Reading to Seeing by Ashley

A SHIFT IN MINDSET THROUGH

DECONSTRUCTION A

Reading to Seeing N

A SHIFT IN MINDSET THROUGH DECONSTRUCTION

Intermediate Under the supervision of: Prof. Michael Gais, Typography and Layout department

Exam SECOND TOPIC

B a c h e l o r T H

I n t e g r a t e d

D e s i g n

K รถ l n / U n i v e r s i t y

o f

A p p l i e d

S c i e n c e s , F a c u l t y K รถ l n

f o r

C u l t u r a l

I n t e r n a t i o n a l

D e s i g n

S t u d i e s ,

S c h o o l

o f

P.01

INTRODUCTION

u Q

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

P.13 tents N

P o s t m o d e r n

Futurism

DECONSTRUCTION

IN DESIGN

P.03

ConD V

A I

P.21

A R S O

EMIGRE

TOP NAMES IN DECONSTRUCTION Neville Brody

Cranbrook Academy of Art

Wolfgang Weingart

W H A T

Parallels C A

P.31

T Constructed Societies S M

I V I

C T I

INTERSECTIONS AND CONNECTIONS

V D E C O N S T R U C T I O N A S ATC TIVISM? I S

Change in Mindset

D e s i g n

P.39

CONCLUSION

A c t i v i s m

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Design history is, like societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history, full of uprisings and revolutionary movements. Such movements challenge the status quo and fight against complacency. Deconstruction was one such movement. It learned from the Futurists and Dadaists before its time and called for a reevaluation of the rules and theory of design. The Futurists had shown type could be used to create movement and the Dadaists ridiculed traditional design through its innovative and absurd text and graphic work. Deconstruction, based

Deconstruction is a way of taking apart a system

so that the parts inside act as informers against the assumed meaning of that system. Deconstruction expanded typography to include the space around the letter forms and challenged all the rules of typoon a philosophical concept by graphic hierarchy. By taking apart the system of Jacques Derrida in 1967, was typography, the Deconstructionists challenged and a rebellion against the social questioned the traditional ways of setting typography. norms of design at the time. This can be related to the societal norms found inside a group or society. Traditional ways of doing something or social norms are constructed by the members of that community or society and can always be called into question and challenged. In order for a change to happen regarding social norms, activism has to take place. Activism is a way of actively challenging social norms to open a dialogue in order to further a specific agenda. Was Deconstruction simply another progression in the evolution of graphic design and typography or did it have similarities to activism? Did Deconstruction create a shift in the design community?

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Graphic design had made many advances in the first half of the 20st century. The Futurists and Dadaists pushed the boundaries of graphic design with their experiments. However, more conservative design approaches had become the most popular approach, backed by corporate desire and their financial resources.

M S I FUT U R As one can see in the graphic, many ideologies of how to

approach design have emerged over design’s history. Each ideology was based on specific reasons and resulted in a different aesthetic. For instance, some of the early revolu-

Marinetti urged poets to free words from their tionary design movements such as Futurism and Dadaism,

syntax and grammatical structure, and to use both challenged and developed the standards of design

them rather to display sounds or speed. This further. According to MoMA, The Italian Futurists of 1909

became a trademark of Futurist artwork. They, were tired of Italy’s dependence on its classical heritage

consequently, believed that writing and typogand disdain for the current times. At the beginning of

raphy could go beyond legibility to become an the 20th century life had changed drastically with the

expressive visual form . Works from Futurists introduction of cars, planes, machinery, technology and

often show emotion, energy and visual sequencthe first World War. The accompanying abstract concepts

es. Their approach was radically different to the such as speed, noise, violence, and youth were embraced

traditional typesetting which used the Gutenby the Futurists. Their cornerstone, the “Manifesto of

berg press. Which set type in a strict horizonFuturism”, written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, was first

tal and vertical structure. Futurists did not let published on February 20, 1909, as the front page of the

this technology stand in the way of their vision. French newspaper Le Figaro. This manifesto declared the

They created dynamic non-linear compositions aspirations of Marinetti and other Futurists to let go of the

by cutting out and pasting words and letters in past, and fully embrace the future; proclaiming that "We

their compositions such as in the poem, "Les affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by

Mots en Liberté Futuristes". a new beauty: the beauty of speed.”  “Words in Freedom: Futurism at 100.” MoMA.org, www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/futurism/.  Poluan, Illona. “Italian Futurism: a Movement All Designers Can Learn From.” 99designs, 99designs, 10 Mar. 2012, en.99designs.de/blog/creative-inspiration/italian-futurism-a-movement-alldesigners-should-learn-from/.  “Words in Freedom: Futurism at 100”.  Ibid.

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“Une assemblée tumultueuse” (A Tumultuous Assembly), Foldout from Les mots en Liberté Futuristes, Filippo Marinetti, Italy, 1919.

In the poem “Les Mots en Liberté Futuristes” (1919) the words pierced through

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the page displaying velocity of present life such as trains and explosions.

sounds. The large letters and numbers "march to their own beat" and contrast

Bold type and the positioning of the letters and numbers express noise and loud the smaller repetative letters and numbers. several points on the paper as if

several words and letters were shouting at the reader. There is no symmetry

and motion is shown through shapes pointing in different directions.

Media. Lannoo Publishers, 2015.

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Golden Type in The Golden Legend of Master William Caxton, Jacobus de Voragine, England, 1892

Hoeks, Henk, and Ewan Lentjes. The Triumph of Typography: Culture, Communication, New

In this example "Golden Type" by Jacobus de Voragine in The Golden Legend of Master William in 1892, the letters are neatly arranged so the eye is guided from left to right and up to down. There is only one column and the text is not broken up. The stylistic return to the Middle Ages can be seen in the ornament of the drop caps.

The Futurist were revolutionary compared to the century of printing before. During the 19th century, with the influence of the Industrial Revolution and the advances in technology had changed printing techniques and handwork faded into the background. During this time, book production and binding were mechanized and the industry was dominated by commercialization. Typesetting and binding techniques were mechanized and the arrangement of letters was a culmination of centuries of printing starting with the Movable Type in the 15th Century by Johannes Gutenberg. Throughout the 19th century there was little innovation and the quality of work decreased. Additionally, stylistically there was a return to the Middle Ages.

