Week 5

Helvetica

http://www.davidairey.com/images/typography/helvetica.jpg

Helvetica is a sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 at the Haas Type Foundry of Switzerland, by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman, first named Die Neue Haas Grotesk. After the War there was a feeling of idealism and designers wanted to renew things and give hope after the horrific event, they saw it as their social responsibility. Type designers were attempting to develop a neutral type face that had clarity and could widely accessible to a variety of companies and agencies. The High Modernist period was broken down and rationalised to make a clear new typeface.

http://playplayplayplay.com/32/play/googlisms.gif

The designers back in those days had to cut lettering out of steel at actual size, so many typefaces did not have italics and bold themes that many do today. They had to cut them out individually and create many to make production easier, for posters especially. In the film (Helvetica) it is mentioned that computers these days help speed up the poster process, while they used to do only hand drawn work. Posters would take days to design and put together because of the difficulty of many layers, computers can't necessarily do a better design but it is alot faster.

Mike Parker of Haas foundry became interested in Hoffman's work, Helvetica had an interesting 'Swiss-twist' where the letters seemed to have a negative shape that held the inside and outside together, a firm shape rather than having a letter that was commanded by the negative space around, instead it is controlled by the letter. Miedinger was a graphic artist but only did deliveries as Haas foundry, yet came into the design when Helvetica was being manufactured in a way. It was handed over to Stempal, Linotype in Germany where the final reworks and polishing were down. Once realised Helvetica (named as the Swiss typeface) hit off in the industry, it was exactly what designers were looking for, they wanted something with clarity, a neutral typeface that was efficient and it's smoothness created a humanity about it. The popularity of the typeface grew over the years and is still very much liked today.

http://www.lennynaar.com/images/helvetica/helveticaposter.jpg

Helvetica was and is the 'Ultimate Typeface' it has an almost finality about it, it is very legible, effective and convincing for it's magnitude of purposes. The effectiveness depends on the specific typeface used and amongst contemporary society today brands rub off on us and people buy certain things subconsciously because of the typeface and unknowingly have a connection with it, this allows for quick and easy recognition of products and brands that they favour. Many do not know but each typeface creates an emotional response from us and effects us when put into words when we read it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3629/3459136258_885598f06a.jpg

Eventually designers wanted to step away from the smoothness of the letters, they saw it as boring and overused...hand drawn type became popular (the 'Lou Reed' album cover is an example of this above). Designers wanted to express themselves through their type and their design of type. Many new emerging designers had no formal training, they just did whatever with type and experimented, this angered the original type designers when people would just ignore the text traditions. All their hard work and success seemed to be ignored by the 'up and coming'. Although many were very talented the originals found them disrespectful in a way.

Bryan Ferry explained that legibility and communication are not necessarily linked, and that there is a thin line between type being simple, clean and powerful or simple, clean and boring. Through the Grunge period of the late 90's designers had to look back to the past and the basis of many typeface families...Helvetica. Looking back to the past but with an understanding from the experiences of experimentation during the middle period. Simple Helvetica was used over the past century throughout society, it had and still has Global appeal.

http://www.sweeting-family.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/detail5.jpg

Many type designers on the dilm Helvetica explained the importance of different typeface families. Many believe an emotional response is essential, Michael C.Place is a typographer who doesn't know the basics of developing a letter but thinks the best design needs to have an emotional response, his idea was that design should stand the test of time. He enjoys the challenge of making Helvetica and provoke an emotional response displayed in contrast or complimented by another material, he believes Helvetica is still fresh it just depends how you use it.

Manuel Kreps and Dimitri Bruni were seen on the film as well, explaining their obsession with Helvetica and now their remission from it. They started out wanted to look back at the elegant designs from the past and enjoyed the rational and refined theme they possessed and understood that too much confusion with a type face becomes over whelming and unnecessary in getting the message across. Through history there are many trends and they believe theres not much further to go, we have the base texts such as Helvetica which many other fonts are based upon. The new typographers will only succeed if they have the eye and a good sense of design, Kreps and Bruni found the closer they got and understood the more they appreciated the type. Nowadays the times are changing and so is the appreciation of typeface. Expression of who you are, of identity is seen through consumer choices and now in visual communication, i.e. Facebook or Myspace pages, where the individual designs their own page according to what they feel represents them accurately.

http://www.skyhighproductions.com/uploads/Myspae_Layout_by_mykalromero.jpg

Helvetica is, as said above, an ultimate typeface and will carry on in society because of its simplicity, effectiveness and accessibility.

