Form Follows Function
3
Modernism
What is Modernism? Modernism designers; Josef M端ller Brockmann, Josef Hoffmann, Wim Crouwel, Massimo Vignelli and Alexander Rochenko
33
Magazine Review
Magazine Front Cover Review; V Magazine, GQ Magazine and LOVE Magazine Magazine Masthead Review; V Magazine, GQ Magazine and LOVE Magazine
63
Typography
Inspiration, Finals.
15
Postmodernism
What is postmodernism? Postmodernism designers; David Carson, Neville Brody, Wolfgang Weingart, April Greinman and Tibor Kalman
45
City in Flux
Brief, Ideas, Development And Finals
56
My Manifesto
27
Magazine design
Magazine Design Mood Boards Minimalism Mood Board, Black and White and Combination of Both
57
Earth Artifact
Brief, Ideas, Final piece.
E X A M P L E S
O F
M O D E R N I S T
G R A P H I C
D E S I G N
M oder n is m What is modernism ?
M
odernism is a creative movement that, the movement arose shortly after the industrial revolution in the late 19th century and early 20th century and brought a change to cultural trends which affected Western Europe the most. Among the factors that shaped Modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by the horror of World War I. Modernists started to move away from the Age of Enlightenment that started to rise in the late 17th century and ended in the late 18th century and they also rejected the majority of religious beliefs which sometimes restricted certain creative ways of thinking. Modernism started to revolutionize the activities and creations of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, activities of daily life, and even the sciences, were becoming ill-fitted to their tasks and out dated in the new economic, social, and political environment of an emerging fully industrialized world, Ezra Pound said “Make It New� which slowly became one of the Modernists main influences which they applied to the majority of their newly industrialized methods and activities and saw it as the one way out of the obsolete culture of the past that they
were living in and set them on a new path to discover the very first building blocks for things like; like the stream-of-consciousness novel, atonal (or pan tonal) and twelve-tone music, quantum physics, genetics, neuron networks, set theory, analytic philosophy, the movingpicture show, divisionism painting and abstract art, all had precursors in the 19th century. A notable characteristic of Modernism is selfconsciousness, which often led to experiments with form, along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and materials used in creating a painting, poem, building, etc. Modernism explicitly rejected the ideology of realism and makes use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody. I’m not really a fan of Modernism, I am more interested in Post-Modernism because I feel like it is quite an old typographic process and I am more into the modern side of things sort of like the processes that came along in and shortly after Post-Modernism.
3
E X A M P L E S
O F
b r o c k m a n n ' s
w o r k s
w o r k
josef Müller Brockmann Who is Müller Brockmann ?
J
osef Müller-Brockmann, (May 9, 1914 in Rapperswil – August 30, 1996), was a Swiss graphic designer and teacher. He studied architecture, design and history of art at both the University and Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. In 1936 he opened his Zurich studio specialising in graphic design, exhibition design and photography. From 1951 he produced concert posters for the Tonhalle in Zurich. In 1958 he became a founding editor of New Graphic Design along with R.P. Lohse, C. Vivarelli, and H. Neuburg. In 1966 he was appointed European design consultant to IBM.
Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Niederteufen, 1981
He is recognised for his simple designs and his clean use of typography (notably AkzidenzGrotesk), shapes and colours which inspire many graphic designers in the 21st century. Müller-Brockman was author of several books on design and visual communication;
Josef Muller Brockmann has had one of the biggest influences on my magazine research document because I took inspiration from his Grid Systems in Graphic Design book front cover; I feel he is one of the most influential graphic designers in the history of graphic design since he is still affecting amateur and professional designers today.
The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems, Teufen, 1961 A History of Visual Communication, Niederteufen, 1971 History of the Poster, co-author Shizuko Yoshikawa, Zurich, 1971
Graphic Design in IBM: Typography, Photography, Illustration, Paris, 1988 Fotoplakate: Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, co-author Karl Wobmann, Aarau, 1989 Mein Leben: Spielerischer Ernst und ernsthaftes Spiel (autobiography), Baden, 1994.
5
E X A M P L E S
O F
h o f f m a n n ' s
w o r k
Josef Hoffm a n n Who is josef hoffmann ?
J
osef Hoffmann (December 15, 1870 – May 7, 1956) was an Austrian architect and designer of consumer goods. He was born in Brtnice, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic). He studied at the Higher State Crafts School in Brno (Brünn) beginning in 1887 and then worked with the local military planning authority inWürzburg. Thereafter he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner, graduating with a Prix de Rome in 1895. In Wagner’s office, he met Joseph Maria Olbrich, and together they founded the Vienna Secession in 1897 along with artists Gustav Klimt, and Koloman Moser. Beginning in 1899, he taught at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. With the Secession, Hoffmann developed strong connections with other artists. He designed installation spaces for Secession exhibitions and a house for Moser which was built from 19011903. However, he soon left the Secession in 1905 along with other stylist artists due to conflicts with realist naturalists over differences in artistic vision and disagreement over the premise of Gesamtkunstwerk. With the banker Fritz Wärndorfer and the artist Koloman Moser he established theWiener Werkstätte, which was to last until 1932.
He designed many products for the Wiener Werkstätte of which designer chairs, most notably “Sitzmaschine” Chair, a lamp, and sets of glasses have reached the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and a tea service has reached the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although he said little to his students, Hoffmann was a highly esteemed and admired teacher. He tried to bring out the best in each member of his class by means of challenging assignments, which were occasionally work on real commissions. Where he detected talent among young artists he was willing or eager to promote it; Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele. I do not like Josef Hoffmann as much as Josef Brockmann because I believe his methods however inspirational are somewhat primitive and I think they need to be modernised for this day and age to have a greater effect and for him to have a bigger impact on the future of Graphic Design.
