{"id":49011,"date":"2018-03-19T08:46:10","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T15:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/?p=49011"},"modified":"2024-04-17T04:20:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T11:20:02","slug":"propaganda-graphic-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/propaganda-graphic-design","title":{"rendered":"Propaganda Graphic Design: History and Inspiring Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you call it propaganda graphic design<\/strong><\/a> or heroic realism, there’s a highly captivating form of design that deals with propaganda to rally people around various causes and events. Seen especially during World Wars I and II and with the rise of various totalitarian regimes in the 20th<\/sup> century, propaganda graphic design is usually political in nature and depicts people, concepts, and goals as heavily idealized.\nFrom a pure design perspective, propaganda art can be overwhelming, as it idealizes and stylizes the ordinary into something much more grandiose to rally support for causes or gin up national fervor against something.\nThe 20th<\/sup> century was the<\/em> decade to be alive if you truly valued propaganda graphic design<\/a>. Let’s take a look at this important piece of design history in greater detail.\n

<\/span>The History of Propaganda Graphic Design and Heroic Realism<\/span><\/h2>

\nIt’s not surprising that graphic design of this style has been termed “heroic realism.†If you’re a designer and plotting to rally support for or against a cause, it’s in your best interest to depict your cause and all its adherents as being exceptional and superhuman. Ergo, heroic!<\/em>\nThe underlying assumption is that the average person will be more likely to back your cause if it seems larger than life and about more than just the mundane things in life.\nPropaganda graphic design became a force to be reckoned with thanks to the wars of the 20th<\/sup> century, namely World Wars I and II. While belligerents were engaging in deadly combat on the ground with all sorts of weaponry, graphic designers used the communication medium to fight another kind of war, but always in support of the larger cause of their respective nations or causes. This was the classic propaganda battle that could help change the course of any war due to its ability to either mobilize and encourage or demoralize its target audiences.\n\"\"\nBesides the nationalism, jingoism, and patriotism that were undoubtedly also a part of the reason for this propaganda, there was also a more straightforward reason for design: the need to raise money and keep wartime economies going (or at least to prevent them from going bankrupt).\nNo matter if you were the Central Power or the Allied Powers in World War I—or the Allied Nations or the Axis powers in World War II—you needed to keep your war machine going. Common ways that governments helped to ensure this cause were by war savings, bonds and loans, war work (volunteering for your country on the home front), and fuel and food conservation. To encourage and push their citizenry to actually go along with all of these initiatives, some would call them actual sacrifices: governments came up with propaganda in the form of designs like posters.\nIf you, for example, were to see various heroic-realism posters depicting the glory of working at a factory to make bombs to help your country win the war, you were more likely to do just that. If you saw propaganda posters showcasing the patriotism of investing in war bonds, then you were also more likely to go ahead with that contribution.\nOf course, perhaps the most direct form of propaganda graphic design was patriotic posters encouraging citizens to sign up directly to be combatants in the war—think of the traditional, memorable and classic, “Uncle Sam…wants you!†posters.\nHere are some breathtaking propaganda graphic design assets from our marketplace, so you can get an idea of how effective they can be:

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<\/span>Qualities of Propaganda Graphic Design and Heroic Realism<\/span><\/h2>

\nBased on the propaganda design assets in our marketplace, you can immediately see telltale characteristics that are common to all types of heroic realism, regardless of what country, cause or movement produces them. In short, they’re all about presenting things in a highly idealized fashion for maximum propaganda points.\n<\/p>

<\/span>Uprising Symbols<\/span><\/h3>

\nOne of the most universally recognized symbols of resistance, rebellion or just power or strength is the raised or clenched fist<\/a>. Peruse any number of propaganda graphic design offerings, and you’ll immediately notice this common bond among many of them.\nFrom a strict design standpoint, drawing a fist also makes for easy communication, as it cuts across cultural boundaries with the greatest of ease.\n\"\"\nStylistically, it’s common to see the raised fist surrounded by other design elements to increase its propaganda impact:\n<\/p>