The Originality and Graphic Design Today
By Majid Abbasi
a speech in Design Conference in Doha, February 23, 2005 and in the University of Palermo March 22, 2005

Iran is a country consisting of several ethnic groups each of which speak their own language and dialect but all write in Farsi alphabet. Iran, with its specific geographical, political, social and cultural characteristics, together with the rest of the societies in the Middle East has undergone changes during the recent decades which have affected all its social, political and cultural interactions. In the recent decades we have witnessed the 1979 revolution, the overthrow of Shah, the inversion of the current political situation, Saddam’s attack on Iran in 1980, the outbreak of the eight-year war, the termination of the war and the beginning of free social atmosphere in Iran. Graphic design in Iran has been no exception being influenced by a lot of changes.
The history of art in Iran is divided into two important periods: pre- Islamic and post-Islamic. In the former one, sculpture, engraving, architecture, pottery and varied inscription, all including patterns and images, from the hub of Iranian art. In the later, calligraphy and script appear in the Islamic manuscripts or inscriptions and architecture as a national and celestial art. If we want to study image and type in Iran historically, we should refer to these two important periods. The source and origin of today’s graphic design in Iran go back to the attempts made by past forerunners in this field.

The early samples of graphic designs which can be included in modern framework are related to the 13th century A.H. Since this period we encounter the works which had previously been produced in the west through engravings on wood and copper. These samples are mostly related to book decoration, forms of letters, calligraphy and page decoration and all of them are based on older samples such as lithographic books. The images show parties, war or happiness and these are also based on very old samples of hand-written illustrated books about 400 to 500 years before that.
Modern graphic design looks back at this background and visual-scriptual heritage too. It is influenced by miniature, page decoration and layout of various manuscripts including books of poetry, pieces of calligraphy, illustrated books and their illustrations, and presents a new description of them by means of the rules of today.
But it is not always very fruitful to look at these sources and use them. The conclusion should be based on sufficient knowledge of the past heritage and national originality.
Yet, originality does not have the past values as its only source, it is a concept related to the present time which is rooted in a fruitful past with all its heritage. The surviving heritage which has come down to us completes the meaning of today. This is why the graphic designer tries to be loyal to it.

Graphic design started in Iran seriously, about eighty years ago by the advent of printing machinery and its power to copy works of art.
During the last fifty years there have been attempts made for illustration. Some of these attempts are made by the movement in the modern world of graphic design and some others are made to review the pre- and post- Islamic originality of Iranian arts through today’s techniques and definitions of graphic design.
Modern graphic design started by the attempts of Morteza Momayez (born in 1936); demonstrating some outstanding samples, gradually found a stance for the Iranian view in Iran and international circles. Some colleagues collaborated with him in this way. This generation of designers left one of the most influential samples of Iranian graphic design behind.
The poster of the Ninth Festival of Art, Shiraz designed by Morteza Momayez in 1975 includes ancient Iranian images together with a modern view of graphic design. The use of calligraphy and script in another poster designed by Ghobad Shiva for the Festival of Arts in Shiraz in 1971 was an attempt in the same way and Farshid Mesghali’s illustrations for the book of Iranian modern poetry in 1984 is a retrograde step to the old Iranian illustration which retells a modern story rightly.
It is to be mentioned that the golden age of Iranian modern graphic design started by founding of graphic design subject and educating students in two important universities in Tehran. This period goes back to one decade before 1979 revolution or more which after a nearly ten-year recess has now improved and found its new stance again.

But the new generation of the Iranian graphic designers who basically grew after the revolution and the war, and changed the graphic design in Iran, were the result of their previous generation mentioned before. The audacity and the new ideas of the young graphic designers in using Iranian typography considering the modern technology, their lyricism as well as searching for new concepts with a new image of the Iranian graphic design, are part of what they have done so far. And now they claim a national graphic design with high standards.

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