Sagmeister and Burnett

Sagmeister and Burnett

Steven Sagmeister has be one of the coolest artists that I have heard about so far. He is daring, bold and not afraid to step across boundaries when it comes to his designs. On one of his most famous pieces, he physically carved words across his entire body, took a picture of it, and submitted it as a poster for AIGA. I can't imagine how painful that would be, but it is brilliant! Never been done before, and it certainly got him noticed. I really like how he takes a picture and digitally alters it so words are incorporated,... they look incredibly real and you have to question whether or not he found the image like that! His idea of using the inflatable monkeys was a great idea; dispersing them throughout the country, each with a specific message that can only be deciphered when put together. He is a great designer, and it's very difficult to pick just a few things about him that I really like.

Leo Burnett has a bunch of interesting characteristics that I'm trying to put together. He appears to be very simple in his work; basic colors, basic designs and etc. But the strange thing is that his simple images incorporate big meaning. Take for instance his hand and star logo. It's a very simple drawing resembling a wood cut, and it only two colors-black and white. Yet once you understand his idea behind it "When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won't get a handful of mud either," you realize that this man has done some thinking before he began drawing a hand surrounded by a couple stars. I was also surprised to see how complex his website is. It's completely interactive and has it's own unique personality to it. It was very fun to play around with, just to see the possibilities that can be done through website design.

Kalman, Carson and Carter

Tibor Kalman is an artist who isn't afraid to touch out of zone boundaries. He created an image that depicted the Queen as a black female, along with one of Arnold Swartenegger as a black male. I like how he addresses the racial issue in a nice and approving way. It could be much worse, but his perfection of it is beautiful. He incorporated typography frequently, and it was often like a 'sunburst' around the central image. Another thing he is known for is his idea of placing a dot within the center of an "O", which animates it and it then appears to be a face. Crazy!

David Carson is a graphic artist who was also inspired by music. He didn't have any schooling which was great because he then didn't follow any rules. That's what he is best known for; disobeying all rules of typography. His work is very intriguing and fun to look at, but questionable in his creditability simply because he isn't follow the rules. He wanted legibility, but at the same he wanted it to be bold, be loud and be noticed. Most of his typography has varied sizes, varied kerning 'issues', and varied colors. It's clearly a modern day use of graphic design, and I approve of it all 100 percent.

Up next is Matthew Carter, who was mainly a typeface designer. He created many different fonts that are still used frequently today. One typeface that stands out to me as very interesting is Walker. The user is able to apply serifs and other typographical designs in any place that they wish, simply by using various quick keys. This is something fun and allows designers to 'create' their own typefaces in a very unique way. Carter is also known for his multiple layering and overlapping of images/words. He also created a typeface that prints nicely on cheap newspapers by adjusting the crotches of various letter forms. This way, the ink wouldn't bleed into each other because space was given for bleeding. Genius idea!

Chantry and Thorgerson

Art Chantry is a graphic artist who was inspired by music throughout his design. He worked with clients such as Nirvana, Hole and the Sonics. His images appear to be very layered with a lot of color. They look flat and are illustrated nicely. He seems to play with bright yellows mixed with oranges and reds frequently. However, his designs are pushed along with their creative use of typography as it's loud and bold. He doesn't follow all rules of typography, which is clear in his uneven baselines and how he lines everything up.

As for Storm Thorgerson, he is a modern day graphic designer and film maker. His work reflects surrealism, and resembles Dali. His designs are very intriguing and fun to look at mainly because they don't seem real,...yet they look real. So I sit and stare for a very long time, looking for some sort of imperfection to signal fake, but I can't find any. He plays around with photography and making the images look real in a very strange composition, and they are always very fun to look at. One image that comes to mind is his garbage ball of junk, which is placed alongside a random man. It allows (gullible) people such as myself to actually believe it's real, or else it evolves into a serious debate. Storm Thorgerson's work has to be some of the best stuff I've seen so far because I enjoy the 3D aspect of it.

Greiman, Chwast and Glaser

April Greiman is a contemporary designer from the 80's. She's responsible for introducing the New Wave art movement to the United States and is well known for her knowledge in various mediums; computer graphics, hand graphics, architecture and video. One influential aspect of April is that when she first began her career in design, she did everything by hand due to the lack of technology in the early 80's. She then made a remarkable transition into the computer generated graphics and excelled in both. Her issue of the Design Quarterly entitled Does it Make Sense is considered to be a major turning point in the evolution of graphic design. She played around with photography and tried to make 2D images appear 3D.

Seymour Chwast is an American graphic designer with a bit of illustration and typographer mixed in. He designed posters, food packaging and magazine covers during the 50's. He is most widely known for co-establishing Push Pin Studios. His work was very illustrated and incorporated a bit of humor in it. The images were generally flat with multiple colors. His typography is has a very Art Deco feel to it.

Milton Glaser is very remarkable contemporary graphic designer who is also described as a modern renaissance man due to understandings, visual language, conceptual thinking and illustration skills. He is the other co-founder of Push Pin Studios with Chwast, and has had his own one person show at the Modern Museum of Art in New York. Some of his famous work includes the flat Bob Dylan poster, along with the I LOVE NY logo, which was the first time the heart symbol was recognized as love. He is one of the most famous designers in modern day. 

thesis statement regarding Neville Brody

two options:

1. Neville Brody was never inhibited by the edges of a page.

2. Neville Brody has positively changed the world of Graphic Design.

Chapter 21: Psychedelic Posters

This part of chapter 21 dealt with psychedelic posters and their affect on the United States. It first began in the 60's in reaction to the Vietnam War. There was also a huge civil rights movement as well as a civil rights movement that influenced this recognizable posters. Their purpose was to show viewpoints instead of your basic commercial messages and advertising. Most of the artists who created these posters were generally self-taught. They were part of the hippie subculture, and can be distinguished by their love of rock music, drugs and ideas of reestablishment. One of the main contributors to psychedelic posters was Wes Wilson, who created the infamous Grateful Dead posters.

I think this movement could be considered one of the most recognizable movements in our history. When you look at designs on a timeline, this one stands out the most because it's so different from surrounded styles that occurred at the same time. It's very bold, daring, unique and set apart from the norm. It shows that being the strange one gets you remembered in the design world. Never to follow another person's steps but make your own. Now I just have to find my own direction,...

I know this movement began in the 60's, but how long did it last?

Chapter 20: Corporate Identity and Visual Systems

This chapter focused  on the idea that businesses needed to create stellar logos for themselves in order to be recognized in a rapidly growing design world. They needed to unify their businesses through a solid identity system, and this began in the 50's. CBS (Colombia's Broadcasting System) was one of the first businesses to realize the importance of an identity system. William Golden was the designer who created the CBS Television trademark. Most people even today  can recognize the logo as the 'eye'. It hasn't changed much since it's creation, which is awesome. George Olden was one of the first designers to work with imagery for on-air graphics. Another notable person from this style is Paul Rand, who is known for his creation of IMB, ABC and Westinghouse logos. His creations are considered elementary, timeless, unique and simple. A few terms that I can relate to are- open and closed identity systems. An open system is where the logo changes with time due to the changes in design styles and important e events. A closed system is just the opposite; the identity systems generally don't change but remain constant throughout it's life. A good example for a closed system is the Chase Bank logo, which is also one of the first recognizable abstract logos.

I think it's crazy that some businesses keep the same, overall concept of their trademark after years and years in the business. Most of them tweek it slightly to fit within the modern day era, but it's generally nothing drastic.  I find this interesting because graphic design has changed tremendously within just a few years, let along 50+ years. I would have expected companies to change their logos to go parallel with a changing society, but that really isn't the case. It goes to show that new isn't always better.

The 1968 Olympics in Mexico was explained in this chapter because the designers wanted a universal system that can be recognized by people worldwide. This seems quite obvious, but I'm curious to know if previous Olympics didn't consider the fact that the entire viewing population wouldn't be able to understand the signs and labels.

