https://cdn.britannica.com/04/73204-004-D50B51FF/Poster-Chestnut-Street-Theatre-Philadelphia-1854.jpg)](https://cdn.britannica.com/04/73204-004-D50B51FF/Poster-Chestnut-Street-Theatre-Philadelphia-1854.jpg)

Discover


[![Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society](https://cdn.britannica.com/31/142331-131-EE300AF6/basketball-Orange-background-lighting-Homepage-entertainment-history-2010.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/list/the-10-greatest-basketball-players-of-all-time)

[The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time](/list/the-10-greatest-basketball-players-of-all-time)

[![Aladdin and the Efrite, jinn, genie.](https://cdn.britannica.com/07/186707-131-EE0952B0/Efrite-Aladdin-jinn.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/list/5-creepy-things-from-the-thousand-and-one-nights)

[5 Creepy Things from _The Thousand and One Nights_](/list/5-creepy-things-from-the-thousand-and-one-nights)

[![The Colosseum, Rome, Italy.  Giant amphitheatre built in Rome under the Flavian emperors. (ancient architecture; architectural ruins)](https://cdn.britannica.com/36/162636-131-E4AA93A0/Colosseum-Rome-Italy.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/list/new-seven-wonders-of-the-world)

[New Seven Wonders of the World](/list/new-seven-wonders-of-the-world)

[![Bakers Dozen of Donuts, or Paczki's](https://cdn.britannica.com/78/194478-131-980A335B/Bakers-Dozen-of-Donuts-Paczki.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/story/why-is-a-bakers-dozen-13)

[Why Is a Baker’s Dozen 13?](/story/why-is-a-bakers-dozen-13)

[![Andrew Jackson delivering a speech while on his way to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration in 1829. From Harper's Weekly, 1881.](https://cdn.britannica.com/94/182194-131-A1441287/Andrew-Jackson-town-supporters-inauguration-way-1829.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/list/5-remarkably-close-us-presidential-elections)

[5 Remarkably Close U.S. Presidential Elections](/list/5-remarkably-close-us-presidential-elections)

[![Clouds of smoke rise from fires at the World Trade Center Towers as a result of terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Photographed 9:54 am in Lower Manhattan.](https://cdn.britannica.com/24/199824-131-8B2223A9/smoke-rise-Clouds-fires-result-terrorist-attack-September-11-2001.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/list/timeline-of-the-september-11-attacks)

[Timeline of the September 11 Attacks](/list/timeline-of-the-september-11-attacks)

[![United States Electoral College votes by state](https://cdn.britannica.com/68/220368-131-C835E48E/United-States-electoral-college-votes-by-state.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop)](/story/how-many-electoral-college-votes-does-each-us-state-have)

[How Many Electoral College Votes Does Each U.S. State Have?](/story/how-many-electoral-college-votes-does-each-us-state-have)


Contents


[Visual Arts](/browse/Visual-Arts)[Decorative Art](/browse/Decorative-Art)

# graphic design

art



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- [Lifewire - An Introduction to the Basics of Graphic Design](https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-graphic-design-1697521)
- [International Design Foundation - Graphic Design](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/graphic-design)
- [The IUniversity of Mississippi - College of Liberal Arts - What is Graphic Design?](https://art.olemiss.edu/what-is-graphic-design/)
- [Humanities LibreTexts - Graphic Design](https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Art/Introduction_To_Art_(Jones)/01%3A_Media_and_Techniques/1.08%3A_Graphic_Design)



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- [Lifewire - An Introduction to the Basics of Graphic Design](https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-graphic-design-1697521)
- [International Design Foundation - Graphic Design](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/graphic-design)
- [The IUniversity of Mississippi - College of Liberal Arts - What is Graphic Design?](https://art.olemiss.edu/what-is-graphic-design/)
- [Humanities LibreTexts - Graphic Design](https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Art/Introduction_To_Art_(Jones)/01%3A_Media_and_Techniques/1.08%3A_Graphic_Design)

Also known as: visual communications


Written by


[Philip B. Meggs\
\
School of the Arts Research Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Author of _A History of Graphic Design,_; co-editor of _Revivial of the Fittest: Digital Versions of..._](/contributor/Philip-B-Meggs/5298)

Philip B. Meggs

Fact-checked by

[The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica\
\
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.](/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419)

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

[Article History](https://www.britannica.com/art/graphic-design/additional-info#history)


