Wednesday, October 10, 2012

RE: Graphic Design Heros & Citizenship in Design

In response to Marie's question: I admire the work of J. Howard Miller and his "We Can Do It" posters.  Miller was hired by the Westinghouse War Production Coordinating Committee to create a series of war posters. The intent of the posters was to boost employee morale not persuade more female workers to join the work force. It was not about women's empowerment and the name "Rosie" had no association with the poster. In fact, the poster was only shown to workers in the Westinghouse factory during a 2 week long period.

Many believe that J. Howard Miller's design is that of Norman Rockwell's.  As the world began to misinterpret Miller's "We Can Do It" posters as female empowerment, he decided to base his design off of the same concept. In Rockwell's poster, which was mass distributed on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Memorial Day, features a large, strong woman holding a lunch pail that reads "Rosie", carrying a rivet gun on her lap. 


Would you call Rockwell's poster un-orgininal because he copied the same concept from Howard? Or would you disagree because Howard did not intend for his poster's to persuade women to join the work force? I think both posters do an excellent job contributing to social change.

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