Chpater 18: International Typographic Style, & Chapter 19: The New York School

Chapter 18 covers a 1950's design movement that originated from Germany and Switzerland.  This design was very mathematical and had a scientific approach to all aspects of design.  Even though it was mathematical, generally the designs were asymmetrical and constructed through a grid.  One very important aspect of this design movement was that it helped combine the world internationally with world-wide known pictographs and glyphs.  There was an increasing need for communicative clarity, especially when it came to signs and travel information.  This Swiss design helped push these needs further. During this time, sans serif because even more popular, and all forms of propaganda were disposed of.  It was time for corporate and product advertising.  One man who helped push the Swiss movement was Ernst Keller.  He was versatile and took interest in simple forms, symbolic imagery, contrasting color and expressive lettering.  Another man of interest is Max Huber, who used very bright hues in his photographs alongside complex organized compositions.  They are borderline chaotic, but his placement of images has purpose and a comfort value to it.  Design took on a new look during this style as Anton Stankowski created visual forms that possessed some sort of physical force to it. He played with illusions and made abstract images that played with eyesight.  During the International Typographic Style, many new fonts were created.  This included Univers, Helvetica, and Palatino.  Univers was a great font, and Emil Ruder realized its potential.  Due to the consistent baseline and and x-height, all 21 different typefaces could be used together in an appealing way.  

Chapter 19 focuses mainly on the American movement during the mid-1900's. A new form of advertising arose containing a comedic effect.  Most of the designs were influenced by European design because America wasn't at the top when it came to design during this era.  However, American designers added some of their own style, forms and concepts which certainly helped it out. Paul Rand can be attributed with the credit of pushing America towards modern design.  He created influential magazine covers which stepped past usual American design traditions. The playful, dynamic and the unexpected often came into Rand's work. Bradbury Thompson emerged as one of the most influential designers in America after WWII. His adventurous personality and knowledge of printing allowed him to bring symbolics to power. Saul Bass was mentioned in this chapter as well because he was the first person to unify both print and media graphics with his work in The Man With the Golden Arm.  He is considered to be the most influential film/graphic designer due to his success and amazing approach to it.  Something I didn't know what that Yale has a highly respected Graphic Design program, and many of the leading designers taught there at some point.  A woman, Cipe Pineles, became the first woman to be admitted into the New York Art Director's Club, which broke typical stereotypes.  Design is usually male-dominated, so it's great to have a monumental mark such as this. It's also important to note that the magazines, Print and Communication Arts, became widely known during this period and inspired artists everywhere.  They are a great art magazine today so it's great to know a bit about their history.   

I was surprised to read that it took Adrian Frutiger three years to create the font Univers.  The family was huge and containing 21 different sans serif fonts.  This would explain the huge length of time Frutiger put in to create it, but it's amazing that someone worked for three years looking at the same font!

In chapter 18, it mentions a design Zapf who is responsible for creating several fonts.  Did he create Zapf Chancery, or was this font simply named after him?

For my first image which was inspired by Modern Art, I decided to mimic a piece made by Kathe Schmidt Kollwitz.  This artist designed in expressionism, and one item of focus during this time was on the poor and unfortunate.  Suffering women and children were depicted in their struggles because of the artist's experience and insight of the poor.  I decided to create my own basic poster where a young boy was shown with Save Darfur was at the bottom to give it some sort of title.  I really like the pencil strokes that Kollwitz used, so I did the same sort of thing in my sketch.  One thing I was really inspired was how you could make out the face, but there's no way you could ever give the face a name because it's unrecognizable.  It pushes the meaning further because we don't need a specific name to know that poverty is out there and people are suffering.  

My next piece was also with help from the Modern Arts.  I was inspired from the futurist period through their use of text to convey a meaning... and text alone.  I took a quote from a great song and tried to quickly tell a story based on the location of the text.  It isn't much, but I played with the terms 'far away', 'mistakes', 'contained' and 'away'.  It was fun to do this because it's a little more challenging and you really have to think about how to write something.  
And now for this image, which was inspired by Peter Behrens in the Genesis of Twentieth Century Design.  I noticed in a lot of his work that he used many borders with geometric patterns.  I made up my own poster for snow cones (?).  Don't ask my why I chose snow cones, I think it's because I saw an ad on TV for a snow cone maker,...and I want it.  I used this particular design because of his work on page 239, where he created the magazine cover for Mitteliungen Der Berliner Elekricitaets Werke.  It's a very simple and flat design, basic colors and yet has a bit of an illusion to it.  I tried to mimic the uppercase letters that were all centered in the middle.

Chapter 17- The War Years and After

Chapter 17 discusses how the United States' design concepts were changed during World War II and post-war.  They were very diverse and made posters that were informative and comical.  This was because there were so many different types of artists that were hired from the U.S. Office of War Information.  Once the U.S. entered the war in 1941, the main goal was creating posters for propaganda and production.  We needed to have spirits soaring high with confidence in the Allies, as well as an increase in production so we could support our troops oversees.  One very famous poster relating to production is Jean Carlu's "America's Answer! Production."  Artists began to create more graphic and emotional posters due to the intense hate of Nazi's, Hitler and the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The achieved the greatest impact by using contrasts in color and scale.  Once the war ended -Go Allies!- the posters turned toward consumer markets, which would help the U.S. recover from such a brutal war.  It was at this time that copy lines first began to appear on all full-color paintings, followed by a logo.  To boost moral, once company began to design posters that showed liberty, justice, investors, prospective employees and human rights.  

I was quite surprised to read about Seventeen Magazine at this time.  For some reason I thought it was created much after World War II.  It makes me wonder about other magazines and when they were first published.  

I don't fully understand the concept behind image 17-42; Herbert Matters brochure covering chair.  Can you explain it?

Ad recreation, week 1

Above are the original advertisements that I have chosen to recreate in a different art period.   Both of them were found online.

* Sorry about the images scattered everywhere.  I'm not entirely sure on how to arrange photos on Blogger so they are all just smashed above.  Clearly, you can see which images are the real advertisement, and which ones are my sketches.

The advertisement with the cards is interesting, but I felt it could be pushed more.  The girls needed a little bit more sex appeal and the overall composition of the ad was bland.  I thought this would be a good one to recreate under art nouveau because I was immediately thinking about Mucha's concentration on women and how seductive he created them.   I also think that the art design on the Ace card has as little bit of art nouveau style to it, so it started from there.  Above, you will find my quick sketch of how I feel this advertisement would look with an art nouveau feel to it.  I first began with a border around the entire image because I saw that decorative, tile-like borders encompassed much of the art created during this period.  In the background, I added organic poles with vines wrapping around them because art nouveau pieces often had nature incorporated within their work.  I would also like to add a little bit more work to the background, such as more organic and leaf-like images into it.  This would add more depth and layering; more like the intended style I was going for.  On the women, I made them a little bit more sexy by adding the 'spaghetti hair' that Mucha made famous.  I also added a halo-like border around them because this too was also seen often in art nouveau.  As for the typography, it was a little bit more difficult because I didn't see much use of typography during art nouveau.  I did, however, see some in Mucha's "Job" and he had the tile border around each letter.  I gave an attempt at this, but decided to only do the first letter of each phrase due to the limited space I had.  If I were to recreate this, I would do each letter the same way. 

The next image with the car was effective, but a little to simple.  In order to get that rugged, urban feel, I thought it could be pushed farther and be designed similar to the style achieved during the Industrial Revolution.  It already has a lot of the qualities, such as the colors and the central image.  I added some harsh brush strokes at the bottom because that was often seen during the Industrial Revolution.  I would probably keep it all within grey/silver tones to match the car.  Maybe some black?  In order to make the punch line a little bit more effective, I decided to mimic the Industrial Revolution's style and add buildings.  Now it shows how much the car will have to go through in 'a few minutes', so it seems more unrealistic that the car will make it in time.  But!  Since this is an Audi, who are known for the speed and agility, it might be possible that the car will make it in time.  To add the final touch, I thought I should add a more industrial-like feel and add smoke and lightning rods/antennae's to the buildings.  Now it's a bit more realistic and harder looking.  Unfortunately, I can't read the small print underneath the car, so I redesigned according to what I could see.  After sketching this particular advertisement, I have realized that I should probably never work in a car-building/designing business because my sketches look awful...

