Guity Novin - Graphic Designs

Graphic Designs

Guity novin worked as a graphic designer. She has created posters and magazine covers in Iran during the 1960-70 period. From the inception of the contemporary Iranian communication design activities in the 1960s, Guity Novin, was among its early practitioners which included graphic designers like Morteza Momayez, Farshid Mesghali, and Ghobad Shiva. These artists looked at graphic design as a conduit for the expression of their artistic aestheticism in the context of the Iranian visual grammar. Of course, for the male pioneers, like Momayez and Shiva, the path was somewhat smoother, as they were fortunate enough to work for institutions that allowed them a considerable level of artistic liberty. But for Novin, as a female practitioner the path was much harder. The number of such progressive institutions were very limited and most of the private sector clients, motivated only by profit, were satisfied by the work of visual designers who were just plagiarizing the prevailing styles in the western media. In fact, for many bureaucrats and business managers the notion of female artists at the helms of a graphic design department was a hard concept to swallow. For instance, soon after Novin started her career at the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Art, she was confronted with the fierce opposition of the head of the graphic design department. A graphic designer himself, the head expected Novin to assume the administrative tasks of the department. It was the late Hajir Darioush, a New-Wave Iranian film director, who noticed Novin's talent and offered her the position of the graphic designer in his department. It was there that she produced the posters, leaflets and the catalog of the First Tehran International Film Festival.

Novin has illustrated the covers of magazines like Negin and Zaman; and the publications of the Free Cinema of Iran. She was also the graphic designer of the First Tehran International Film Festival. In Ottawa her illustrations were published in the Breaking The Silence Magazine during 1980s. In Canada, Novin continued to produce posters for various social causes. She also has authored A History of Graphic Design, an online eBook.

• Poster of an exhibition by Guity novin in the Negah Gallery in Shiraz, 1971

• | Poster of the exhibition Tana Naha Yahu, at the Seyhoon Gallery, 1975

• A magazine cover reproduced from an original poster depicting four Iranian writers of the 20th century (Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, Samad Behrangi, Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, and Sadeq Hedayat) .