Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Unit 3 4/14

+ Postermodernism

+ POP is born

+ Experimental Alternative Publishing

+ Styles of Graphic Design appeal to the counterculture youth

+ Dizzying Euphoria

+ Push Pin Studios ( Milton Glasser, Seymore Chwast)

+ New Wave Typography

+ Wolfgang Weingart

+ California accepted the new wave more then East coast (tight strung/corporate)

+ From New Wave- Wide Letter spacing, bold stair stepped rules- rule lines punctuating space, diagonal type, mixing typefaces or weight changes within words type reserved from a series of bars

+ Paula Scher

+ Deconstruction

+ Ed Fella inspires "Grunge"

+ David Carason - Disruptive and disturbed

+ 80's type explosion

+ Post-Structuralism

+ Image Reads

+ High/Low Juxtaposition




Deconstruction is a very interesting movement. Never knowing that there was such a category it was really surprising to see all the work that was done. Viewing the work that was presented, it is easy to see how work lost its originality. However, while seeing very similar works that were changed a little bit, I think not being truly original is made up for how it was cleverly switched switched around such as the iPod slide that was shown. I remember reading that Apple took a reference from somewhere and made it their own. How reputable that was I do not know but, the fact that many people after viewing their ad and ran with it is impressive. Even non designers saw its impact and switched it around.

Learning about the past and the steps that were taken that got us to this point in design is powerful. Some may say it took a turn for the worst. Some may say its a growing innovation. Either way everything is tied in together and we can only learn from the past and elaborate on it.

Design Discourse(2nd part from Discourse #1)

Design Discourse 2

Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design I, II, III, IV - various authors

Advertising: The Mother of Graphic Design Steven Heller

http://hgd-tcarter.blogspot.com/2010/03/discourse-1.html

Design Discourse 2

Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design
Michael Bierut

Why Designers Can't Think

At the start of Graphic Design there were no schools
Push for better design came from curiosity and also culture and politics
Two different kinds of schools
Process (Swiss Design) and Portfolio ('Slick' Design) driven school
Many modern influences have high school seniors wanting to be graphic designers
Process schools are driven by problem-solving
Though out process to final stage of simplicity
Portfolio ('slick') schools are driven by final product
More of a commercial end product. Focus on product design. More of a get hired fast portfolio.
Rather learn knowledge as it comes instead of knowing it in advance
Some designers fake that they know about a product or company etc.


With technology becoming more and more accessible to people and schools there are people who think they can design now that they have the programs that “designers” use. Schools are teaching the technology part more and the students then neglect the design process. Some teachers feel that by not knowing the technology it will hurt them in not knowing how to execute the design. This is fear is true, but in todays age figuring out a program enough to know the lingo and operations can easily take a weekend. Of course more in depth work will take longer to learn. Focusing on the technology could take away from the design process reversing the way design was taught in the first place.

In this picture is an example of what a 'slick' school designer might create during his or her education. There is nothing wrong with designing such products. There is however a difference in the thought process between the process designer and portfolio schools. Both create to sell its just the mentality and method behind the designing. While at the end of the day a process designer may only talk about design nonstop a portfolio designer maybe open up to other areas increasing their knowledge.









Lastly, this picture is a companies annual report. During the essay Bierut talks about how when a designer is hired, the employer just wants to know that the designer can design very well. That is not always a good thing. Some designers learn about the client as they are receivre already knowledgeable on the topic. Say someone is going to do an annual report for an accounting firm. They should already know or learn what all is involved in accounting and not just try to design an annual report based off of the images and thought that it involves money.








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Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture
Jessica Helfand

Paul Rand: The Modern Professor

Extremely serious about art and design, geometry, history and ethics, pychology, perception, and form-giving
Hated trickery, decoration, and trends
Strove for purity, efficiency, durability, clarity and purpose
Great knowledge in art history
Never showed slides
Never lectured
Never made conscious
Strong believer in grades
Started to narrow focus in courses and isolate for sharper focus and understanding of design
Many colleges agreed with the ideas and started to follow
Very blunt in his critiques

This poster created by Paul Rand for Art Directors Annual is a great example of his some of his work. It combines simplicity along with his creative use of geometry. There are no use of fancy decoration in this poster or really any of his others. It is straight to the point with no trickery even though this type of poster would not normally have any.