Kitsch and WWII Posters

In short, Kitsch can be described is ugly.  The website given to us had little compliments for it, other than it's so bad, it's good.  The pleasantly distastefulness of it is often overdone, tacky and sometimes is intended to be funny.  Materials used were often bright shiny metals, so just think of a really ugly Christmas tree ornament that your grandma has,... and it's probably Kitsch.  

In Chapter 17, American graphics during WWII was discussed.  It first because in the early 40's before anybody ever believed the US would enter WWII.  The federal government wanted to increase production so they began producing posters.  This led to posters that depicted Hitler, Pearl Harbor because they were discussed frequently and had a huge impact on the US.  One painter, Ben Shahn, focused on Nazi brutality though very graphic forms in dynamic compositions.  Once WWII was finished, the next area of concentration was on consumer markets.  We were no longer creating war machinery and had to produce necessary items to improve the way of life.  What a better way to promote this than through advertising!  

I think it's interesting to think about how differently the US's history would have been different if it wasn't for graphic design and other forms of art.  Without it, as seen in this chapter, a lot of things wouldn't have been possible or worked as effectively if graphics weren't involved.  We were able to publicize our wants (such as focusing on consumer markets) that sped up the recovery process after the war.  I don't think many people give graphic design enough credit because this is rarely discussed in our general history books.  In these general books, our country just magically fixes itself with apparently no help from propaganda and other posters.  

How long did Kitsch last?  Or, is it still going today?

Art Deco

Part of Chapter 14 goes into detail about art deco, which took place in the early 1900's.  It is similar to art nouveau and was influenced by cubism, the Bauhaus and the Vienna Secession, along with random references such as Egyptian, Aztecs and De Stijl.  Art Deco can be described as very geometric, decorative, zigzag and slightly modern.  There is usually a lot of layers with bright, bold colors. A very popular font during this art period is Bifur, which is very blocky and heavy.  It contains no serifs and isn't the most attractive thing to look at.  Another font that emerged was Peignot, which was an attempt to 'revolutionize' the roman alphabet.  One thing that really stands out for me with this typeface is the ascenders and descenders because they stand out greatly and are unique in comparison to earlier fonts.  Jean Carlu realized that by adding expressed lines and angles, tension and alertness would come from it.  By creating curves, the feeling of comfort and relaxation arose.  For some reason, I feel this was already understood and experimented with, but Megg gives him some credit. 

I think it's interesting that our eye reads what isn't in front of us, but what we feel should be read.  On page 282, A.M. Cassandre's Bifur typeface is put into effect but half of the letters are missing.  Even though they are missing, we can still read them and understand their meanings.  

I'm curious.  What is the difference between the Art Institute of Chicago and the Institute of Design in Chicago?  According to later chapters, the Institute of Design wasn't formed until after the Bauhau crumbled, which was in 1933.  And the Art Institute was mentioned in this chapter when Edward Kauffer traveled to Chicago and studied there.  

After class 3-13

Yesterday in class, Sam gave her presentation on Chapter 15.  She described the Russian movements as follows:  Supremism- purely geometric, one of the two radical art movements, done by Russian Maleovich (who did the black square as art).  Constructivism- led by Vladimir Tatlin, abstract geometrics, PROUNS was created which showed depth and overlapping.  De Stijl:  Brought together by Doesburg, horizontal and vertical lines, flat primary colors.  This movement died when Doesburg died,... pretty sad.  De Stijl artists used sans serif typefaces, which became a popular font for the Soviets.  An important man was El Lissitsky, who designed posters regarding politics.  He used simple imagery to convey very important and big meanings.  One of his famous paintings incorporates a red triangle defeating white space, which signifies their love for communism and their revolution.

Yet again, I am surprised at how the Russians used color.  With El Lissitzky's red triangle poster, it shows that by using color, it can tell a story.  If I were to make the same painting in today's time, the message might not get across well because people wouldn't understand the red triangle. What is it?  What's it supposed to be doing?  However, everybody from all ages and classes understood this art because it was so basic, guided by simple rules that everyone could relate to.  For them, just a solid color stood as an emotion and as a signifier of their own country.

I want to know what a 'radical art movement' is, and what was the other one (besides supremism)?

Chapter 15: A New Language of Form

Chapter 15 describes the art movement in the mid 1900's within Russia.  It first began with Russian suprematism and constructivism.  Suprematism was a painting style that used basic forms and pure shapes.  It was was founded by Kasimir Malevich, who believed that the essence of the art experience was the perceptual effect of color and form.  Most of the art during this time was all fueled by the revolution.  Many people no longer wanted to move forward with art, while many other people knew the importance of it all.  Constructivism was based on industrial design, visual communications and serving the communist society.  They didn't want people to focus on useless paintings, but make them for the sake of the country.  Put them to use.  Texture, tectonics and construction were the three main principles of constructivism.  El Lissitsky was the leader of this movement, who refused to use Gutenberg's metal typesetting.  He developed a new style of painting called PROUNS which introduced three-dimensionality in the positive depth and naught depth.  He also designed a book that set new standards for organization and composition because he used grid structures.  Propaganda photomontage was led by Gustav Klutsis, who described the medium as 'the art construction for socialism.'  This guy was pretty intense because he believed that photomontage was the art of the future, and nothing else really compared to it.  After these movements came De Stijl, which occurred in the Netherlands from creator Theo van Doesburg.  De Stijl 'sought universal laws of equilibrium and harmony for art, which could then be a prototype for a new social order.'  This style was very geometric using only primary colors.  Curved lines and diagonals were removed and san serifs were favored.  

I think it's interesting that artists during these periods really focused on a reason for their color choices.  Most of the time artists choose colors based on popularity, their audience and just because.  But during De Stijl, they intentionally chose red and black because it was the colors of their revolution.  Color wasn't used as an afterthought, it was predetermined and a very important structural element.  I don't recall reading about past artist who focused on a color so much (besides in war propaganda/posters), so this is pretty fricken sweet.

Did the American's ever pick up on these Russian art movements?  

After class, 3-11

Today in class, Victoria gave her presentation on Pictorial Modernism.  According to her, pictorial modernism follows futurism and consists mainly of flat colors, flat images and a crap load of layers.  They followed futurism slightly because they played off  type and tried to create images and emotions based on the compositions of the type.  Lucian Bernhard was the 'father' of Plaknstil, which was a German design movement.  He was kicked out of his house after he painted his father's walls random colors after he was inspired by an art show.  After he left his house, he began to self teach himself and eventually received his fame and glory after winning a poster competition.  After WWI, there was a large emphasis in poster design.  Posters were used for propaganda, recruitment and for donations to the military services.  Usually the artists tried to express patriotic emotions in simple competitions with text being used only as a catchy title.  

I was surprised to hear that America was so far behind in graphic design/art trends.  They were one of the last countries to adapt the new styles versus the other countries that started the trends.  It makes complete sense, but I never really thought about it because I had expected it to travel to America faster because there were so many people who sought a new life in the U.S.  Maybe it just seems weird because today America seems to be on top of things when it comes to modern art.  OR!  Maybe I'm just assuming we are on top of things relating to modern art. 

So my question for today,... is the U.S. ahead of the game when it comes to new graphic styles?  Or do they still generally originate from Italy and France?

