Form follows function research document by Jack Barnes

form follows function research document jack barnes

contents reaction to the brief modernism

What is Modernism?

What is Post Modernism?

Walter Dexel

Wim Crouwel

Max Miedinger

Jan Tschichold

Paul Renner

Josef M端ller-Brockmann

Massimo Vignelli

Emil Ruder

Armin Hoffman

Paul Rand

Josef Albers

David Carson

Neville Brody

Jaime Reid

Terry Jones

Erik Spiekermann

Wolfgang Weinhart

Peter Saville

De Stijl

Face Creative

magazine research

existing magazine covers

existing masthead designs

masthead development

masthead experimentation

front cover experimentation

page layout experimentation

developed page layouts

magazine development

post modernism artist Research

Build

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the brief magazine design an exploration of modernism and post modernism

As part of my final brief, I will be submitting proposals for a new graphic design publication called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;New Visual Languageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Before I start developing outcomes for this magazine, I will be researching into the history of modernism and post modernism to gain a fuller, broader understanding of the movements and their timelines, as well as their influence on publications and how social and political events influenced the movements. Upon completing this initial research, I will begin developing my concepts for the magazine, such as a front cover and masthead. I also need to gain an understanding of the existing conventions of publications, such as layouts. As well as this I need to incorporate my earlier works into the magazine. My initial response to the brief is positive and of hopefulness. I am fascinated by modernism and its principles, as well as the works of designers such as Josef MĂźller-Brockmann and Massimo Vignelli. As well as this, I feel like this brief will provide me with an opportunity to become more educated in what post modernism is. I think my earlier work in my City in Flux brief has made me well-prepared for designing publications and look forward to expanding my knowledge on layouts in publications.

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what is

modernism The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claims of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces.

Modernism is the movement that arose in society in the late 19th century and early 20th century in which the outlook on design, art and architecture was transformed. This coincided with the rethinking of many values in society and culture, as advances in science, technology, psychology and philosophy were made.

- George Simmel

It comes as no surprise as this shift in thinking emerged from the aftermath of world war one and the Russian revolution. There was a sense of hope, especially in Europe to correct the existing ‘wrongs’ in society and to mould the new world - where inequality, social injustice and conflict no longer existed. Modernism quickly became a sensation, as the movement and ethos became heavily promoted, with exhibitions, books and posters becoming extremely prevalent in the west. In the sense of art and design, modernism was a reaction to what was seen by many as bad practice and inefficientness. Louis Sullivan coined the phrase ‘form follows function’ which became symbolic of the modernist philosophy and movement. Modernism is also made up of lots of smaller movements, which make up the first half of the 20th century, such as cubism, constructivism and futurism along with designers such as Paul Rand, Joseph Muller Brockmann and Jan Tschicold and many others, all of which have still have a profound impact on design as a whole to the present day.

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artist research Walter Dexel Wim Crouwel Max Miedinger Jan Tschichold Paul Renner Walter Gropius Josef M端ller-Brockmann Massimo Vignelli Emil Ruder Armin Hoffman Paul Rand Josef Albers David Carson Michael Place Neville Brody Jaime Reid Terry Jones

Walter Dexel Walter Dexel is a German artist closely associated with the constructivist and bauhaus movements in the early 20th century. He also worked in typography, advertising as well as art history and as an exhibitioner. Dexelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is incredibly varied and versatile and its fascinating to the influences of different movements and the impact they have had on his work such as De Stijl and Constructivism. I really like Dexelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constructivist artwork because despite its simplicity and minimalistic use of shapes, how varied each of his outcomes are. In terms of his posters and advertising work, I really like the typesetting used by Dexel. It looks extremely ordered with its composition, emphasising the idea that functionality is the key principle in design during the modernist period.

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Walter Dexel and constructivism

Walter Dexel and advertising

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Wim Crouwel Wim Crouwel is a Dutch designer, mainly known for his typographic expertise, who I became aware of during my research for an earlier brief. His work is heavily influenced by the swiss style (through his love for the grid) and bauhaus movements, with a great focus being put on the composition of his work enforcing a visually pleasing, functional hierarchy. A notable selection of Crouwel’s work is his work for the Van Abbe museum in 1954. His stance on his work was that they should not convey any form of the artist’s ideas, but instead communicate ‘relevant information’ to the reader. I think this resonates with the modernist ethos very well.

