Research and Development
James Thornes
NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE
What is it ?
MODERNISM
Modernism is a philosophical movement that along with cultural trends of the time arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in the western society in the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped Modernism were the developments of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by the horror of WW1. Modernism also rejected the certainty of enlightenment thinking and many modernists rejected regions belief. Modernism in general includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of art, literature, architecture, religious views and social organization. Also with the daily lives of people becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political environment of an emerging fully industrialized world. One way to tell Modernism apart from any other movement is by the characteristics that it shows off, one of these is selfconsciousness, this then often led to experiments with form along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and materials used in creating a painting, building or poem. Modernism forcefully rejects the ideology of realism and makes use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, rewriting and recapitulation. Some commentators define Modernism as a socially progressive trend that really mixes with the thought of the times. Through that affirms the power of human beings to create and improve and reshape their knowledge for technology and science.
What is it ?
ART NOUVEAU Art Nouveau was an artistic movement which peaked in popularity between 1890 and 1905 which was practiced in the fields of art and architecture. It is a French term meaning “new art� and is characterized by organic and plant motifs as well as other highly violent curves which were often referenced by the term whiplash. It is short success was a reaction against the late 19th century
modernist styles. Relative to graphic design it was popular in book production and poster printing although it was used by artists for a variety of other types of work including adverts, magazines, labels and typography. The typography was so heavily ornate that it was not desirable for typefaces but great for display work.
Futurism was not only an art movement but also a social movement that developed in Italy in the early 20th century. Futurists were versed and practiced in nearly every field of art including painting, ceramics, graphic design, interior design, sculptures, music and architecture. It was a movement that particularly despised not just certain aspects of classical antiquity but everything that was not totally new and original.
The painters of Futurism were successful but much of the ideas of the movement were generated through writing and several manifestos of futurism which were published. They often broke light and colour down into series of dots or geometric forms through a process called divisionism. Futurism influenced many modern art movements of the 20th century due to its weird yet known uses of certain characteristics,
this then influenced the development of graphic design as a whole. The writings, philosophies and aesthetic characteristics of futurism have been particularly influential to designers of the modern era and have changed the way most people think of graphic design now.
What is it ?
FUTURISM
What is it ?
NEO PLASTICISM
Neo plasticism is Dutch for “The style”. Diestijl was founded in 1917 in Amsterdam. The artists most recognized with this art movements were either painters or architects, one of the well known artists of this movement was Theo Van Doesbury who was also a writer and critic, and Piet Mondrain who created the piece of artwork to the right. One architect that was well known within the movement was Gerrit Reitveld. The movement proposed ultimate simplicity and abstraction through which they could express a Utopian idea of order.
“Line Before Form ”
What is it ?
BAUHAUS
Bauhaus was a school that was based in Germany that combined the fine arts with crafts and became a very famous and heavily influential on the modernist period and design though the approach that it publicized and it taught. This school operated from 1919 and 1933 a time that the modernist era was only just being introduced and the students and teachers from this organization developed and created some designs that are memorable to today’s day and age alongside introducing some of the most influential designers of all time
The Bauhaus design had a remarkable influence on a wide range of different areas, including architecture, art, interior design and type. During this time the Bauhaus were very interested and focused the distinction between form and function and the ways in which an object or a building could be admirable through its presentation but it still held good function for what it did. German designers were beginning to create these modern style formatted pieces of furniture, which both had a good function and a style which was unique in the way it was designed.
Other famous artists that were introduced during this time included people such as Joost Schidt s teacher or master at the Bauhaus who was a visionary typographer and also a graphic designer. He was mostly known for the famous poster of 1923 Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimer Germany.
What is it ?
DADA DADA was a cultural movement that was concentrated on anti-war politics which then made its way to the art world through art theory and art manifestos. The movement although Dadaists would not have been happy calling it a movement, it originated in Switzerland and spread across Europe and into the US which was a safe haven for many writers during WW1.
An anti-war movement, Dadaists attempted to break away from te styles of traditional art aesthetics as well as rationality of any kind. They produced many publications as a home for their writings and protest materials which were handed out at gatherings and protests. The visual aesthetics associate with the movement often include found objects and materials combined through collage.
What is it ?
