When did advertising become Graphic Design?

Question

I think it started with VW ads of 1963. Or David Ogilvy with Hathaway shirt late 50's ? Any ideas on who led the way would be appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

Personal still think of them as different disciplines that are both required to create a great ad. Advertising people Art directors/ copywriters uncover the essence of of a product/service and turn them into advertising campaigns. Whilst graphic designers are responsible for presenting the information in manner that is synonymous with the brand. That's not to say there aren't graphic designers who can create great advertising ideas or art director who can craft stylish, eye catching layouts - in fact in smaller agencies you'll most likely be doing both.

In the very early days of advertising ads were created by artists (think Latrec posters) but slowly it became a separate discipline along with marketing. Over the past 50 years there has been a steady fragmenting of the industry resulting in specialist in everything from media buying, corporate design, packaging, sales promotion, direct mail ...blah, blah. Although many are still in search of the holly grail - a fully integrated agency with all these skills under one roof.

May be its a chicken or the egg typy thing . . .

Answer 2

Graphic Design has been around since the first innkeeper painted his name on a sign.

Or do you mean when was the term Graphic Design first used to describe advertising?

Great Wikipedia reference here, but sadly it doesn't really give that info other than saying it's a 20th century term...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_design#Graphic_design_history