week 8

Postmodernism (discussed in a previous post)

Alessi, a kitchen utensil company grounded in Italy. The company saw many high designs of a variety of ordinary objects and tools and was common stylised in the post-modern mode. Some

memorable products were the 'designer kettles', 'designer toothbrushes', 'designer graters' and so no all are Alessi products.

http://www.architetturaedesign.it/immagini/philippe_Stark.jpg

Philippe Starck is a French product designer and well known in the New Design style. His work varies from interior design to mass produced consumer goods like chairs and toothbrushes. His technique often included stylised, organic and streamlined products and furnishings to get them ready for mass production, he revamped a variety of household i

tems, introducing them into high design.

http://besttopdesign.com/interior/interior-design-of-hotel-fasano-rio-de-janeiro-by-philippe-starck-in-rio-de-janeiro/

The Memphis Group was an Italian group of designers and architects in the 1980's that challenged the conventional attitudes towards textures, colours, patterns and shapes in producing many fabrics, furniture, metal, ceramics and glass objects. In direct contrast to the so called 'Good Design' of the time and drew inspiration from the Art Deco and Pop Art movements, appropriating from futuristic themes and 50's Kitsch styles. Resulting in colourful, bright and shocking pieces in this group that the 'mentor' Ettore Sottsass influenced by his radical work, he dubbed the group as the 'New International Style'. The unconventional shapes, disregard of function, bright colours and radical textures shocked the art community and challenged the 'modern' design of the day and furthermore developed what we call Post Modernism.

http://www.artscenecal.com/ArtistsFiles/ShireP/ShirePJPGs/PShire10a.jpg

http://isiria.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/memphis-1.jpg

This group has been described as

'vibrant, essentric and ornamental' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Group

http://www.essential-architecture.com/IMAGES2/Sottsass3_thumb.jpg

week 7-exercise

CLASS EXERCISE

Contemporary designers and artists who share ideas...work has similar characteristics...and who break rules??

Some artists we came up with were David Carson, Stephan Sagmiester, Paula Scher, Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Yulia Brodskaya, as a few. They all do not share the same ideas but some connect with others, they all used experimentation in their work and in doing so broke the so called rules of the time, breaking the traditional boundaries. The artists who incorporated typography into their work used many different techniques of collage, grid, shapes and were not always created to be ledgable, this was their challenge to the rules.

http://www.designingwithtype.com/essays/images/essayCarson.gif

"As time goes on the world becomes more and more sophisticated."

I believe the sophistication of art has to do with the ever growing and advancing technology and science which is making the place we live in far more complex. Artists are only making sense of the world that they live in and following the trends of the time. Many artists turn to the past to the basics of painting and skething and improving upon those skills, or experiment with their own ideas and techniques, from this the sophistication grows every new day in relation to art. Artists keep expanding upon their own ideas and the ideas from the past.

http://krasabear.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/brodskaya.jpg

week 7/8

Post Modernism

1975-1990

This was developed in rebellion to the strict structure of the Swiss/International period. This period re-established wit, humour, irony through visual symbols and motifs in all areas of design; art, fashion, architecture, graphics, furniture, etc. It was a very free period of expression in art, it was a reaction against the modernists and their 'less is more' approach. In Post modernism their wasn't many rules to follow but to convey your message in your art any way you could, sometimes the more extravagent the better, other times the subtler the better.

A good example is the Sydney Opera House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright which ignored the modernists obsession with pure geometry. The building is shaped to symbolise the sea, flight of the seagull and the sails of a boat.

http://www.wayfaring.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/800px-sydney_opera_house_sailsk.jpg

Many architectural designs mimicked natural forms rather than the modernists approach of geometric shapes. The fashion industry saw a major change in style and what was accepted by the evolving community, they saw a merging of men and women's cloths...typically seen in Boy Georges' style when the gay culture that was embraced in the 80's. Also Madonna showcases the undergarments as clothing.

The Post modernists completely went against the rule of form must follow function, they played with proportions, abstraction and deliberately broke the rules in a playful matter. The 'Memphis Group' was a group of Post-modernists that created a unique look, with vibrant, eccentric colours and design in reaction to the humourless design of modernism.

The Post modernists also challenged the ideals of the viewer, usually with simple and clean designs incorporating an organic curve to upset the balance, yet very postmodern. Many artists would use found material to create a loose, arbitrary design of collage, similar to the Punk Movement. Many artists were influenced by past movements and techniques by older periods and this is what makes postmodernism so hard to define. It is a variety of styles and techniques often appropriating other works and that allow for wit, humour, irony or juxtaposition to challenge the viewer into rethinking their preconceived views. They tried the 'untried'. Artists like Wolfgang Weingart who embraced experimentation with layers, textures and collage.

http://artisticholicz.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/new-wave-2.jpg

The postmodern period saw many artists that have influence the contemporary society today. The movement are forever influencing each other and each new artists or designer has their own style. Because the Postmodern movement allowed for freedom many practices were explored and famous artists were produced. For an example, Morimura, he challenged the idea of the artist and the sitter by being both, and challenged the gender barrier in most of his artworks.