DA DA Dada (1916-1927)was an artistic and They utilized collage and pholiterary movement, which started in tomontage. By 1919, during Da1916 in Zürich as a rebellious movement in opposition to the national- daism, photomontage had been ism which many throught had led to spread through technological WWI (1914-18) It was influenced by advances. However the DadaFuturism, Cubism, Constructivism, ists used this technique to “disand Expressionism. According to Professor Guity Novin, whereas rupt the cultural influence of Futurists simply wanted to express mass media on socio-political speed, war and technology, Dadastructure of reist suggested another worldview for ality”. They chose interpreting meaning with an erupfamiliar phototive, nonlinear style independent graphs from the of textual content. Dadaists often used words with uncanny characterispress and reartics such as double meanings and or ranged them so ability for a play on words. Dadaist their meaning was wrote an abundance of theoretimanipulated and cal texts as well as manifestos on their beliefs, this was reinforced by changed. They their practical approach of theories aimed at disruptthrough experimental typography ing the viewers and visual forms of written language perception and as photomontage. Prof. Novin goes on to say that, Dada borrowed many to cause anxiety aspects of their style, technique about the reality and aesthetics from the Futurists. of modern life. They moved graphic design further Dada works sought with their approach to typography, photomontage, negative white space, to deconstruct layout, letter spacing and line spac-daily experiences through iring. For Dada, like the Futurists, reverence and rebellion. They their revolution revolved around typography and using it as a medi- showed an absence of regard um for creating meaning outside its for middle class tradition, govprimary role of legibility. Dadaists ernment experts, and ordinary wanted the reader to look “at” and creation techniques. Dada also behold the shape of the typeface in an explosive layout, rather than prized chance, wit, humor and searching for a meaning of the text. irony in their creations.

 The Art Story Contributors. “‘Dada Movement Overview and Analysis’.” The Art Story, The Art Story Contributors, www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm.  Novin, Guity. “Chapter 45; Dadaism; The Meeting Point of All Contradictions.” A History of Graphic Design, guity-novin.blogspot.de/2011/08/chapter-44-dadaismmeeting-point-of-all.html#Two.  The Art Story Contributors.

Professor Joshua Hardisty describes this piece as, "In the true form of DADA, it is an embrace of absurdity. This piece is handmade, except for the several large red stamped “DADA” that dance around the page. The copy was sampled from commerce, there is even a reference to toothpaste, which was essentially a remaking of the world using its own garbage." Pointing hands direct the eye in several different directions while the type on the left and right side is at a 90° angle making the reader have to turn their head. The use of rotated letters, different fonts, and different point sizes all contribute to the feeling of absurdity. Kleine Dada Soirée, Kurt Schwitters and Theo Van Doesburg, Germany and Holland, 1922

Dada 6 (Bulletin Dada), Tristan Tzara, Paris, February 1920

T h i s p i e c e i s n o t a s a b s u r a s o t h e r i c o n i c D A D A p i e c e s h o w e v e r i t w a s v e r y i n n o v a t i v e a t t h e t i m e . P r o f . H a r d i s t y e x p l a i n s t h a t f o r s u c h a l a y e r e d a n m u l t i - d i r e c t i o n a l t y p e s e t p i e c l i k e t h i s t o b e c r e a t e d , t h e d e s i g n e r h a d t o e s s e n t i a l l y “ h a c k a n d u s e t h e t y p e s e t t e r in i n n o v a t i v e w a y s o t h e r t h a n t h e i r or i g i n a l l y i n t e n d e d wa y s . O t h e r w i s e t h b l o c k l e t t e r s wo u l d n o t h a v e b e e a b l e t o p r i n t e d l i k e t h e y a r e Th e y d i d no t le t t h e t e c h n o l o g t h e y h a d s t o p t h e m f r o m c r e a t i n w h a t t h e y w a n t e d , t h e y i n s t e a u t i l i z e d i t i n n o n t r a d i t i o n a w a y s . T h e d i a g o n a l t e x t i n t h b o t t o m h a l f o f t h e p o s t e r h a a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c i r r e v e r e n c e h o w e v e r h e r e , r a t h e r t h a n b e i n g i r r e v e r e n t a g a i n s t a p o l i t i c a l o r s o c i a l i d e o l o g y , i t i a g a i n s t t h e h o r i z o n t a l l a y o u o f t h e b l a c k t e x t .

 Hardisty, Joshua Namdev. “Intro to Typography: Early Modernist typography and the European Avant-Garde.” Typography Studio Class

Spring 2015 at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. YouTube, YouTube, 2 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx11WJnJiRQ.  Ibid.

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Postmodern Alastair Fuad-Luke writes in his book design activism, that this clean, functional design, which was present in most of the industrialized countries by the time of WWII (1939 – 1945), was not well-prepared to offer solutions for the problems and changes which came about from the post-war consumer economy and the desire to keep distance from mass culture and mass taste . This encouraged the Postmodern movement of flourishing design approaches and styles, which were influenced by a held belief in some designers that the sterile designs beforehand, such as the Swiss Style were lacking humanity . This awareness of lack of humanity was reinforced by the public desire for a more individualized design, ultimately allowing designers more creative freedom in their work. Fuad-Luke continues on to say, “The emergence of consumer economies after WWII, freed design and designers from their ‘shackles of modernism, functionalism and rationalism” . The postmodern designers had lost faith in the progressive ideals of the modernist which were passed down from the 18th century Enlight-

Through the postmodernist era, the shift in mindset within

enments belief in the never ending human progress

design had begun to go away from a sterile, Utopian idea

through reason and science. 

of design to a design with the human as the central starting point, where experimentation was welcome and design expanded its role outside of advertising and selling.

 Fuad-Luke, Alastair. design activism: beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world. London: Earthscan. 2009. p. 42.  Ibid. p. 40-41.  Ibid. p. 48.  Poynor, R. No More Rules. London: Laurence King Publishing.2013. p. 11.  Ibid. p.11.

Modernism frequently attacked commercial mass culture, claiming from its superior perspective to know what was best for people, postmodernism enters into a complicated relationship with the dominant culture .

Deconstruction is a recent

revolutionary movement in graphic design starting

in the late 1980s. It learned from

the x er me

s and innovations made by

Futurism and Dadaism and approached

radicalizing design again from a different perspective.

Unlike Futurism and Dadaism, Deconstruction was based of a literary philosophical concept

However, like Futurism and Dadaism, it challenged

the status quo of the time

and offered a radically opposing point of view.

Deconstruction in literature

In 1967, the concept “Deconstruction” was introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his book “On Grammatology,” which was later translated into English in 1976. In his theory, he builds upon the concept of structuralism, which was created by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 - 1913). Saussure’s work on speech and writing show that they They go on in their article " A Brave are only signs inside of a system which can only New World: Understanding Deconbe understood in relation to one another. For in- struction" to say, its innovative intenstance, that the concept and tion is to activate critical thinking by word ‘horse’ is only understood inside its con- discussing such pieces, in order to text and in contrast to ideas and words such as show that the meaning is less influ‘cow’. To put it lightly, one could not exist with- enced by the actual meaning, but rather by the amount of play and out the other, for the mere ability to contrast it contrast within the system which against something gives it its meaning. holds them together. For instance, the Derrida argues that within such connected concept of “whole” is usually undersystems like: speech/written word and original/ stood as one complete thing, however, copy, Western culture only values one of the two, this is a false assumption. The conholding it as right and true while discrediting and cept of entirety can only be underassuming falsehood of the other . Or as stood in relation to its parts and how Chuck Bryne and Martha Witte describe it, to de- they together form “wholeness.”This construct something is to decode the parts inside meaning is completely dependent on a system, in order to undermine the as- the multilayered intellectual play of sumption or conviction we may have about it. the parts which hold it together. 

