Design in the Sixties

This was the time in history when

pop art, psychedelic art, op art,
minimalism and conceptual art were first
recognized as valid art styles used by
many iconic artists. These art movements
continue to influence pop culture today.
Psychedelic Art borrowed most of its
design identity from art nouveau, using
hand-drawn illustrations and
typography styles that leaned heavily
on curvilinear shapes and vibrant,
almost neon, color schemes.
Robert Wesley Wilson (July 15, 1937 – January 24, 2020) was
an American artist and one of the leading designers of
psychedelic posters.
the Hippie scene was growing and
according to Wilson “It was a time
of enlightenment”, due to this fact
Wes Wilson began to interact with
local artists at parties as Janis Joplin
and Jerry Garcia and their printing
business with Bob Carr was going
well-making flyers and poster to
performing groups, these factors and
the increase for the poster demand
made Wes Wilson work for different
musical promoters like Bill Graham
and Fillmore auditorium.
Wes Wilson’s works reflect perfectly
his anticultural attitude, the
flourishing drug society adopted by
many young people during this period,
and the growing rock and hippie
movements. By looking at Wes
Wilson’s poster we can see a clear
influence of art nouveau poster design
style which in Wilson’s works reflect
the idealism of an earlier age with
equally avant-garde movement.
These wavy-gravy, acid-colored, hand-lettered provocations for
the eye accompanied rock shows at San Francisco’s Fillmore
Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom.
In Wilson’s posters, there is a clear sacrifice of
legibility for the aesthetic regarding
typography, which in his famous “Beefheart”
poster help him due to the actual poster design
had a spelling mistake and he wrote
“Beefhart”. As mentioned earlier Wilson
sacrifices the legibility of the text for a visual
aesthetic and because of this, he repeated the
text with the main information on the borders
of the poster to help the viewer see the
information.
Wilson’s posters for the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The
Association, and other bands were affordable works of art that
could be purchased at the shows or in neighborhood smoke
shops. They became essential memorabilia of the period’s
vibrant counter culture.