Modernist Designers
Including Bauhaus and Cubism
Modernism Definition
Contents Page
Design Movements
4 6 16
Production
Definition
Post Modernism
Post Modernist Designers
Masthead and cover research
Magazine Research
Inc. Mastheads, thumbnail visuals, experiments and initial designs for all.
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“FUNCTION SHOULD ALWAYS DICTATE FORM”
Modernism
Modernism Modernism began to break through at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century due to the advances within technolgy during this time.
use of clean sans-serif type. The more typical typefaces used in the modernism era include Monotype Grotesque, Futura, and Helvetica Neue.
Influential designers of this period range from Walter Gropius from the Bauhaus right through to Le Corbusier of which the disciplines influenced their designs and their work. Modernism saw a break in the world of the ‘ism’ - inclusing Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism and Surrealism.
A notable characteristic of Modernism is self-consciousness, which often led to experiments with form, along with the use of techniques that draw attention to the process and materials used in creating a painting etc. Thus rejecting the ideology of realism.
While it was making such an impact across multiple disiplines Modernism is arguably the most influencial movement of the 20th century. Modernism especially changed the thinking process for Graphic Design and typography . Designers of the era of Modernism abided to strict, structured gird systems with emphasis on negative space, just as important was the
I feel that the design style modernism is a design style that can be used to create a simplicity with a minimum of two bold and contrasting colours. The use of shapes and colours together allow there to be a structure in the work breaking few rules. The use of the basic shapes by many modernist designers means that although it creates designs worth talking about it is also unique to an individual.
Modernism
1919-1933
Bauhaus
1919-1933
“LESS IS MORE”
The Bauhaus was the most influential moderist art school of the 20th century, of which their approach to teaching understood the relationship between society and technology. They insisted on using only primary colours, red, blue and yellow. This colour palette, coupled with very simple geometric shapes, led to a distinct ideology of what the Bauhaus style designs should resemble. The aim was to create products that were simple in design and could easily be mass produced.
Walter Gropius had the aim of bridging the gap between art, design and industry and unifying all three. Also taught to combine fine art skills with new tchnologies to design and manufacture products that were both beautiful and practical.
Gropius’ aim was to unite artists and craftspeople in order to embrace technological developments. It became clear that technology was the future and machines now provided opportunities to mass-produce products for everyday use. With this vision of unity, the Bauhaus aimed to create an environment in which artists could work alongside architects and designers to contribute to the ‘building’ of the future’. My thoughts on the Bauhaus style is that although the style is simple using geometric shapes the designs you can make using just these few requirements allowing you to design styles of which are sutiable for you, having said all of this the simple styles is truely eye catching and can be recognised from the simplicity of it.
Bauhaus
1917-1931
De Stijl
1917-1931
“I WISH TO APPROACH TRUTH AS CLOSELY AS IS POSSIBLE, AND THEREFORE I ABSTRACT EVERYTHING” The De Stijl design movement espoused a visual language consisting of preciself rendered geometic forms, usually straight lines, squares and rectangles using primary colours, plus black and white as the main source of colours. The main intention in doing so was to express new artistic ideals of order and harmony by using reduction as an absolute essential. De Stijl was a reflection of the emerging trend of the 20th centurn, the joining of thr art and design worlds that had been seperated previously. The leader of the De Stijl movement was Theo van Doesburg, whose early work was often compared to Van Gogh’s. Widely considered today as one of the most dar-
ing artists of the avant-garde era, this is easy to see how his devotion to pure, abstract art led him to found De Stijl. The movement proposed ultimate simplicity and abstraction through which they could express an idea of harmony and order right from the start of the movement in 1917. The main thing and the most obvious thing within this movement style is the fact that the simplicity like with the Bauhaus creates a strong message using the most simple design , shapes and colours. the use of the primary colours along with black and white allow the designs to be recognised throughout all medias and the style is known for this.
De Stijl
1872-1892
Impressionism
1872-1892
“LIGHT IS IMPRESSIONISM� Impressionism can be considered the first distinctly modern movement in painting. Developing in Paris in the 1860s, its influence spread throughout Europe and eventually the United States. In turning away from the fine details to which most artists of their day aspired, the impressionists aimed to capture the momentary, sensory effect of a scene - the impression objects made on the eye in the fleeting instant.