7
E X A M P L E S
O F
c r o w e l ' s
w o r k
W im Cro uwel Who is wim crouwel ?
W
one of which is the wordmark for the Dutch Rabobank, designed in 1973. The lettershapes have been influenced by the fact that the wordmark had to be used as a 3D light box. After the 3D application was finalized, the 2D design for print was adapted. According to Wim Crouwel, New Alphabet was ‘over-the-top and never meant to be really used’. However, as unreadable as it was, it In 1963, he was one of the founders of the made a comeback in 1988 when designer design studio Total Design (currently named Brett Wickens used a version of the font on Total Identity). From 1964 onwards, Crouwel the sleeve of Substance by Joy Division. was responsible for the design of the posters, catalogues and exhibitions of theStedelijk Wim Crouwel is another big inspiration for Museum in Amsterdam. In 1967 he designed my magazine research document, after we the typeface New Alphabet, a design that was shown the film “Helvetica” I decided to embraces the limitations of the cathode ray do some research into several of the artists tube technology used by early data display that was mentioned which included Wim and screens and phototypesetting equipment, thus fellow graphic design Josef Muller Brockmann, only containing horizontal and vertical strokes. and their work started to rub off on me and I Other typefaces from his hand are Fodor and noticed I was soon comparing other peoples Gridnik. In 1970 he designed the Dutch pavilion work to theirs by noticing the similarities from for Expo ‘70 (Osaka, Japan). Later, Crouwel what other people have used as inspiration designed the Number Postage Stamps for the from Wim Crouwel and from then on I think Dutch PTT, well known in the Netherlands he is one of the key graphic designers that during its circulation from 1976-2002. helped shape the industry that we know today. illem Hendrik “Wim” Crouwel (born 21 November 1928) is a Dutch graphic designer, type designer, and typographer. Between 1947 and 1949, he studied Fine Arts at Academie Minerva in Groningen, the Netherlands. In addition, he studied typography at what is now the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.
In the years Crouwel worked for Total Design, he designed many geometric wordmarks,
9
E X A M P L E S
O F
v i g n e l l i ' s
w o r k
Mass imo V ign ell i Who is massimo vignelli ?
M
assimo Vignelli (January 10, 1931) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas ranging from package design through houseware design and furniture design to public signage and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his wife, Lella. His ethos was, “If you can design one thing, you can design everything,” and this was reflected in the broad range of his work. Vignelli worked firmly within the Modernist tradition, and focused on simplicity through the use of basic geometric forms in all his work. Vignelli studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and later at the Università di Architettura, Venice. From 1957 to 1960, he visited America on a fellowship, and returned to New York in 1966 to start the New York branch of a new company, Unimark International, which quickly became, in scope and personnel, one of the largest design firms in the world. The firm went on to design many of the world’s most recognizable corporate identities, including that of American Airlines (which forced him to incorporate the eagle, Massimo was always quick to point
out). Vignelli designed the iconic signage for the New York City Subway system during this period, and the 1970s–80s map of the system. Contrary to news reports, Vignelli did not design the Washington Metro Map, which was designed by Lance Wyman and Bill Cannan. Vignelli created the signage and wayfinding system for the DC Metro and suggested it be named “Metro” like many other capital city subways. Its original name was a mishmash of various states and transportation groups. Massimo Vignelli is another one of my favourite graphic designers and has had a great impact on my magazine research document, he has inspired me on the layout of my research document and I also took inspiration from his work by changing the colour of certain words in my document from black to white to make them stand out a bit more only if they had an important meaning or I thought that they should be highlighted because they are linked to an image on the page.
11
E X A M P L E S
O F
R o d c h e n k o ' s
w o r k
Alexa n der Rodchen ko Who is alexander rodchenko ?
A
leksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko was a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design; he was married to the artist Varvara Stepanova. Rodchenko was one of the most versatile Constructivist and Productivist artists to emerge after the Russian Revolution. He worked as a painter and graphic designer before turning to photomontage and photography. His photography was socially engaged, formally innovative, and opposed to a painterly aesthetic. Concerned with the need for analytical-documentary photo series, he often shot his subjects from odd angles usually high above or down below to shock the viewer and to postpone recognition. He wrote: “One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again.” Rodchenko was born in St. Petersburg to a working-class family who moved to Kazan after the death of his father, in 1909. He became an artist without having had any exposure to the art world, drawing much inspiration from art
magazines. In 1910, Rodchenko began studies under Nicolai Fechin and Georgii Medvedev at the Kazan Art School, where he met Varvara Stepanova, whom he later married. After 1914, he continued his artistic training at the Stroganov Institute in Moscow, where he created his first abstract drawings, influenced by the Suprematism of Kazimir Malevich, in 1915. The following year, he participated in “The Store” exhibition organized by Vladimir Tatlin, who was another formative influence. Rodchenko’s work was heavily influenced by Cubism and Futurism and I quite like that since these two styles were developed in a totally different culture to ours and even though the style hasn’t got the best reputation thanks to how it was used in communism I still feel that it has a lot to offer and the process that is used to create a piece such as this requires a certain message for it to be complete and I think that is the main reason why I like this artist and these styles so much.
13
E X A M P L E S
O F
p o st m o d e r n i st
g r a p h i c
d e s i g n
post M oder n i s m What is postmodernism ?