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Max Miedinger and helvetica Miedinger is a swiss typeface designer who is famous for his work on Neue Haas Grotesk - known around the world as helvetica which is the one of the most famous typefaces in the world. The original name was seen as being too unmarketable to an American audience so the typeface was renamed to Helveitca the Latin translation for Swiss. It comes as no surprise as helvetica became the figurehead of the swiss typographic movement. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clean, simple aesthetic enabled functionality in its placement.

It very much became a marmite subject. On the contrary, designers such as Massimo Vignelli ubiquitously used helveitca in his work, such as his map for the New York subway. In my own view, I adore helvetica, although I think it has to be used correctly in a refined and functional fashion, like Spiekermann says, but when used correctly I think it is the perfect typeface.

As its popularity grew, opposition started to form, especially in the post-modernism era. Other type designers started to criticise its candid use. Erik Spiekermann says â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;It is perfect for what it is. Helvetica was designed to have no specific character and the designers achieved that. So it is beautiful in that sense, but not suited to a lot communication tasks that require an attitude, a voice. Neither is it suited to be used small on screens because too many of its characters can be confused with each other, like l and I, 3 and B, or rn an m.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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Jan Tschichold Tschichold is a symbolic typographer of the modernist era, although his commitment to the movement and its philosophy were not always strong. His most famous work is Die neue Typographie - a book that emphasised the importance of sans-serif typefaces, non-centrered design and standardised paper sizes. Despite his fanaticism with the modernist principles, he later abandoned these in 1932, reverting to classicism. Stating his condemnation of modernism because of its authoritarian and facist-like nature. Later in his career, Tschichold oversaw the redesign of Penguin’s books, designing a set of standardised typographic rules, known as the ‘Penguin composition rules’. From looking at his work, I find myself liking designer’s work such as MullerBrockmann and Crouwel’s work more for its cleaner aesthetic.

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Paul Renner Renner was an instrumental typeface designer of the modernist period, most famously known for his Futura typeface, as well as his books that give guidelines on good, successful book design.

Outside of design, Renner had strong political views. He wrote a book which was highly critical of the Nazis in 1932. When they came to power, he was arrested before emigrating to Switzerland.

Futura, his most famous work, was one of the most used and successful typefaces of the 20th century. A sans serif font, many claim the font to be an iconic typeface of the constructivist and bauhaus movements with its strong geometric values. The typefaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long ascenders help to make the typeface functional and versatile, especially with the wide ranges of `weights available in the typeface. Its simplicity emphasises the modernist principles of form following function. To the present day, the futura typeface is still using predominantly in advertising and branding. Examples include work for HP and Volkswagen, as well as use in movie promotions such as American Beauty and wInterstellar, and in video games such as Skyrim and Destiny. All of this highlights how modernist philosophies towards design still holds up today.

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Josef Müller-Brockmann Müller-Brockmann is an instrumental figure behind the swiss typography moment of the 50s and 60s. In 1951 he produced a number of poster designs for the Tonhalle in Zurich which show how influential the grid was in his work and how he used it to create a coherent structure to his work. The posters make use of simplistic sans serif type, mainly Akzidenz-Grotesk, combined with geometric shapes. Again, like all modernist design, functionality is essential in creating a visual hierarchy which is easy to understand for an audience.

Looking at his book, ‘grid systems in graphic design’ and I was inspired at his methodical approach to design and his attention to detail in what makes up his work and taught me a great deal about page layout which will influence my work in the future. In contemporary culture and design, the book is still seen as an essential read for all designers in gaining an understanding of typography, page layout.

In addition to this, he also was very enthusiastic about the effect that photography can have on a poster. I think the way in which he positions the images and how they accompany the type makes them look more dynamic. A minimal use of colour makes sure an audience is not overwhelmed, delivering information in a relaxed fashion.

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Massimo Vignelli I came across Massimo Vignelli when watching the Helvetica documentary. I became interested in him because of how passionate and insightful he was when it came to design. A strong symbol in the modernist movement, Vignelli worked a variety of design fields during his career such as packaging design and signage design. Iconically, he designed the signage for the New York subway system which utilised the ‘standard’ typeface before shifting to Helvetica. In addition to this, he also designed the corporate identity for American Airlines in the 60s. The design is incredibly simplistic - using just displaying ‘American Airlines’ in helvetica with red and blue to distinguish between the two words. Insisting that the identity convey more of an American identity, Vignelli added the eagle to the identity.