Impressionism
1899-1908
Fauvism
1899-1908
“THE CHIEF FUNCTION OF COLOUR SHOULD BE TO SERVE EXPRESSION� The first of the major avant-garde movements in European 20th century art, Fauvism was characterised by paintings that used intensely vivid, non-naturalistic and exuberant colours. The style was essentially expressionist, and generally featured landscapes in which forms were distorted.
One of Fauvisms major contributions to modern art was its goal of seperating colour from its descriptive purpose and allowing it to exist on the canvas as an independent element. Colour could project a mood and establish a structure within the work of art without having to be true to the natural world.
The movement was subjected to more mockery and abuse as it developed, but began to gain respect when major art buyers took an interest. The leading artists involved were Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy.
Looking at the design movement it is clear that the bright colours draw attention to the flat hardness of the image even though the image is simplified. The thing that stands out is the visual impression of the work to be strong within the image even though the image may not be seen when you first look at the image.
Although short lived, Fauvism was extremely influential in the evolution of 20th century art, it proved to be an important precursor to Cubism and Expressionism as well as a touchstone for future modes of abstraction.
Fauvism
1907-1912 / 1913-1920s
Cubism
1907-1912 / 1913-1920s
“A NEW WAY OF REPRESENTING THE WORLD”
The cubism art movement began in Paris around 1907. Led by Pablo Picasso and George Braque, the Cubists broke from centuries of tradion in their paintings by rejecting the single viewpoint. Instead they used an analytical system to fragment three dimensional subjects of which were redefined from several different points of view.
Cubism is often divided into two phases - the Analytic phase (1907-12), and the Synthetic phase (1913 through to the 1920s). The initial phase attempted to show objects as the mind, not the eye, perceives them. The analytic phase abandoned traditional perspective, endeavouring to explore the multidimensional facetsof an object rather than express it in a flat two-dimensional manner. The elimination of colour and the
application of collage emphasized the ‘idea’ of the object. Synthetic cubism revived an interest in colour, texture and tactile quality. The featured works that were composed of fewer and simpler forms, in brighter colours.The introduction of ephemera, lettering and newsprint to explore the relationship between illusion and reality created a new visual language that has since been used by many designers and illustrators. Something that I like about the Cubism movement is the fact that you can take something that was an original normal image, take it apart and then recreate something that is original and unique by putting multiple images and shapes on top of one another to make the image flat. This allows you to create different images seen by the eye.
Cubism
1914-1996
Josef M 端ller-Brockmann
1914-1996
“...BUT ONE MUST LEARN HOW TO USE THE GRID; IT IS AN ART THAT REQUIRES PRACTISE” Josef Muller-Brockmann was a swiss graphic designer and teacher. He studied architecture, design and history of art . In 1936 he opened his very own studio specialising in graphic design, exhibition design and photography. He is recognised for his simple designs and his clean use of typography, shapes and colours which inspire many graphic designers in the 21st century. He is perhaps the most wellknown swiss designer and his name is the msot easily recognised when talking about the period when he was around. He produced numerous books all of which provided an excellent foundation for young graphic designers wishing to learn more about the profession.
Something that Brockmann is well known for is the use of the grid by which he explained “ The formal organisation of the surface by means of the grid, a knowledge of the rules that govern legibility (line length, word and letter sacing and so on) and the meanginful use of colour are amoung the tools a designer must master in order to complete their work in a rational and aconomic matter.” I like the fact that he uses simple shapes and hardly anything on the poster and the items that he creates yet they portray a message which is easily red and understood. His layout of designs and his type means the user is easily drawn into it as it is all part of the images, pictures and the symbols of the posters. You can also recognise his work due to the colour scheme used.
Josef M üller-Brockmann
1914-1996
Paul Rand
1914-1996
“DONT TRY TO BE ORIGINAL; JUST TRY TO BE GOOD”
Paul Rand was an American art director and graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, Morningstar etc, Although his logos may be interpreted as simplistic, Ranf was quick to point out in A designers Art that “ideas do not need to be esoteric to be original or exciting.” This was followed up by his amercan broadcasting company trademark that epitomized the ideal of minimalism.