week 6-part2

Swiss/International

http://thumb1.visualizeus.com/thumbs/08/08/03/berg,blue,design,fortner,grafik,graphic,design,international,typographic,style,josef,muller,brockmann,layout,poster,swiss-a4a3dd9c5c0f5e30195de8e5eee30783_m.jpg

The style was developed in Switzerland hence the name, it is also known as 'The International Typographic Style' and overlapped with Modernism from 1945-1985. Often based on pure geometry the clarity and order to the style was ideal to produce something socially useful, scientific and accessible. It was a strict clean style emphasising readability and objectivity often using Sans Serif typefaces, a grid and an asymmetric layout.

http://www.achievement.org/achievers/joh0/large/joh0-023.jpg

A good example of Swiss/International style can be seen in many buildings in Chicago, the architectural design done by Mies van der Rohe. It illustrates the styles focus on cleanliness and simple forms. The style is evidently introduced into society, also into chair designs and planes particularly the Concord which was engineered for speed it is extremely simple in aerodynamic form.

http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/types/international/aerospat-bac/concorde/Concorde.jpg

One of the most influential designers of the time was Josef Muller-Brockman, he used contrast in size and scale for impacts aswell as bold typefaces, grids, collage and diagonal vectors to encourage movement, this became a new language for the graphic poster designers. He created many posters and promoted many concerts using his grid organisation and minimal, bold text to entice the reader, he sometimes used a tilted axis in his rebellion against the mainstream. Unity was often formed by repetition and transformation of geometric shapes, again very simple and clean approach.

http://www.publishedart.com.au/images/graphic/big_josefmuller.jpg

This style influenced many artists and several major companies within society. Such as Knoll International, signage and a map for the New York City subway system, both in clean cut, easily read font (Helvetica) and socially useful and recognisable.

week 6-part1

Late Modernism 1945-1970

The Arts and Crafts movement developed the form follows function method, next was Modernism where less was seen as more and after that and the war was Late Modernism when many European artists moved to America after the war, hence moving the cultural centre of the world. Hence the art that was produced in this period was highly inspired by European Avant Garde. Many artists applied the non-decorative approach of the modernists but rejected the dogma and created a simplicity that was appreciated worldwide. This simplicity was seen in all aspects of design, from art to fashion where simplicity and high fashion were combined to develop elegant dresses in the 50s. Where as the 60's saw the rise of the miniskirt reflecting the attitude towards simplicity and the broadening relaxed attitudes towards the body.

http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/mellin/arch671/winter2005/student/sbouchard/image%20precedents/falling%20water%20.jpg

The modernists approach of function before form was represented in the famous ocean liner, Queen Mary, it also emphasised the designers thoughts regarding simplicity. Another great example is Frank Lloyd Wrights architecture where function dictates form. He had his own style of merging the man-made and the natural form, works like 'Falling Water' (1937) which entices the viewer because at the time it was a new style and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Wright broke from the trend of the tome and allowed for the others to be free. Still popular today and has inspired other designers to mature their own unique style.

The new trend of 'good design' became cheap and reliable, where function, simplicity and aesthetic elegance were favoured. This was evident in the Vespa Scooter because after the war metal and fuel was in short supply. Type writers for the time were an innovative design, the workplace was revolutionised by it as they were lightweight, tough and simple. As you can understand many things were produced with simplicity in mind at that time to suit the mainstream.

In the 1940's New York became the cultural centre of the world and saw artists like Paul Rand develop unique, distinctive language in design, his work mainly collaged was depicted by wit and simplicity. The process was very different, it was set on board and photographed for printing. He once said that 'to design is to transform prose into poetry', this emphasises his personal opinions and passion for what he designs. Rand influenced many designers to come and changed the way people viewed advertisements. He used typography as a picture to make a statement, where the viewer has to do some work to interpret it, giving it a lyrical beauty.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAaVYwvrcJQdSNXyiho5BYIJ4qExWBS3A6_rb9_8e5W4FaSphyRDlSi-hEdFEJ7fSJMyG-etVBd6YCfY6-RTNHXbbsM9s8ZQ81bJ3fboog8-j1d0ty2HCNNZyfvaD3wFvJ83LgjnL8KbYj/s400/Catch+Me+If+You+Can.jpg

Saul Bass created an abundance of momentous and innovative title sequences for films and was also recognised for his many designs of major corporate identities. Bass used simple pictographs that depict fantastic graphic leadership. His typography was often hand drawn or cut out which gave his work a feeling of flow and elegance. Many of his title sequences followed a line that went on a narrative.

Lester Beall dramatically changed American design with his use of collage with symbols and object photography. Again incorporated the simplicity in his illustrations and often clean typography in his many pictorial collage, over-laping shapes.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/designrelated_inspiration_book_entry_file_item/17b616f4f1d3eea8dcd357b57fea87663a6fc37d

Brodovich explored extreme cropping and juxtaposition, this was very unique and individual work. Tschichold, author of 'The New Typography' introduced the assymetric layouts that were soon to become very popular. Joseph Muller-Brockman integrated text and image which Rand had initially introduced and inspired many other designers, a great example is the 1953 Gene Frederic Advertisement for Woman's Day.

http://dave.lab6.com/acid/dump/2004/webpages.marshall.edu/%257Ebruggemann1/images/nygoout.jpg

Madison Avenue was born in New York where simple, clean layouts and extreme contrasts layouts were used in conjunction with wit , irony and understatingto sell their products.

