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Graphic Design

As visual language becomes lingua franca in an image-driven 21st century, explore how California graphic designers have shaped global aesthetics and social movements, from counterculture and the Civil Rights era until today.

A young girl stands in the foreground with a backdrop of flying birds and a halo of concentric circles.
Sister Corita's serigraph, "Who Came Out of the Water" made in 1966 use the twisted letters of "LIFE" from Life magazine. | Still from Artbound's "Corita Kent: The Pop Art Nun"

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Hecho Con Ganas: Ernesto Yerena Montejano
6:46
Artbound
Hecho Con Ganas: Ernesto Yerena Montejano
Dignidad Rebelde: Art is Protest
5:16
Artbound
Dignidad Rebelde: Art is Protest
Endless Summer: How a Poster Shaped Surf Culture
7:20
Artbound
Endless Summer: How a Poster Shaped Surf Culture
Emory Douglas: The Black Panther Artist
16:54
Artbound
Emory Douglas: The Black Panther Artist
A nun smiling
18:16
Artbound
Corita Kent: The Pop Art Nun

More Stories

A print of the April 1975 issue of Gidra with Asian American students on the cover.
Gidra: The 1970s Provocative Magazine That Fought Anti-Asian Sentiment
What started as a monthly paper in 1969 geared towards Asian American students at UCLA soon expanded to the greater Los Angeles community.
A poster for Women in Design Conference at the Woman's Building designed by Sheila de Bretteville.
In Graphic Design, What Does It Mean to be Accessible?
Issues of accessibility have long been woven through all facets of graphic design and can especially be seen in Los Angeles during the late 1960s and early '70s.
A graphic design poster of Malcolm X made by Emory Douglas.
In California, a Legacy of Political Protest Through Graphic Design Lives On
The flowering of grassroots social movements in California in the 1960s and '70s led to concurrent flourishing of graphic innovation as a form of collective action. Designers today continue this legacy, using their practices to inspire change and raise up global fights for justice.
A colorful mural showing purple octopus, kelp, pelicans and fish.
California Continues to Rewrite the Rules of Design
The visual language that has emerged from the Golden State continues to rewrite the rules of design through the unrestrained use of color, stylistic hybridity and the juxtaposition of high and low culture.
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