Table of Contents


[![Egyptian Book of the Dead](https://cdn.britannica.com/98/148998-050-04CCE7D7/Scene-Egyptian-Book-of-the-Dead.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop)](https://cdn.britannica.com/98/148998-050-04CCE7D7/Scene-Egyptian-Book-of-the-Dead.jpg)

Egyptian Book of the Dead

[See all media](https://www.britannica.com/art/graphic-design/images-videos)

Key People: [Jan Tschichold](/biography/Jan-Tschichold)[Jules Chéret](/biography/Jules-Cheret)[Milton Glaser](/biography/Milton-Glaser)[Alexey Brodovitch](/biography/Alexey-Brodovitch)_(Show more)_

Related Topics: [Lorem ipsum](/topic/Lorem-ipsum)[the arts](/topic/the-arts)_(Show more)_

[See all related content →](/facts/graphic-design)

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**graphic design**, the art and profession of selecting and arranging visual elements—such as typography, images, symbols, and colours—to convey a message to an audience. Sometimes graphic design is called “visual communications,” a term that emphasizes its function of giving form—e.g., the design of a book, [advertisement](https://www.britannica.com/money/advertising), logo, or Web site—to information. An important part of the designer’s task is to combine visual and verbal elements into an ordered and effective whole. Graphic design is therefore a collaborative discipline: writers produce words and photographers and illustrators create images that the designer incorporates into a complete visual [communication](https://www.britannica.com/topic/communication).

The evolution of graphic design as a practice and profession has been closely bound to technological [innovations](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovations), societal needs, and the visual imagination of practitioners. Graphic design has been practiced in various forms throughout history; indeed, strong examples of graphic design date back to manuscripts in ancient [China](https://www.britannica.com/place/China), [Egypt](https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt), and [Greece](https://www.britannica.com/place/Greece). As [printing](https://www.britannica.com/topic/printing-publishing) and [book](https://www.britannica.com/topic/book-publication) production developed in the 15th century, advances in graphic design developed alongside it over subsequent centuries, with compositors or typesetters often designing pages as they set the type.

In the late 19th century, graphic design emerged as a distinct profession in the West, in part because of the job specialization process that occurred there, and in part because of the new technologies and commercial possibilities brought about by the [Industrial Revolution](https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution). New production methods led to the separation of the design of a communication medium (e.g., a poster) from its actual production. Increasingly, over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, [advertising](https://www.britannica.com/money/advertising) agencies, book publishers, and magazines hired art directors who organized all visual elements of the communication and brought them into a harmonious whole, creating an expression [appropriate](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/appropriate) to the content. In 1922 typographer [William A. Dwiggins](https://www.britannica.com/biography/W-A-Dwiggins) coined the term _graphic design_ to identify the emerging field.

Throughout the 20th century, the technology available to designers continued to advance rapidly, as did the artistic and commercial possibilities for design. The profession expanded enormously, and graphic designers created, among other things, magazine pages, book jackets, posters, compact-disc covers, postage stamps, packaging, trademarks, signs, advertisements, kinetic titles for television programs and motion pictures, and Web sites. By the turn of the 21st century, graphic design had become a global profession, as advanced technology and industry spread throughout the world.

Typography is discussed in this essay as an element of the overall design of a visual communication; for a complete history, _see_ [typography](https://www.britannica.com/technology/typography). Similarly, the evolution of the printing process is discussed in this essay as it relates to developments in graphic design; for a complete history, _see_ [printing](https://www.britannica.com/topic/printing-publishing).

## Historical foundations

## Manuscript design in antiquity and the Middle Ages

Although its advent as a profession is fairly recent, graphic design has roots that reach deep into [antiquity](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/antiquity). Illustrated manuscripts were made in ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. While early manuscript designers were not consciously creating “graphic designs,” scribes and illustrators worked to create a blend of text and image that was at once harmonious and effective at conveying the [idea](https://www.britannica.com/topic/idea) of the manuscript. The ancient Egyptian [Book of the Dead](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-the-Dead-ancient-Egyptian-text), which contained texts intended to aid the deceased in the afterlife, is a superb example of early graphic design. Hieroglyphic narratives penned by scribes are illustrated with colourful illustrations on rolls of [papyrus](https://www.britannica.com/topic/papyrus-writing-material). Words and pictures are unified into a [cohesive](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cohesive) whole: both elements are compressed into a horizontal band, the repetitive vertical structure of the [writing](https://www.britannica.com/topic/writing) is echoed in both the columns and the figures, and a consistent style of brushwork is used for the writing and [drawing](https://www.britannica.com/art/drawing-art). Flat areas of [colour](https://www.britannica.com/science/color) are bound by firm [brush](https://www.britannica.com/art/brush-art) [contours](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contours) that contrast vibrantly with the rich texture of the [hieroglyphic writing](https://www.britannica.com/topic/hieroglyphic-writing).