Break Essay

'Don't confuse legibility for communication'

-David Carson

David Carsons work was new and raw, it communicated a message through both the type face and the content.

During the 1950's in Europe typography was being morphed into something new and innovative, a style that was clean, readable and avoided subjectivity. The style developed in Switzerland, sometimes known as the Swiss Style or the International Typographic Style. The post-war period craved a fresh, modern approach to communication to guide society into the future smoothly. Hence the Typography came to incorporate even, flat letters that allowed for a feeling of smoothness and objectivity. Helvetica is an example of the many Sans Serif fonts that were the result of this style, it's a very famous and accessible type face, that was and is readily used throughout society to easily communicate a message.

Sagmiester tried to convey his meaning through his type, content and material he wrote on. As seen above an ephemeral work that he ironically wrote 'Always' on. He is challenging the viewer with a question of life. This is how he believes a message should be conveyed and felt by the viewer.

Many designers of the time believed that a typeface should be neutral and that meaning should be found in the content not the typeface (stated by William Crowell). Post Modernists like Carson and Sagmiester branched away from the smoothness of the lettering which they believed to be 'boring'. Both were not trained to the traditions that there predecessors were, this angered the original type designers after all the effort they put into created one letter and a whole alphabet, the post-modernists approach of feeling and experimentation felt like disrespect towards them. Carson states that he didn't understand the anger surrounding his work but felt that type faces like Helvetica were the bases for many others and seen as an 'ultimate typeface' and would be further more into the future. He didn't know he was stepping on peoples toes but felt strongly about emphasising the feeling with the content and the typeface.

Sagmiester also creates a contrast by juxtaposing his content, type and materials he uses, again to challenge the beliefs of the viewers.

Stefan Sagmiester trusted that the message would be successfully communicated to the reader by both the type face and the content. The presentation of the content suggests what is to be expected, for example an explosive font advertising a Monster Truck Carnival will emphasise the explosive, loud atmosphere if you attend, whereas the same event advertised in a boring, simple type will suggest the event to be boring and not exciting. Combining the effect of the font with the message entices the reader and this is what Sagmiester wanted to convey with his many designs. For both Sagmiester and Carson, post modernist designers, experimentation was a huge element to there design as well as the emotion connection or response from each work.

Sagmiester's work was very ironic in his juxtaposition of meaning and materials and type, even on the above work where he is advertising himself at an AIGA event he makes a statement even in the promotion.

"Don't confuse legibility for Communication. Just because somethings legible doesn't mean it communicates, more importantly doesn't mean it communicates the right thing and vise versa."

- David Carson

Carson made this statement on the Helvetica film suggesting that just because something is legible does not mean it communicates and if it does you have to question whether or not it is communicating the right or wrong thing under the original intention. As seen in the film, Carson's perspective on type design is an eye for creativity and feeling, if a font doesn't attract the reader or create an emotional reaction then it's not worth the effort. He also stated,

"Very fine line between simple, clean and powerful and simple, clean and boring." - David Carson

This statement explains his philosophy about text, when communicating a message the type of font chosen has to be for a reason and if the decision isn't provoked by some feeling can create something completely different. For example, Helvetica is a simple, easily read font and perfect to use when labelling the toilets, it is simple and effective for its purpose yet if it is used to promote a dance concert, taking the music into consideration the font should be lively and groove, if put in Helvetica the intent isn't conveyed. Although the reader may still be interested because of the content, sub-consciously the mind is not as enticed to go or read on because the font doesn't emphasise the meaning and therefore we evaluate it as boring or excited before we even read what the message is.

Carson experimented with many different forms of type and all of its elements, the size, width, height, ascenders, decenders, space, colour, etc. He wanted to make sure his message was conveyed because of the combination of such elements, his purpose was to create an emotional response. The message should be backed up by the typeface.

The Swiss Modernism style is noted for its preference for photography over drawing and painting, in relation to typography many of the works from this period predominately featured text, asymmetric layouts, grids and San Serif fonts, Europe was looking for something with smoothness and clarity. The Post Modernists like Carson and Sagmiester reacted against the simplicity that was dominant after the war and towards the end of the 20th century, believing it was 'boring' nod that it did not effectively communicate the message. They introduced experimentation and free hand drawn fonts made according to the feeling they wanted to convey. Over time type designers influences and perspectives have changed significantly, although the original designers type face families are still as fresh as they once were for each new generation today. In contemporary society something more was wanted and craved and designers such as Carson and Sagmiester were able to deliver the unique style of their own era, based loosely on the original type face families and experimentation.

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/images/carson_1.jpg

http://www.typogabor.com/David_Carson/images/64_david_carson.jpg

http://www.elahoffman.pl/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/sagmeister_aiga_poster.jpg

http://art118.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/sagmeister2.jpg

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