Blog Ten 20 April 2009

postmodernism was todays focus in all aspects. What was discussed ranged from the historical models for Postmodernism, and its stages, to New Wave typography. I got a lot out of the documentary that was shown in today's class, it illuminated to the face the Post Modernism began as an architectural movement, that rejected the essentialist and foundational concepts. It examines the various cultural codes that govern our understanding of ourselves and our places, belongings, values, and anything else dear to us. It focused on knowledge and using language as a means to get to and achieve knowledge. Though it began with architecture it has managed to transcend through the other art mediums. The part of this lecture that grasped me the most, and which i thought directly related to me as a designer, which i could learn to implement, was new wave typography. It was established by Wolfgang Weingart, who experimented with different arrangements of types, and fragmenting the rules. Basically deconstructing typography. He completely strayed away from the traditional Swiss typography by mixing a multitude of typefaces and weights or reversing type. I feel that is was a great moment in typography because one has to try all alternatives of experimentation before they can create something great. Another notable new wave typographer was Willi Zuntz, who kept some aspects of swiss type. He kept more control of his type, staying tectonic and modular. 

Blog Nine 13th April 2009

Today's lecture encompassed the subject of American corporate design. The forerunner of this, who defined a new American graphic design that turned away from European sources, was Paul Rand. He invented form for both symbolic and communicative forms, also bringing branding to a new level. I found it fascinating that this branding of corporations such as IBM, VW and UPS where able to with stand time and its basic essence has remained untouched. Another occurrence during this period is creating a branding promise. Meaning, branding now carried more meaning than just identifying a company, its was the utmost important visual feature that helped to shaping the company or corporations reputation. Other mentionable names of the time were Brabury Thompson, Chermayeff and Geisman, Vigneli Associates and Saul Bass. Of these names, Saul Bass stood out the most for me, this is because he is one of the great pinoneers of motion graphics. He introduced the use of basic cutout elements to created phonomanal pieces for his time as well as employing the use of kinetic typography. i feel that it is very important to study his work because he was the one who first began expirementing with all the design elements in motion, creating key pieces of his time. To create great art one needs to understand the greats and be able to learn , appreciate and effectively take elements from these pieces and then be able to implement it in your own unique way.

Blog Eight 6th April 2008

The stress on having a universal language form began to emerge in the early constructivist movements. As a result the Isotope movement arose, and created the set of conventions to formalize the use of a pictorial language. The development of this universal visual language was one of the most important innovations in informational design of the 20th century. I feel like this was one of the most important developments of that time because graphic design is based on effectively communicating to your audiences through the use of of understood visual language. Without having a set standardized universal icons, we would not be able to have globalized ad campaigns and agencies. Communications would stop inside a country and creative exchanges might not be the same. Other topics and movements that were addressed in this lecture were international style of typography, modernism and the Swiss and NY schools of design. Another interesting topic of the lecture was the discussion of Swiss design and seeing Brockman works.

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.

Blog Six 16th March 2009

Tonight's lecture was a basic continuation of last weeks discussion on pure form. It addressed the influences pure form had on design and the involvement it had on the future movements. The majority of the lecture discussed the De Stijl and Bauhaus movements. These periods were profound stages in time, regarding the history of graphic design, because it was the basis of modern graphic design and in establishing it as a school. The De Stijl movement addressed the idea of functionality as well as pure form; Architecture was also a big sector in this movement. A notable artist of this time was Mondrian, whose grid and geometric structures profoundly influenced design. He brought about the birth of analytical systems of layout, which was widely influenced the world of typography. Although De Stijl is a widely hated art movement amongst designers, due the the rejection of images, i feel that this was a fascinating movement. It simplifies object down into its most simple geometric forms and use visually pleasing grids. This especially important because type classes evolve around grids. The other topic that was addressed in much detail in tonight's class was the Bauhaus. This is also an altering time in history, because a set of guidelines and rules were formulated for art schools of the 20Th century. Two notable figures where Nagy and Bayer. What really intrigued me was the discussion Tschichold and Dutch design in regards to the 'new typography'. This is probably because of techniques such as uses of diagonals in a composition that created unity within the whole piece. This simple techique brings a whole different feel and movement to a piece but is still orderly and atracttive. I find dutch design phonominal because the order and structre that appears in there work cant be compared to as well as having the abilty to create different, fun, and unique compositions while still maintaining a grid in their design.

Blog Five - 2nd March 2008

The topic of today's class consisted around pure form and its features. We began the discussion with Kashmir Malevich and Suprematism. This was an essential factor in history because it established a vocabulary of geometric structure and form and was the way that pictorial representation began to occur. This discussion focused around Russia, where ther Russian Revolution of 1717 casued high influence and brought the emergence of the constructive movement. This movement was different than what futurism and dada had spurned becasue it was united with the nation in strong opposition to art as an individual expression. Rather it centered on helping the nation and on a utopian lifestyle. Proganda art spiraled out of this period, i subject which i find intensely fascinating becasue of the wide variety of tactics the government managed to use to enforce the influence and control. I feel like studying propaganda art and gaining such knowledge in that topic is an essential part in my graphic design education. This is because these forms were so widely successful and actually where able to create influenece amoungst the public. As futures designers it is important to learn from these tactics so that we can effectively convey messages in our own works of art. Some major and important artists of that time where people such as Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, who is thought to be one of the greatest graphic designers of all time.

Discourse One

Grid and Design Philosophy
By Josef Muller-Brockmann

• Using the grid as an ordering system is an expression of a certain mental attitude.
• Work with grid systems means submitting to laws of universal validity.
• Every visual, creative work is a manifestation of the character of the designer. It is a reflection of his knowledge ability and mentality.
• The grid is used for solving visual problems in two and three dimensions.
• For graphic designers and typographers it is used for things such as press advertisement, books, catalogs, etc.
• By arranging the surfaces and spaces in the form of a grid the designer can place his design elements in the space with objective and functional criteria, allowing the information to be presented logically and clearly.
• The grid divides a 3d plane into smaller fields or a 3d space into smaller compartments, these can be either the same or of different sizes. The fields are separated by an intermediate space known as a margin so
• That pictures and text don’t touch each other, so that legibility is preserved. The grid determines the constant dimensions of space and there is virtually no limit to the number of grid divisions.
• “The smaller differences in the size of the illustrations the quieter the impression created by the design.”
• Economic reasons for using a grid: a problem can be solved in less time at a lower cost.
• Rational reasons for using the grid: simple and complex problems can be solved in a uniform and characteristic style.
• 
  

When searching for pieces to complement and support this article, i thought it be best to browse the works of the author , Josef Muller-Brockmann. All of these pieces are works by this artist. Thee first two are a series of posters. Good design is demonstrated in these series through simple use of the grid and hierarchical arrangement of the type. The first appears to be a 5 column grid with left-alignment and ragged right. It utilizes the grid excellently by either using one column for the basic text and then stretching out the more important information across two columns. The most emphasis is brought to the title, which is the only type that is white and stretched across all the 5 columns. The same can be said for the 9 column grid that is one the adjacent poster.




This piece is also by Brockmann. In this work more visual interest is spurred, because the type is on a diagonal grid. This is a great example showing that a grid does not have to look repetitious and can still remain orderly and legible.




The grid brings visual unity and structure to all of these pieces, making them legible and orderly. By just simply placing text and illustrative material on a grid, ones work immediately appears visually pleasing. These examples show the range of grids that can be used, from two-grids systems to nine-grid systems. It allows for spacing and grouping without making the composition awkward or claustrophobic