This play, or contrast between things is what deconstruction aims to bring forward. Derrida’s main interest was between speech and the written word. This makes his work interesting for designers, as typography encompasses a system where one must think about all the possible forms of representation of the letter forms and the spaces around them — thus looking at a whole system and not just as their parts. Combinations of these pieces generate meanings outside of the original meanings of the words and letters used, depending upon how they are arranged according to each other.

 Miller, J. Abbott and Lupton, Ellen. “A Natural History of Typography”. J. Abbott Miller ed. Design Writing Research, New York and The Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ 1992. Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st  Lupton, Ellen and Miller, J. Abbot. “Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory.” Visible Language, vol. 28, no. 4, Autumn 1994, pp. 346-366. Retrieved from http://visiblelanguagejournal.com/issue/105/ article/356. Here p. 346.  Bryne, Chuck and Witte, Martha. “A Brave New World: Understanding Deconstruction”. Print magazine, November/December 1990. Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. Here p. 117.  Ibid. p. 117.  Poynor: No More Rules. p. 46

Although critics claimed that deconstruction in graphic design was misguided design, this viewpoint failed to take a deeper look . Many designers who took a deconstructive approach were well aware of design history and what design had been, as well as the expectations of how design should be practiced in the current time frame based on conventional opinion. This being said, many designers did not identify themselves as a deconstructive designer however their mindset and design decisions in their approach aligned them with the Deconstruction movement .

Designers who used such tactics were by no means unexperienced, although some deconstructionist work seems to make no sense at all. Perhaps this is because a key to the deconstructionist approach of graphic design was that the work should be felt, rather than read; which lead to the questioning and sometimes disregard for legibility, and allowed for works which were not literal, neat, or clear to directly challenge such Modernist concepts as Brockmann’s grid system.

Deconstruction applied to graphic design is guided by the essence of deconstruction theory, as literary critic Jonathan Culler suggests, “These oppositions (speech/writing or form/ meaning) are not natural and inevitable, as we tend to assume, but cultural constructions produced by discourses that depend on our taking them for granted. Deconstruction’s purpose is not to destroy these categories but to dismantle and ‘re-inscribe’ them - to change their structure and make them function differently” .

In deconstructionist design, the visual coding of each typographic element on a page such as: initial caps, text, headlines, and captions which are accomplished by style, size, weight, and position had been broken down and dismantled, leaving space to play and rearrange. Thus, the typographic vocabulary and orientation of the page, as well as the role of type’s function for strict readability is called into question and reshaped. This play was described by Chuch Byne and Martha Witte, “When the deconstructionist approach is applied to design, each layer, through the use of language and image, is an intentional performer in a deliberately playful game wherein the viewer can discover and experience the hidden complexities of language.”

Deconstruction in Design

The deconstructive approach can be recognized by an opposition of the established rules and concepts of modernism, rationalism and functionalism such as visual clarity and reduction of complexity through use of typography and space, the importance of legibility, hierarchy of objects and adherence to grid.

 Poynor: No More Rules. p. 46  Ibid. p. 44.  Miller: " A Natural History of Typography", p. 120.  Reynolds, Josh. Deconstruction in Graphic Design. 7 Dec. 2015. https://medium.com/@reynoldsjosh/research-deconstruction-in-graphic-design-6180ec2f1b58  Culler, Jonathan D. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. p. 126.  Bryne: “A Brave New World", p 119.  Ibid. p. 118.

These are examples of an eight page essay from a book designed by students at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Throughout the book, the manipulation of text progresses. The play of space is the main focus. The text has been pulled apart revealing large gaps in between words and lines. There are lines of text set in black bars as a contrasting element, while the margins of the pages are constantly shifting. Through this deconstruction of the text, the rhythm and pace of reading is heavily altered. The rules and structures that govern the written word are brought into question and invite the reader to explore and deviate from the traditional linear way of reading.

Such designs please our brain's need for aesthetic pleasure. In such use of letters, the system of the written word is deconstructed into two parts: letters to be read and letters to be felt; thus showing that one function is not less than the other but rather as equally important. As British typographer and letterpress exponent Phil Baines says, it is equally important that typography not only engages our intellect but also stimulates our senses and address our capacity for intuition and perception. He supports this idea of onesided approach, “Legibility presents information as facts rather than experience.” So whereas, the modernists approach to legibility with rules and grids appealed primarily to the rational side of the brain; the "French Currents of a Letter", Visible Language, Cranbrook Academy of Art Students, USA, 1978

deconstructionist approach appealed to both the analytical and creative side by praised the experience of a piece of visual communication while often allowing legibility, although depending on the designer it was sometimes a struggle to read.

 Williams, Huw. “Is Deconstruction within Typography Relevant in the 21st Century?” Salford Type Foundry, 27 Apr. 2014, 06:43, salfordtypefoundry.co.uk/essay/is-deconstruction-within-typography-relevant-in-the-21st-century/.  Poynor, Rick. “Type and Deconstruction in the Digital Era” Typography Now: The Next Wave, London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1991 Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st ed., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. p. 87

The deconstructive approach also played in the space between language and image through positioning and layering. This moved the use of a photograph away from being an isolated rectangle of “reality” by integrating images into the “reality” of the page .

In this example, Elliott Earls uses typography

and image together

to create what appears to look like an alien creature. The typography shares the squiggly shape of the drawing around the image, thus creating a unity which holds them together. The organic shapes are a stark contrast to the clean, geometric, sharp style of the time. Revolting against the idea that text should be delivered in the most efficient and clean way, Earls forces the reader to turn their head in different ways to read the material. The deconstruction aspect is seen in the type. The type used is a true font, yet tails

have been added above or

below the letters to transform

Dysphasia, typeface family poster, Elliott Earls, USA, 1995

it into a

unique font. This gives the text a different feeling and emotion. The type and the space

around the

letter form

have been deconstructed

and playfully combined. All these characteristics are used to change the poster from a static transmitter of information into a piece that actively has to be read by the reader in order to understand it.

 Bryne: “A Brave New World", p 120.