P
ostmodernism is a late-20th-century movement in the arts, architecture, and criticism that was a departure from modernism. Postmodernism includes skeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy,history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. It is often associated with deconstruction and poststructuralism because its usage as a term gained significant popularity at the same time as twentieth-century post-structural thought. The term postmodernism has been applied to a host of movements, mainly in art, music, and literature, that reacted against tendencies in modernism, and are typically marked by revival of historical elements and techniques. The term postmodern was first used around the 1870s. John Watkins Chapman suggested “a postmodern style of painting” as a way to depart from French Impressionism. J. M. Thompson, in his 1914 article in The Hibbert Journal (a quarterly philosophical review), used it to describe changes in attitudes and beliefs in the critique of religion: “The raison d’etre of Post-Modernism is to escape from the double-mindedness of Modernism by being thorough in its criticism by extending it to religion as well as theology, to Catholic
feeling as well as to Catholic tradition.” In 1921 and 1925, postmodernism had been used to describe new forms of art and music. In 1942 H. R. Hays described it as a new literary form. However, as a general theory for a historical movement it was first used in 1939 by Arnold J. Toynbee: “Our own Post-Modern Age has been inaugurated by the general war of 1914–1918”. In 1949 the term was used to describe a dissatisfaction with modern architecture, and led to the postmodern architecture movement, perhaps also a response to the modernist architectural movement known as the International Style. I prefer Post-Modernism to Modernism since Post-Modernism evolved after Modernism and technology slowly started to merge into it which opened up a whole new world of work and processes for designers everywhere so I think this is why I like Post-Modernism more since I am more of a digital designer than a physical one.
15
E X A M P L E S
O F
c a r s o n ' s
w o r k
Dav id Ca rson Who is david carson ?
D
avid Carson (born September 8, 1954) is an American graphic designer, art director and surfer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. He was the art director for the magazine Ray Gun, in which he employed much of the typographic and layout style for which he is known. In particular, his widely imitated aesthetic defined the so-called “grunge typography” era. Carson was born on September 8, 1954 in Corpus Christi, Texas. He attended San Diego State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. Carson’s first contact with graphic design was in 1980 at the University of Arizona during a two week graphics course, taught by Jackson Boelts. From 1982 to 1987, Carson worked as a teacher in Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, California. During that time, he was also a professional surfer, and in 1989 he was ranked as the 9th best surfer in the world. In 1983, Carson started to experiment with graphic design and found himself immersed in the artistic and bohemian culture of Southern California. He attended the Oregon College of Commercial Art. That year, he
went to Switzerland to attend a three-week workshop in graphic design as part of his degree. The teacher of the workshop, HansRudolf Lutz, became his first great influence. I am not really a fan of David Carson’s work since it is a more urban feel to it which kind of links into Modernism which I do not also like either since. I am into a more modern digital feel to my work instead of the urban graffiti effect that he uses on most of his work, even though I do not like his work I still feel that David Carson is one of the best modern designers that are out there because he brings a professional look to an un-professional graffiti style which would normally be seen as tacky style and would not be included in most magazines today.
17
E X A M P L E S
O F
b r o d y ' s
w o r k
Nev il le Brody Who is neville brody ?
N
eville Brody (born 23 April 1957 in London) is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director. Neville Brody is an alumnus of the London College of Printing and Hornsey College of Art, and is known for his work on The Face magazine (1981–1986) and Arena magazine (1987–1990), as well as for designing record covers for artists such as Cabaret Voltaire and Depeche Mode. He created the company Research Studios in 1994 and is a founding member of Fontworks. He is the new Head of the Communication Art & Design department at the Royal College of Art. Neville Brody was born in Southgate, London on 23 April 1957. He attended Minchenden Grammar school and studied A-Level Art, very much from a fine art viewpoint. In 1975 Brody went on to do a Fine Art foundation course at Hornsey College of Art, once renowned for its late sixties agitation, now part of Middlesex University. In autumn 1976, Brody started a three-year B.A. course in graphics at the London College of Printing. His tutors often condemned his work as “Uncommercial”, often putting a heavy emphasis on safe and tested economic strategies, as opposed to experimentation. By 1977, punk rock was beginning to have a major effect upon London life and, while this
had a great impact upon Brody’s work and motivation, was not well received by his tutors. At one point he was almost thrown out of the college for putting the Queen’s head sideways on a postage stamp design. He did, however, get the chance to design posters for student concerts at the college, most notably for Pere Ubu, supported by The Human League. In spite of the postage stamp episode, Brody was not only motivated by the energies of punk. His first-year thesis had been based around a comparison between Dadaism and pop art. I quite like Neville Brody’s style especially the word clouds that he has created which I think kind of something that I would like to get further into when I have finished university or even include it in some of my work that I am doing while I am at university which I think will be an interesting thing to learn about with the different processes, approaches and programs that I can use to create an effect such as this, I also find myself interested in typography and I think the way he tackles typography is exactly how I want to do so when I come to doing it.
19
E X A M P L E S
O f
w e i n g a r t ' s
w o r k
Wo lfga ng We i nga rt Who is wo lfgang weingart?
W
olfgang Weingart (born 1941 in Constance at the northern foot of the Alps in southern Germany) is an internationally known graphic designer and typographer. His work is categorized as Swiss typography and he is credited as “the father” of New Wave or Swiss Punk typography. In April 1958 he returned to Germany and began his studies at the Merz Academy in Stuttgart, where he attended a two year program in applied graphic arts. He learned typesetting, linocut and woodblock printing. Weingart then completed a three-year typesetting apprenticeship in hot metal hand composition at Ruwe Printing. There he came into contact with the company’s consulting designer, Karl-August Hanke, who became his mentor and encouraged him to study in Switzerland.