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Emil Ruder A Swiss designer, Emil Ruder was another important figure in the Swiss typographic movement during the modernist period. He founded the Basel School of Design alongside Armin Hoffman Like most modernist designers at the time, especially those involved in the Swiss typographic movement, Ruder placed a large emphasis on legibility creating clean and concise posters with the significance of sans serif typefaces being a large factor in his ethos in design. As well as his design work, Ruder was somewhat philosophical in his approach to design, understanding the importance of communication and its relationship with typography and as a teacher, he transferred these values onto his students. Most notably, however, Ruder is famous for his book on called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;typographieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which acts as a fundamental guide on efficient typography use and gives an insight into Swiss typography.

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Armin Hofmann Another pioneer of the swiss typographic style, Armin Hofmann founded the Basel School of Design, alongside Emil Ruder. Like Ruder, he was responsible for the education of future designers, emphasising the importance of simplicity. One of his famous moments as an educator was when he tacked a poster to a wall explaining that “A good poster can take it.” I feel that this encapsulates the purpose of modernity and the idea that form follows function. A poster should not be treated like an exhibition piece, but it should be designed in a way in which it can cope with the real world and still fulfill its purpose. I think you can see this in his work with its methodical composition and smart use of type. Hofmann is also well known for his book ‘Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice’ which is seen by many as fundamental in teaching typography.

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Paul Rand A monumental figure behind modernism, Paul Rand was a graphic designer who was known for his corporate identities throughout the 20th century. His work for ABC, UPS and IBM are iconic pieces of design, recognisable across the globe.

its identity. He was also critical of postmodernism and its outlook on design, describing it as ‘faddish and frivolous’. He resigned in his post at Yale after they appointed a post-modernist designer.

A large influence behind Rand’s corporate work is the swiss design aesthetic. Incorporating that into his work, Rand’s identities are always simple and clean in form. In addition to this, Rand also worked as an art director for Esquire, as well as setting the page layout for Apparel Arts (now GQ). His talent for composition also helped him design iconic posters and covers in the 20th century. Most notably his 1940 Christmas edition of Direction, using barbed wire to present the magazine as a gift, but also symbolising the war. Like many modernist designers at the time, Rand was also extremely philosophical in his design process. He would routinely blur or damage his work as a test of how it would retain

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Josef Albers Josef Albers was a German painter, designer and teacher who later moved to America during the 1930s. Originally a teacher at the Bauhaus college, Albers emigrated to the United states where he was instrumental in spreading the college’s ideologies after the college was closed by the Nazis. He also taught at the Black Mountain College, as well as at Yale University. Albers is most famous for his series of paintings called ‘Homage to the Square’. He worked on the series until his death in 1976. A simple series of grouped squares, formed of different colour palettes.

The colours, in addition to this, were chosen to create a relationship with each other with the purpose of influencing each square, expanding, contracting, receding or advancing with each other.I think whilst some may perceive the homage to the square as being unengaging, or pretentious, I admire Alber’s complex approach to his work, emphasing the attention to detail and functionality that modernist artists are so renowned for.

My first impression of these paintings were of how simple and minimalist they were, yet in nature Albers went about his work in an extremely methodical way. With a carefully formed composition, Albers goes on to explain the choice of the square as a fundamental feature in his paintings because of how it’s man-made quality emphasised a work of art from nature the most out of all the other geometric shapes.

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s i t a wh

m s i n r e d tmo

pos

With modernism having a firm grip on the world of design, post modernists began to view design as mundane, especially from the young designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point of view. In terms of graphic design, a radical change occurred; legibility was not as important, with experimentation in aesthetics becoming incredibly popular. I think a general comparison can be made between the ethos of design during the height of postmodernism in the 70s and 80s and society at the time, much like what occurred in modernism and its fundamentals. Anti-establishment, anti-capitalism and anarchism were popular. A reaction of the authority in design was happening.

to question what they see more. Again, similarities between society at the time and design became visible. There was, of course, opposition to post modernism. Criticisms included the unnecessary approach that designers had to overcomplicating design, obstructing legibility.