PUNCH magazine

AN EXAMPLE OF PUNCH MAGAZINE...

Punch magazine, a creation in the 1840's of a magazine full of humour and satire. It voiced the publics opinion, gave them the power to their right of speech and also kept the politicians in place and check with their behaviour. Many of the illustrations in the magazine and on the cover are black and white, and depict a politician or leader of the time in some sort of political satire. This has influenced some columns in newspapers today that discuss what the politicians have been upto and caricature them in a satire to 'poke fun' and reveal a different opinion to the mainstream usually.

1st image - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/coldwar/g1/images/c2_s4.jpg

2nd image - http://www.theworldthroughwoodeneyes.co.uk/assets/images2/Punch_mag.jpg

Marshall McLuhan

MARSHALL MC LUHAN

McLuhan was a canadian scholar whose career focused upon popular culture and trying to understanding the effects of technology on human beings and their relationships within their communities.

He was remembered as a 'cult hero' because he was one of the first to bring to light the issue of media ruling our lives. McLuhan's purpose was to provide insight into how the media functions. He wrote many books and one that underlines his philosophies. It refers to the media and what it's message is, the title says 'Massage' it is a play on McLuhan's regular spill of 'The medium is the Message',

he used 'massage' to denote the effect each medium has on the human sensorium, taking inventory of the 'effects' of numerous media in terms of how they 'massage' the sensorium. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_is_the_Massage)

The issue was that society could be watching a television show and it would have the same effect on them physiologically even if they were watching a documentary or a child's cartoon. It didn't leave an impression because of the type of medium but they way it was communicated. Through the television people had both visuals and sounds while radio only had the sounds and posters only had visuals. The optimum from of communicating was television and it was very influential on the individuals in society and Marshal was the first to recognise this trend that is seemingly continuing into today.He was seen as very controversial suggesting the public having no control over their mind or thoughts because of media influence.

1st image -- http://www.metapedia.com/wiki/images/Mcluhan.jpg

2nd image -- http://sunagurol.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/36694.jpg

week 4

Fifties' American Kitsch

Post World War II resulted in mass production and was dominated by Ziet Giest at the time, a love of the future, of optimism and an excitement of technological advancements. This eventuating into a bizarre product styling which they dubbed Kitsch, a type of sentimentality in styling, also thought to be any sorts of 'decorative junk'. The period extended over 20 years, from 1940-1960 and explored design in a futuristic style of what was to come and what possibilities were held in the dream of space-travel, this style extended from cars to ornaments. There was a superficiality to it all, the styling wasn't about how it functions but about making it look 'modern'. Many cars of the time looked aerodynamic and felt from the future, yet the size was ridiculous as well as the amount of petrol it ran on, today it would be all in all a hassle to own if it wasn't for collection purposes. The optimism of the time is evident in the Cadillac car design, there was no reasoning that environmental resources would runout, it was appealing to the materialistic side of the human being, not the practical side. After the war, America experienced a changing economy, shifts occurred in the workplace where more service workers were seen to the popularity of the television set, people of all ages were exposed to many advancing advertisements for products that were said to be essential for the 'good life'.

The sci-fi genre and cartoon animation became very popular depicting tales of the future. The 'Jetsons' was a cartoon view of what people from the fifties' believed to be and their perspective was thought to be the truth of what the future held, once we got into space...

The major influence of this period was the aircraft, many products styling were encouraged by the roundness of the nose and it's aerodynamic body, this inspired all types of industrial products. The curves were seen throughout the 1950's in a broad range of industries and products. It was highly popular and seen in aero-style buildings, architecture, machinery e.g. the car, casual script was popular at the time e.g. 'Las Vegas' signage and even the Barbie doll, that was brought in around the 1950's and is still extremely popular today along with the exaggerated curves from that time.

The love of geometric shapes from Bauhaus was not lost, it was only advanced. the shapes were still there just turned into kitsch, where the shape is wonky and more organic (flower-like). Anything atomic was considered 'sexy' and the 'kidney' shape of an artists palette was popular amongst designers for posters and promotions.

Modern art influenced everything in a superficial way. The stackable chair, for example was designed for function but the sensual shape, curve and pastel colours intent was to appeal to the public and their craze for the best, the new. Even the electric guitar was made in the same way the curves are sexy and sensuous but serve no purpose at all, it isn't a wind instrument so the curves do not help the sound or anything the shape is only for the eyes pleasure. The classic jukebox's roundness appealed to the people and helped make the music 'jazz'.