Dam aut estio. Volorpo rectio bearum labo. Occus si qui dolent. Ecum facero cor as quae ligendeniet inienditatis alitatur? Natinte ctatia ipsam, sus latia dolorero vel int eos ni aliquia eptatur, quiaectum. Issinit iorestis reperiatur, ut laborum vernam rerias dolesti nctiorum harum estrum aliberum resse non placeperae perum eate officipsum quos aut volore rero conseque seque exernam et quia nonsero torem aciist, qui res sum earum, ut prae pel et berume et dolorpo riaspe vendae occaboriam, ommolor isimaio nsecusam cus dolore volorest veror am iniendit fuga. Et ventur, ut di core sent autent, ommoditio officie ndaeper et porescita idererc iendae coribearum cone pa sum volupta tioritatur ratior aliquid magnist aut et utati quam as apis eture eium ratatio con reicae peles molorest, conseque voluptaque a sum et endae. Itatae milla dis vel

According to Poynor in No Rules, deconstruction never reached the status of an ‘-ism’ in graphic design, such as Futurism and Dadaism, however it encompassed and influenced several movements including punk and grunge. Perhaps because of this lack of establishment, many designers saw deconstruction as a fleeting, fashionable, regrettable and confused style. However, a small number of designers and critics who un-

derstood the basis of deconstruction and believed in its potential for graphic design, pointed out that such an assumption was based on very loose reasoning. These designers kept deconstruction relevant in design discourse by writing articles about and practicing the deconstruction approach.  Poynor: No More Rules. p. 46.

The deconstructionists had a technology that the Futurists and Dadaists did not have: a computer. This important technological advancement made such rule-breaking practices easier and more accessible. Designers no longer needed to use manually cut up texts or recycle the graphics around them, as they could instantaneously transfer their vision onto the screen. Through the computer, designers were given the freedom to experiment with a page and spontaneously try out new things at no cost, whereas previously, the formulas which had been proved over and over were needed to create a predictable outcome and to avoid costly mistakes .  Bryne: “A Brave New World", p 115

Deconstruction expanded beyond country boarders and impacted design in many different countries, from Switzerland through Swiss Punk and America with Grunge. It was found from academic settings such as the Cranbrook Academy of Art to commercial publications such as Face or Emigre.

Wolfgang Weingart

“My work invites the In this exhibition poster from 1978/79 he combined elements of Swiss Style such as san serif fonts, and clear typography, however he experimented with the background, using a photomontage of ripped patterns and textures layered on top of each other. This broke away from the neat and orderly space characteristic of the Swiss Style. Kunstkredit 1978/79. Exhibition poster, Wolfgang Weingart, Mustermesse Basel, Switzerland, 1979

According to Keith Tam in "Wolfgang Weingart's typographic landscape", Wolfgang Weingart was known to have ignited the spark which led to ‘typographic anarchy’, a widespread movement at the beginning of the 90s. He had an apprenticeship at Ruwe Printing in Stuttgart, Germany and later studied at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland. There he learned all the rules of Swiss Style typography and like a true deconstructionist, he took apart a system exposing the room for play inside the elements without destroying it. Throughout his work, his understanding of the semantic, syntactic and pragmatic functions of typography can be seen. He went on to teach at the Basel School of Design for 37 years, as this allowed him more freedom to continue experimenting than a commercial job would have . Whereas Swiss Style focused on the grammatical and mathematical structure of typography, he built on that structure and pushed the limits of typographic without loosing its meaning. He said, “What’s the use of being legible, when nothing inspires you to take notice of it?” Such a mindset was spreading during this time as designers began to see the rational approach to typography as to sterile and lacking humanity. As a forerunner in deconstruction, his was known as the father to ‘Swiss Punk’ and ‘New Wave’.

reader to engage with me”



“What’s the use

le, g legib of bein being legible,

when nothing inspires you to TAKE NOTICE OF IT?”

This piece was created with lead letters from a letterpress. Weingart used the blocks and letters for unintended purposes, for instance the o is created from a correct and upside down U as well as two I’s. He was inspired by the sloppy white lines in the work of El Lissitzky and Piet Zwart of the 1920’s. For him, what was interesting about this piece was how to visually represent the word ‘moon’ using only typographic elements from his workshop. The white lines found in the letters is the space between the block letters used. 34 He played with space not only around the letters but also incorporated space inside the letter form. Like the Dadaists before him, he hijacked the technology at the time and used it in an innovative way to explore and create what he envisioned. There is a sense of motion in the way the letters move across the page and the large M and R are reminiscent of Futurists use of large explosive typographic elements. "Moon Rufen" (moon howling) typographical experiment, Wolfgang Weingart, Switzerland, 1970  Tam, Keith. “Wolfgang Weingart’s Typographic Landscape” 2+3D magazine, issue i-2003, Nr 6. Retrieved from: http://keithtam.net/writings/ww/ww.html.  Ibid.  Ibid.

Cranbrook Aca The academic setting of Cranbrook Academy of Art is known as being one of the biggest hotbeds where, under the leadership of Katherine McCoy and Michael McCoy, Deconstruction took hold and flourished at its core. Their student exhibition accompanying book “Cranbrook Design: The New Discourse” Nov 1990, showcased many “striking and unusual examples of deconstructive tactics in action.” Here the students were encouraged to experiment with and explore the relationship between text and image, or reading and seeing, with the belief that texts and images would be read in detail to decode their meanings. This hands-on play in the typographic and image system and the space in and around it, based on the deconstruction theory, allowed them to discover and experience firsthand the hidden complexities of such a system. The deconstructionist work by co-chair Katherine McCoy and her students broke apart the elements of visual language and exposed the different levels of meaning found in design, the same way Derrida aimed to deconstruct a text to decode its verbal language. This requiring them to learn a new way of ‘reading’ a piece of visual

work; such skills were equated to the skill set needed to read a demanding piece of text. To achieve this in the world of visual communication, they used suggestive, open-ended images and type constructions. For instance, Allen Hori, a student at Cranbrook Academy of Art created this poster Typography as Discourse for the lecture given by Katherine McCoy in 1989, which exemplifies the idea that, text can be perceived as a visual image as well as read, while images can be read as well as seen. Winding typographic pathways connect the scattered bits of information, while challenging the typical way of seeing/reading structure by opening up the poster to many access points where the reader can start and continue down any paths. In this piece typographic symbols are enlarged and demand focus, as if it were inspired by the exclamation marks of Futurism. There are two lines of curved text, and several passages of text are in reverse. Type is used not only to convey information but to emit a feeling and give life to the

 Poynor: No More Rules. p. 12.  Ibid. 51.  Ibid. 56.  Poynor: “Type and Deconstruction in the Digital Era”, p. 86.

Allen Hori, Typography as Discourse, event poster, American Institute of Graphic Arts, USA, 1989

poster. The words “read” and “see” reinforce the idea at Cranbrook that a piece of graphic work should not only be read but also seen and felt.

