Message Mutations

Transformation of newspaper advertising posters in the first half of the 20th century

Abstract

The growing and aggressive rise of digital information systems is increasingly taking away space from the old methods of transmission by printed media. However, the latter still has some niches of use. Newspapers, magazines and journals are communication tools, but they must make their presence known and spread their messages and news first. In the 19th century, magazines and newspapers, whether of local or national circulation, were the only means of mass information, hence the need to promote their knowledge and dissemination. As early as the first decades of the last century, the most crucial advertising graphic designers of the time were called upon to advertise printed matter in Italy and Europe, many of whom had already gained experience and success in creating posters for shows and commercial advertisements. To promote a magazine or newspaper, the posters must convey certain basic concepts: first and foremost, belonging to a nation, a territory, or an ideology. Another critical factor is the immediacy of how the news is communicated, the possible catchment area, the social or political aims of the newspaper, the management and the journalists who write for it and, last but not least, the selling price. To create advertising posters for Italian newspapers, leading poster designers of the time were called in, such as, for example, Adolf Hohenstein, Giovanni Maria Mataloni, Leopoldo Metlicovitz, Marcello Dudovich, Galileo Chini, Leonetto Cappiello, Franz Laskoff, Giovanni Beltrami, Sepo, Federico Seneca, Plinio Codognato, Achille Mauzan, painters of the calibre of Mario Sironi or French artists such as Cassandre and Savignac.