Illustrators of the time explored American Gothic style evident in 'Uncle Sam's Poster' it is a parody of war and conscription. Others like Rockwell exaggerated facial expressions and used dramatic poses of cartoon characters in an attempt to idealise small-town America. From this technique came the classic 'Superhero' comic books, which further explored the dramatic values within different characters and situations. Pop art also had a major influence on this as it was peaking around the same time. Along with comics, detective novels were also very popular and incorporated the dramatic poses and exaggerated facial expressions aswel.

This style of over exaggeration flowed into other aspects of society with paperback novel covers with caricatured artworks and Hollywood movie posters that were dramatised. Typical of the period was exaggerated provocative poses rendered realistically coexisting with informal hand drawn type.

The caricatured drawings, comic book style and bright and loud colours were beginning to form on packaging and posters for advertisement because of these influences, space travel became possible and bizarre. People saw James Dean and his 'creative radical' style of cloths, plain shirts and jeans supporting the first youth movement. Also Elvis Presley was huge with his dramatic, romantic style and poses shown on many posters.

Many trademarks that were born in this period with simple, informal script have survived the 20th century and are still around to day, with none to little alterations to the original. Hallmark and Ray Ban are just two of the many that are still around and popular today.

Example of 1950's advertisements

more at: http://www.101010.it/storiagrafica/1950.html

1st Image---http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/bu59cvt01.jpg

2nd image---http://www.comicbookradioshow.com/trapped/superman2.gif

3rd Image---http://beaut.ie/blog/?tag=fantasy-friday

John Heartfield

John Heartfield

John Heartfield was a Berlin artist and a main component to he Berlin Dada movement, along with Grosz they invented the technique of photomontage. Heartfield used the photomontage mainly in political statements, propaganda montages regarding anti-Nazi and anti-

Hitler. 'Adolf - The Superman' (on the left) was said that he swallows gold and spouts junk. All over Berlin

several versions of the poster were put up which caused high controversy with the young Communists and Nazis, fights broke out between the people trying to defend the poster and those who wanted to tear them down.

More examples of his work....

Goebbels-Rezept (Goebbel's Response)

This photo-montage reveals the climate at the time of Hitler and Germanys general view of the Jewish people at that time. It states 'What? No butter or lard? Well then, eat your Jews!'

The Meaning of Geneva

'Where capital lives, peace cannot.'

week 3

Modernism

A little history catchup- The Scientific Revolution in the 14th century gave people the tools to manufacture products and created a mass production a process which had little regard for the peasents by the middle class. The middle class exploited mass production and the lower class, this enlightenment interlocked an economical, social and philosophical revolution and spread around the world, where middle class rose, the democracy versus the empire. Evident in history when Napoleon killed the Spanish King and Queen crowned himself, the middle class people were taking over. In 1815 when Napoleon was removed from power the new art was formed in France. This proceeded Feudalism a hierarchy of Kings over peasants, which was replaced by Marxism and in the 18th century science became he answer to life rather than religion. The Industrial Revolution followed in the 20th century where middle class kept rising with both social and political power because they could work in this new revolution and earn money the gained power. Arts and Crafts replaced Art Nouveau, as

did Bauhaus in Russia and Germany w

hile Constructivism emerged geometric shapes with simple colour

were used as propagando (a political purpose) not only in art but also textile, paint and sculptures. The rules

for design became 'less is more' and 'reductionism' to the simplest form became popular, similar to Minimalism.

Ziet Giest - Something that's in the air, such as trends or fads, a whisper of the future trends/ fashions/ art/ etc...

Early Modernism

This period from 1910-1935 housed B

auhaus amongst others, which essentially sorted out a short cut to look modern in experimentation, one of the new rules came simply 'less is more'. This came about because of the dissatisfaction in the past and the radical change in society, everything started to

resemble something different from their traditional structures and architecture buildings. Chairs and cars came to resemble geometric shapes,for example the Ford Model T, and artists began to experiment to a further extent. Artis

ts like Picasso with his Cubist artworks of abstracted figures put together by geometric shapes with frames from various viewpoints. An example is Picassos' Les Demoiselles that is on the right, of geometric simplification of the human figure and many different viewpoints of the women. Artists that were around in this period sort out new approaches to their art and discovered a primitive look.

