PAD. Pages on Arts and Design

14-39

Authors: Francesco E. Guida

Great histories of design and graphic design, both in Italy and internationally, reserve a secondary or minor role for women. Referring in particular to the so-called golden age of Italian graphic design – between the 1950s and the early 1970s – very few female figures have emerged. However, through accurate research on primary sources and original documents, it is possible to identify remarkable profiles, especially in the case of women practising independently or with their husbands, managing their businesses while playing the expected social roles. More than just a list of names and artworks, the paper aims to demonstrate how women designers de facto broke the stereotypes of a male-dominated working field such as graphic and advertising design in post-WWII Italy. Another purpose is to underline how thoughtful use of sources and research methods may lead to a more inclusive rewriting of design history, mentioning less known figures who have full rights to be considered pioneers and role models.

59-87

Authors: M. Àngels Fortea

A research project named Amb mirada de dissenyadora gràfica (From a Female Designer’s Perspective) was developed in 2019. Its aim was to fight for the recognition of the role of female designers in the graphic design sector. Its main objective was to recognize the work developed by the first generation of professional female graphic designers in Catalonia (Spain). This first important female professional group emerged from the first promotions of the design schools in Barcelona, such as Elisava and EINA. These women were born between the 1940s and 1950s, during the Franco dictatorship. As a result, at the end of the 1960s and during the 1970s, the first generation of female graphic designers in Catalonia accessed the professional world. Among them were figures such as Toni Miserachs, Pilar Villuendas, Mercedes Azúa, Tere Moral, Carme Vives, Tere Martínez, Ana Zelich, Mont Marsá, Xeixa Rosa and Pati Núñez. The current paper focuses on this project. Therefore, it’s a research on gender issues, deploying a historiographic methodology combining a literature review with firsthand accounts and oral sources, mainly interviews to some of the most relevant female designers.

110-144

Authors: Chella Quint

From the pun Ad-ventures to the choice of glossy covers over a more DIY feel, Chella Quint’s Adventures in Menstruating zine pastiches the commercial, skewering menstrual product advertising messages and exposing recurring themes of secrecy, whispering, and “Leakage Horror”. Chris Bobel notes in New Blood: Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation that most menstrual zinesters “eschew the glitz and gloss of corporate mass-produced material, generating instead a homespun and intimate look”, but Adventures in Menstruating emulates the corporate: each cover reimagines past publications where periods were usually absent: comic books, pulp novels, fashion magazines, science journals, war propaganda...This memoir-style case study uses autoethnography and humorously shares the rationale behind Adventures in Menstruating and how the project expanded from zines and craftivism into transmedia companion pieces, going from Ladyfest festivals to Maker Faires to mainstream galleries, seeding menstrual activism ideas within other artists. Zines provide immediacy and agency, underpinning projects that struggle to gain mainstream acceptance through established publishers or galleries. The author credits her community of helpers and tracks the opportunities the work created, showing how zinesters can use their art as activism, and create routes for an artist on the periphery to succeed within the establishment.

170-191

Authors: Valeria Bucchetti, Francesca Casnati

As far as Design is concerned, while the presence of women in the applied arts is historically consistent, the role of women in the technological dimension is still underestimated and their presence still scarce. According to a report about gender segregation published in 2018 by EIGE “in all EU Member States men dominate specific fields, such as engineering and technology”, among the elements that contribute to fuel the gap EIGE highlights “stereotypes, social norms and cultural practices” (Reingarda, 2015) in a culture which is still oriented towards male. From the communication design perspective, the issue mainly concerns the representation of women in the media and the repercussions it has in reinforcing gender stereotypes. This paper aims to provide a contribution regarding the responses that communication design can offer to fight gender inequalities in the area of technologies. At the centre of the reflection is the work of research group DCxCG (Communication Design for Gender Cultures, Politecnico di Milano) in the fields of research and teaching. The contribution will focus on the projects developed by some students in response to the stereotyped representation of women in technologies. The projects represent educational experimentations aimed at strengthening the critical instrumentation of young designers and support reflections around new communication models.

215-230

Authors: Cinzia Ferrara, Francesco E. Guida

On the 8th of November, 2019, the fourth edition of the Aiap Women in Design Award Ceremony took place in Florence at the Tepidarium del Roster’s prestigious space. It has been an important occasion to verify how such kind of initiative has grown over time. An initiative with a recent but already long history and deep roots.