1974 and 1996, at Hofmann’s invitation, Weingart taught at the Yale Summer Program in Graphic Design in Brissago, Switzerland. For over forty years he has lectured and taught extensively in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. According to Weingart, “I took ‘Swiss Typography’ as my starting point, but then I blew it apart, never forcing any style upon my students. I never intended to create a ‘style’. It just happened that the students picked up and misinterpreted a so called ‘Weingart style’ and spread it around.”
I like the way Wolfgang uses different typography to create a sort of collage of different fonts and uses different effects like white blocks to cover parts of the letters up to create different sorts of typography and I Weingart met Emil Ruder and Armin Hofmann also like the way he uses a mix up of different in Basel in 1963 and moved there the colours and effects to create this sort of punk following year, enrolling as an independent typography that he seems to specialise in. student at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design). In 1968, he was invited to teach typography at the institution’s newly established Weiterbildungsklasse für Grafik, an international Advanced Program for Graphic Design, where he remained a highly influential instructor until 2005. Between
21
E X A M P L E S
O F
g r e i m a n ' s
w o r k
Ap r il Gr e im a n Who is april greiman ?
A
pril Greiman (born 22 March 1948) is a designer. “Recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a design tool, Greiman is also credited, along with early collaborator Jayme Odgers, with establishing the ‘New Wave’ design style in the US during the late 70s and early 80s.” Greiman heads Los Angelesbased design consultancy Made in Space. Greiman first studied graphic design in her undergraduate education at the Kansas City Art Institute, from 1966–1970. She then went on to study at the Allgemeine Künstgewerberschule Basel, now known as the Basel School of Design (Schule für Gestaltung Basel) in Basel, Switzerland (1970–1971). As a student of Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart, she was influenced by the International Style and by Weingart’s introduction to the style later known as New Wave, an aesthetic less reliant on Modernist heritage.
she exploited pixelation and other digitization “errors” as integral parts of digital art, a position she has held throughout her career. In 1982, Greiman became head of the design department at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1984, she lobbied successfully to change the department name to Visual Communications, as she felt the term “graphic design” would prove too limiting to future designers. In that year, she also became a student herself and investigated in greater depth the effects of technology on her own work. She then returned to full-time practice and acquired her first Macintosh computer. She would later take the Grand Prize in Mac World’s First Macintosh Masters in Art Competition.
I do not really like April’s style of work simply because to me it doesn’t really look at good because most of it is just a compilation of random images thrown together which looks like it belongs in the future from back to the Greiman moved to Los Angeles in 1976, where future, I do not really like her work since I she established the multi-disciplinary approach am into the more modern digital version that extends into her current practice, Made of work and styles that I want to follow. in Space. During the 1970s, she rejected the belief among many contemporary designers that computers and digitalization would compromise the International Style; instead,
23
E X A M P L E S
O F
k a l m a n ' s
w o r k
T ibor Ka lm a n Who is tibor kalman ?
T
ibor Kalman (July 6, 1949 – May 2, 1999) was an American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well known for his work as editor-in-chief of Colors magazine. Kalman was born in Budapest and became a U.S. resident in 1956, after he and his family fled Hungary to escape the Soviet invasion, settling in Poughkeepsie, New York. He later attended NYU, dropping out after one year of Journalism classes. In the 1970s Kalman worked at a small New York City bookstore that eventually became Barnes & Noble. He later became the supervisor of their in-house design department. In 1979 Kalman,Carol Bokuniewicz, and Liz Trovato started the design firm M & Co., which did corporate work for such diverse clients as the Limited Corporation, the new wave group Talking Heads, and Restaurant Florent in New York City’s Meatpacking District Kalman also worked as creative director of Interview magazine in the early 1990s. Kalman became founding editor-in-chief of the Benetton-sponsored Colors magazine in 1990. In 1993, Kalman closed M & Co. and moved to Rome, to work exclusively on the magazine. Billed as ‘a magazine about the rest of the world’, Colors focused on
multiculturalism and global awareness. This perspective was communicated through bold graphic design, typography, and juxtaposition of photographs and doctored images, including a series in which highly recognizable figures such as the Pope and Queen Elizabeth were depicted as racial minorities. Kalman remained the main creative force behind Colors, until the onset of non-Hodgkins lymphomaforced him to leave in 1995, and return to New York. I like the way Tibor Kalman pushes the boundaries of Graphic Design and chooses to discuss the tough subjects of his era about race and sex, which I think is quite interesting and I like how his work is so effective because he is willing to go and push those boundaries that so many others would not risk in their lifetime.
25
E X A M P L E S
O F
m i n i m a l i s t i c
w o r k
M in i m a l is m my inspiration
I
n the visual arts and music, minimalism is a style that uses pared-down design elements. Minimalism in the arts began in post–World War II Western Art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, John McCracken, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of Modernism and is often interpreted as a reaction against Abstract expressionism and a bridge to Postminimal art practices. Minimalism in music features repetition and iteration such as those of the compositions of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. Minimalist compositions are sometimes known as systems music. The term “minimalist” often colloquially refers to anything that is spare or stripped to its essentials. It has also been used to describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and the automobile designs of Colin Chapman. The word was first used in English in the early 20th century to describe “a 1913 composition by the Russian painter Kasimir Malevich of a black square on a white ground”.