Like modernism, a wide variety of sub-movements emerged, with punk, grunge and new wave styles becoming a common sight in popular culture. Another important aspect behind postmodernism was the embracement of technology which allowed greater experimentation. In addition to this, many forms of postmodernism graphic work is how an audience engages with the work in order to interpret their own readings or ideas from the work. This approach lead to audiences beginning

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David Carson David Carson is an American graphic designer famous for his magazine layout design which broke established traditional layout systems, as well as his typography which was extremely experimental. His background in graphic design is not traditional, embarking on his journey at 26 years of age after attending a 2 week summer course on the subject. This helped him greatly in achieving his experimental aesthetic which made him so renowned. In the Helvetica documentary, Carson says ‘he never learned the things he wasn’t supposed to do’. Attending a 2 week workshop in Switzerland, he discovered his first influential designer - his teacher Hans-Rudolph Lutz. His work for Raygun magazine was extremely experimental. With varying typefaces, layouts, compositions and colours used, Carson says that his work is to be emotionally interpreted. Another quote of his from the helvetica documentary is ‘don’t communicate legibility with communication, just because something is legible, it doesn’t mean it communicates, or

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even communicates the right thing’ and that the most powerful, meaningful message can lose its meaning if communicated in a drab and boring way. Visualising this, he points to ‘caffeinated’ written in helvetica saying that it doesn’t look like helvetica. An example of his experimental approach was to a poorly written Bryan Ferry article, deeming it as unworthy of reading. Because of this, he changed the type to be displayed in dingbats to visualise this. I think this ethos strikes something with me and I understand what he is trying to say, but I think the way in which Carson’s grunge-based experimental work tries to do this does not do anything for me. In my opinion, the incoherentness of his work is not pleasant to look at.

Neville Brody An English graphic designer, Neville Brody is another highly influential figure in the post modernist period. Unlike Carson, Brody has a much more established educational background in art and design, despite being criticised for his uncommercial style, although he was still involved in creating concert posters for his college.

In addition to Face, Brody also left his mark on other publications such as Fuze, The Guardian and The Observer and worked on the identities for clients. I find Brodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s branding and identity work much more appealing, although this is because it is far less experimental, and more commercial.

Initially, Brody was involved in designing album covers / record sleeves which were incredibly experimental and abstract, harnessing the power of the macintosh computer to create highly creative outcomes to his work. He was also greatly influenced by the punk movement, allowing him to question conventions, apparent in his work. Brody then became a creative figure in Face magazine in which typographical experiments played a large part in his success. Despite his post-modernist identity, Brody was also highly influenced by modernist avant-garde ideas such as De Stijl and Russian constructivism.

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Terry Jones Terry Jones is a British art director who’s experience include working as art director for Vogue before he launched his own fashion magazine ‘i-D’ which redefined graphical printing styles. i-D became renowned for its strong visual aesthetic with vibrant contrasting colours in layout, type setting and photography. i-D was highly influential in the punk and new wave movements in England’s youth during the 1980s. In addition to this, the magazine was also seen for its nurturing of upcoming talent in the fashion industry. I really like i-D’s front covers because of how vibrant they are, whilst still maintaining the coherentness and visual hierarchy that established magazines have. I also found it interesting how Jones doesn’t really have an ethos or agenda when it came to design. His work is very much straightforward, and more focused on the aesthetics.

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Jaime Reid Jaime Reid is a defining figure behind the punk movement, famous for creating some of the most iconic pieces of art from that period. His work is radical, showcasing his antiestablishment idealogies through use of collage. His most recognisable work came through album covers for the sex pistols. He challenged established conventions, mirroring society at that time. The unclean aesthetic of his work, turning the fixation with order established from modernism on its head. Reid is heavily involved in many social issues, which was common through the culture at the time, especially amongst youths. Reid was an anarchist and was critical of many issues such as capitalism, the poll tax and the criminal justice bill. Although his work does not appeal to me visually, I admire how Reid used graphic work as a platform to deal with, and bring these issues to the masses.

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Erik Spiekermann Erik Spiekermann isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a post-modernist designer per-se in the sense of radical, experimental design which was so famous during this period, although he does not firmly follow the established principles that modernism set during the early 20th century. A German typographer and graphic designer, Spiekermann has created hugely successful typefaces such as FF Meta, ITC Officina Sans and Fira Sans. I found FF Meta to be somewhat interesting because of the post-modernist undertones which surround the typeface. Spiekermann says he found helvetica too boring and bland, creating FF Meta as a response claiming that it was its antithesis. The more I looked at FF Meta, the more I liked it. It looks more sophisticated than helvetica. Spiekermann also founded metadesign which became on of the largest design studios in Europe, responsible for identity designs for clients such as Audi and Volkswagen.

