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9392
(Text)
movement
9
Movement is defined as
the act or process of mov-
ing or a change of place,
position, or effort. It can
be actual or implied. In a painting or photograph, for instance,
movement refers to a representation or suggestion of motion. In
sculpture, movement refers to implied motion, with the exception
“Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances.”
Maya angelou (b. 1928), American, Actor, Author, Civil Rights Activist, Poet
move·ment \'müv-m nt\ n
5 a: the suggestion or illusion of motion
in a painting, sculpture, or design
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th e la n guag e of gr ap hic d es i gn
(Text)
1948
Gran Premio dell’Autodromo di Monza (Monza Grand Prix)
Milan, Italy
Max Huber (1919–1992) was one of the
most significant graphic designers of the
twentieth century and an influential figure
in the history of modern graphic design.
He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule
in Zurich and worked as an art director
before moving to Milan in 1940, where
he became art director of Studio Boggeri.
Huber was also a member of the distin-
guished association of Swiss modernists
called the Allianz—a group whose mem-
bers included Hans Arp, Max Bill, Le Cor-
busier, Paul Klee, Leo Leuppi, and Richard
Paul Lohse.
In his early career, Huber was greatly
influenced by the teachings of modernist
masters such as Max Bill and Lazlo Moholy-
Nagy and therefore among the first design-
ers in Italy to apply avant-garde principles
and aesthetics to commercial graphic de-
sign such as posters, jazz record album
covers, and book covers. Some of Huber’s
most memorable achievements were on a
completely different scale and remain in
the minds of generations of Italians, such
as his identity programs for the department
store chain La Rinascente, the supermarket
chain Esselingsa, and for media giant rai.
One celebrated example of this mod-
ernist approach is Huber’s memorable
posters for the Monza races. Starting in
1928, Huber designed promotional posters
and flyers for the Monza car races in Italy,
mainly for the Grand Prix and the Lottery
Race. This poster series illustrates how he
brought the visual element of movement to
two-dimensional compositions.
Huber’s 1948 poster for the motor
races at Monza incorporated illusions of
visual perspective that reinforced a great
sense of movement and speed—letterforms
are disappearing in the distance and are
of mobiles and kinetic sculptures that have
actual motion, such as found in the work of
Alexander Calder.
In visual communications, movement
apparent in a drawing, painting, photograph,
book cover, or even magazine spread forces
our eyes to move constantly and attend to
one or more elements within the composi-
tion. Our eye may be brought to the center
of the composition because there is a bright
color there and then to another location
that contains typography functioning as
a headline in a bold typeface. Here, the
responsibility of the graphic designer is
to direct the viewer’s attention through a
specific sequence of visual experiences, as
opposed to letting the eye randomly go from
one element to another in a composition.
The primary function of movement in
visual communications is to guide the eye
of the viewer through and around any visual
message. In a three-dimensional composi-
tion or space, a graphic designer needs to
consider not only movement realized with
light and color, but also with the physical
movement of the viewer through, in, and
around the total environment.
(continued on page 96)
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington, USA
New York, New York, USA
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