The term minimalism is also used to describe a trend in design and architecture, whereing the subject is reduced to its necessary elements. Minimalistic design has been highly influenced by Japanese traditional design and architecture. The works of De Stijl artists are a major reference: De Stijl expanded the ideas of expression by meticulously organizing basic elements such as lines and planes. The reason why I like Minimalism so much is because of how simple it and effective that it is, especially the simple colours and shapes that are used to convey a message. I also like how Minimalism has been incorporated into the graphic design industry with the use of new technology and processes there are a whole different range of Minimalism creative work that has been produced recently since it came back into fashion.
27
E X A M P L E S
O F
b l a c k
a n d
w h i t e
w o r k
b l ack a n d whi te my inspiration
B
lack-and-white images are not usually starkly contrasted black and white. They combine black and white in a continuum producing a range of shades of gray. Further, many prints, especially those produced earlier in the development of photography, were in sepia (mainly for archival stability), which yielded richer, subtler shading than reproductions in plain black-and-white. Colour photography provides a much greater range of shade, but part of the appeal of black-and-white photography is its more subdued monochromatic character. Photography was black-and-white or shades of sepia. Colour photography was originally rare and expensive and again often less than true to life. Colour photography became more common in the middle of the 20th century and has become even more common since. Nowadays black and white has turned into a niche market for photographers who use the medium for artistic purposes. This can take the form of black-and-white film or digital conversion to grayscale, with optional digital image editing manipulation to enhance the results. For amateur use certain companies such as Kodak manufactured black-and-white disposable cameras until 2009. Also, certain films are produced today which give black and white images
using the ubiquitous C41 colour process. The thing that I really like about black and white imagery is the fact that the majority of posters and images that are in black and white all have very powerful messages and none of them employ the use of colour to help them do so. Another reason why I favour some black and white images over those in colour is because the effect of using black and white on an image gives the image some historical style and sometimes the image that has been taken today looks a whole lot better in black and white, The third and final reason why I like the black and white effect so much is because of how the exposure setting on a camera can change how an image looks if it is in black and white dramatically and the different shades of white that you can get in a image in combination with all the shades of black.
29
e x a m p l e s
o f
b l a c k
a n d
w h i t e
a n d
m i n i m a l i s m
w o r k
E X A M P L E S
O F
V
m a g a z i n e ' s
c o v e r
cov e r Rev i ew V magazine
I
have chosen “V” magazine as one of my front cover reviews because I really like the way they have created their cover and made it so simple and minimalistic which is why I wanted to put it in my magazine as my first review because I feel that it played a key role in the development of my front cover of my magazine. One of the reasons I decided to use “V” magazine as one of my inspirations for my front cover is because I love how they have used the use of space on the page for some simple subheadings on each of their covers and then the cover is constructed around the specific image that is going to be used on their front covers for that issue which I think is quite interesting and also a nice thing to be able to do since the magazine is recognisable no matter what colour scheme they decide to go with. I wanted to create something along the lines of their front cover with something simple, with no crazy shapes or colours that are on the opposite of the colour wheel to each over and create some rainbow front cover but I wanted something simple like their magazine, that is why on my front cover I have mainly kept to the use of either white, grey or black which I think all three of these colours
contrast well with each other but do not make the cover too crazy and also keeps with the minimalistic theme that I wanted to go for. The only thing that I did not like about the “V” magazine is the fact that the barcode is on the front cover of their magazine to me a barcode doesn’t really belong on the front cover of a magazine as it does not suit a place in the theme of the issue most of the time and I think it belongs on the back cover or even on the first page of the magazine so it is hidden and is not killing off the aesthetic look of the front cover or the back cover.
33
E X A M P L E S
O F
G Q
m a g a z i n e ' s
c o v e r
cov e r Rev i ew GQ magazine
I
have chosen the “GQ” magazine for my second cover review because I feel that it is probably my second favourite magazine that I have gathered research on for my magazine and I think it has influenced my decisions throughout the development process which I think are key things that should be mentioned. One of the reasons that I like the “GQ” magazine’s front cover style is because the cover is constructed around the image that they are going to use on the issue that is being produced so the text and all the subheadings are placed around the centre of the page since that is how “GQ” like to stylize their front covers and even sometimes they can hide their title behind the image itself just because it is still partially visible and the majority of people that look through magazines can still easily recognise it by the style that they use to create it and they keep the same continuous style throughout all their issues. Although they have a continuous style of putting subheadings all around their cover pages I think this is the one thing that I do not like about “GQ” I just think that throwing the subheadings everywhere on the front cover isn’t the right thing to do, even though
I do think the way they have gone about doing it is probably the best out of all the magazines that I have looked at I am still not too interested in placing it onto my front cover. I also really like the colours that they have chosen with each of their different issues they use a contrast of different colours for the “G” and the “Q” which I think is quite interesting and then this colour scheme that is decided on here is also changed the colour scheme of the entire front cover.