The reader must devote attention to decode the information presented on the poster, a clear break away from the conservatives type rules.

demy of Art Another student at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Edward Fella, created posters which disregarded the Modernist’s obsession with regularity and clarity in design. He said during a conversation published in Emigre Magazine, “In fact, the irregularity is rigorously thought out, based loosely on deconstruction. If deconstruction is a way of exposing the glue that holds together western culture, I thought, ‘What is it that holds together typography? It’s space’” In this poster he goes against the typographic rules of controlling Announcement for a lecture , Edward Fella, USA. 1995

space between letters, words, lines and types of typographic material (title, main text, subheading, caption). The reader must read not only in a horizontal line but also in a vertical line. The two texts which are vertical invite the reader to spend time with the poster and to adjust the head so one can read it correctly.

In the bottom right, the type declaring what the event it – a discussion, the type announcing the time is mirrored, causing a break in reading. Multiple typefaces are used even inside one word, such as “exceptionally” where abruptly the word becomes smaller and thicker halfway through. Perhaps the two lines above and below “to be broken” are to show how thought out his mixture of fonts is by bringing an oder to the rather chaotic mixture. One sees a multitude of writing techniques, from scribbles to brush writing. There are irregular spatial intervals and images are integrated into the typography.

 Quoted in Jeffery Keedy, ‘A Conversation with Edward Fella’, Emigre, no. 17, 1991, p.15.

EMIGRE

Emigre, a magazine devoted to visual creation and founded in 1984, was a pioneer of deconstruction design. Here designers were given the encouraged to experiement and explore. The designer and publisher of the magazine Rudy VanderLans believed that type and text have a purpose other than simply to be read. As Byrne and Witte wrote, “Type can have purposes which are illustrative, atmospheric, interruptive, and expressive in addition to, or beyond, mere legibility – what Sibyl Moholy-Nagy refers to as ‘the non-communicative function of type.” VanderLans exemplified this through his deconstructive design approach by mixing seemingly incompatible faces, differing point sizes and line depth, centering text over extra-wide measures, changing column width within articles and running two or more text-strands in parallel. Emigre Graphics created and used its own

deconstructive typefaces in its magazine Emigre and surprisingly, was able to create readability despite using bizarre and quirky fonts.

 Bryne: “A Brave New World", p. 120.  Poynor: “Type and Deconstruction in the Digital Era”, p. 86.

Interview with Ed Fella, Jeffery Keedy, Emigre 17, USA 1991

This interview of Edward Fella by Jeffery Keedy is based on the column system of editorial type, however the traditional layout has been deconstructed, whith in turn opens up the rigid columns. The columns are not all straight, some get smaller at the top or bottom and others are only tapered on one side. There are two quotes that are spread across the columns and pop out of the page. The eye is arrested with these two quotes and reads them before the traditional top left corner.

NEVIL BROD

NEVILLE BRODY Neville Brody an English graphic designer, typographer and art

director has a distinctive experimental approach to design. He is still active in pushing the design community to think critically about their profession and to defy the boundaries of graphic design through festivals such as the Antidesign Festival in London in 2010. Although Neville Brody did not directly reference Derrida, his style incorporated the deconstruction aesthetic, and were similar to the mindset of deconstruction, yet practiced in a much more accessible way for the audience. For instance, the deconstruction of Contents, which was created for Face magazine is a great example of disrup-

Progressive breakdown of magazine contents, The Face, nos. 50-55, Neville Brody, UK, 1984

tion or deviation which can come from within. Although it does not follow a traditional, linear typography of modernism, it still forms a deconstructed structure and order. True to deconstructive design, the word has not been destroyed, rather it has been broken down, opened up, and the system is played with by rearrangement . Each letter’s form has been slowly adjusted and tweaked, the space between the letters has also been adjusted to gradually open up gaps between the letters.

“Brody takes a much more subtle approach — as can be seen in the first three letters of the word ‘bounce’, which have been shifted vertically to represent the word through its visual style.” Brody layers words on top of words and those on top of an image, similar to Dada’s approach of layering. The varying sizes of the letters express motion as in the Futurist’s approach. The reader is invited to feel the words rather than simply read them. The reader is not guided along a traditional linear left to right path but is invited to begin reading at several access points which one might have to tilt the head in order to read.  Poynor: No Rules. p. 49. “Just Bounce It”, Nike advertisement, Neville Brody, 1988

 Reynolds: "Deconstruction in Graphic Design".

Carson Often undergroun

d movements get

picked up by th

e mainstream and David Carson was known for tak go ing deconstruction and making it par ‘pop’. of po His designs took deconstruction a step further than other designters. p cu ltur e. , chaotThey were messy ic and expressive arrangements which favored glitches, blemishes and t y p o g r a p h i c m i s a l i g n m e n t s over structure and order. He often uses repetition, recycling and re-purposing of content. He is known as the Father of Grunge . Although he popularized the deconstructive style, some critique his style as being inaccessible, “One of the issues with the work of Carson is that he takes deconstruction to such a level that it makes his work inaccessible to an audience not accustomed to the style, who might perceive his work as lazy or outright degenerate.” HIS COMPOSITIONS DO NOT MAKE THE REGARDLESS IF ACCESSIBLE OR NOT, ONE CANNOT ARGUE THAT UCTIVE GRAPHIC DESIGN. READER FEEL OR EXPERIENCE SOMETHING -A KEY TO DECONSTR  Reynolds: "Deconstruction in Graphic Design".  Ibid.

n This piece is reminiscent of the motion and violence of the Futurists, with the absurdity of Dada. However it uses deconstruction techniques of layering and challenges the reader to engage with the piece of work. At the top, the letters are massive and laid on top of each other so one can not make out the form. Below, what one would assume the body text, the space between the lines is played with, sometimes being very wide and other times allowing the words to overlap. There are several typefaces used and some words are even spelled backwards. Theisfirst word twice written is “uncertainty”, and “confused” repeated with double question marks like found in the Spanish language, as if it were to reveal what the piece is about, confusion. The piece displays a feeling of confusion not only to the reader but also as if it were confused itself, not knowing where it should arrange its elements on the page. Excerpt from The End of Print, David Carson, USA, 1995

In the following chapter I would like to draw the parallels between constructions of a society and the construction of a design community; as well as activism in a society and deconstruction as a form of activism inside a design community. Derrida argues that, “Deconstruction, like critical strategies based on Marxism, feminism, semiotics and anthropology, focuses not on the themes and imagery of its objects but rather on the linguistic and institutional systems that frame the production of texts.”. This comparison between deconstruction and other critical strategies allies deconstruction with that of a political message - one that, like activism, challenges the hierarchy structures and norms laid before it.  Lupton: “Deconstruction and Graphic Design", p. 346.

