OUGD501 / COP2 / Theory Into Practice / Visual research / Propaganda / 'Iron Fists: Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State'

'Fascism is the aestheticizing of politics'

Walter Benjamin


I suppose this practical project is the aestheticizing of identity theory.

I want to capture some of the sinister brutalism that runs through totalitarian state branding from the last few hundred years.

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'...fierce debates raged inside the [nazi] party during its' rise to power between champions of Volkism and proponents of Modernism... the Volkists won and a retrograde style inveigled its way into society. Gothic (or blackletter) became the preferred typeface.'

'Hitler's adoption of Volkism was a strategy calculated to engage the worker and peasant classes in the Nazis' early mission to attract rural votes.'

'His [Rosenberg] campaign to stamp out non-german lettering featured stickers with slogans admonishing citizens to use only Gothic-style letters, or deutsche schrift.'

'Consequently [to Hitler declaring Gothic Arts as "dangers to National Socialism"] a new style of Gothic typefaces appeared in which traditional forms were simplified to be more readable.'

'"To be German means to be clear!" Hitler said, which to him meant infused with political purpose.'

'American designer Paul Rand once said that a corporate symbol is no better or worse than the business it represents... The swastika is not intrinsically evil but the Nazis put it to evil purposes.'

'Even while horrified by the regime, one must acknowledge the effectiveness of its' propaganda.'