Paul Rand wasnt just a corporate deisgner but whose career can be divided into three periods, from 1937-1941, he worked in media promotion and book design; from 1941-1954, he focused more on advertising design; and from 1954 on, he began to concentrate on corporate identity programs and it was from here on that he was the most influential. He explored movements inc. cubism, constructivism and De Stijl to develop original graphic language.
Paul Rand
1920-Present
Armin Hofmann
1920-Present
“MY INTEREST IN BLACK AND WHITE IN DESIGN LIES IN MY INTENSE PREOCCUPATION WITH THE FORMS AND ANALYSIS OF SIGNS AND SYMBOLS” Armin Hofmann was born in June 1920 and is a famous Swiss graphic designer. His career started when he was the age of 26 as a teacher in a school of art and crafts becoming the head of the graphic design department. Not only did he have an insight as an educator but also had powers of visual expression, created a body of a variety of work - books, exhibitions, logotypes, symbols, typography, posters, sign systemsand environmental graphics. His work recognized for its reliance on the fundamental elemens of graphic form - point, line, and shape - while conveying simplicity, complexity, representation and abstraction.
His contribution to post-war swiss style graphic design was to demonstrate the importance of a graphic language based on consistent, rational principles. Something that has been a massive impact and has made Hofmann well known is his ‘Graphic Design Manual’ (1965) which identified the fundamental requirements for basic course in graphic design. As you can see to the left of this text are some poster designs created by Hofmann, you can see from just these 4 designs his lack of colour in his designs sticking to black and white as the main colour scheme, he also strips back a lot om the designs allowing you to think.
Armin Hofmann
1927-1992
Jacqueline Casey
1927-1992
“GENIUS IS THE ABILITY TO REDUCE THE COMPLICATED TO THE SIMPLE” An american graphic designer who trained at Massachusetts College of Art. In 1955 joined the office of publications at MIT. Caseys work acknowledges the influence of the grid established by the post-war graphic design masters in switzerland. She often uses strong elemental imagery, manipulated from letterforms.
tal role in Caseys posters : a complete visual image can be created entirely from the messagecontent and the image becomes the message. ‘My job is to stop anyone I can with an arresting or puzzling image, and entice the viewer to red the message in small type and above all to attend the exhibition’ -
Caseys visual language style was strongly influenced by the swiss designers Armin Hofmann and Josef Muller-Brockmann and the international style. Typography plays a fundamen-
Jacqueline Casey
1901-1968
Cassandre
1901-1968
“A GOOD POSTER IS A VISUAL TELEGRAM�
Born in the Ukraine, he migrated to Paris during the First World War and went to on to study as a painter, commercial poster artist and typeface designer. Between 1923 and 1936 Cassandre was responsible for a series of classic and enormously influential advertising posters that assimilate different elements of the languageof Modernism, particularly cubism and surrealism. The posters displayed on the
right are advertising posters for Dubonnet by Cassandre in 1932 which ran for about 20 yrs. The posters of which are displayed to the right hand side of this text show the type of style of which Cassandre is well known for, the posters of which he creates all have text which is displayed as a focus feature in the posters and all other designs. These 3 series of posters are the most well known as well as the ones which display his style of design.
Cassandre
“POSTMODERNISM WAS A REACTION TO MODERNISM”
Post Modernism
Post Modernism A design movement that evolved in the mid-1960s as a critical response to the sominance, and percieved sterility of Modernism. Postmodern designers rejected modernism’s obsessoin with progress and challenged the fundamental tenets of order and discipline espoused by the Bauhaus and its followers. The movement also brought with it a new generation of swiss graphic designers that sought to challenge the limitations of this increasingly predictable style rather than the previous international typographic style with the belief that form follows function. Although latterly applied more as a ‘style’ than an alternative to mainstream practice, post-modernism provides a pointer to future graphic design developments. This revolution in communication has compelled designers also to move freelu across disciplines, to ignore the traditional demar-
cation between art and design, and to embrace the opportunities created by the increasinly fluid exchanged between text, image, film and also music. Postmodernism is a late 20th century movement in the arts, architecture and criticsm that was a departure from modernism. It is often associated with deconstruction and post-structuralism because its usage as a term gained significant popularity at the same time as twentieth-century post-structural thought. The main thing and the thing that I like about the postmodernist movement is the fact that there is no right or wrong when it comes to the design as long as the design does what it intends to then the design can be as out there as wanted. The use of bright colours grabs users attention and makes them see the work and take note of the work being shown.