Here Paul Rand is teaching one of his students while he was a professor at Yale. Rand taught using the lessons he learned while he was a student. Though he never showed slides or lectured he gave either gave very detailed or blunt critques that sometimes made students leave crying. He was a strong believer in grades that it gave you something to work for. After teaching for a while he decides to make some changes to the way he taught design. He felt that there should be a narrow focus in courses and that there needed to be a more sharper isolated focus in the courses. Many of his colleges agreed with that thought and followed him as he made a change.




Rand would later go on to create verbal vocabularies in the industry as well as design systems for clients like Westinghouse and IBM. With this development he was able to adapt better to problems and creating a better design. By having this new take on work he would be able to apply this to his teaching giving him an even greater strength as being an educator.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

4/7/10 Unit 3

+Swiss Design

+Two Swiss Design Cities: Zurich and Basel

+Armin Hoffman: Design philosophy based on elemental graphic forms of point, line, and plane.

+Josef Muller Brockman: Grid Systems/Strategy, photographs and scale.

+ New/Abstract Spacial Placement starts up

+Swiss Movement had major impact on American Graphic Design

+Paul Rand: ability to identify the form or essence of a particular message. Did not follow the strict design process. Was more personal by not jumping right in.

+Sual Bass along with Paul rand defines new America Graphic Design.

+Unigrid developed a grid system in 1977 for US National Park Service

+Henry Wolf Brodovitch

+George Lois- Advertising Genius...Powerful Statements on black background gave striking visuals.

+Photo-typography

+Herb Lubalin




After every lecture we move closer and closer to graphic design as it is today. That only makes sense with moving up in years with every lecture. I say this because the elements that are used with in the past work can easily be seen in todays work. Not to be a fanboy of any sort but Paul Rand and Sual Bass are some brilliant minds that set a pedestal for logos. I have heard that other designers said Paul Rand would roll over in his grave if he found out how the new logo looks. I can understand why people would say that however after hearing why the logo was revisited it does make sense to rework it. Even if the new logo was not exactly similar to the old one with a non 3D look I think it still resembles the old iconic logo.

I am glad Swiss design worked its way into the U.S. It opened many doors to future designers as well as new possibilities in types of designs. The way Josef Muller Brockman used images as objective symbols is really nice. The examples that are shown are really simple and use the grid nicely. It makes you think, "Why did I not think of that?". It is said if a designer makes you think that then it might be something worth wild. In his case it was really worth wild. The use of photography really adds to a poster giving it emotion and a dynamic story.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

3/31 Unit 3

Otto Neurath

ISOTYPE Movement

International System of Typographic Picture Education

Pictorial Statistics

Ladislav Sutnar-Double page spread- horizontal

Modernism and the NY School

Graphic Design term first used in 1922

Lester Beal- Self Taught

Paul Rand

Editorial Design

Triumph of the International Style

Systems for industrial and holiday

Olympics

Hand generated type

Anton Stankowski- Swiss



The use of ISOTYPES are a higher breed of an icon. The ability to inform and teach another culture what that symbol means without them having it in their culture is true design. A pure example of this is the use of the Olympics. Educating the viewer is vital in the spread of information.

The rise of industrial design changed the way designers thought about everything from the product design to the advertising design. The introduction of the horizontal spread was a very helpful design to the viewer. Reading left to right, they had the ability to go from one page to the other instead of left and right from top to bottom. It could cause a bit more confusion as well as annoyance when looking at a range of products.

