Welcome
Plakatstil (German for "poster style") is a reductive, flat-color design school that arose in Germany early in the twentieth century.
In a poster competition sponsored by Preister Matches in 1906, Lucian Bernhard created a novel way by drawing two massive matches and putting the company name in straight, bold letters. He won the competition because of his stunningly sharp and minimalist design, representing a break from the fading Art Nouveau style. With little time to create his work, he relied on innate design choices to encourage matches, focusing on symbols and shapes rather than elaborate images. Bernhard used strong, straight purple font to advertise the brand name, Priester. The poster design emphasizes the essential item, the matches, and the forms and objects are simplified with a flat black backdrop.
In contrast to the ornate and lengthy Art Nouveau posters, Bernhard's work is distinguished by bold letterings, simple objects, vibrant colors, and the poster's lack of a border. In this poster, the communication technique is no longer symbolic but rather a straightforward declaration of what the audience is most interested in learning about what he is presenting. The absence of additional distracting or unwanted elements instantly captures the viewer's attention. This convincing advertisement elicited a tremendous response, establishing Bernhard as a well-known young artist who pioneered Plakatstil.
"You see with your eyes, not your brain." - Lucian Bernhard
The collection on this site features a selection of classic posters created by primarily German Plakatstil designers and other leading European artists, evoking memories of the ephemeral Plakatstil while also considering its legacy in today's digital-based cultural context: we can still see their influence of them in the way posters dramatically emphasize the advertised product and the visual communication that includes an isolated image or symbol of value.
The "less is more" philosophy in modern graphic design was initially applied to using single pictures or value symbols in Plakatstil. Increasing the viewer's participation in the design would assist in highlighting Plakatstil's originality. Even after a century, the spot-on Plakatstil posters hit us right in the heart. Enjoy!
This site was created by Wen Gu for the INFO 864 Museum Information Management final project.