Productivism is an early twentieth-century art movement that is characterized by its spare geometry, limited color palette, and Cubist and Futurist influences.

In practice, this meant an emphasis on the fundamentals of geometry (circles, squares, rectangles), a limited palette: black, occasionally yellow — and red (Russian: красный), which was once "used to describe something beautiful, good or honorable.

[6] Meanwhile artist brothers Georgi and Vladimir Stenberg were cultivating new montage techniques, to optically indicate motion, energy and rhythm, with "unconventional viewing angles, radical foreshortening, and unsettling close-ups.

"[6] As a group, these innovations made the Productivists persuasive, attention-getting and influential, which is why what began as political messaging was later classified as agitprop, and used in commercial advertising.

El Lissitzky's insight that "No form of representation is so readily comprehensible to the masses as photography”[6] was proven true by the Soviet graphic art success of posters, and Rodchenko's later work creating "ads for ordinary objects such as beer, pacifiers, cookies, watches, and other consumer products.