Like design’s constructed world with the many ideas of what good design is and how it should be practiced, we live in a constructed society; everything from our language to the buildings around us, from stereotypes to how we should dress has been constructed. Our societies and cultures are responsible for defining and constructing social norms, a term defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as, “The customary rules that govern behavior in groups and societies”; it goes on to say, “In almost all the literature on norms, it is unquestionably assumed that norms elicit conformity, and that there is a strong correlation between people’s normative beliefs and their behavior. By normative beliefs is usually meant individual or collective beliefs about what sort of behavior is prescribed (or proscribed) in a given social context. Normative beliefs are habitually accompanied by the expectation that other people will follow the prescribed behavior and avoid the proscribed one.” So norms are observable behavior or actions, or unseen beliefs which are supported by shared expectations of what should and should not be done in varying types of social situations, a guidebook for the desired social behavior according to social roles if you will. However, many social norms however, are extremely inefficient such as discriminatory norms against women or those of racial segregation Social norms are a way to achieve a social end, such as, “Cooperation, retribution, or fairness.” These all tie into other societal constructs such as social dominance theories, where one group is favored over others. According to social dominance theory, the dominance theory of the particular society is systematic meaning “people share knowledge and beliefs that legitimize discrimination, and most often they behave as if they endorsed these ideologies”.

Constructed societies However, perhaps the beauty of social constructs is that they are constantly being shaped and can therefore be challenged and changed; sometimes for the worst, but hopefully for the better. Just as society has been able to progress by constructing norms and challenging those norms, design has also had its own evolution process. Depending on the time frame and location, it can be seen throughout history that these social constructs of what “good design” is have been invented, questioned, and reinvented. Inside the design community, at the time of deconstruction, the social norm was to create design by guidelines set out in traditional typesetting as well as other movements such as Bauhaus and the Swiss Style. Therefore it was considered good design when information was presented as clearly and effectively as possible. As such, designers were then expected to adhere to such social norms - which is perhaps why critics saw ‘deviant’ styles such as Futurism, Dada, and Deconstruction as ugly. A force in changing these socio-cultural norms and hierarchical structures are activists and those who deliberately break the expected behavior to reveal holes and gaps in the defined structure.

 Bicchieri, Cristina and Muldoon, Ryan, "Social Norms", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/social-norms/.  Ibid.  Sidanius, Jim, et al. “Social Dominance Theory: Its Agenda and Method.” Political Psychology, vol. 25, no. 6, 2004, pp. 845–880. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/ stable/3792281.

What is activism/ an activist?

Activists are a group of people or individuals who take action and actively challenge power hierarchies and social, cultural, or political norms and roles, as well as the status quo of a society with the aim of creating political or social change which favors their world-view. These changes can take form in transformation of a social, cultural and/or political system, discourse, its target audience, social groups, or the transfor-

mation of the individual activists . Activism happens in the political sphere. The political dimension should not be confused with the very similar term “politics”.“Politics” according to political theory, refers to the means and structures that enable a nation, state, region, or city to be governed. These include laws, systems of election, legislation, etc. Whereas “political” refers to the current condition of a society. It is the space between the public and the systems of authority where power struggles happen through acts of disturbance, interruption or resistance. These systems of authority include not only the hierarchy structure but also socio-cultural norms which are reinforced through such a hierarchy structure. A famous example of an activist was Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, who fought for equal rights for black Americans during a time of segregation. Segregation was a system in which white and black people were kept separate and whites were allowed privileges in which blacks could not take part in. She is most remembered for fueling the Civil Rights act by her act of defiance against the norms and expected behavior of a black woman. At that time in public transportation, whites were given the front seats and blacks were expected/forced to sit in the back of the bus. She sat in the front and refused to give up her seat to a white person, therefore breaking the socio-cultural norm and challenging the hierarchy structure of that time.

 Fuad-Luke:D esign activism", p. 6.  Markussen, T. (2013). "The Disruptive Aesthetics of Design Activism: Enacting Design Between Art and Politics". Design Issues, vol. 29 no. 1. Winter 2013. 38–50. http://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00195. Here p. 42.  Fuad-Luke: Design activism, p. 27.

Design Activism

Activism can also be seen in design, both inside the design community but also outside as a society shaper. For this text the former is relevant. According to Alastair Fuad-Luke in his book Design Activism, design becomes activism when “design thinking, imagination and practice applied knowingly or

unknowingly to create a counter-narrative aimed at generating and balancing positive social, institutional, environmental and/or economic change.” Just as activism challenges societies to move forward and evolve, so have designers and design movements challenged the design community in order to open new ways of thinking and approaching design.

Deconstruction as Activism Parallels can be drawn between deconstruction in graphic design and Deconstructive design used typography and visual commu-

activism. Deconstruction happened in a political sphere, which is denication which disrupted the modernist’s ideal design. As a

fined as: encompassing the space where power struggles, disturbances disruptive form of design, its aesthetics, as French Philoso-

against hierarchical structures, and subversions of norms happen in pher Jacques Ranciere put it, must be dissensus, or in con-

order to create a change in the current condition (of a society). The trast to the ‘consensus’. Consensus is what is considered the

accepted rules and guidelines of functionalism, structure, and clean normative count of social order in a society. On the other

design were challenged in a public space (created design artifacts and hand, dissensus, just as deconstruction, uses an egalitarian

writings) in order to open up a dialogue where change towards a difapproach and suspends the normal social order. This display

ferent approach and mindset of designers could occur. Deconstruction of impropriety disrupts consensus and calls into question the

was also influenced by the changing social climate of the time, “It took doing (action, role performance, etc) of a person and there-

an angry post-World War II generation, and the emergence of new fore reveals the (perhaps) alternative feelings about or

voices in ‘youth’ and ‘teenagers’, to foment social change and finally, an affect created by the doing. This creates an opening where

interrogation of the dicta of the Modernists. They rejected the notions renegotiation can be emerge, new belonging and new iden-

of an elite circumscribing and moralizing about what constituted ‘good tities can be created. Through disruptive design, the dedesign’ and embarked upon a design fiesta that marked the birth of the signer expressed his or her resistance to these traditional

consumer economy, still with us today.”  ideologies and dominant authority from which the ideologies are derived, therefore engaging in an act of activism. “Embodying alternative thoughts, offering alternative forms, and advocating for alternative interests provides an interrogation and challenge of hegemonic representation and interest.” 

 Fuad-Luke, Alastair. Design activism, p. 41.  Markussen, The Disruptive Aesthetics, p. 45.  Rudnicki, Justine. “The Design of Dissent: Graphic Design for Socio-Political Engagement.” York University, 27 July 2017, hdl. handle.net/10315/33601. Here p. 1  Ibid. p. 20

Change in Mindset There was a call for a change of mindset in the design community — a criteria of outcome for activism. During this time, designers began to see their role more as social constructors and realized that their talents should not be wasted just to sell something. Unsatisfied with the gap between how messy society was and how clean and void of humanity design was, designers using the deconstructionist approach aimed to bring a human touch back into the design.Both of these goals, to use design for something meaningful and to bring humanity back to design, were radically different from the previous design mindset of “function over form” with a goal of design utopia void of human mistakes. This change in mindset was put into public realm through the First Things First Manifesto written by Ken Garland on November 29th, 1963, and published in 1964 in the Guardian newspaper. This manifesto was a call to re-radicalize design in Britain, which, in his opinion, had become lazy and uncritical. It challenged the consumerist culture, which was only concerned with buying and selling, and called for a shift from profit/self/form centered design to and a human centered design. It was supported and signed by 22 designers, some of whom were deconstructionists, who agreed with the manifesto and the ideas expressed therein such as,

“We have been bombarded with publications devoted to this belief (that our talents should used for advertising), applauding the work of those who have flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as: cat food, stomach powders, detergent, hair restorer…We think that there are other things more worth using our skill and experience on…through which we promote our trade, our education, our culture and our greater awareness of the world.” 