The documentary Helvetica is rather inspirational and at the same time it is teaching aid to design students. Seeing yet again is not a downside nor was it boring. I think every designer should review the video at least once a year to hear the comments mad about it. It can very easily change your mind on how you think of the type face as a whole and how to use it.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Four Laws of Media

Speakers

Media Laws

1. The human trait that is enhanced is hearing. The intended function of a speaker is typically to either amplify a particular sound or to be able to hear a previously recorded sound. By having speakers it improves the bodies situational awareness senses. Hearing a sound that would not be possible to hear with out a speaker such as a frequency could save lives. On emergency vehicles there are speakers that are able to make a sound louder so others can generally react in a the proper time. With out it we would have to rely on lights and maybe someone yelling "get out of the way!"

2. Although speakers are sometimes aided with an amplifier they did however replaced the metal cylinder horn of a phonograph. The main principal of the horn was to amplify the sound that came off the record. How is this an improvement? The clairty is dramatically increased compared to relying on just hearing it through a piece of metal. The scale of the speaker is a huge improvement making it portable and able to fit in small spaces. However, the old way of amplifying sound is not lost but rather have the same characteristics just improved. There are "horns". These "horns" are still used to achieve a very loud way of amplifying but the shape and build have changed to match today's technology and expectations.

3. It brought back a higher definition of entertainment. Before, the old forms of speakers did not give the best user experience. It was more of a mono, flat, unrealistic sound. Having speakers, surround sound is now possible today giving it more of a realistic sounding experience to the viewer.

4. Some pullbacks to improving speakers is that the typical user will want it to be louder therefor damaging ear drums, losing the ability to hear. Which in end will just mean you will need the speakers to be louder and louder and etc. Even to the point where you will have a hearing aid in your hear which really is a mini amplifier with a speaker. Another setback can be that everyone will rely on speakers to hear everything compared to just natural hearing and being relaxed.

In conclusion, the four laws that were expressed in the movie can really help a designer develop better for the future. Being aware of the changes and impact a simple object can have on a society can mean the difference between an angry community and a peaceful one. We are always trying to make the newest and best product out there for whatever it may be. Taking these laws into a effect and planning around them, looking at past projects that failed or succeeded meeting the criteria of each law can make a huge difference in the outcome.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Unit 2 3/3/2010

+Paul Shoetema

+Color Overlays

+Art of Contruction

+EL Lissitzky

+Balance between the playful and the functional

+Synthetic imagery

+Post Cubism and Art Deco

+Futura

+Experiences are packaged

+Emphasized two dimensionality and iconic symbols

+E. McKnight Kauffer

+Cinema Poster

+War Propaganda

+Tactic of persuasion

+More combination of photo and graphic elements/ Russian film innovations

+Use of montage and collage



The use of propaganda posters were always interesting to me. The way the message is shown to reach the public is quite fascinating. Some of the messages today would probably be seen as something that is racist and uncalled for such as the "Montgomery Glag" aimed to Japan. The simple use of a single object and text in these posters are always intriguing. When photos are superimposed and combined with graphic elements is defiantly a new technique that has been passed on to generation and generation setting the norm for graphic design. This lesson and past one have been my favorite so far as in poster design. Very inspiring.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Discourse #1





Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture – Helfand

Paul Rand: The Modern Designer

  • Graphic Design is everywhere: everything we do, buy, and see. From the bible to our birth certificates

  • Popular art, practical art, applied art, and ancient art

  • Formerly known as commercial art.

    Performed by printers and typesetters. It was more of a vocation then profession.

  • Unlike in the US at the time it was being practiced and taught in Europe

  • “To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit: it is to ad value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. To design is to transform prose into poetry.”

  • Rhythm, contrast, balance, proportion, repetition, harmony, and scale

  • A trademark is a company's signature

  • Simple, modern, geometric abstractions of letterforms, recognizable shapes and symbols

  • designed to work at any scale or at an angle

  • Having a strong verbal skill to express your ideas along with having a formal vocabulary is key

  • It is necessary to understand history

  • Five is better than four, three is better than two.


