Gebrauchsgraphik Covers, 1955.

by Sandi Vincent on August 10, 2010

Gebrauchsgraphik No. 2, 1955
by Richard Lindner

Gebrauchsgraphik No. 11, 1955
by Günter Brand

Gebrauchsgraphik No. 6, 1955
by unknown artist

Gebrauchsgraphik No. 7, 1955
by Kurt Kranz

Gebrauchsgraphik No. 1, 1955
by unknown artist

Gebrauchsgraphik No. 8, 1955
by ? (illegible signature)
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I have a new vintage obsession, Gebrauchsgraphik—an early graphic design magazine from Germany—first published in 1924. Articles cover a broad range of topics, among them graphic design, advertising, typography, trademarks and illustration. The subject matter includes both contemporary and historical content. While the magazine is German, the articles are translated into several languages, including English.

Beginning with the stellar cover designs, Gebrauchsgraphik is a veritable treasure chest of images and information. Virtually all of the illustrations are completely new to me. I’m eager to begin my exploration of this splendid resource and thought I’d kick things off by sharing a few of the 1955 covers.

Gebrauchsgraphik, Monatschrift zur Förderung künstlerischer Reklame (Commercial Graphics, Monthly Magazine for Promoting Art in Advertising), which was published in Berlin from 1924 until 1944, was one of the first-generation graphic design journals in Europe. It followed the poster movement and typographic reforms associated with German Jugendstiland their respective literature in the pre-1924 years and developed them in new directions. Gebrauchsgraphik published some of the first reviews of an activity still to be termed ‘graphic design’, together with articles on book design, advertising, publicity and packaging. In the years before the Second World War, Gebrauchsgraphik established itself as a successful bilingual (German-English) publication, with a hiatus between 1944 and 1950. Then it was relaunched from Munich where it is still published under the revised title of novum gebrauchsgraphik.

–Excerpt from article by Jeremy Aynsley; Journal of Design History, Vol. 5, 1992 on Questia

Since 1996, the magazine has been published under the name novum. Today novum is published by Stiebner Verlag in Munich with a monthly circulation of 13,500. It is being sold in 80 countries worldwide. This remarkable international publication celebrates its 86th birthday this year.

For further reading:
>> novum: 85 years of design history
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>> Gebrauchsgraphik Magazine flickr set
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Sandi Vincent grew up in the bay area of California surrounded by mid-century modern architecture and other influences responsible for her affinity for the period and its pop style, including her early exposure to The Monkees, The Avengers and Gerald McBoing-Boing. Sandi now resides in Portland and is a board member of a local nonprofit preservation group, the Mid-Century Modern League. In her day job at a community foundation, she sports the web/social media/print materials coordinator title.