LETTER FROM THE EDITOR. To you the reader of the first ever edition of New Graphic Design. The creation of this magazine was to publish real graphic design, to bring to you all the things that we find interesting and relevent to up and coming graphic designers today. The first edition has the subject of ‘Form follows Function’. Every month there will be a main theme to everything that is included in the issue and the first edition centres around the opinion that ‘form follows function’. Basically this means that everything that is designed, everything that you design has been made and desinged in that way to fit a certain purpose. The choices that you make are relevent to your brief and your opinions. Whether your trying to communicate your own feeling and beliefs or your working off a brief, we believe that form will alays follow function. This is a great starting point for our publication because from what you see and read today you will be able to decide if you agree. I really hope that you enjoy the design and the content of this magazine. The point of this magazine is to spark ideas, inspire, inform and to be enjoyed. Thankyou.
CONTENTS. 1
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Amy Barstow has writen a letter to you the reader explaining the content and purpose of this magazine and also to thank the reader.
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THE MODERN WOMEN TYPEFACE
This is a typeface that i created a year ago and i thought that it was relevant to the work that i have done in modernism and post modernism.
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AVANTE GARDE GRAPHICS ANALYSIS Before starting this brief i did an alalysis of a book call Avante Garde Graphics and it opened up my mind to the history and views of modernism.
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PAUL RAND
This is an artist whos reseach has greatly influenced my designs and also the way that i look at graPhic design and its methods and rules.
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NICOLA MCHRISTOFOROU
Whilst looking back at my college work i remembered a painting that a friend had done and it was a perffect example to me of how modernism influences young artists work.
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POST MODERN CONTRADICTION
This is a piece of work that i created last minute which shows how modernism and post modernism can work together to create something relevent.
POST MODERN INSPIRED TYPEFACE.
Whilst i was looking into modernism and post modernism i thought back to this project that i did whilst i was Leeds college of art and design, The brief was to create your own typeface whilst basing it on a concept in society. The concept that i chose was what is the essence of the modern woman and what is it that she represents in modern time, The thought behind this design was that the modern woman has become something that isnt predictable, there for this design i tried to keep the design quite unusual and it would not stick to a simlar style and design through out each seoerate letter, This resulted in having quite a random typeface. I thought that it was a good way of symbolising how time has changed peoples perception of what a
woman should be. I tried to stay away from traditonal font styles like using a serif font or a decorative one. I also tried to keep the design quite masculine to show that over time women have now got the same rights as men in terms of jobs, pay and being treated like equals in all walks of life. My work has been largely influenced by all great post modern designers like David Carson and Jonathan Barnbrook even though generally i would consider myself to be a modernist in the way that i like to sat out my work. Everything has to be structures and well thought out but i did see this work as a way to let out more of a experimentational side to my work.
AVANTE GUARDE GRAPHICS 1918- 1934 BOOKREVIEW. The book that I chose to analyse is called Avant-Garde Graphics but Lutz Becker and Richard Hollis, it is a discussion of Avant-Garde art in particular the Merrill. C Herman collection of around 150 rare posters, original designs, collages and photo montages. All these pieces are a collection of modern visual communication that was created in the modernism movement. Through these pieces the book was able to explain how Avant-Garde graphic design was developed at each stage and how it had influenced the way that we now design and work. Modernism derived from the industrial revolution, everyone was obsessed with speed, and electricity, mass distribution and this resulted in internationalism. People’s horizons where becoming broader, the idea of travel was introduced to the working classes and this gave artists the opportunity to develop their work
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and learn from other design methods and their cultures. ‘A young generation of artists crossed the threshold of modernity’. Cinema and radio could influence the masses as they became more accessible, this transcribed into graphic design, visual language, poster, advertisements and illustrative magazines. This allowed graphic design to become a new way of communicating for both political and commercial means. From modernism Bauhaus also emerged this allowed students in Germany to experiment with different materials, methods of working, design procedures, they where taught in a minimal way, that less is more. They where taught to use creative vocabulary, boldness in their work, composition, printing. I believe that this had drastically influenced the way that I am taught now even a hundred years later, this style of teaching trickled down through other German art schools and has now been adapted into a new modern way of teaching.Other aspect of design that was explored in this book was typography, photography and photomontage. This I feel was the first example of photo editing, taking an image and distorting, manipulating and editing it until it is what you want it to be. Instead they did it with scissors and manual materials whereas we do this with computer soft wear.
“A young generation of artist crossed the threshold of modernity� Quote from page 34 of avante guard graphics by Herbert Bayer.
“Design is of putti cont Design, jus multiple there definition be art. De aesthetic so simple, is so co ―
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s the method ing form and tent together. st as art, has e definitions, e is no single n. Design can esign can be cs. Design is , that’s why it omplicated.” ― Paul Rand
PAUL RAND
Whilst carrying out my own reseach i found the work of Paul Rand the most interesting. I think this is due to the fact that he he a grahic designer that was following the rules of modernism whilst also allowing his work to become experimental and exciting. Whst first drew me towards his work was reading about the work that he had done for comercial companied such as UPS snd abc. Creating logos and giving a face to something that is so far unidentifiable like a company is something that really interests me. I think that he brings a new dimention to the term form follows function because he iss actually creating something like a logo that is going to speak to people, represent a industy and its values, the entire core of its existance relys on what he chooses to design for that
company. The form in which he designs suits a purose, a function. And as a designer this is what i think he teaches us, that everything that is designed does have a purpose even if you have to be the one who discovers what that function is. “Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions, there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.” I think if anything is a testement to the statement that form follows function it is that. Basically without a purpose there is no real design, then you arent doing anything with meaning but the purpose is for you to decide. You give the subject content.
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NICOLA MCHRISTOFOROU 3D PAINTINGS MODERNIST INSPIRED LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN
Three seperate works by Nicola Mchristoforou at Leeds college of art and design. National Diploma in Art & DesignFine Art. 2011-2012
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Not only d inspiratio aritsts an are worki done in th should al our peers attending of art and my cours art studen Mchristof the painti created w there tog did really didnt kno
do we take on from the work of nd designers that ing today and have he past but we lso take not from s. Last year i was g Leeds college d design, within se there was a fine nt called Nicola forou and these are ing that she whilst we studied gether. At the time i y admire them but ow much about the
origins or the influences that has inspired her. Until recently when i found out from her that they actually where post modernist inspired. Now having looked more into the post modernism and modernism style of design and art i realise the similarities. The strong and striking use f colour and abstract shapes that seem to form a different object whilst also playing with the mind which is exactly the
same as the impact that i feel from artists work such as Karel Tiege. This is evidence that across the board of create mediums and areas all studets can be influenced by the work of the modernists not only in graphic design but within art. Fine art has just the same form of purpose and function to the work that graphic design does but the impact is slightly different.
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This is a experimentation that was done for the magazine. It represents definite post modern feautres and design styles but it is also a contrast on this with the fact that the letters are in helvetica which is a steriotypical moderist typeface. It is perfectly well designed and ledgible but by showing it in this random, un thought out composition is it a total contradiction of design styles.
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