Graphic identification of printing offices in the city of São Paulo: 1900-1930

Author(s)

Fabio Mariano Cruz Pereira

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU/SBI)
• Defense date: 2023-10-03

Examining board members

Priscila Lena Farias; Norberto Gaudêncio Junior; Emanuela Fanny Bonini Lessing; Solange Ferraz de Lima; Carlo Vinti

• Advisor: Priscila Lena Farias

Abstract

Letterpress printing offices were important to the city of São Paulo. They having been responsible for a large part of the printed artifacts that circulated during the first Brazilian republic period. In configuring the graphic language of these artefacts, the letterpress printing offices were faced with the challenge of characterising and differentiating an increasing number of products and services, including the services they provided themselves. There are studies on the history of books and press in São Paulo, but the letterpress printing offices and their identification ways are topics little discussed even today. In this context, the main question that this doctoral thesis engaged in answering was: what graphic aspects characterized the graphic identification of letterpress printing offices active in São Paulo during the first three decades of the 20th century? Throughout the research reported here, the hypothesis that letterpress printing offices repeated typefaces and/or other visual elements in the compositions of their names was confirmed, aiming to establish patterns of graphic identity comparable to what is currently understood as logotypes, graphic marks or visual identity. For this, the relevant visual and verbal aspects that characterized the different forms of graphic identification established by these companies were identified and described. The methodological steps adopted were: bibliographic research, considering the topics: graphic mark, logotype, visual identity, letterpress in São Paulo city and its possible foreign influences; documentary research, with the construction of the research corpus (advertisements, labels, letterheads and photographs of facades of letterpress printing offices), consultation and registration of images, organization and treatment of research data; graphic analysis, with the examination of the elements of graphic language contained in the collected images; elaboration of conceptual maps to verify recurrences of graphic elements; and construction of an on-line database for organization and dissemination of the results obtained. The research was related to a double PhD degree program between the University of São Paulo School of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU USP, Brazil) and the IUAV University of Venice (IUAV, Italy). During the research internship carried out in northern Italy, type specimens were consulted and, in addition, letterheads produced by Venetian letterpress printing offices active in the early 20th century were analysed. These letterheads were compared with those produced in São Paulo during the same period. The results of the research carried out in Italy highlighted a strong influence of Italian typography in the São Paulo graphic sector, strongly related to immigration processes. The thesis, whose approach is associated with graphic memory, presents an important contribution to the history of design in Brazil, of marks and in particular of typographic memory in São Paulo. The theme is of interest to the academic community, aiming to contribute to a clearer understanding of the identity of Brazilian design from its historical critique and analysis of ephemeral artifacts produced by letterpress printing offices. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/03383-1 - Graphic identification of printing offices in the city of São Paulo: 1900-1930
• Grantee: Fabio Mariano Cruz Pereira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate