Poster Design in Iran

Payvand recently posted an article on the decline of Iran's graphic arts industry. The article mentions the traditional strength of this sector of Iranian art (and propaganda) and its current decline at the hands of apathy and Adobe Photoshop. (Yes, that's right, Adobe Photoshop is to graphic design what video *was* to the radio star. Anyone who is a graphic designer or knows a graphic designer over 30 years old will be familiar with this sentiment.)

The Payvand article specifically addresses the art of poster design and its decline as one of Iran's most important, if overlooked, contributions to modern aesthetics. While poster making may not sound like much, Iranian graphic designers have perfected the craft. This is partially due to the advent of the Islamic Republic and its marginalizing (or outright banning) of many forms of art. Poster design, however, proved useful to revolutionary and later war-time propaganda in the 1980s. (See for instance Chelkowski and Dabashi's Staging a Revolution and this pictoral essay from the Iranian.) The official office of propaganda encouraged poster production in all sectors of government throughout the war which in turn led to the development of graphic design programs in Iran's universities. Even the Revolutionary Guards poured money and resources into poster production as part of their "cultural activities" during this period.

While many poster makers in the 1980s got their start producing war-time propaganda, after the war many continued with the medium, but took it into a more independent direction. This laid the groundwork for Iran's contemporary poster genre, which continues to incorporate revolutionary-cum-political themes, but also allows for more secular (or at least less political) expression.

Here are a few examples from the Iran Independent Designers Society website: