Shooting TargetsOne need not be a marksman to
appreciate the simple beauty of
shooting targets. For function and
utility they are among the most
perfectly designed graphic forms;
nothing could be more economical
than the black concentric circles
surrounding a bull’s-eye. If the
archetypal target did not date back to
antiquity it would epitomize the
modern marriage of form and
function—as designed by a Bauhaus
master perhaps. The fact is, no form is
more modern than geometric form. A
circle is a circle, an oval is an oval
whenever it is produced.
The target was a visually eye-
catching device used in Russian
constructivist ads and posters during
the 1920 s. In the 1930 s Western
advertising-arts magazines referred to
“scoring a bull’s-eye” with stark,
modern graphics. Such mainstream products as Odol, Tide, and Lucky
Strike use targets on their packages. And the vivid geometric form
continues to be used in contemporary design and illustration. However, the
standard shooting target was not originally, nor has it been subsequently,
designed by any individual designer. Its formal attributes were born of
necessity. In ancient times the targe, as it was called, was a light circular
shield protecting the foot soldier from arrows. The shooting target, which
simulated that shield, was made from a bundle of wood formed into and
painted with circles and hung from a tree or easel.
Jasper Johns transformed the target into pop art in 1960 , and
today antique dealers sell shooting gallery targets as naïf art. Yet targets
have primarily served a utilitarian function. Wade Jackson who oversees the
firearms training program at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, said,
“the target is a tool that helps perfect the fundamentals of marksmanship.”346