The following article may be revised or further developed in the future due to its archival nature—and since much of the related historical evidence is undocumented.
Before the establishment of an industrial profession called graphic design, its primary form was developed by talented painters of the previous century. These painters created spaces and used various techniques in commercial painting. In its early years (1920s and 1930s) this field was extremely masculine, influenced by Iran’s social and cultural conditions. Apart from many calligraphers, sign makers and bookbinders (who have now fallen into oblivion), the Sorouri brothers and Fredrik Talberg are considered the first professional Iranian “designers.”
During the 1960s, urbanization, the relative growth of the middle class, the rise of education, and the emergence of new technologies in print, cinema, and television lead to an increased demand for technicians and designers. Designers were provided with many professional opportunities thanks to the foundation of organizations such as the National Iranian Radio and Television and its affiliated institutions—including the Shiraz Arts Festival Organization, Tamasha Magazine, the Tous Festival, the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (better known as Kanoon), and dynamic publishing companies like the Franklin Book Program and Amirkabir. Meanwhile, a new generation of female designers entered this serious professional environment. However, unlike the female painters and sculptors, neither these female designers nor their subsequent generations have managed to leave behind a solid, comprehensive body of work. They either resigned in the midst of their career path, stayed trapped in the middle rungs of the ladder or in specific specializations such as layout design, or turned to other plastic arts disciplines.
A few points must be considered when analyzing the lack of significant and citable work by Iranian female designers. In Iran’s social context, the hierarchical structure of the family often puts women in the supporting role — below that of the leading men — and holds them responsible for handling household chores and taking care of children. Thus, women are not responsible for securing the economic needs of the family and have the liberty to leave the work environment at any time and any stage they want. The other problem is that clients are mostly men and the design production phase is carried out in an utterly masculine environment. Studios, lithography workshops, and printing offices are exclusively directed by men, and women’s activities in these environments are rather complicated — a problem that does not exist for female painters or sculptors. Another issue affecting female designers’ persistence is immigration. The domestic features and the image of female designers based in Iran are shattered by immigration. All things considered, it is not possible to identify a trend called female design in Iran’s history of design. The female presence is confined to scattered accomplishments and a few names.
Despite everything, if we try to categorize female designers into separate, distinct groups based on their activity and the way they are involved with their profession, two groups can be identified.
The first (larger) group is composed of women who have collaborated with organizations and foundations, or have been employed at studios in lively, prolific design centers. Among various artistic branches of graphic design, female designers employed in institutions focus more on designing for children and young adults. This might be proof of the conception of female designers as mothers in a patriarchal social environment, which prevents them from gaining experience in other areas. Such conception was introduced as “good wife, good mother” in the late 19th century and referred to the categorical feminine characteristics in the Far East — the most important of which were childbirth and upbringing.
The Animation Department of the Ministry of Art and Culture was one of the first foundations to be led almost completely by women (although its key work force were men and it was directed by Nosratollah Karimi during its years of success between 1964 and 1969). From its very outset, women such as Parvin Teymouri, Delara Rassouli, Farideh Tofighi, Nafiseh Riahi, and Ghodsi Omsheyi worked there. Delara Rassouli independently designed and directed three animations in the early 1970s. Nafiseh Riahi left the Animation Department in 1967, completed her studies in Japan and Europe, returned to Iran and joined Kanoon, illustrated several books, and designed and directed numerous animations.
The Graphic Studio of the National Iranian Radio and Television, under the direction of Ghobad Shiva, had simultaneously created a number of graphic design teams through different departments of the organization. These teams worked within different departments in rotating shifts. Designers such as Mahnoush Moshiri, Fatemeh Malek Afzali, Farideh Shahbazi, Maliheh Hodjati, Farideh Ghaznavi, Mahvash Mortazavi, Zhaleh Chah-Koutahi, and Hilda Vartanian were engaged in illustration, book and magazine layout, animation and television program title sequence design, etc. within these departments.
Kanoon was another important center that had employed female designers. Nahid Haghighat, Soudabeh Agah, Jan Ramezani, Utah Azargin, and Behjat Poushanchi worked there as designers and many others, including Nazanin Sobhan Sarbandi, Mahin Javaherian, and Haydeh Hariri, were employed as assistant designers.
There were also many women who worked in Franklin Book Program and its affiliated organizations such as the Pocket Books Organization and the Center of Edit and Technical Production. Mehrnoush Massoumian, Helen Vakilzadeh, Janette Mikhaili, Fahimeh Maleki, Mahrou Nonahali, and Fatemeh Malek Afzali were among the female designers working in Franklin.
The second group of female designers comprises those who worked independently and without permanent or periodical association with a specific organization or studio. The experience of designers such as Judy Farmanfarmaian, Zhaleh Pourhang, Rouhi Mirbaha, Farzaneh Torbati, Goli Tavakoli, Farzaneh Kardar, Minou Vasseghi, Zohreh Rouhi, and Pari Safa is often limited to one or a few works. In addition, in the 1970s, another small group of designers, who were originally painters, turned to graphic design in a small scale due to the requirements of their time or the orders they received. Leyly Matine- Daftary was the only woman in the portfolio of the posters of ten painters present at 10th Shiraz Arts Festival. Mansoureh Hosseini designed the cover of her own novel, The Muddy Boots. Parvaneh Etemadi designed the posters of the Asian Games based on a proposition, in addition to some independent revolutionary posters.
However, at the same time, there have been a few designers with a constant, significant presence. Leily Taghipour can be indubitably considered as the first female figure in graphic design. Taghipour entered the University of Tehran in 1941 and obtained her painting BA in 1946. The Balloon and The Brides of the Mountain were her first experiences in illustration (inspired by Western models), and were published on 1945. She also played an active role in the illustration of the schoolbooks of the 1940s and 1950s. In the second half of the 1950s, Taghipour designed and illustrated The Flowers of Hafez, the first Iranian pop-up book. Other independent, prolific designers of the 1970s are Farah Ossouli, who designed brochures, posters, and animations and Ghodsi Ghazinour, who was active in illustration and cover design.
The victory of the Islamic Revolution and the formation of new social values — succeeded by the outburst of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 — and the change in the economic and production relations created a new approach in graphic design. The new aesthetics were based on the ideals of the Revolution and the War and opened the way for a new generation of designers. Beside individual and independent posters, the Art Centre of the Islamic Development Organization (called Hozeh Honari) which was initially named as the Islamic Cultural Movement Association pioneered this new movement. Women such as Nahid Farasat and Zahra Ghorbanian worked in this organization.
Indeed, the Islamic Revolution generated a new work environment for many women and the security it brought for them encouraged a large number of women to start working in this field with a greater sense of safety. Yet, even these later generations created no significant body of work.