In order to finish the "Integral Design and Image Management" degree, the final year project was carried out, which had as a purpose to create a book in which anti-fascist war propaganda posters from Mexico and Spain were analyzed during the Second World War.

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From conceptualization to the search for the main title

Taking into account that russian was an impediment when analyzing these posters, my stay in Mexico allowed me to have access to posters from the Second World War. This advantage of knowing the language made me choose a topic that I could tackle with complete confidence. For this reason, the theme chosen was "The anti-fascist war propaganda posters in Mexico and Spain between 1936 and 1942".

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Summary

The Second World War attracted plenty of propaganda related to both the Axis Power and the Allies, which highlighted the political ideology of both sides. These campaigns against the enemies supported the rise of war posters with different graphic styles and therefore, with appeals to the cause. Mexico was a country that did not participate in World War II in the way that the United States or Russia, and on the other side Germany or Japan did, and Spain did not participate directly in it, but maintained contact with fascist European politicians. While Mexico experienced first-hand the devastation caused by the German torpedoes to their ships, Spain was going through a Civil War in which it faced spaniards in favor of a republic form of governmentship against spaniards that supported a government led by the militaries. Thus, this work proposes an investigation focused on the anti-fascist propaganda posters that were developed in Mexico and Spain (at the hands of the Republicans) and how their antecedents influenced the way in which ideologies were represented in the aforementioned posters.

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Ideas to carry out the project

After writing the entire Final Degree Project and making it clear and concise, it was time to give it a different style and try to convey the idea of the posters in something physical. To do this, several ideas were proposed, such as creating a web page in which the different posters and their analysis could be seen, creating a mini folder where all the posters were compiled in A1 or creating a book in which not only included the ideas of the Final Degree Project but also the ability to use different types of paper and sizes to present the posters and their analysis. This last idea was the one that was carried out, not only because it allowed all the work to be laid out and translated into a book, but also because it allowed it to be shown to the court as a physical and tangible project.

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Focus on layout and final design

To make the book look attractive, different types of paper and sizes were used so that a distinction could be made between more theoretical work and practical work. In the same way, the paper grid was arranged in such a way that footnotes could be placed on the side of each page, and the text duly reduced on the opposite side so that it would be easier to identify those pages that had footnotes.

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To make the visual project stand out, a distinction was made between the following parts:

• Acetate paper: The analysis of the basic design principles would be captured in the form of an illustration/sketch
• Craft paper: The basic design principles would be described concisely, in a A5.
• Cardboard: Small strips of red cardboard would be used for the historical context of the posters mentioned.

With all that was stated, the book would be created what would later give rise to the the final degree project "The anti-fascist war propaganda posters in Mexico and Spain between 1936 and 1942".

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