Their desire for a change in the status quo and mindset inside the design community as well as how society saw design, was a political statement. They were as written in their manifesto, “Proposing a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication.” In the same way that the designers of the First Things First Manifesto wanted a reversal of the current system, the deconstructive approach of graphic designers during the 80’s and 90’s also called for a reversal of how designers at the time thought of the hierarchical power structures and norms of design such as clean, grid-based design and typography.  Poynor: No Rules, p. 55.  Fuad-Luke, Alastair. Design activism, p. 43.  The First Things First Manifesto. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://corrigandesignedu.files.wordpress. com/2014/02/13_action_first-things-first-manifesto.pdf  Ibid.

In addition to the First Things First Manifesto, many designers who shared these beliefs expressed them during interviews and articles. For instance, Dan Friedman wrote in an article which appeared in the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design, “As someone who has successfully spent most of the last decade in both the worlds of art and design, I now believe our most pressing issue in the next decade is not about art versus design but is about reinvesting both with a moral authority and a higher vision. It has always been my goal to inspire my peers to perform with a sense of quality, exuberance, freshness, danger, responsibility, and optimism. I now dream of designers becoming advocates. I’m not talking about the few attempts some of us make which we refer to as pro bono work, but truly a change of mind set which reorients us away from purely aesthetic or narrow corporate values toward educational, technological, cultural, informational, environmental, social, and even domestic values. … If it is our priority, I expect in the 1990s that this endeavor could be leveraged into an industry and could even be profitable.” In addition to that, Neville Brody and historian Steward Ewen wrote in Design Insurgency during the 1989 AIGA conference “Design is shackled by historical amnesia. The sense of social vision that once inspired it is but a dim memory, obedient to the orders of corporate clients, designers are cogs in the wheels of commerce. They serve as pastry chefs in glorified soup kitchens, doling out mass-produced visual gruel.”  Friedman, Dan. “Life, Style and Advocacy” AIGA Journal of Graphic Design, vol. 7, no. 4, 1990. Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st ed., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. p. 55  Morley, M. (n.d.). “What Design Can Do: Spark Social Change - 99U.” Retrieved December 7, 2017, from http://99u. com/articles/55317/what-design-can-do-spark-social-change. p. 1

Parallels Parallels between deconstruction and activism can be drawn by comparing it to other political ideologies such as feminism. Deconstruction’s political act can be paralleled with such societal political acts as feminism or Marxism. Although they each address different subject matter, they all use the same mindset and tools in order to promote change. Chuck Bryne and Martha Witte wrote, “Political and cultural positions such as feminism and Marxism work deconstructivly when they uncover aspects of our society which, while appearing to be universally humanistic, actually suppress the needs of one social group while serving those of another” In the event of deconstruction within design, the social groups would be the designers who held onto the idea of traditional design’s superiority and those who believed that there were undiscovered aspects of design to explore and experience which the traditional design approach would not allow. For instance, VanderLans from Emigre said in an interview, “Back then all those designers [Vignelli] wrote books with guidelines on how design has to be done. None of the people in Emigre have this idea that rules should be laid down, particular rules like fifty-two characters on a line, twelve words in a line” 

This mindset and questioning of authority is exactly what feminism aims to do — to challenge the fabricated “natural” norms (in particular gender roles) handed down from an authoritative system and to show destructively that within the system no party is less than the other, but rather equal. Deconstruction in design was, for the most part, an act of activism within and directed towards the designer community. As Poynor writes, “…the conventions of professional graphic design, both modernist and eclectic, were subjected to deliberate interrogations, destabilized and repudiated. Deconstructionist designers were fully aware of what design had been, in a historical sense, and of the prescribed forms that conventional opinion believed it should take in the present.” Deconstructive graphic design addressed and challenged the “social norms” inside the graphic community at the time. In the same way that an activist observes the world around him or her and advocates for change, the designers who used deconstruction, observed their design world with clean crisp type and an utmost respect for legibility and then advocated for what they believed, was a better way to practice graphic design, a deconstructed playground for type and space.

 Bryne: “A Brave New World", p. 117.  Robertson, Keith. “Starting from Zero”. Print magazine, September/October 1992. Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st ed., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. p. 71.  Poynor: No Rules, p. 44.

The world around us is entirely constructed, its social and cultural norms and hierarchical systems are open to direct critiques, and can be changed, influenced or demolished. Within the design community these norms and systems are also constructed. Designers have the ability to be an activist inside the community and to challenge the status quo and social norms through dissensus. Deconstruction widely took hold in academic settings and design literature, in an attempt to challenge the “cultural norms of design” and the expectations of the time for what “good design” is. The mindset was the same of an activist for social justice who challenges the prescribed norms to fight for equality through activism. Which is backed up by the passage in “Design Activism,” “Design activism can be considered as something that can be an outcome of practice or explorations in real-life situations and/or academia. However, there is an implicit difference in the intended target audience and beneficiaries between practice and academia. The implication of the ‘practice’ context is that the outcomes are aimed at positive change in a real-life situation involving the wider culture and fabric of society. The implication of the academic-orientated ‘design studies’ context is that the target is predominantly, although not exclusively, the design culture of academia.” The philosophical concept of Deconstruction, which took things and concepts apart in order to show that neither the original or assumed meaning of a thing is necessarily correct but is rather based the systems in which those objects or concepts are found, influenced not only literary works and academia but also design. When it was applied to design, a fresh perspective was brought to the design community, which at a time, thought they had achieved perfection by giving rules for almost all things such as grids and fifty-two characters per line. Deconstruction in graphic design built upon the advances of Futurists and Dadaism in its own way. It was able to fluidly be applied in many different styles such as punk and grunge. Futurists wanted to express motion, violence, and noise but lacked a theoretical basis. Dadaists rebelled against the war and chaos they saw around them by creating absurd pieces. Deconstruction used in design acted in a political way by challenging the norms of the modernists and elite authority structures. This in turn evolved and expanded the theories and practice of design and typography. Such an approach and mindset is still relevant for design today so that graphic design does not become conformist and stagnate. In 2010 during the Anti Design Festival in London, England, Neville Brody said in his speech,

 Fuad-Luke: Design activism, p. 85.