Chapter 14: Pictorial Modernism

Chapter 14 focused on the aspects of poster design in the early twentieth century.  These posters were influenced by many things, including war and post modern art.  Collage was first created during this time by the Beggarstaffs.  It's interesting because it wasn't popular when first designed, but it is a huge thing today.  A German style, Plakastil, emerged  in the twentieth century.  This style can be described as reductive and flat in color.  Lucian Bernhard was an influential man in this period, even though he didn't really know it.  He had submitted an art piece that was very simple and plain.  This moved graphic communications into a simpler form, not so noisy and cluttered.  This in turn led to a whole new style of posters and advertisements, where it was mainly the name of the product and a simple image depicting it.  Posters were also very important during WWI and WWII.  Radios and other forms of communication weren't quite advanced yet, so posters were the only way that the government could recruit soldiers and advertise for donations.  They were used as a significant source of recruitment and propaganda.  The Central Army had different styles compared to the Allies.  The Central Army focused on destruction of the Allies, where the Allies focused on the struggles of war and sticking with family.  This chapter also briefly mentioned art deco and how it correlates with art nouveau.  

It's hilarious that Lucian Bernhard was kicked out of his house/ran away after his parents yelled at him for painting everything inside of his house.  He painted walls, ceilings and even furniture in three days after being inspired by an interior design exhibition.  I think it's funny how different society is today.  Most kids leave or get kicked out for drug addictions, abuse or gangs.  Parents today might be upset if their kids got a little paint happy, but I doubt most would send them to fend for themselves at the age of fifteen.  

Since many people and artists wanted to adapt new styles, why did an American uproar occur with the first exposure to modern art?

After class, 3-9

Today in class Alexis gave her presentation on the Influence of Modern Art.  She went into detail about cubism, which was inspired by Pablo Picasso.  Cubism focused on geometric patterns in an abstract composition.  Futurism was inspired through revolt, courage and aggressiveness.  Harmony wasn't an option because these artists wanted speed and noise into their work.  Typography changed during futurism because it was no longer used in the horizontal, straight lines, but in unexpected locations where it was often in the shape/outline of a picture.  It was now being used as a shape.  Dadaism was led by Duchamp, and it was more of a rebellion instead of an art movement.  This was because of the destructive state of the world.  Surrealism was a new of thinking, a new way of feeling.  The artists usually focused on dreams and fantasy in a very realistic way.  Expressionism focused on the poor and social issues that were affecting the world at the time.

I was surprised to hear that Art Nouveau was the first art period that was internationally known.  I never really thought about it or took it into consideration because it seemed like whenever a new style of design began, it spread everywhere.  The more you know..

In class it was mentioned that Frank Pick was chosen to remove the clutter from cities and design a new sign/advertisements for the underground tunnel.  He wasn't an artist, and I want to know what he did, or how he was chosen to recreate these signs if he (possibly) didn't have any experience.

Chapter 13: The Influence of Modern Art

Chapter 13 covers several modern movements, including cubism, futurism, Dadaism, surrealism and expressionism.  Pablo Picasso was the first, and most influential man of cubism.  This new style of art demonstrates the new approach to handling space and and expressing human emotions.  All of the figures are generally abstracted into various geometric planes, including squares, rectangles and triangles.  This abstracted the image greatly, but after viewing the image, the image becomes recognizable.  The real subject of cubism is the use of shapes, colors, lines and textures versus the realistic subjects of previous art periods.  

Futurism followed cubism, and was first launched when the Italian poet Marinetti published his newspaper.  His newspaper consisted of images that were designed by simply using typography.  He called for a typographic revolution and wanted to place text in unexpected locations, and not in a straight horizontal line.  Another way to describe futurism is through noise and speed.  Marinetti wanted to step outside the boundaries created by Gutenbergs's printing press and express a dynamic, nonlinear composition.  Simply put, he created a mood based off the position of the text.  This was a great transition for graphic designers.

Dadaism was influenced by the 'carnage' of WWI.  These artists were designing as protests against the war and were concerned with shock, protest and nonsense.  They intended to mock a society gone wrong through their art, to inspire rebellion.  A famous artist during this time was French painter Marcel Duchamp, who created simple objects as an art form.  A good example is a urinal.  He is also known for his recreation of a manlier Mona Lisa in response to the public losing the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance.  

Next up is surrealism, where artists wanted to depict everything realistically, but in a dream-like fashion.  This was inspired by the scientific work of Freud, and people began to fantasize about  dreams, possessing faith in man and spirit.  It is more of a way of thinking versus a style of design.

This in turn led to Expressionism, where personal responses and emotions were depicted.  Color, drawing and proportions were often exaggerated or distorted, line and color were often pronounced.  Much of the work is based off of the poor because the social crisis that was occurring before WWI.  People felt sorry for the poor and wanted to depict their troubles in their art.

I was surprised to hear that Picasso used various elements from ancient Iberian and African tribal art.  I never would have expected that since I have seen a few popular pieces of his work.  I was also intrigued by Berlin artist John Heartfield and his revolts against the Nazi's.  It's quite brave of him to create and distribute propaganda against them, even when he knew he was being hunted.  Crazy man, but for all the right reasons. 

Where was futuristic artist Fortunado Depero from?  I could probably guess based of his name, but I want to know for sure.  I'm just curious because he is created with bringing futurism to America,... but I don't know where is from!

Frank Lloyd Wright

Throughout Chapter 12, The Genesis of Twentieth Century Design, Frank Lloyd Wright was mentioned for his architectural contributions to the Art Nouveau period.  I found the above image from www.flyawaycafe.com.  This amazing building was constructed in the 1930's as his former home in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Today it has become the international headquarters for the Frank Llyod Wright Foundation, which is museum that hosts public tours.  Some of the notable features within Talisesin West include:  a film theater, a performing arts theater, a drafting studio, gardens, terraces, outdoor pools and workshops for students and staff.  I am surprised it contains so much because the building doesn't appear to be very large.

I was attracted to this building because it goes along perfectly with its environment.  I could see the desert-like mountain in the distance and immediately made the connections with the pyramid-like stair structure.  The burnt orange and other various organic colors fit perfectly within the Arizonan atmosphere.  I also think that the organic building materials helped set the tone for this building because it coordinates with its location.  One of my favorite things about Talisesin West is the pool in the front yard.  It seems to be used mainly for decoration instead of actually for fitness.  It's small and a very awkward size to swim in.  I could see people lounging in it, but that's it.  I like the idea that you enter his property and you have to ask yourself, or Frank Lloyd Wright, if his pool is used for swimming.  Awkward conversation.

Chapter 12: The Genesis of Twentieth Century Design

With the twentieth century came great things, one of them being the category of typeface design known as modern style.  Artists and designers began to experiment with new styles and expressions for all aspects of design.  In Austria and Germany, abstract drawing took hold and replaced the organic drawing of Art Nouveau.  A very influential man during this time period was Frank Lloyd Wright.  Later in his practices, he moved toward 'the reality of the building' within the inside areas that people lived.  He saw space as the essence of design and was influenced by Japanese architecture and design.  At an art school in Scotland, four architectural students began working together, eventually receiving the name "The Four".  A romantic connection was made which evolved in two beautiful marriages.... lame.  Their work can be classified as symbolic, simple lines, flat panes, bold and sometimes flowing curves with rectangular structures.  Back in Vienna, paintings began to turn into a French-inspired floral style and this city eventually became the center of creative innovation in the final blossoming of art nouveau.  A magazine was published there, Sacred Spring, that was described more as a design laboratory than a magazine.  This design laboratory consisted of clever use of white space, sleek stock, color, bold line drawings and hand lettering.  This book really influenced and pushed the Vienna Secession.  I'm going to list one more man who played a huge role in the twentieth century; the German artist Peter Behrens.  He 'sought typographic reform, was an advocate of sans-serif typography, and used a grid system to structure space in his design layouts (233)'.  He is also very popular for being the first artist to design industrial objects such as street lamps, teapots, fans and electric motors.  His love of sans-serifs led him to design four weights, three expanded and three condensed versions,... not to mention his several typeface designs.  