Post Modernism
1957-Present
Neville Brody
1957-Present
“DESIGN IS MORE THAN JUST A FEW TRICKS TO THE EYE. ITS A FEW TRICKS TO THE BRAIN”
Neville Brody is a British Graphic Designer, Typographer and Art Director currently working in his own design practise. He is most recognised for his work on ‘The Face’ magazine and various album covers. An achievment of his being the best selling Graphic Design book worldwide - The Graphic Language of Neville Brody. His post-modernism, in the aftermath of punk, challenged most of the conventions in editorial design. Designed and manipulated many im-
ages and varieties of typeface into new, often illegible, shapes and proportions Some of the more well known clients include brands such as City Limits, Arena and also designing three fonts for Linotype. The parts that stand out to my within his designers is the layout of which he sues fo ra lot of his work due to the fact it isnt perfect therefore makes it interesting. His designs for magazines and other forms of media mean the colours and the style can be seen and noticed from afar.
Neville Brody
1954-Present
David Carson
1954-Present
“...IF YOU HAVENT GOT THE EYE, NO PROGRAM WILL GIVE IT TO YOU”
An american graphic designer whose influential post-modern graphic style served to radically challenge the conversations of traditional editorial and advertising design during the late 1980s and the 1990s; Carson playfully manipulates and blurs text and image to reflect and amplify content and meaning, encouraging closer engagment from the viewer. His style employs asymmetrical layouts, pages of densely layered images and fragmented typefaces of contrasting weights, sizes and form. Being the 9th best surfer in the world as well as being a famous designer has allowing and given him opportunities to exper-
iment with design, working on several different publications related to the surfing profession - Beach Culture, How Magazine and RayGun were amount the main ones. However, it was RayGun where he gained perhaps the most recognition and was able to share his design style, characterized by ‘dirty’ type which adheres to none of the standard practices of typography and is often illegible, with the widest audience. Looking at Carsons designs shows his interest in typography by simply viewing them and looking at the ways in which he uses type to get a message across and as a main part of the design , like a center piece.
David Carson
1941-Present
Wolfgang Weingart
1941-Present
“TYPE IS A TRAINGLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN, ELEMENTS & PRINT TECHNIQUES”
Wolfgang is a self taught graphic designer, typographer and influential teacher who pioneered Post-modernism. He moved to Basle where in 1968 began teaching alongside Armin Hofmann. Weingarts intuitive, expressive typographic ‘experiments’, sppearing on poster and cover designs, utilzed wide wordspacing and letterspacing, step rules, reversed type blocks, unpredictable contrasts of type weight, and diagonal or random placement of letterforms. His work has had a profound influence on American graph-
ic design, providing a dynamic alternative to the predictability of corporate design solutions based on systematic Swiss design principles. Another thing about the swiss design principles that were changed came from his students which led the new generation of designers to approach design in an entirely different manner than the original principles, especially in swiss typograpy. One of the best things about Wolfgang was the fact that he rarely moved away from using Helvetica type in his designs.
Wolfgang Weingart
1949-1999
Tibor Kalman
1949-1999
“WHEN YOU MAKE SOMETHINGS NO
ONE HATES, NO ONE LOVES IT�
Tibor is a Graphic designer who was based in New York, and principal of the innovative design collaborative M&Co, which he founded in 1979. Kalman shunned conventional elegancee in design, favouring quirky, witty solutions, often made possibleby advanced technology; M&Co was renowned fr its use of the vernacular visual elements (advertising signs, graffiti) found in American urban environments.