35
E X A M P L E S
O f
l o v e
m a g a z i n e ' s
c o v e r
c ov e r Rev i ew love magazine
I
have chosen the “Love” magazine as my third and final front cover review because I do not actually really like it at all there is only one or two things that I like about it and I thought it would be important to go over the things that I do not like and talk about why I didn’t do them for my front cover of my magazine. One of the first things that drew me towards choosing the “Love” magazine was the simplicity of their front cover which is exactly what I wanted to do, with the masthead at the top and then an image in the middle to show what it was about and that was it but after a while I started to realise that I wanted some which was closer towards the “V” magazine or the “GQ” magazine.
on around the cover or maybe even nothing at all since this is a graphic design magazine and not one which is about gossip or an actor or film review for a magazine like “GQ” or “V”. I also do not like the fact that the “Love” logo changes pretty much every-time a new issue comes out and sometimes it looks completely different to how it looked previously in the magazine series so I think they need to tone down the craziness and start sticking to similar theme or style for their masthead before it gets too unrecognisable.
Another thing that I like about the “Love” magazine is the fact that they have only one subheading mainly on their covers which is something that I wanted to aim for on my cover since I do not want it to be busy at all I just want something simple, effective and minimalistic which is exactly what I feel “Love” has created. The last thing that I do not like about “Love” and what really put me off it the most is the use of the image in the middle of the page which takes up the entire cover and I do not really like that, I’d prefer something that just has an effect
37
E X A M P L E S
O F
V
m a g a z i n e ' s
m a s t h e a d
m ast hea d Rev i ew V magazine
I
have chosen to further my review of the magazines that I originally chosen for my reviews because I thought it would make more sense to go into further detail about the magazines that have inspired me and helped me shape my magazine during the design process and how that changed my ideas on what looked good and what doesn’t look so good on a front cover. The main reason I really like the masthead for the “V” magazine is because of how they incorporate the background image into it by overlapping it with the image, especially when they make it look like the model is holding on to the “V” or even when they are partially stepping over it or something, this is what makes the “V” magazine have such a big inspiration on my magazine just because of this one key thing. The secondary reason why I like the “V” masthead so much is because it is so simple and it follows my idea on how I want to create my simplistic, minimalistic masthead for my magazine, with it only being one letter as well it frees up a lot of letter space on the front cover so they are able to place some subheadings, which I normally do not like at all but because of the simplicity of the masthead I think subheadings should work quite well with this sort of masthead
and allow for more subheadings compared to other mastheads on other magazines. The layout for the masthead is always the same I have noticed the inner side of the “V” always has the centre point for the image inside of it and the on the outer side of the “V” always has the subheading which in my mind creates its own little layout system for them to follow throughout the design of their magazine series.
39
E X A M P L E S
O F
G Q
m a g a z i n e ' s
m a s t h e a d
m ast hea d Rev i ew GQ magazine
I
think GQ is my second favourite masthead by far especially because of how well known it is and how simple it is, everyone knows what the magazine is even if they cover up the majority of their masthead with the image that is in the background or the image of a model, which I think is a key milestone for any magazine to achieve.
things a bit too complicated so I think it is a bad thing that they cannot really move it.
I think the font that they have used is perfect for the placement and the way they have organised their layout, I think that’s probably my favourite thing about their masthead is the fact that it is so big and bold and they can cover up the majority of it and what is left is still readable I think the different uses of colour on each and you are able to tell what magazine it is still. of the magazines covers for each issue really gives the magazine masthead a more diverse look and also expands the identity even further for the “GQ� magazine, Also I like the effect that the colour scheme of the masthead affects the entire magazine cover itself which I think creates an interesting theme in combination with the contrasting colours of the background image that they choose for each issue. What I think one of the downsides to their masthead is the fact that it is always in the top left corner no matter what they do whether or not they cover it up or leave it completely exposed, I feel that if they move it somewhere else on the page they would lose part of their identity which in a sense is a bad thing for a short amount of time but their target audience might take a while to adjust to the new change and since it is always in one place moving it around all of the time would just make
41
E X A M P L E S
O F
l o v e
m a g a z i n e ' s
m a s t h e a d
m asthea d Rev i ew LOVE magazine
F
or my third and final masthead review I have decided to do the “Love” magazine since it is my least favourite out of all of the mastheads that I have chosen I thought it would be one of the most important mastheads to include in my magazine.
they have used throughout the different issues that they have produced for their masthead don’t exactly contrast with the image that the magazine cover is based on which I think is one of the key things that needs to be happening on a cover like this, sometimes this effect is achieved but mostly it either blends The primary reason that makes me not like in with the background image and model the “Love” magazine masthead is the fact too much or stands out way to much so it that they change the way it looks pretty much doesn’t look like it belongs to the cover at all. completely in each issue of the magazine, which is to me a really bad thing because the Some of the textures that they have used masthead looks completely different in each on their mastheads are quite effective but of the issues it starts to create a distorted the majority of them have no relation to the identity for the magazine which isn’t always actual magazine cover itself and it makes it a bad thing but for this magazine I think it is, look like it’s thrown together at the last minbecause it is one about actors and famous ute or something which isn’t a very good people I think it should have some sort of look for something that has to attract someprofessionalism to it so the masthead should one to buy it and catch someone’s eye. change but it should also keep the same level of similarity throughout every issue. I think the use of the embossed effect on the masthead itself creates a nice three dimensional look but I also think that the effect is a bit too strong and it would look a lot better with a drop shadow and maybe a weaker emboss effect on it with a smooth look instead of a chisel hard/soft look, also the colours that
43
the b r ief my take on the brief
P
romoting research, creative thinking, experimentation, semiotics and visual narrative “The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvellous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as Though in an atmosphere of the marvellous; but we do not notice it.” Charles Baudelaire. “Major cities are in a continuous state of flux caused by building and rebuilding activities and flows of artifacts, goods, commodities, and people, which dissolve and recreate different areas as sites of activity and use. Cities are characterized by tensions between this destruction and reconstruction of spaces, the coexistence of heterogeneous groups, and the different claims upon spaces, which they advance, and contest. The fusion between the physical form of the city and its social composition promises to help us understand how the question of the city’s identity and differences can become a topic of interest for the groups of persons who inhabit its spaces and who calculate ways and means of practically dealing with these changes.” Extract from Culture of Cities Project The ‘City in flux’ can take many forms in its simplest and most literal form ‘City in flux’ is little more than the layout of the town and the associated directional signage. However, when
we apply a more cultural interpretation, then the ‘City in flux ’is more than this alone. It is an integral, multisensory landscape that is realised when many factors inter-relate. The way in which the space is interpreted and perceived. For my city in flux project I wanted to create something with a strong message and would affect how people view a situation in life. I wanted to create a campaign of posters that will show how the homeless people are left out of society and ignored. I felt that I want to look at the opposite side of flux, by focusing on what is not in flux for i.e. the homeless. I feel that a strong narrative drove my whole project because I feel that project has to have a meaning and a purpose. I wanted a black and white collection of posters because I feel black and white has more depth and creates an illusion of isolation in my posters.