When I read through Megg's book, I often get mad because some of the design concepts and objects for design seem so obvious but are often designed very late in history.  To me it just makes sense,... when something new is created (light bulb) isn't the next step to immediately design an attractive lamp?  The same goes with teakettles.  How long have we been using teakettles?  And it took this long to make them pretty.  Maybe it's too obvious for me because everything is stylized and designed today, but it makes me wonder if I am completely oblivious to something that should be designed/redesigned....and it's staring me right in the face.  Like the redesign of medicine bottles, it seems so obvious now, but I don't think I would have thought of it if she didn't.  It kinda pisses me off sometimes.  

Chapter 11: Art Nouveau

Chapter 11 dealt with the transition to the Art Nouveau period.  In  England, this period focused primarily on the graphic arts and illustration rather than posters, product design and architecture.  Aubrey Beardsley was a very famous man through his cult-like, exotic and demonic pictures.  He created an illustration that was awfully close to a design by William Morris in the 1890's.  Morris proceeded to sue him simply because he felt copied didn't like the mood behind Beardsley's further depiction.  Rickett was also a famous face in the Art Nouveau period, focusing primarily on the entire book as a whole.  Each page was taken into consideration as how it would affect the total book, same as the binding, the end sheets, the title page etc, etc.  

Jules Cheret was another influential man by breaking new ground in poster design.  He made flat panels and flat designs move across the page.  The symbolic aspect of Art Nouveau can really be seen in his work.  

And yet another man to point out is Mucha, who symbolized women in a very different way compared to the past.  He recreated a poster for a famous actress in a very short amount of time because she didn't like the first poster created by a previous artist.  Everyone was flabbergasted at his work- the use of Byzantine style mosaics was incredibly detailed.  Since he didn't have much time to complete his work, it wasn't finished and was left with a colorless bottom.  One thing to point out about Mucha's work is that he portrayed women unrealistically, with  no specific age, nationality, or deriving from a specific historical period.  

I think it's pretty bad ass that Ethel Reed stepped up and became the first Graphic Designer in America.  I know the women's rights movement began in the 1950's, but this is a huge step for women because they are working!  It's not just factory or industrial work either, but creating something new and exciting in a time of change.

In Megg's book, it states that Morris 'was so angry when he saw Beardsley's Morte d'Arthur that he considered legal action' (200), but it never states whether or not he sued him.  Did he pursue legal action or was it just a threat out of anger?  I'm curious because I couldn't imagine the law had much content based on copyright issues.

More work from Matthew Brady

During the past few days in class, we had discussed the legendary Matthew Brady.  He is ultimately responsible for photographing the Civil War and bringing the harshness of war to a reality.  Because of him, people realized that war is not a beautiful thing and certainly shouldn't be glorified.  The soldiers should be honored for their bravery and courage, but the idea of war in itself shouldn't be.  

I got the photograph above from a historical Civil War website and it was photographed by Matthew Brady.  One thing that irked me a bit during class was the discussion about him 'cheating' by moving dead bodies to get a better composition/photograph.  I honestly don't think that it matters because the subject he covered desperatelyneeded to be brought to the attention of the people.  Like I mentioned before, war isn't a thing of beauty and people didn't know the brutality of it since there was no media coverage like today.  If he had to cheat and move a few bodies to knock some sense into people, then I would be happy to be called a cheater if I were Matthew Brady.  He got the necessary point across.  Mission accomplished.

To get back onto topic, this photograph shows a dead soldier surrounded by fighting instruments and destroyed walls.  Considering this photograph was taken in the late 1800's shortly after the invention of the camera, I feel the quality of this black and white photograph is fantastic.  The clarity is excellent, and the shadows really give it an eerie feeling.  The angles (naturally or done by Brady,...who knows) of the log and broken items also create a feeling of uneasiness because nothing is facing the exact same direction.  The center of attention is of course the dead soldier, and since we are looking right into his face, it creates a huge amount of tension.  When I come to think of it, it's very rare that we see photographs in the newspaper or on TV where the dead person's face is exposed.  It's too emotional because many people will recognize the person, and not everybody would like to see their dead loved ones displayed for the world to see.  There is more respect in todays world,... in these terms anyways.  

When I was looking at Brady's collection of war photographs, I chose this one because it's often more effective to just show one dead body versus a hundred of them lined up.  The direct angle focusing on the face makes this photograph effective.  My eyes continue to look at his face because human eyes naturally search for things they can recognize.  A picture consisting of fifty mutilated bodies can also be effective in many ways, but this particular image gives a face to the deceased, it's more personable and concentrates on the individual.  This immediately makes the audience first think about the loved ones of this dead soldier, and in turn, forces them to think about their own family.  It hits home for all viewers and I can appreciate that.

after class 2-27

Yesterday in class we listened to Amanda talk about the Victorian Period.  She covered the design aspects of this period, a brief history of Queen Victoria, who inspired the English during the British Industrial Revolution, and she also went over the creation of posters.  The style of posters and broadsides were probably similar everywhere during this time period, but her description of posters is what I remember most about her presentation.  They used numerous different typefaces with several different sizes.  Their entire poster was filled with text and sometimes incorporated pictures.  I found them to be very difficult to read and hold my attention span, but it might have something to do with what I'm used to seeing today.  It seemed as if everything was either screaming for my attention, or was so small that I couldn't read it.  

I don't follow British history too much, but I was surprised to hear that Queen Victoria wasn't even the King's daughter, but his niece.  I might have missed the reasons for requesting his niece, maybe he didn't have a daughter or son?  Maybe he had an obsession with his niece?   Either way, I thought it was pretty interesting.  

I thought it was interesting that the British were inspired by the Islamic culture, mainly  because their styles are very different today.  I never would have thought they would have inspired each other this far in history.

Chapter 10

This chapter went over the Arts and Crafts movement, and discussed significant figures such as William Morris and John Ruskin.  Ruskin was a writer and artist who inspired  the philosophy of the movement, he rejected the Industrial Revolution type of work, and instead wanted to focus on the art and labor in society.  "A process of separating art and society had begun after the Renaissance" (167).  William Morris is considered to be the leader of the English Arts and Crafts Movement.  He wanted to show individual expressionism through his painting, typography, poetry and eventually through interior design.  He created very expressive wallpapers, furniture, textiles and carpets, which led to the creation of his business, Morris and Company.  The Arts and Crafts movement can be described as a period of time in which beautiful objects were created, men could enjoy work more, the exploitation of the poor was lowered, books were redesigned, and the list can continue.  

I find it funny that Morris was all about helping the poor and 'taught design that could bring art to the working class' (173), yet all of his created furnishings from Morris and Company and books were only available to the wealthy.  He seems like a big hypocrite in this scenario, as if he wanted to appeal to both ends of the spectrum.  He employed the poor and sold to the rich.

I am curious why the Kelmscott Press' first productions, The Story of the Glittering Plain, was printed in a very small amount at first.  Then over the next 8 years, the demand for this particular book skyrocketed,... even after Morris' death.  Why was this book so popular?  Why did everyone want it versus all books at this time, especially since his books were intended for the wealthy?

After class, 2-25

Today in class we reviewed Chapter 9, which covered the Industrial Revolution.  Many new typefaces were created because the use of advertising rocketed once the revolution began.  New companies were being made and wanted to have their own logos.  People with the best corn starch wanted their name out there.  Circuses were traveling around the world and people just wanted to be noticed.  What better to get this affect than big, bold and noticeable letter forms?  Fat faces, san serifs and Egyptian style typefaces were created during this time.  The photograph and camera were discussed, with a more in depth description of the camera obscura.  

I find it interesting that people thought the world was beautiful and such.  I guess it's different because they never saw pictures relating to the war and I have because of the day and age in which I live, but they have to have some common sense, right?  People are killing each other with rifles and bayonets, canons and fire.  What's romantic about this?  I could understand if it was honorable to go into the war because it takes a tremendous amount of courage and determination to fight, but to glorify the war in itself is just stupid.

Where did you get those old cameras?  And, to answer your question about the Freedman not being happy, is it quite possible that the photographer was white?  His name was Matthew,... not trying to be a name stereotyper, but...  A caucasian photographer would piss me off a little bit if I was an African American.  