The poster style emerged simple, Plakastil originated in Germany, it was a style that advertised big font, a picture of the product being promoted, flat yet distinctive and eye-catching colour. It saw lack of ornamentation that had previously been popular.

Futurism closely followed from Italy and was seen as a rejection of harmony in favour of noise, particularly in artwork and advertising. This idea was adopted by Dadaists and Constructivists and through performance allowed the theatre to share their philosophies. Dadaists revealed a rebellion of World War I and used shock and protest to submit their outlooks. Moving along Russian Constructivism absorbed Cubism and Futurism to create a new movement that combined communist views and ideology with the visual form.

A new unity was created between art and technology by El Lissitzky, an example of this is above, 'Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge'. All is reduced to shape, tone, line and simple colour.

The Constructivists experimented with minimalism, flat bold colours and an image with grey tonal values coinciding with an a-symmetrical line down the middle although the sides were usually never even. Bold colours held the eye of the viewer and vector lines led the eye to the purpose of the poster, photomontage was played with to contrast size as well as diagonals that destabilised the poster.

The many movements that can come under Early Modernism, allow for a new vision and form. They all struggled between 'function determining form' VS 'the concealment of function by ornamentation', bouncing back and forth between the two rules of art. Surrealism on the other hand explored the world of intuition, dreams and he irrational. The Early Modernism period provided many different styles and techniques that have been continued throughout art history.

week 2

Arts and Crafts

The Arts and Crafts Movement occurred around 1850-1900 as a result of the poor quality of design that was produced in its predecessor Art Nouveau, this movement encouraged by the Industrial Revolution. The mass production and promotion became 'ugly' in the art world as they started to have little regard for craftsmanship because of demand and slowly drifted away from the definition of the traditionals surrounding art.

The Arts and Crafts movement was seen as a socialist reform

movement which involved all so

rts of artists, from architects to writers. The 'free' expression that aroused in artists in th

is movement produced many unique artworks and essentially the movement became a bridge fro

m the traditions of the Victorian age to Modernity.

This was the first style of commercial art to be embraced by the world. Possibly because of its association with Paris giving it a sort of glamour for the world to indulge in. It rebelled against Victorian attitudes because it was free-er and simpler. In thi

s style the design is very sensuous and restrained yet elegant and purposeful.

The motifs used are very energetic and organic, usually plant-like or line/vine tendrils. There was alot of Asian inspiration because of the trade at the time, all furniture and industrial/architectural designs were sensuous and functional because of supporting line or curve added for both beauty and function. It was a way to enhance the beauty and function of the material, either strengthening a chair or allowing little light through a window. The influence from Japan is seen in some of the flat simplified imagery usuall

y of stems of plants and flowers.

William Morris was known as a leader of Arts and Crafts movement. He was dedicated to discover the traditions of art that was before the destruction of them by the Industrial Revolution. He was intrigued by all material and from is belief of staying true to the nature of the material, staying honest and demonstrating such craftsmanship to show its purity came the rules of the modern movement.

Art nouveau posters were very distinct illustrating night-life of concerts or brothels with cut off figures in the foreground and a spot light of focus on the central figure. The style that followed showcased flat characatures, diagonals to show movement and point/organic shapes. Peaking out faces were typical and emphasised by matching colour. The posters became huge, this was the start of what we call billboards today although they aren't any longer flat or gradual colour with black outlines, they have stepped up along with the advance in technology.

The portraits or posters of model revealed an idealised beauty, the face, shoulders, big hairdos and small waist all to accentuate her beauty. Some were painted with similar bold and fat colours that created unity, guiding the viewer around the poster by the connection of colour. It became very simplified, the shapes became further abstract and the illustration style was almost absent of detail.

In 1895 extremely stylised hair and fabric became popular amongst the vast variety of artists, it bridged towards psychedelic. Alphonse Mucha was a famous artists from that time who created exotic sensuous portrayals of women with highly stylised hair.

Essentially the movement created a new vibe for all artists in all areas of designing, it allowed for a freedom and purity that was restricted in the previous movements, thus allowing access to the future of art.

IMAGE1-http://www.mjdtools.com/books/139963_lg.jpg

IMAGE2-http://www.artsparx.com/images/ac_detail12.gif

IMAGE3-http://www.123giftfactory.com/upload/product/5/27c43efb2a6484cfd52a46071e380c96.jpg