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Wolfgang Weingart Wolfgang Weingart is a German graphic designer who’s work mainly specialises in typography.

of a product. Weingart experimented with letter press printing, typography, paper, ink, film and woodcuts in his work.

I found Weingart interesting to look at from a post-modernist point of view because of how he was tutored by iconic modernist designers - Emil Ruder and Armin Hoffman, who are famous for their swiss typographic style and how Weingart took this perspective of the aesthetic, and then ‘blew it apart’ with his own interpretation known as ‘new-wave typography’. I think this is symbolic of the post-modernist period and the challenging of authority and conventions that occurred during this time, both in art and design, and in society.

He later then influenced his own students in Switzerland, who then went on to spread their own interpretations of the aesthetic around the world, as well as publishing his own book on typography.

In terms of Weingart’s work, I really like how you can still see the influence of the swiss typographic style, yet it still turns it on its head - there is little emphasis on grid structures, as well as going against the idea that ‘less is more’ which was so instrumental in the modernist philosophy. He also shows the importance of physically experimenting with different materials and how the can influence the final outcome

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Peter Saville Peter Saville is a British graphic designer who is famous for his record sleeves he designed during the 70s and 80s, notably for New Order and Joy Division. Saville was originally inspired by Jan Tschichold’s modernist ideals and drew parallels in them for New Wave and its emergence from punk. In an interview with FACT Magazine, I found Saville’s commentary over this influence to be fascinating; “So I’m looking at Tschichold, the Neue Typographie, and my cultural world is defined by this new wave that’s happening. And it’s a bit of a no-brainer really – you’re involved in this thing called the new wave, and your first introduction to modernism. Post-punk. They fit together, they make sense, there’s a kind of discipline. There’s an ideology evident in the aesthetic. It is about something. When you look at this stuff, the modernists, it’s about a changing time – a new order, a new way of life, a new…system.”

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Working for Factory Records, Saville’s iconic sleeve designs for them were extremely minimal in their aesthetic. In addition to this, Saville felt that the covers represented more than the music, he wanted to establish a visual narrative in the sleeves. I find Saville’s signature style that he used on his album covers to be much more visually appealing than the punk style which was famous during the 70s. Their simplistic clean aesthetic doesn’t overcomplicate what a sleeve should be.

De Stijl De Stijl was a Dutch avant-garde movement which originated during the first world war and was made famous by architect and painter Theo van Doesburg. The movement was characterised by quadrilaterals formed of primary colours and the relationship between vertical and horizontal shapes. The style is abstract with a predominant focus on geometry and later became known as neoplasticsm. Personally, from researching into the different and varying forms of De Stijl artwork I found it to be stylish, especially for its time. Although one criticism I do have of the movement is how repetitive it is.

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Face Creative As I looked into how modernism and postmodernism had influenced contemporary design practice, I found a Mexican based ‘supermodernist’ design studio called Face who specialise in branding. From looking at their work it is clear to see the influence of modernism in their work with their crisp use of sans serif typefaces, and clean, minimal page layout. In particular their outcome for Kinetica is heavily influenced by swiss typographic style, especially in regards to how they follow the grid system. I was also really familar with Steve Angello’s Size Records identity before I discovered it was Face who was designed it. As a follower of electronic music, Size Record’s identity is so clean compared to rivalling label’s ‘flashy’ identity. I think the logo itself is really clever how the kerning relates to the name ‘size’.

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Build Another creative agency I looked at to see how it was influenced by modernism and postmodernism. In terms of their work, I feel that build’s style of work resembles the aesthetic associated with modernism. Their rebranding for iStock is incredibly clean and functional. Some people may find flaws in this identity - saying that it looks dull and boring, but I think for a company like iStock, they need to be represented as being a professional corporation. I also looked at their book design for Gary Hustwit’s helvetica, objectified and urbanised interview book, which is also extremely clean in its layout I like the use of white space in the design. One aspect of the book I really like is the bookmark which relates to Massimo Vignelli’s iconic New York subway designs. It shows attention to detail which fans of the book would recognise and appreciate.

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existing magazine covers The appearance of the front cover for a magazine is integral in its success. It needs to be successful in its communication to an audience. Successful communication to an audience means that it appeals to its target audience and the content of the magazine is clear and easy to understand. I looked at a variety of magazines and how they use their front covers to appeal to their target audience and to gain an understanding of the conventions of front cover design and layout. In addition to this, I looked at competing magazines from similar subject areas, such as GQ and Esquire which allows for a more thorough analysis. For some of the magazines, I also looked at older editions in addition to contemporary editions to see how post-modernism visual culture had influenced the front cover designs.

