Blog Seven 23rd March 2009

Post Cubism and Art Deco was the topics that were addressed today. In these periods we saw both graphic design movements from the period coming together. During the mid 1930s the arts were suppressed by the supremacist and fascists and mechanized war was devastating central Europe. As a result faith in the machine was at an all time high and pieces were reverting to geometric forms. I found it interesting that this was the time that futura was created and used abundantly in all poster works. The intentional spacing between the letters perfectly complemented the style of the time, as well as helping with the overall movement of the works. One of the greats of this era was AM Cassandre, who is also considered one of the great illustrators in history. Illustrator as well as designers look to him for emulation. What i found most intriguing was the concept of emulation and the question of what is original. Americans in particular mimicked i high volume of European design and made it appear as their own. What i found ironic was that the pieces that they mimicked mostly came from their enemies, Germany and Russia. Branding was another big factor of this period, it was readdressed and more importance was placed on it. It was Cassandre that brought about this attention, one of his prime examples is the Dubonnet rebrand, where he created a character as the brand.