“

[Today] Difference is the enemy. Generic

culture hypnotizes us all into generic patterns, where control is visibly invisible. Danger is replaced by fear. New means upgrade. Risk is obsolete. Art made money stupid, and money made us fools.

”



Time has passed since the deconstructive approach was

at the forefront of graphic design discourse and the First Things First manifesto was published, yet its message of ap-

proaching an idea holistically and deconstructing it to see its parts is still relevant today. It is important to be able to look at a system such as typography with curiosity and to

not value one piece over the other but rather to be able to

see that each part of the whole is valid and important. It is important to be able to go against the grain of the popu-

lar design culture and to not blindly accept the established rules and norms of design. Through this, design will continue to evolve and new territories will be established and will not risk becoming stagnate and unoriginal.

 Brown, AJ. “AntiDesign Festival, Neville Brody Speech September 24, 2010”. Vimeo. 22 February, 2011 https:// vimeo.com/20240554

Bibliography Bicchieri, Cristina and Muldoon, Ryan, "Social Norms", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato. stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/social-norms/. Brown, AJ. “AntiDesign Festival, Neville Brody Speech September 24, 2010”. Vimeo. 22 February, 2011 https://vimeo.com/20240554 Bryne, Chuck and Witte, Martha. “A Brave New World: Understanding Deconstruction”. Print magazine, November/December 1990. Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st ed., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. Culler, Jonathan D. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction . Oxford University Press, 1997.

Fuad-Luke, Alastair. Design activism: beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world. London: Earthscan. 2009 Hardisty, Joshua Namdev. “Intro to Typography: Early Modernist typography and the European Avant-Garde.” Typography Studio Class Spring 2015 at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. YouTube, YouTube, 2 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx11WJnJiRQ. Hoeks, Henk, and Ewan Lentjes. The Triumph of Typography: Culture, Communication, New Media. Lannoo Publishers, 2015. Keedy, Jeffery ‘A Conversation with Edward Fella’, Emigre, no. 17, 1991. Lupton, Ellen and Miller, J. Abbot. “Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory.” Visible Language, vol. 28, no. 4, Autumn 1994, pp. 346-366. Retrieved from http://visiblelanguagejournal.com/issue/105/article/356. Markussen, T. The Disruptive Aesthetics of Design Activism: Enacting Design Between Art and Politics. Design Issues, vol. 29 no. 1. Winter 2013. 38–50. http://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00195 Miller, J. Abbott and Lupton, Ellen. “A Natural History of Typography”. J. Abbott Miller ed. Design Writing Research, New York and The Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ 1992. Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st ed., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. Novin, Guity. “Chapter 42; The Swiss Grid System -- and the Dutch Total Grid.” A History of Graphic Design, http://guity-novin.blogspot.de/2016/09/chapter42-swiss-grid-system-and-dutch.html. Novin, Guity. “Chapter 45; Dadaism; The Meeting Point of All Contradictions.” A History of Graphic Design, guity-novin.blogspot.de/2011/08/chapter-44-dadaism-meeting-point-of-all.html#Two. Poluan, Illona. “Italian Futurism: a Movement All Designers Can Learn From.” 99designs, 99designs, 10 Mar. 2012, en.99designs.de/blog/creative-inspiration/italian-futurism-a-movement-all-designers-should-learn-from/. Poynor, R. No More Rules. London: Laurence King Publishing.2013. Poynor, Rick. “Type and Deconstruction in the Digital Era” Typography Now: The Next Wave, London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1991 Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st ed., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. p. 87

Robertson, Keith. “Starting from Zero”. Print magazine, September/October 1992. Rpt. in Looking Closer Critical Writings on Graphic Design. By Bierut, Michael, et al. Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design. 1st ed., New York : Allworth Press, 1994. Rudnicki, Justine. “The Design of Dissent: Graphic Design for Socio-Political Engagement.” York University, 27 July 2017, hdl.handle.net/10315/33601 Sidanius, Jim, et al. “Social Dominance Theory: Its Agenda and Method.” Political Psychology, vol. 25, no. 6, 2004, pp. 845–880. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor. org/stable/3792281. Tam, Keith. “Wolfgang Weingart’s Typographic Landscape” 2+3D magazine, issue i-2003, Nr 6. Retrieved from: http://keithtam.net/writings/ww/ww.html The Art Story Contributors. “‘Dada Movement Overview and Analysis’.” The Art Story, The Art Story Contributors, www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm. Williams, Huw. “Is Deconstruction within Typography Relevant in the 21st Century?” Salford Type Foundry, 27 Apr. 2014, 06:43, salfordtypefoundry.co.uk/ essay/is-deconstruction-within-typography-relevant-in-the-21st-century/. “Words in Freedom: Futurism at 100.” MoMA.org, www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/futurism/.

Images: Timeline based off of graphic at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/20th-century-art-and-design-movements-infographic-poster-learning-mat-11672319 “Une assemblée tumultueuse”: http://www.brodyneuenschwander.com/calligraphy/ Golden Type : The Triumph of Typography book Kleine Dada Soirée http://www.moma.org/media/W1siZiIsIjI0MjU4OSJdLFsicCIsImNvbnZlcnQiLCItcmVzaXplIDIwMDB4MjAwMFx1MDAzZSJdXQ.jpg?sha=1a1e78c953ee4bc1

Dada 6 http://cdn8.openculture.com/2017/06/14234133/dada-cover-2.jpg Karl Gerstner’s grid: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e8/d4/3e/e8d43e0052f91f90d7fe46d29956a934.jpg Zürich Concert Hall poster: https://miaclarkdesign.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/josef-mc3bcller-brockmann-poster4-jpg.gif “French Currents of the Letter”: No Rules book Dysphasia: https://www.elliottearls.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DysphasiaPosterByElliottEarls-1.jpg Computer: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Ibm_pc_5150.jpg Kunstkredit 1978/79: http://5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20170911/68c739fe91ef496295680adb1690d657.jpeg Moon Rufen: http://5b0988e595225.cdn.sohucs.com/images/20170911/d69400abaab94b2bb57b473c498b05c0.jpeg Typography As Discourse: http://www.eyemagazine.com/opinion/article/absolutely-the-worst Announcement for a lecture: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/30469734962340628/ Interview with Ed Fella, Jeffery Keedy, Emigre 17, 1991: VanderLans, Rudy, et al. Emigre: Graphic Design into the Digital Realm. Booth-Clibborn, 1994. Deconstruction of Contents: No Rules book Bounce: https://vaughanjordan.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/neville-brody/ The End of Print: https://iloveviscomm.wordpress.com/page/8/

This is to declare that I wrote this thesis by myself and that I used only those quotes, sources and aids indicated in my thesis. All quotations used are explicitly marked. Cologne, April 5, 2018