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GQ esquire Time Magazine National Geographic Eye Magazine Design Week Rolling Stone Mixmag

Front Covers GQ

With a consistently placed masthead with alternating colours, GQâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colour scheme changes depending on the photography of its main image and cover star. In addition to this, it uses its iconic strap line of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;look sharp. live smartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to appeal to its target audience. Despite this, I do feel that the way in which the cover lines are layed out makes the cover look extremely cluttered.

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Front Covers Esquire

Esquire also has alternating colour schemes based on the photography used in the main image. However, they also use varying typefaces which I feel makes each issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cover look more unique. Like GQ, I think the cover lines can make the front cover look cluttered.

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Front Covers Time Magazine

An iconic feature of TIME magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s front cover layout is the red border surrounding the cover which makes it instantly recognisable. I also feel that whilst the masthead can be regularly obscured by the main image, the red border allows for this because of how iconic it is.The front covers are also incredibly clean with the cover lines kept away from the main content of the front cover.

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Front Covers Cosmopolitan

Like TIME, National Geographic also has a signature yellow border on its covers, although in some occasions, the main image can sometimes appear outside the border which makes the covers look more dynamic.

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Front Covers Eye Magazine

As an established presence on graphic design and visual culture, its important for eye magazine to design visually stunning covers and they succeed. I love how clean their front covers are with the contents of the magazine stated vertically on the spine.

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Front Covers Design Week

Design Weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s covers look much more formal and commercial which I feel makes them look more bland. Despite this, they are still minimal in their aesthetic and I like how they separate type and image.

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Front Covers Mixmag

Mixmag have extremely clean front covers in their contemporary issues. Images doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t obscure text which helps communicate to an audience better. They also use a strapline to communicate with the target audience which appears at the top of the front cover.

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Front Covers Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s front covers are extremely conventional, constructed of one main image, surrounded by cover lines which communicate to an audience about the contents of the magazine. I feel that Rolling Stone relies more on its reputation to appeal to an audience than how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s front cover looks.

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existing magazine masthead A masthead is the title of the magazine which appears on the front cover. They work as a form of logo which should convey the form of the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity to an audience. Because I will be designing the masthead for New Visual Language, I researched into how publications represent themselves through their mastheads. Some take the form of established, consistent mastheads, whilst some change appearance each issue. In my opinion, a successful masthead needs to summarise the style of the magazine, it should be legible to establish the title of the magazine. It should also be considered that placing a masthead in the top left of the page allows for the masthead to be easily seen on a magazine shelf.

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All these mastheads are incredibly eyecatching. They are also applied consistently, making them iconic mastheads of the publication industry. Despite all being legible, I do not like the stroke used in NMEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s masthead. Although, I think the stroke used in Rolling Stone helps to enforce its traditional, timeless identity.

Printed Pages and Wired make use of alternating colours in their mastheads which depend on the colour used in the front cover. I like this design decision as I feel it makes each issue feel more individual and unique. All the mastheads I looked at symbolise how a masthead needs to be clean, simplistic and primarily type-based.

magazine development

masthead development

Ne w

NVL

New Visual Language

NVL

new visual language

vis ual language

In illustrator, I simply used typefaces on their own as a possible means of acting as my masthead. I think this helps to symbolise what a typeface can say about a brand and how they must be considered as an integral part of any identity. Some typefaces turned out well although I would prefer to incorporate more graphical work into the masthead.

NVL new visual language

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masthead development

I drew some initial sketches for possible mastheads for my magazine. I explored the possibility of having abbreviations to represent the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity. I then made the decision of having a parallelogram to create a more dynamic identity.

NVL

new visual language I then developed this initial idea in a digital form and experimented with a variety of typefaces to refine the design. The shape will also potentially allow for varying colours to be used, making it more accommodating on different front covers.

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N V L NVL NVL

new visual language helvetica neue

new visual language

futura

NVL

open sans

N V L NVL

moon

texta

NVL NVL

NVL

new visual language

roboto slab + sans

bebas neue

Experimenting with a vairety of typefaces, such as slab-based, curved and conventional sans serif, I found more success with bold, italic sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica Neue, Futura and Open Sans. Despite this, I felt that I

didn’t find the perfect single typeface to represent the masthead so I will explore the possibility of using a combination of typefaces for the abbreviation and for the ‘new visual language’ part of the masthead.