After reading this article and again acknowledging that graphic design is truly everywhere around us, I immediately thought of New York City. A specific part of the city would be Time Square. There is a lot of advertising with means logos, posters, billboard, and people walking around that has design all over them from graphic tees or brands, fashion, and products. That one block is filled with, and I wouldn't be surprised well over tens of thousands items that would fall under graphic design. It gave me a much more appreciation for the field. Followed by that image I decided to take one that expressed what communication was. The job of a designer is to not just design and send it off but to also educate those who do not know it. Being strong in communication is our profession. It only makes sense to be able to also verbally communicate to clients and just general public. Lastly, the history of IBM's logo is a fine example of progress and simplifying design. Just about all the design principals can be checked off with that logo making it one of the longest lasting ones to date.


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Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design I, II, III, IV - various authors

Advertising: The Mother of Graphic Design Steven Heller



  • Aesthetic and philosophical pursuit that communicates ideas.

  • Advertising tool of capitalism

  • GD cultural force that incorporates parallel world views.

  • William Addison Dwiggins coined the term “graphic designer” in 1922

  • GD began with seventeenth-century Italian printing

  • 1950s modern graphic design veered from mass advertising towards corporate and institutional communications and evolved into a rarefied practice

  • Graphic designers have distanced themselves from advertising in the same way that children put as much space as possible between themselves and their parents.

  • Graphic design has developed its own characteristic

  • They are equal still by having a form to communicate, selling, and entertaining

  • if GD history does not expand to include advertising, “it will ultimately succumb to the dead-end thinking that will be the inevitable consequence of being arrested in a state of continual adolescence.

Living in an age where advertising and graphic design is pretty much as separated as it will be it is odd yet normal knowing they were almost the same thing. I would never of thought graphic design was really advertising back then. In the modern era of the 20th and 21st century there seems to have become a feud between graphic designer and advertising. Both do still work together in campaigns but since the separation advertising has been know to be cynical which for the most part can be true. It makes sense why then graphic designers distant themselves to not have the bad reputation which is why the shirt seems to be rather self explanatory. Both professions do share the common profit instinct of being successful and building upon that creation. After reading the closing line of this article it got me thinking of how true it is. If graphic design does not let in other medias of design it could start to hurt the field as it did with advertising. It may not be known to the common person. I included Milton Glaser to represent the last statement. A highly recognized designer, I wonder what his take would be on a topic. I would assume it would agree to not be adolescence.



Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Unit 2 2/24/10

Key Points:

Elementarism

Mondrain

ABCs of the Bauhaus Red, Blue, Yellow, Circle, Square, Triangle

Bauhaus was to form a new unity

Walter Gropius

Moholy Nagy "Bauhaus Master"

Typophoto

14 books of Bauhaus

Furniture iconic 20th century

Herbert Bayer

Architectonic forms

Exterior Signage

Ultimate universal alphabet

New Typography

Kinetic Asymmetry

Tschichold


After seeing the short video about the Bauhaus it is clear that they were and still have a high reputation in the design field. So many new innovation came from the school that put them way ahead in times then the common public. A great example of this is when the redesigned a house and a critic basically said that it was based off of hospital and they could never look at squares again. I can see his point about the squares, I personally do not thing I could live in a house that had nothing but squares though their reason and belief behind it is so fundamental it cant always clearly be understood.

The universal alphabet designed in 1925 is clear, simple, and has round letter forms which set it out. Bayer also argued that we "print and write with two alphabets that are incompatible in design but U&L stand for the same sound." This makes a lot of sense. Another thing that can easily be overlooked yet has a powerful impact on way things are designed today.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Unit 2 2/17/10

Key Points:

Kasimir Malevich- Suprematism

Russians coined the phrase "Cubo- Futurism"

Emergence of the Constructivist Movement

Photos has power as illustration

Revolution establishes a "professional identify"

Propaganda

Modern design tools

Russian film making/Rodchenko and Photographs

Conte Crayons

Controlled Arrangment

Grammar and Syntax

"Believe me, I know what you want"

EL Lissitzky

Cinematic Power

The "Isms" of Art

USSR Poster

Late Constructivism

Steinberg Brothers- Movie Poster Design



As we started this this section I could see more of a graphic form that is really related to today. Every class I seem to say that but this seems to the closest yet. The use of photos in work is a big part and I like doing that as well. The Russian movement really utilized posters for propaganda and brought a new level of creativity to modern design.