45
C i t y
i
for those who F
or my City in Flux project I am trying to raise awareness of homeless people with a range simplistic black and white poster. The message I am I want to show in my posters how homeless people not in flux because they are almost left behind with society itself. I want to show in my posters how homeless people are ignored and are separated from the people in flux. This is why I called my project “for those who are not in flux”.
because I feel that people around that age will be able to sympathise for other people in general and who are homeless. I also feel that at the age of sixteen, my posters won’t just need bright colour to attract people, it will just need a strong message and a good contrast of black and white. If I was to print my posters I would presenting my five homeless awareness posters by displaying them in frames next to one another in a certain layout and in the position shown below. I will also have written above the posters in a separate frame “For those who are not in Flux” to represent the homeless people who are not in flux.
My five homeless awareness posters are targeted at all audiences to raise more awareness to those who don’t notice homeless people. To be more specific my posters will be aimed at ages sixteen and I’m really proud of this project because I above feel that I have answered the brief in a unique way and style. I feel that I have given my city in flux project has a really good narrative throughout my work, I also think that the message I am trying to get across is clear throughout my campaign posters.
n
f l u x
are not in flux I
like how I took a different direction with my posters because I feel that they answer the brief in a different way because I focused on what is not in flux and how the city is moving but homeless people are left out. I feel that creating my project and basing it around homeless people has opened my eyes to those who are less fortunate than I am because I feel privileged to go university and have all these amazing opportunities. After finishing this project I feel that people of today’s society including me do not notice people less fortunate like homeless people and that people take many things for granted. If I was to go back and redo my city in flux project I would like to explore the lives of the homeless so I could find out the story and implement it into my designs. I would also would revisit the first poster I designed because I feel it doesn’t go with the other posters in a graphical sense, but it has one of the strongest messages. Overall I feel that my project has turned out really well and I feel that I have answered the brief in my own unique way.
the b r ief my take on the brief
E
arth Artifact, Promoting research, creative thinking, experimentation, semiotics, media channels and visual narrative. “For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk, we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas enabling people to work together...” Stephen Hawking
it will most likely be far in the future as the nearest star on Voyager 1’s trajectory will only be reached in 40,000 years.
Carl Sagan noted that “The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.” Thus Background, The Voyager Golden Records the record is best seen as a time capsule or a are phonograph records, which were included symbolic statement rather than a serious attempt aboard both Voyager spacecraft, which were to communicate with extra-terrestrial life. launched in 1977. They contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of When I analysed the “Earth Artifact” brief I life and culture on Earth, and are intended felt that I have a big opportunity to express for any intelligent extra-terrestrial life form, or my passion for astronomy and space in for future humans, who may find them. The general. I also wanted to explore animation Voyager spacecraft’s are not heading towards because I’ve never animated anything before, any particular star, but Voyager 1 will be within so I created an animation for my project. I 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the wanted to have another great meaning to my Ophiuchus constellation in about 40,000 years. project, so I came up with the idea of “WE ARE ALL MADE OF STARS” and created As the probes are extremely small compared a long animation to portray my message. to the vastness of interstellar space, the probability of a space-faring civilization encountering them is very small, especially since the probes will eventually stop emitting any kind of electromagnetic radiation. If they are ever found by an alien species,
57
e a r t h w e F
a r e
or my Earth Artifact project I wanted to get across the idea of how everything is made up of the same elements/matter and how everything is connected in that way. I wanted to get across in my work that we are all one family in the aspect of that we are all made up of “star dust” and elemental properties.
I feel that if I was to get across that the universe is one massive family, it might show any extraterrestrials that we come in peace. I think that this approach towards the brief was a unique because I don’t think anyone else would look at it in the way and I feel that this idea has more of a strong message. I’m really proud of this project because I feel that I have answered the brief in a unique way and by giving it a really good narrative, the narrative being that we are all connected by our atomic structure and how we are all made up of star dust. I feel that my animation gets across this message really well due to the animating text I incorporated and the detailed images I used. I feel that the effort and time paid off for the final animation because I put a lot of time into this project even though it’s supposed to be a small one.