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During the Middle Ages, manuscript books preserved and [propagated](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propagated) sacred writings. These early books were written and illustrated on sheets of treated animal skin called [parchment](https://www.britannica.com/topic/parchment), or vellum, and sewn together into a [codex](https://www.britannica.com/topic/codex-manuscript) format with pages that turned like the pages of contemporary books. In Europe, monastic writing rooms had a clear [division of labour](https://www.britannica.com/money/division-of-labour) that led to the design of books. A scholar versed in Greek and Latin headed the writing room and was responsible for the editorial content, design, and production of books. Scribes trained in lettering styles spent their days bent over writing tables, penning page after page of text. They indicated the place on page layouts where illustrations were to be added after the text was written, using a light [sketch](https://www.britannica.com/art/sketch-art) or a descriptive note jotted in the margin. Illuminators, or illustrators, rendered pictures and decorations in support of the text. In designing these works, monks were mindful of the educational value of pictures and the capacity of colour and ornament to create spiritual overtones.

Manuscript production in Europe during the Middle Ages generated a vast variety of page designs, illustration and lettering styles, and production techniques. Isolation and poor travel conditions allowed identifiable regional design styles to emerge. Some of the more distinctive [medieval](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval) art and design approaches, including the [Hiberno-Saxon](https://www.britannica.com/art/Hiberno-Saxon-style) style of Ireland and England and the International Gothic style prevalent in Europe in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, were used in manuscript books that achieved major graphic-design innovations. The [Book of Kells](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-Kells) ( _c._ 800 ce), an [illuminated](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illuminated) Gospel book believed to have been completed in the early 9th century at the Irish monastery of Kells, is renowned as one of the most beautiful [Hiberno-Saxon](https://www.britannica.com/art/Hiberno-Saxon-style) manuscripts. Its page depicting the appearance of [Jesus Christ’s](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus) name in Matthew 1:18 is called the “ [Chi-Rho page](https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred-monogram).” The design presents the monogram XPI—which was used to signify Christ in many manuscripts—as an intricately designed pattern of shimmering colour and spiraling forms blossoming over a whole page. The Book of Kells’s Chi-Rho page is a [paradigm](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paradigm) of how graphical form can become a metaphorical expression of spiritual experience: it clearly conveys the sacred nature of the religious content.

[![](https://cdn.britannica.com/46/73946-050-F883B655/front-Khosrow-II-palace-illustration-Shirin-Khamseh.jpg?w=300)](https://cdn.britannica.com/46/73946-050-F883B655/front-Khosrow-II-palace-illustration-Shirin-Khamseh.jpg)

[Neẓāmī: _Khamseh_ illustration](https://cdn.britannica.com/46/73946-050-F883B655/front-Khosrow-II-palace-illustration-Shirin-Khamseh.jpg) Khosrow II in front of Shīrīn's palace, illustration from a late 15th-century Persian manuscript of the _Khamseh_ by Neẓāmī; in the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, U.S.(more)

From the 10th through the 15th centuries, handmade manuscript books in Islamic lands also achieved a masterful level of artistic and technical achievement, especially within the tradition of Persian [miniature painting](https://www.britannica.com/art/miniature-painting). The [pinnacle](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pinnacle) of the [Shiraz school](https://www.britannica.com/art/Shiraz-school) of Persian manuscript design and illustration is evident in a page illustrating the great 12th-century poet [Neẓāmī](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nezami)’s _[Khamseh](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khamseh-by-Nezami)_ (“The Quintuplet”). This page depicts the Persian king [Khosrow II](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Khosrow-II) in front of the palace of his beloved, Shīrīn. Human figures, animals, buildings, and the landscape are presented as refined shapes that are defined by concise outlines. These two-dimensional planes are filled with vibrant colour and decorative patterns in a tightly interlocking [composition](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composition). The calligraphic text is contained in a geometric shape places near the bottom of the page.