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new visual language

new visual language ostrich sans

new visual language

development

new visual language

fira sans

jack barnes

I had another simplistic idea for a masthead which I feel helps to capture the principles of modernism which inspired me a great deal during my initial stages of research. My initial sketches opened up a number of possibilities for further development, including the shapes that can be used, and the alignment of the type.

I experimented with the possibility of using left aligned type for my masthead due to its relevance to Swiss Type, but I learned from my research that mastheads should be placed on the top right.

new visual language

form follows function

I developed this idea to make use of parallelograms to make the masthead look more dynamic, as well as seeing how it would look with left and right aligned text. I felt that the most successful

development

look was the right aligned version of the masthead. I also felt that the parallelogram creates this aesthetic which is created by using a highlighter through text which gives the masthead value.

jack barnes

new visual language

fira sans

futura

new visual language

open sans

new visual language

helvetica neue

arial

new visual language

new visual language big john

quicksand

I experimented with a variety of typefaces, some established, well known typefaces such as futura, helvetica and arial, and lesser recognisable typefaces such as quicksand which I felt could potentially give the masthead a more unique aesthetic.

Overall, however I felt that helvetica was the most suitable, despite how its viewed as being too overused.

form follows function

development

new visual language

helvetica

new visual language texta

jack barnes

masthead experimentation new visual language

new visual language

form follows function

development

jack barnes

From researching existing, leading mastheads, I wanted to design a masthead which was suitable to be presented in different colours. I felt that bright, soft colours worked the best in creating a welcoming, friendly aesthetic.

NVL

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

development

I did not think this masthead was as flexible with different colours because of the title of the magazine looks too separated from the shape which contains â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;NVLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. I felt that I should avoid using blue in the masthead whenever possible because it bears resemblance to the NHS logo.

new visual language

jack barnes

front cover experimentation I experimented with the idea of having a coloured border around the outside of my front cover after being inspired by looking at Time and National Geographic - I think it would work well with the changing masthead that I want to be a feature across my magazine.

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

NVL

heading 1

summer 2015

new visual language

cover lines and a brief explanation of article

heading 2

type transcription

cover lines and a brief explanation of article

heading 3

earth artifact

cover lines and a brief explanation of article

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

summer 2015

issue #1

city in ďŹ&#x201A;ux

cover lines and a brief explanation of article

issue #1

new visual language

form follows function

summer 2015

form follows function

city in flux

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

cover lines and a brief explanation of article

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

type transcription cover lines and a brief explanation of article

heading 1

earth artifact

cover lines and a brief explanation of article

heading 2 cover lines and a brief explanation of article

heading 3

cover lines and a brief explanation of article

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

The abbreviated NVL masthead works really well with the outside border in my opinion, even more so than the relationship between the new visual language masthead and the outside border.

I also experimented with the possibility of using helvetica and the serif typeface adobe garamond pro.

form follows function

development

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

I felt that this masthead was hard to implement in regards to the page layout and its relationship with the border. Overall, I felt that this layout made the front cover look cluttered, and would make it harder to implement some form of cover image in addition to this.

jack barnes

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

NVL

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

City in Flux

In response to my criticism about the previous experimented front covers being too cluttered, I adapted the front cover so that the cover lines appeared on the outside border in a way which was inspired by how printed pages order their front covers in terms of the cover lines. I felt that this worked better overall.

form follows function

new visual language

City in Flux

summer 2015

development

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

In order to help me make a more informed decision on which final masthead to follow through to my final design process, I wanted to see how the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;new visual languageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; masthead will apply to this front cover design. I felt that the masthead worked really well.

jack barnes

front cover experimentation NVL

new visual language

form form follows follows function function an exploration of moderism and postmodernism

I also explored the possibility of using a type-based front cover which I feel makes the front cover look appropriately functional, which is ideal considering the subject matter. One criticism that I have of this cover design is how bland it is. To improve this, I could experiment with using different colours for the type.

form follows function

development

an exploration of moderism and postmodernism

I experimented with the weights of the type used because I felt that the black version of the typeface made the composition look suffocated. In regards to the mastheads used, I felt that the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;new visual languageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; masthead worked best.

jack barnes

new visual language

form form form follows follows follows function function function an exploration of moderism and postmodernism

an exploration of moderism and postmodernism

To solve my problem of the covers being too bland and dull, I experimented with the idea of using colours from my colour experimented mastheads. Overall, however, I did not think it solves the problem as the colours lack any purpose because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all the same colour, still. Because of this, I experimented with the idea of using two-colours, which I think improved the front cover.