Chapter 9: Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution

As the title states, this chapter talks about how graphic design was affect through the Industrial Revolution.  The Industrial Revolution occurred first in England between 1760 and 1840, and it really started to take effect once James Watt perfected the steam engine.  Cities were growing rapidly because more factories were being created; meaning more jobs were available.  Everybody was out for that money.  More typefaces were created during this time, ones with personality and designed to catch the audiences' eyes.  This was done because the first forms of advertising were being created- mainly posters and newspapers.  An American printer, Darius Wells, created the first wood cuts which was a huge advancement.  Just compare wood with metal- wood is cheaper, lighter and more durable for this type of use.  

With the help of Watt's steam engine, the first steam press was created in 1814 by Friedrich Koenig.  This allowed paper to be printed much faster (400 sheets vs. 250/hour) and didn't involve much man power.  He than created the 2 double steam presses, which increased the production rate to 1,100 sheets/hour.  It was such a great advancement that everyday citizens were upset simply because they were loosing their jobs.  It was this reason that made Koenig have to hide his press so the crazy Ludites wouldn't tear it up.  

The typesetter was also invented during the Industrial Revolution, which eliminated the use of writing by hand even more.  Another great invention was the camera, which began as a reflection tool for drawing (camera obscura).  The first person to produce a photographic image was Joseph Niepce in 1822.  With the help of Herschel and Talbot, a camera was eventually made.  This invention led to the creation of motion graphics, first completed by Muybridge.  Yes, it is true; horses are airborne at times.  Hurray!

I'm very surprised at how everything changed during the Industrial Revolution.  Advertising was used, factories were being created, cameras were invented, very bold and new typefaces were designed, incredibly efficient presses were made, typewriters were made,.. the list can go on.  This is obviously one of the biggest moments in our world history because these advancements are huge, impacting the graphic design world along with everyone else.  I also like how the book refers Sir John Herschel as 'tackling the problem'.  It's just a nice visual. Crazy guy.

Okay, did the horses ever trip on the trip wires?  It seems like that would be hard to do,.. because the wires needed to be strong enough to trip a switch, but not strong enough to affect the horse's running ability.  If only Muybridge had "No animals were harmed in the making of this motion graphic picture," my question would be answered.

The Swing

In class this week we had tried several times to accurately describe a piece from the Rococo period.  I'm not sure if many people really understood what Rococo art actually looks like, so I decided to post one of the more popular paintings from this time.  

What you see above is The Swing, by Jean-Honore Fragonard, 1767.  This painting totally epitomizes the Rococo art style because of several factors.  Number one, the subject isn't very complicated at all.  It shows somebody outside, demonstrating the carefree spirit of Rococo artists.  The girl seems to have no care in the world as she's being pushed on the swing, she almost appears to be flattered.  She flirtaciously kicks off her shoe and continues to enjoy herself.  The one thing that made this painting so popular was the fact that the man pushing her is her husband, yet the man in the bushes is her secret lover.  Look at the view he gets!  Whoa baby!!  All of the colors used by Fragonard, mainly pastels, can signify what time period this was made in.  To give a good example, the clouds in the background are pastel in color, even though it's supposed to come off as dark and cloudy.  The sun shines through the clouds and penetrates her elegant dress in order to make her colors stand out,... even though it's still has a light and faded color to it.  Another big hint that this is Rococo art is the loose brushstrokes used.  

One thing I like from this time period is how elegant everything looks.  The faces on the people look like porcelain dolls because they are painted so perfectly.  Laura said that the Rococo period focused on the rich people, and it shows in this portrait.  The lush garden and the types of clothing clearly show the quality of life that people dreamed of or wanted to achieve.  It also shows how scandalous people can be, and clearly this sells because like I said, this is one of the reasons that The Swing was popular.

After Class 2/18

In class today we went over a lot of information, mainly the history of several different typefaces.  The ones that we covered are: Caslon, Garamond, Romain du Roi, Baskerville, Bodoni, and Didot.  Caslon is a very simple and plain font that was designed to be 'comfortable' and 'pleasing to the eyes', which means that it's good in body copy where a lot of continous reading is done.  An example of bracketed serifs can be seen in this typeface.  Garamond was designed by a French designer/printer.  He was influenced by Tory and this typeface was used to replace nearly all uses of textura.  Romain du Roi was designed primarily for governmental use, and if it was used for any other reason, the result was death.  Pretty strict, eh?    The unique aspect about this typeface is that was mathematically designed by using a 2,304 square grid system, all of which basically turned useless because the squares get too small to follow once the text was reduced in size.  Baskerville is a font still used today because of it's versatility.  It is a transitional typeface with slight uses of stress in letterforms, as well as different serifs.  The designer of this also created a new type of paper; it was a glossy, finer tooth paper that many people accepted right away.  Bodoni is a modern design with thin and straight serifs.  The designer increased the contrast of thin and thick with strokes, and he also condensed letter forms to make them taller and more geometric.  His competition was Didot, who also was a modern designer with sharp serifs and obvious thick and thinness.  

Yesterday we also learned where the terms upper and lower case came from.  (Pretty heavily weighted terms,...)  I also learned where leading came from, but where does the word kerning come from?

Another big topic was the introduction of the Rococo period, which lasted from 1720-1770.  This period can be described as symmetrical, floral, feminine, detailed and elegant.  It generally focused on the life of rich people,... mainly because only rich people could ever afford the first type of porn.  

A new form of graphics were introduced during this time as well- informational graphs.  Linegraphs, bar charts and pie charts were now being used to compare valuable information.

I am really surprised to hear about the Ludites, who were responsible for destroying printers and other forms of technology.  I can't believe that during vulnerable times, people refuse to advance (or let others) and make the world a better place.  There really isn't that bad of a side affect to printing, despite the fact that opinions and rumors were spread easier, but that occurs everywhere regardless if it's printed on paper.  I think I am going to make a movie about these fellas, the picture shown in class was terrifying.  I some crazy men bearing clubs demanded to locate my printers, I probably wouldn't think twice about it.  Loco.

Chapter 8: An Epoch of Typographic Genius

Chapter 8 discusses the typographical influences from the French.  Roman capital letters were revised many times, and many new measurement grids were constructed.  A new typeface, Romain du Roi, was designed for French king Louis XIV.  This typeface was to be used strictly by the Imprimerie Royal; other uses constituted a capital offense.  It's importance was great because it shifted from the Venetian old style roman, and created a category called transitional roman.  A design period, rococo, emerged in the mid 1700's.  This style was characterized by floral designs, plant forms, light and pastel colors, and ivory white and gold in color.  During the 18th century, type measurement was all over the board until Fournier le Jeune attempted to set a standard measurement, the pouce.  le Jeune was one of the most influencial designer of his era.  Copper engraving flourished at this time because the free line was an ideal medium to express the floral curves of the rococo design.  It was also a break from mechanical-looking typographic printing, which many people took in.  The contributions of William Caslon, John Baskerville, the Bodoni's and the Didot's were also mentioned in this chapter.  All of which have a significant part in design history.  The origins of information graphics begin during this era, including the start of pie charts.

I think it's interesting that the Declaration of Independence is written in Caslon.  I have never really thought about where the type design came until now.  Thanks to printer Benjamin Franklin, he introduced Caslon to the American colonies where it was used excessively... despite jealous criticism. 

Why did French law prevent typefounders from printing? (p. 118)

After Class 2/16

After going over questions from previous blogs, yesterday we quickly went over the Renaissance.  Renaissance can be described as a rebirth or a revival, and it begin in Italy.  One word that was defined yesterday was incunabula, which is latin for cradle or baby linen.  The birth or beginning caused 17th century writers to adopt it as a name for books printed for Gutenburg's invention.  Martin Luther was discussed in class, who was a monk for the Catholic church.  He had a problem with the Catholic's pardons and/or indulgences, so he wrote his 95 theses and posted it at the church.  With the use of typographic printing, his name and ideas were known, therefore started the Reformation.