He is most famous for his provocative work for the publications interview and especially colours. Colours magazine is a quarterly publication intended for young adults world wide, it is published in 4 different languages. His designs for the covers of the first 13 issues garnered him much attention as a designer. His influence has reached many well-known designers, the most well known ones include Alexander Isley and Stefan Sagmeister.
Tibor Kalman
1948-Present
April Greiman
1948-Present
“I AM THE QUEEN OF CHANCE”
American graphic designer whose highly innovative work reflects a witty synthesis of swiss style graphic design, the colours and culture of california and the multilayered effects made possible by technology. Greiman was known for not only being perhaps the best0known female designer in graphic design history but also for being one of Weingarts students.
Looking into Aprils designs she would often use the condensed version of Helvetica, usually in italic and usually letter-spaced playing around with the overlapping of colours and the deliberate ‘off registration’.
Greiman was one of the first designers to embrace the Mac even before postscript fonts (professional type that had smooth edges) were avaliable. She also enhances jagged edges of digital type by deliberately enlarging it to make the font her own. The ‘Queen of chance’ was the title that April Greiman gave for herself. It happens to be an accurate description of who Greiman is as a designer and as a person. She is one to take chances and isnt afriad to make mistakes. As in her words “mistakes are accidents, and accidents often reveal unexpected possibilities.”
April Greiman
Premiss
Heydays
Premiss
Heydays is a Norwegian design agency based in oslo. The focus of their work is developing visual identities, digital solutions and other associated material for small and big clients. together with clients they identify and clarify core values to make relevant and tailored solutions.
Heydays
An art direction and editorial design for Premiss, a political magazine with indepth features and articles by Youth againt EU. As each edition is theme based, we created a layered feeling, mking the theme the most important feature of all - in front.
TEASER magazine
Carsten Witte
TEASER magazine
TEASER magazine lets readers look behind the scenes of the high-quality fashion and beauty world, interspersed with new aesthetic trends that are exciting perspective from unusual perspective inviting with lavishly produced fashion and
Carsten Witte
beauty editorials to dream, looking at the heads of interesting personalities and sings with modern lifestyle of the future.
Magazine designs
Tamabi
Magazine designs
Tamabi
Magazine designs
Magazine designs
Mast head designs
Mast head designs
“GOOD DESIGN IS OBVIOUS. GREAT DESIGN IS TRANSPARENT”
Production
Throughout the production pages I will include a range of things including: - Initial scamps of the masthead designs -Masthead design with cover images -Thumbnail visuals of page layouts -Visual experiments of all aspects of the magazine -Mockups of the magazine -Type and image optionality -Grid systems and how they are used in magazine layouts
The Grd System
“THE GRID SYSTEM IS AN AID, NOT A GUARANTEE”
The grid is a lyout device that is used by Graphic designers and typographers to achieve a visual order and consistency on the printed page. Pre-printed grid sheets indicating column widths, picture sizes and margins provide a disciplined framework for the placing of diverse visual components. The grid is synonymous with the rational approach of swiss style graphic design after the second world war. When using computerised design programs, grids ay also be set up on a documents master page.
The most well known book on this topic is ‘Grid systems in Graphic Design’ by Josef Muller-Brockmann. This is where core ideas on the grid were first presented and which helped spread the knowledge about the grids throughout the world.
The grid serves as an armature on which designers can organize text and images in a rational, easy to absorb manner.
The Grd System
Masthead Designs
Colour Scheme Design and Ideas
Arial NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE new visual language
Helvetica NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE new visual language
Helvetica Neue NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE
Helvetica Neue
new visual language
New Visual Language Form Follows Function Modernism and Post Modernsim
Bell MT NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE new visual language
Times New Roman NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE new visual language
Tahoma NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE new visual language
Typography
Front Cover Designs
Front Cover Designs
Front Cover Designs
Front Cover Designs
Final Cover Design
Masthead Design
Slogan and name of the magazine issue
Central Image taken from City in flux brief
Final Cover Design
Contents Page Designs
Contents Page Designs
Final Contents Page Design
Masthead Design
Central Image taken from Earth Artifacts
Contents of verion 1 of NVL
Final Contents Page Design