Page 202 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

GRAPHIC DESIGN 199

greater use in the fig. 4.7 (top) Film
newspapers of Bangladesh. advertisement, weekly
Therefore, the number and Banglar Bani, 25 June
quality of advertisements is 1931
increasing day by day on a fig. 4.8 (bottom)
competitive basis. We Cinema advertisement
know that by 1975 there for Mukh O Mukhosh,
were 39 advertising 1956
agencies in Dhaka. 19 At
present, we have more than
a hundred small and large
ones active in Bangladesh.
We can identify a
conventionality in the advertisements in newspapers until the year 1975-76. The main
reason behind this was that most dailies, weeklies and fortnightlies were published in
letterpress until then. For that reason, screens were avoided in designs and the line was
preferred, which created monotony. By the end of the 70s, with the introduction of the
offset press, designs overcame this limitation. We have to make special mention of
Rashid Ahmed (1938-1981) in this regard. In the 70s and
80s, he created amazing designs in black and white without
using any middle tone. We can give examples of
advertisements of the Kohinoor group of industries,
Bangladesh Tobacco Company, Rice Research Institute,
Janata Bank, Uttara Bank etc. for this kind of work.
By the end of the 70s, especially during the 80s, the
tendency of line work in advertisement was replaced by the
more complex technique of screen print, which added a new
dimension to this industry. The use of spray or airbrush in
the 70s brought a new look to the advertisements. Colored
press layouts are also in use in Bangladesh since the 80s. It
is not difficult to conceive from the daily newspapers that
artists and others have made significant contributions to
make advertisement creative and aesthetic.
The graphic designers in Bangladesh have shown their
talent in advertising birth control products, cigarettes,
cosmetics, adult education, tree plantation, sweets or paint
products. Recently, attractive advertisements of cell phone
products or fashion houses are easily notable.
Some of the most important advertisement agencies which
have made major contributions in developing this industry
after the birth of Bangladesh are Bitopi Advertising, Asiatic