Albrecht Durer was also brought up in class yesterday.  He is created with bringing the Renaissance to Germany after travels to Italy.  After his return from Italy, he wrote a book that discussed the mathematical fundamentals of writing letters and how to draw.  One example is that he described how to use a grid when drawing a more accurate representation of people.  

I thought it was really interesting how Luther depicted the two pictures of Jesus being removed from the cross and the Pope being carried in the Pope Mobile.  I'm glad that it got the attention of so many people because the intention was to show how the real hero, Jesus, was treated and yet the Pope is getting pampered,... even though he is just representing Jesus.  I'm not religious by any means, but I feel this can go along with everything in society even today.  We often get caught up in the most ridiculous things, upset for the stupidest reasons, even though there are more important, more serious things going on in this world.  I like to get a good reality check every once in a while.  I complain about having too much homework, and somebody else out there is getting severely abused.  The importance of some things need to be seriously considered and rethought,... 

Erhard Ratdoff is credited with creating the first complete title page and I would like to know what book was the title page intended for?

Chapter 6 & 7- The German Illustrated Book & Renaissance Graphic Design

In Chapter 6, we were supposed to look at the sections dealing with Albrecht Durer and Martin Luther.  Albrecht Durer is a famous printer in the Graphic Design world.  He created the Apocalypse, which has 'an unprecedented emotional power and graphic expressiveness (p.84).' His views changed slightly after traveling throughout Europe.  His interactions with the Italian Renaissance allowed him to experiment with theoretical knowledge.  Thus leading into his first book, A Course in the Art of Measurement with Compass and Ruler.  This book did a great job explaining the mathematics of typography, which allowed more people to understand how to write.  After the Bible was printed for many to enjoy and study, people across Europe began to contradict the views of religious leaders; and decided to partake in their own beliefs of the Bible.  Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses for debate on a church door, it had such power that it was eventually put into the printing press.  This made his views available to people everywhere, eventually making him famous.

I think this is one of the most significant things that have shown the importance of the printing press in my views.  I am a Lutheran (not devout my any means) and have slight familiarity with Martin Luther's story.  However, I can really see the importance of the printing press at this time period because without it, who knows if religion would have ever been contradicted.  Martin Luther's ideas never would have been seen around the world, not in the short amount of time that it did anyways.  Clearly this is a huge part of our history since our history is based on religion and our understandings/interpretations of life.

Chapter 7 discusses how the Italian Renaissance affected graphic design.  This chapter explains what a Renaissance is and what makes it different from the rest of the art periods.  The difference lies mainly in the floral decoration, which was applied to furniture, architecture, artwork and manuscripts.  It's quite evident how typefaces are becoming more legible and easier to interpret because of the newly improved kerning.  Renaissance also relates to the change in philsophical humanism.  An important date to retrieve from this book is the early 1500's, in which pocket books were first printed.  Renaissance man Geoffroy Troy is also explained in this book because he had a huge impact on the Graphic Design world.

I think it's interesting how the decline for hand-printed articles lost work for many artists, but yet at the same time the need for illustrators increased.  Only the best master calligraphers were used because the work was very intricate and the need for new and true beauty was high.  

Celtic Tattoo (Wk. 2)

  Throughout this past week, we had talked about Celtic Illuminated Manuscripts and how they were an important aspect of the history of Graphic Design.  We looked at the illuminated manuscripts mainly through the Book of Kells.  This book had a huge array of celtic designs, and they also incorporated fancy initial caps in their work.

This online picture is showing a woman with a Celtic tattoo.  I was drawn to it because the tattoo looks incredible, plus it also contained type alongside the design- needless to say, it reminded me of ancient illuminated manuscripts.  Even looking at the tattoo from several feet back, it's quite evident that it took precise and intricate detailing to end up with this finished product.  The artist paid close attention to getting accurate shadows and shading to get a good feeling of three dimensionality.  This is something that many tattoo artists strive to achieve- making a flat tattoo appear 3-D.  

The typography seems somewhat appropriate for the design.  However, I feel this typeface looks too much like a Gothic-style textura instead of the Celtic uncials and half-uncials that we saw in class.   Since the Celtic design doesn't have the correct typeface to go along with the tattoo, I feel it isn't an accurate tattoo.  However, this is a good example of how people can get confused with history.  Maybe they should have taken a History of Graphic Design class,... that way they would have chosen the right font for their tattoo,...

After Class 2/12

Today in class we reviewed the previous chapter and also got into Chapter 5- Printing comes to Europe.  First we brought up the Book of Kells someone attempted to describe the artwork on a particular page from that book.  We then looked at the Spanish piece- Four Horseman of Apocalypse which apparently 'scared the hell out of people', according to Laura Huaracha.  The Book of Hours was also discussed, which was a book of prayers.  Next we went into Johann Gutenburg, who created the first printing press.  The style he typically used was Textura.  It was during his time that playing cards were created, which was an important invention because it equalized everyone since people of all classes were allowed to use them.

I was interested at how the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse scared so many people during its fine hour.  When I first glanced at it, it just looks like any other old painting, containing no terrifying images.  Of course there is a black floating person-thing, which can be compared to a ghost, but in all honesty, this isn't scary!  It interesting to see how the term 'scary' can change over so many years.  Scary to us is today much more graphic and meaningful.

When I read the chapter yesterday, I understood it as Gutenburg wasn't credited with printing the first bible because that douche bag sued him right before it was going to be finished.  But in class today, it was said that he did get the credit for it,... so does that mean he was credited at the time, or in today's time he is credited?  I know it isn't a big deal, but I'm curious.  Poor guy getting bullied all the time.  Give him some slack ya know? 

Chapter 5- Printing Comes to Europe

Chapter 5 was an informative chapter that discussed how Europeans adapted printing.  The invention of printing allowed knowledge to spread rapidly and the levels of literacy increased greatly because of it.  The first form of propaganda was seen in ars moriendi where it urges people to put aside the desire to provide for one's family and will one's estate to the church.  Apparently the Chinese didn't adapt to typographical printing immediately because alignment between characters wasn't critical and it was nearly impossible to sort through all of their characters.  They therefore kept to block printing instead.  

I am really surprised to read that the value of a book during the early 1400's cost the same as a farm or vineyard.  I understood that books were expensive because of the labor and material, but more than a vineyard!!  

I am also impressed and depressed with Johann Gutenburg's story.  He accomplished something so great and worked so hard, but basically got stabbed in the back with the person who was borrowing him money.  The backstabber turned out to be one of the biggest and most important printing firm in the world.  I am curious to see if they are they still in business to this day.

After class 2-11

In class yesterday we talked about how the Asians contributed to the creation of written text.  We talked about their inventions, their relief paintings and also how they replaced scrolls with a codex-style book.  The purpose of writing on bones was also mentioned

A lot of this information was a review, but hearing the contributions all at one time in list form was quite impressive.  Laura said the Chinese were responsible for inventing the compass, paper (toilet paper included) and gunpowder.  They also were the first culture to print using seals, chops, ink rubbings and movable type.  These guys were basically ninjas when it comes to inventions.  

I'm not sure I completely understand the differences between ink rubbings/movable type/and relief paintings.  Pretty sure I even got a question wrong in the practice quizzes. 

Chapter 3 & 4: The Asian Contribution & Illuminated Manuscripts

Chapter 3 discusses how the Asians designed their own form of writing.  It started with pictography similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics.  If legend is true, Chinese writing began when Tsang Chieh wanted to mimic the footprints and claw marks of various animals.  Chinese characters are all logograms, and the present day writing system has over 44,000 characters.  The Chinese are credited with inventing paper, along with doing some of the first printing in history.

Chapter 4 discusses how illuminated manuscripts originated and became a significant part of history in many different cultures.  A Celtic book, The Book of Kells, is mentioned because it has some of the most beautiful and intricate work ever seen.  They also paid heavy attention to initial caps and incorporating a wide variety of color.  Apparently, Caroline minuscules are considered to be the closest form of our lowercase alphabet,... cool bit of information there.  This chapter also discusses the Spanish, Romanesque, Islamic and Judaic forms of illuminated manuscripts.