NVL

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

form form form follows follows follows function function function an exploration of moderism and postmodernism

an exploration of moderism and postmodernism

Again, I tried to keep my options open and showed how my colour experimentation would work with my NVL masthead. After completing my colour experimentation, I feel that the colours do little to solve the problem.

form follows function

development

jack barnes

cover image experimentation

form follows function

development

jack barnes

form follows function

development

jack barnes

cover image experimentation issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

new visual language

form follows function

Earth Artifact

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

summer 2015

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

development

City in Flux

jack barnes

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

summer 2015

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

new visual language

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

NVL

summer 2015

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

new visual language

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

issue #1

new visual language

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

new visual language

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

new visual language

summer 2015

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

issue #1

new visual language

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

new visual language

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

NVL

summer 2015

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

City in Flux

issue #1

NVL

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

new visual language

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

new visual language

summer 2015

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

issue #1

new visual language

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

new visual language

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

NVL

summer 2015

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

City in Flux

issue #1

NVL

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

new visual language

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

new visual language

summer 2015

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

City in Flux

issue #1

new visual language

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

new visual language

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

issue #1

summer 2015

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

issue #1

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

City in Flux

issue #1

NVL

summer 2015

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

new visual language

NVL

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism Earth Artifact

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism

Type Transcription

new visual language

City in Flux

new visual language

Type Transcription

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

issue #1

summer 2015

new visual language

form follows function

an exploration of modernism and postmodernism City in Flux

Earth Artifact

Type Transcription

final front cover This is the front cover for my magazine. I am really satisfied with the outcome of my development and experimental process. I think it communicates the contents of the magazine well whilst looking stylish like you would expect from a design magazine. Despite the extensive amounts of experimentation that I went through using numerous colours, in the end I opted to use black on white on this cover image, although the way in which the front cover is set up does still allow for further colours to be used in future issues. I am also really satisfied with the outcome of the masthead. I believe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dynamic, and again, can have alternative colour schemes, much like my intended goals for the masthead.

page layout experimentation

For my magazine I will be using this 6 column grid structure to layout my work. I learned about the importance of grids in creating a coherent structure in terms of page layout.

form follows function

development

jack barnes

I experimented with a variety of page layout schemes to give me a sense of how I should arrange the content in my magazine. As I consider myself more of a modernist-inspired designer, I will be aiming to make the magazine follow those principles, looking extremely clean and well-layed out. In addition to this, I also want to design some form of hierarchy from page to page to keep the flow of the magazine consistent.

form follows function

development

jack barnes

These were some of the initial ideas I had for my page layout in my magazine. I wanted a mixture between concentrations of content - some more image based, and some more text-based. White space is also a key design choice for me as well as I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the magazine to look too cluttered.

developed page layouts These are a selection of some of my magazine spreads which will present my first yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s content

To present my City in Flux work, which I was most satisfied with in terms with its aesthetic, I opted to use a more image based spread. To the right, I also added a brief form of commentary to the work, explaining my thoughts and feelings behind the work, as well as how I reached my conclusions. I also used an intriguing pull quote from my magazine which I thought would interest an audience. Throughout the magazine, I made the decision to make all the thorough text content on the right page of the spread. I also used a bolder type setting for the first paragraph as this is a popular convention amongst magazines.

Because my Earth Artifact work was much more detailed in terms of its concept and background, this section of the magazine was more text-heavy. Because earth artifact is quite abstract, I also explained its concept in detail before discussing my work. I also used a quote from Stephen Hawking which appeared on the brief which inspired me in my work. I am really satisfied with the type setting of this spread.

developed page layouts This is the second spread that I used to showcase my earth artifact work. I allocated the left side of the page to present my brand guidelines for the outcome of my earth artifact project and I was pleased with the layout on this page. Despite this, on the right page, I feel as if it is too cluttered, although there was so much to discuss in earth artifact.

During my discussion and explanation of post modernism, I slightly diverged from my clean aesthetic which was a feature throughout my magazine, to a more unbalanced, chaotic spread which I felt would encapsulate the aesthetic of post modernism, and I think I succeeded in this goal. Despite this, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to deviate too much from my clean layout and I feel that I found the right balance.

form follows function

development

jack barnes