Abstract
Jacob
Dlamini,
in
his
seminal
text
‘Native
nostalgia’
(2010),
confides
that
the
first
time
he
heard
the
term
‘economic
sanctions’
used
in
the
township
was
in
the
early
1980s
when
he
woke
up
one
day
to
discover
the
local
Barclays
Bank
had
been
renamed
First
National
Bank
(FNB).
Notably,
Dlamini
continues
to
list
“a
bottle
store
and
…
the
biggest
news
agent
in
Katlehong”
as
signifiers
of
urban
life
of
Katlehong,
but
only
the
bank
is
recalled
by
brand.
At
the
time,
the
re-‐branding
of
Barclays
engendered
a
storm
of
protest
in
South
Africa,
both
in
design
circles,
and
amongst
members
of
the
public.
Perhaps
less
known
than
the
infamous
‘rabbit’
and
‘AK-‐
47
rifle’
is
that
a
local
design
firm
–
Ernst
De
Jong
Studios
–
was
asked
to
submit
an
alternative
to
the
‘imported’
identity.
In
the
late
1980s,
30
years
after
he
established
himself
as
a
young
graphic
designer
in
Pretoria,
it
was
also
De
Jong
who
was
tasked
with
persuading
a
white,
patriarchal
Nationalist
Party
Cabinet
meeting
that
a
white
patriarchal
male
had
no
place
on
South
Africa’s
currency:
the
result
was
the
CL
Stals
–
Second
Issue:
the
‘Big
Five’
bank
note
series.
This
paper
outlines
challenges
inherent
in
proposed
research
with
regard
to
the
individual
designer
as
an
‘interactive
dynamic
of
the
community
and
society
in
which
he
or
she
is
embedded’.
Ernst
de
Jong
and
his
studio
arguably
shaped
many
of
the
shared
values,
practices,
processes
and
products
of
an
ostensibly
‘modern’
South
Africa
through
the
construction
of
visual
identities
of
communities
–
both
corporate
and
national
–
from
the
1950s
to
the
1990s.
By
importing
his
experience
of
American
modernism
into
an
African
context,
De
Jong
brought
diverse
influences
to
bear
on
his
task
of
‘imagining’
a
nation.
Intersecting
with
debates
on
the
nature
of
history
writing,
and
writing
design,
this
project
grapples
with
ideas
of
modernity,
domestication,
and
South
African
graphic
design
history
in
its
reflection
upon
the
life
and
practice
of
a
singular
South
African
communication
designer.