There were several things that grabbed my attention while reading these two chapters.  On page 32, it states that regular calligraphy is today considered to be one of the highest art forms in China.  It's surprising how writing can be regarded as a high art within ones' country.  On page 28, the penalty for making counterfeit money in China was death.  One hell of a deterrent... maybe we should use that now...  I also have a newfound respect for Muhammad of Islam.  It states that he encouraged his followers to learn how to read and write, and he also advocated women to do the same.  This in turn led to many important women calligraphers and illustrators. Awesome.

One question I have... on page 34, it states that China begin to use paper as toilet paper.  So does that mean China invented toilet paper?  Never knew the history of t.p.   

After class- 2/9

Today in class we reviewed material from the other day and also got into Chapter 2, which dealt with the alphabet.  We got to see the progression from pictographs all the way to the Greek alphabet, which was very interesting.  

I'm really interested in the Greek rock carvings, especially the Trajan Column.  It's the first piece of typographical history that I have made a connection with because I am familiar with the typeface, Trajan (don't kill me Laura,...).  I feel oh-so-smart now because I know where this font originated from, and it's pretty badass that it has such a significant history.  In all honestly, I thought fonts just randomly appeared because some crazy ninja was bored and created a few typefaces.  Thank God for this class, huh?

During class I was also surprised to hear that in present day some countries/cultures still don't allow everyone the opportunity to read and write.  The leaders want to have even more power over people, and since knowledge is power, they don't want everyday Joe's to be at the same levels of intellectualism.  This is pretty sad because we can all learn from each other in some way, and if you're surrounded by stupid/uneducated/ignorant people, how far can a society go?  It reminds me of the portfolio speaker from the other day- "Work with people who are smarter than you,... always."

Chapter 2- Alphabets

Chapter was just bursting with a bunch of information.  It describes the transformation from the early Semitic alphabet all the way to the Roman's instituted changes.  I thinks it's interesting how something we today feel is so universal and stable (writing) changed so easily once a new empire came to power.  Their style of writing changed and died out, which reminds me of how a language functions.  If it's not spoken, it's lost, even though another language was probably affected by it at some point.  This chapter does a great job explaining the creation of serifs (which I have always wondered about) and also goes into the complexity of the Korean alphabet.

I find it very interesting how the two most popular written languages (forms of Latin and Aramaic) evolved in two completely separate ways.  They each branched out at one point in time and turned into a huge accomplishment for human life.  I like seeing how small changes affect the whole picture, and for thousands of years small changes occurred on each of these languages, eventually coming to a halt once we believe perfection has been achieved.  It makes me wonder if any other changes will ever be made to our alphabet in the future.

I am curious to know if there is a connection between ancient vellum, which was described as the finest parchment made from the smooth skins of newborn calves, and the scrap-booking vellum.  The vellum I have used in scrap-booking is somewhat see-through.... but i don't know if they relate to one another.  If so, my pages have taken on a totally different meaning.  

Dolce & Gabbana Advertisement (Wk. 1)

During class on Friday, we talked about various symbols that represent a man and a woman.  I had thought of that 'mud flap' silhouette woman and wanted to move on from that idea.  While brainstorming about this assignment, I was thinking about advertisements I have seen in the past that have portrayed women negatively. 

 

I found this Dolce & Gabbana advertisement in a Cosmopolitan Magazine a while back and knew this was the perfect advertisement to discuss.  Since I no longer have the magazine containing the ad, I retrieved this image online from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/conn0406/feministtheory/

When looking at the overall craftsmanship of this advertisement, it is absolutely gorgeous.  The simple typeface is placed in an unexpected location in the composition, the lighting is perfect and let's face it ladies, the men look sexy as hell.  However, that's what really irks me about this advertisement.  I understand to the fullest extent that sex sells, but this has really gone too far.  It's more that selling sex, but signifying rape and degrading the female audience.  The woman is very attractive, high heals and the whole damn package, and yet she's being forced on the ground while three other men watch intently,...ready to pounce on her.  It just screams GANG RAPE and I don't know why the hell this should attract women to purchase Dolce & Gabbana products.  Even the text is encouraging this derogratory meaning because it's placed directly over their private parts and the opacity is turned way down.  It makes me feel like I shouldn't be seeing this, that it's private and quite frankly, I should be calling someone of authority to put an end to this.  I'm interested to see if more companies will pursue this type of advertising because this one has created such controversy among viewers around the world.  It's been noticed (for all the wrong reasons) and unfortunately, that's how businesses roll in the dough.  Get noticed, get sold,... but women, don't sell yourself like this.

After class 2/6

In class today, we reviewed Chapter one.  We began by creating basic symbols that show men and women, which was interesting because everyone had different ideas and it was difficult to think of symbols on the spot.  It made me realize that there are so many different symbols in the world and an idea can be expressed in many, many, many ways!

We proceeded to talk about how written languages developed, from simply stick figures to ancient hieroglyphics.  There was a huge timeline that contained pictography thru demotic but it clearly shows advancement.  

While looking up verbs to translate in different languages, I was intrigued by how simple everyone was, once I looked at it and understood that it isn't English.  It makes so much sense for people to want to write faster, because that's the way we are in present day.  The quality of life raises a lot because we have time for enjoyment and time to live our life,... which is what everyone wants to do.  Those cavemen were actually pretty smart, contrary to popular belief.

Chapter 1, the Invention of Writing, gives a very in depth introduction to the history of design.  It begins by briefly explaining the evolution of homo sapiens and then describes the very first forms of communication.  This chapter does a great job explaining the overall process that writing undertook:  from pictographs to cuneiforms and finally reaching advanced styles of hieroglyphics.  The one thing I can appreciate is that this book doesn't simply state the facts, but gives reason as to why the ancient people did what they did.  Examples- reasons for using the Book of the Dead, and the purpose of using scarab beetles throughout Egyptian culture.

I am honestly impressed by Jean Francois Champollion's ability to decipher the Rosetta Stone.  He begins by noticing patterns in the stone, realizing hieroglyphs often functioned as phonograms and then sounded out Cleopatra.  By this discovery he was able to assign sounds to particular glyphs, and his success just exploded from there.  It shows you have to start from the very beginning, the bitch work if you will, in order to make something huge.

I really want to know when Jean began to study the Rosetta Stone.  It was discovered in 1799, and he lived from 1790-1832.  Clearly he didn't live very long and yet he deciphered a lot of information,... but I'm curious to know how long it took him to decipher the whole thing.  It's quite impressive.

Frolicking with clay

      Yesterday was the first day of History of Graphic Design and Laura had an clever approach to introduce history to the class.  She took us to the ceramics room where we had to get hands on with clay.  We then divided into small groups and were assigned a random phrase in which we had to portray using solely clay.  She intentionally made each phrase difficult in it's unique way to show the struggles that early designers/painters had to overcome.  Examples:  showing various colors using only one color of clay, portraying certain people (Ryan Seacrest out of all people...) and expressing emotions.

  

    Doing this exercise made me realize how much extra work and effort prehistoric artists had to do just to illustrate a simple meaning, a simple character.  As difficult as it may seem, historical artworks have demonstrated their purpose and have given us a clue into their life by simply using mud and their index finger.  This shows how wide the doors are open to designers in the present day.  The possibilities are endless and it's quiet exciting as a future designer!  I'll admit that I'm guilty of doing an assignment simply because I have to get a grade for the class,... without much thought or meaning to it.  Today made me question myself for doing this.  Why put effort into a project if it doesn't possess any emotions for myself or my targeted audience?

I searched some meaningful posters, and the one above hit home for me.  

Advertising Agency: LOWE GGK, Warsaw, Poland

Copywriter: Patryk Michon

Photographer: Igor Omulecki

Published: July 2008.