T
a l l
hroughout the whole project I had the same mentality of a good positive message that will be a different take on the project. I feel that having a good message encouraged me to go the extra mile with animation because I feel that without a good positive message, I wouldn’t have gone to the extent I did, in terms of detail with my animation. My favourite part of my project was creating the scene with the alien because I feel that it is such an important part of my animation and I feel that the Photoshop edit I did of it was exceptional. I also like creating the key space elements for example the Galaxies and the planets. I really hope people like my animation and understand the message that I’m trying to get across through the animation. I also hope that people can see the amount of effort I have put in this project because I feel that I put a lot of time and dedication in this project.
a rt i f a c t
m a d e o f sta r s A
fter finishing this project I feel that animation I extremely hard to do and is really challenging. This is the first ever animation I have done and I’m really proud of it because I specialise in graphic design, which is really different to animation. I think I have done quite a good job on my animation because I didn’t turn up to all of the process and production classes on After Effects, so I had to learn to animate my work through trial and error. Even though I learned most of the animating myself I wouldn’t of been able to create my animation without Sarah, because she helped learn the basics in her lessons, they really paid of well when I was animating my Earth Artifact animation. If was to revisit my animation I would like to refine the transitions between each frame and I would also like to explore different effects in my animation. I would have liked to add a shaking effect to my animation to give it more of an epic look. I also would have liked to render my animation fully in 1080p without any stuttering because I had to use my laptop to render it which it is not really up to the task. Overall I feel I have answered the brief and I have come up with a great animation for my Earth Artifact project. I feel that I can take a lot away from this project in terms of skills and work management.
final
piece
i n s p i r a t i o n
f o r
m y
t y p e o g r a p h y
t y p eogr a p hy my inspiration
H
ere are the images that I feel inspired me the most when I was creating my fonts for the process and production module with John. I felt that I had to recreate my font designs that I created in the lesson because I feel that they were not up to a professional standard. After deciding to recreate my fonts I wanted to look at some inspirational images, so that I will get ideas for my typography.
called brush pens and I thought it would be a good opportunity to make use of my graphics tablet which I recently acquired and I believe it was a good experiment since the font that I created using my tablet looks like a handwriting typography for the thing that I was aiming for.
I also like the image in the bottom left which creates a sort of eroded grunge effect which I thought would be a cool feature to be added For the first image of a Rubix Cube I gained into my type that I am creating to give it a inspiration of a square base font what I more of a texture than just a basic black developed into a typeface. The next image line like most of the fonts that are out there. is of some rough calligraphy and I really like the way the typography has a rough theme. I feel that the diagonal grid on my mood board give me a lot inspiration because my first idea evolved from a square based grid system to a diagonal grid system which I thought looked a lot better. Also I feel the Minecraft images gave me a lot of inspiration also in terms of a cube/square based font since the entire game is based around pixels/cubes. My other font that I designed was the calligraphy font which I was inspired to create with my graphics tablet on my computer after seeing several videos of different people using pens
63
my t y peogr a p hy my creations
F
or my typography I have designed two final fonts that I like one of them is a sort of futurism square based font and the other one is a serif/script like font that I created using my graphics tablet. My first final font that I created is based around a square based grid system which I created with the pen tool on Adobe Illustrator and I used a diamond shape alongside a grid to help create every single letter of the alphabet, once the basic lines of the letter was set up I just used the copy past tool to add a massive amount of diamonds around the template letter that I have chosen and then I went through and selected the diamonds that I thought should stay to help form the structure of the letter itself and then I deleted the ones that I did not need and then that gave it that simple but a bit more sophisticated look so it didn’t just look like any old plain font.
font and re-create it again I would spend more time experimenting with different shapes that I could possibly use instead of just using squares and maybe even look at trying a different template font that I could use like a more script like one instead of a square based font.
The script like serif font that I have created here is most likely the most unique one out of all my fonts that I have created, I also like it the most because I finally got a chance to make use of my graphics tablet which helped me create a more script like handwriting look when I was in the process of creating the final typeface itself, I used Adobe Illustrator again for this font and then I used a combination of a grid system to keep it all in line and the same size with a brush preset which made it look like I was actually using a real brush and not creating it digitally, once I had created the font I created a grid for the alphabet to go in because I think the presentation I started to use this same system to create all layout is key to how the typeface would be my letters for this typeface and I used some viewed and help it in its strengths rather spacing in-between the circles and the straight than it being just sat on a page on its own. lines of the alphabet, in the end I do really like this font since I think it looks the most professional but if I was to go back over the
65
M y m a n i festo my work process
T
his is my process of things I work through when I’m tackling a project. I first create a mood board that is related to the project. I then move onto research more focused aspects of the project. I then start to go deeper into the main research in the project.
the idea and go over the design. Then I have my finished Design or product.
I usually go into the research side of the projects and get loads of it, I also seem to enjoy the computing side of my projects. The computing ides being more focused on Adobe programs and generally laying out my InDesign documents. I also like experimenting with my projects and designs, using various programs that will create different effects and outcomes. My aim is to achieve the task at hand, the task being the brief which I would analyse properly. I also like to go off with an idea quite quickly and develop it to a really good slandered. In all my work I always After that I would move onto Secondary make sure that there is very good narrative research which would consist of Artists running throughout the idea of my design. and Designers And people that are linked with the project research. I then move I really feel that if a project doesn’t have a onto mood boards inspired by the artist story, meaning or narrative that it is just an research. After all the research I start to empty project and it has no substance. So, create ideas and then I focus with one idea. with this in mind I make sure my work is organised and has plenty of depth/detail so my I then start experimentation with my ideas projects will be to the best possible standard. and choose what experimentation I like.Go with the theme and broaden the idea with the theme.I then develop my idea and start to think of primary. I then get primary research. Work with it and create design. Refine
66