Steinberg Brothers defining a movie poster is really interesting as I have always been drawn to that type of design I think it would be a highlight of my career to work on such a project.

Rodchenko seemed to be the man of the century by designing so much and being so influential with his designs.


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Unit 2 2/10/10

Key Points:

Synthetic Cubism

Graphic Design defined by poster design

Symbolic Communication

Associations with individuals (Advertising)

Realism vs Abstraction

War Posters used for marketing act of war

Montgomery Flag

Hohlwein became involved with the Nazi Party Movement

Futuraism / DADA

Typographic Materiality

Semiotics

Type as an Image

Pointless Mechanisms

Berlin DADA

MERZ





I can really see how Lucian Bernhard's work that was shown about professional identity for graphic design set the ground for distinct identities. Some examples might be too busy for todays taste however his cigarette example (Manoli cigarettes 1910) seem to really of set a president on how many identities are designed today. Something that hasnt changed for many of years. Still going off of that, the way advertisements were thought out and executed was interesting to know started back then by placing a clean sophisticated man on the Opel Car ad.

I never knew exactly where the Uncle Sam "I Want You..." poster came from. It was nice to finally learn that along with how it created a series of War Marketing ads.

Text with image back then looked very simple and in todays eyes it may seem tacky and not professional. It was really a break through with the placement of the text making an image as well as being legible. That is pretty unique.

Lastly a poster I am very fond of is Goering: The Executioner of the Third Reich, from Prague. It uses photos, text and illustration as its concept. The whole theme and feeling is really strong and powerful making it a very intriguing piece.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Unit 1 3/4 1/27/10

Key Points:

Victorian had no design philosophy


trains sparked a new design phase

forms driven by commerce and a commodity culture

Chromoslithography starts mass communication

Louis Prang is a genius

industrial revolution had radically altered printing
built with metal parts
powered by steam
increased efficiency with plates and cylinders
increased size of impressions
photo mechanical processes
color lithography
machine based typesetting

Thomas Mass popularized political figures

Art and Craft movement

Kelmscott Press

Art Nouveau

Cheret and Grasset made transition

Modern Art Poster

Functionalism


I have always been interested in the Victorian design. Before this class I never really knew there was so much more behind it. It was the start of a new type of design. Victorian design has no philosophy which is rather interesting after learning all about grid system and keeping it clean. Another interesting part of of Victorian design is that trains sparked a new design phase with them delivering products package design was born and forms driven by commerce and a commodity culture.

I agree that Louis Prang is a genius in his own form. Taking the figure santa clause and making him into a famous figure that repeats itself yearly.

Another brilliant man is Thomas Mass. Popularizing political figures such as the donkey and elephant. I find that to really interesting to see how detail drawn out it was and now to see it in a very simple way as an icon.

In end the last thing that struck me as something I would like to learn more about is Peter Behrens. Him being the one to really set the standard for graphic design logos with his Standardization.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Unit 1 1/2 - 1/20/2010

Key Points:
  • Codex
  • Movable type
  • Paleolithic
  • Block Books
  • Textura
  • The Göttingen Gutenberg Bible
  • Hand painted woodblocks
  • Claude Garamond
  • Grids
  • Monster type
As I found the the early 1400 A.D. type not all interesting (historically) I appreciate the fact why it was developed. Creating a simple yet complex stroke gave the viewer the ability to read that information in a very fast way compared to trying to read or decipher the hieroglyphics, especially to someone who may not be similar with those symbols. With the later development of the movable type lead to great inventions such as the printing press. With both new inventions this spread humanist ideas and also increased the literacy rate.