CUBISM Cubism is an early 20th century avant-garde art movement pioneered by Georges braque and Pablo Picasso. Later they were joined other European artists who revolutionized European painting and sculpture and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. Cubism has been considered the most influential movement of the 20th
century and has become something that people just look over now a days as it has been use everywhere within our daily lives. The term is broadly used in association with a widely vareiety of art produced in Paris through the 1910’s extending in to the 1920’s. Variants such as Futurism and Constructive developed in other countries due to the movement.
What is it ?
PAUL RENNER
Paul Renner is a typeface designer who designed one of my favourite typefaces, this been Futura. This became one of the most successful and most used types of the 20th century. The Futura typeface was created in 1927 and was his second professional typeface after Architype Renner which he also created and released in the same year. The Architype Renner was
a experimental typeface for what would become the typeface of Futura, it was vey unique and had many characters variations over the years that he had it in production(1927-1929). Paul Renner then released the typeface Futura, this was a working typeface that changed also over the year of production(1927-1936). He worked on the typeface for many years before releasing it in 1936 to the public.
What is it ?
JAN TSCHICHOLD Between 1926 and 1929 Jan Tschichold created the typeface seen in all of the concepts and art pieces below. He created the typeface “Universal alphabet� in the first 3 years. He afterwards went on to create other typefaces including Transit(1931),
Saskia(1931-1932), Zeus(1931) and finally Sabon between 1966 and 1967. Jan also worked also within design as a whole and used the Modernist design principles to help him. He became a leading advocate of Moderist design because of his grids and layouts.
What is it ?
MASSIMO VIGNELLI Massimo Vignelli was born on the 10th of January 1931 and was an Italian designer through houseware design and furniture design to public signage and showroom dsign. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates with his wife lella. Massimo lived his life using one phrase this phrase was “If you can design one thing, you can design everything,� and this was reflected in the broad range of this work.
His work followed the deign movement Modernism and is mostly known as a Modernist traditional how focused on the simplicity of his work using basic geometric forms in all his work
Adolph Frederick Reinhardt was an abstract painter active in new york at the start of the 1930’s and continuing through the 1960’s. he was a member of the American Abstract Artists and was a part of the movement centred on Betty Parsons gallery that became known as Abstract Expressionism. He was also a founding member of the Artists club. He wrote and lectured extensively on art and was a major influence on conceptual art. Minimal art
and monochrome painting. most famous for this ‘black” or “ultimate” paintings, he claimed to be painting the last painting anyone can paint due to it simple yet stylish style. He believed in a philosophy of art called Art as Art and used his writing and satirical cartoons to advocate for abstract art and against what he described as :the disreputable practices of artists as artists”
What is it ?
AD REINHARDT
What is it ?
ARMIN HOFFMAN Armin Hoffman is a Swiss graphic designer. He began his career in 1947 as a teacher at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art and Crafts at the age of 26. Hofmann followed Emil Ruder as head of the graphic design department at the Schule Fur Gestaltung Basel and was instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the Swiss style. HIs teaching methods were unorthodox and broad based setting new standards that became widely known in design education institutions throughout the world. His independent insights as an educator, married with his rich and innovative powers of visual expression created a body of work enormously varied books, exhibitions, stage sets and typography. His work is recognized for its reliance on the fundamental elements of graphic form. Originating in Russia, Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920’s stimulated by the artistic style in architecture. He is well known for his posters which emphasized economical use of colour and fonts, in the reaction to what Hofmann regarded as the “trivialization of colour”.
What is it ?
POST - MODERNISM Post-modernism is a late 20th century movement. Post-modernism includes sceptical interpretations of culture, literature, philosophy, history and art. It is often associated with the deconstruction of art work that has been previously made to create new abstract pieces. The terms that are used around post-modernism was mostly popular around the 20th century and helped to gain a meaning or relation to life at that time.
The term post-modernism has been applied to a host of movements many in the arts and music that reacted against the points and terms behind modernism and it is typically marked by revival of older terms and techniques.
What is it ?
CONTEMPORARY Contemporary art, the art of the late 20th century and early 21st century is an art movement within postmodernism and was of which were an outgrowth and rejection of modern art as a whole. As the force and vigor of abstract expressionism diminished new artistic movements and styles came around during the 1960’s and 70’s to challenge and displace modernism in painting and design. Improvisational and Dada like styles employed in the early 1960’s and thereafter
by Robert Rauschenbery and Jasper Johns had widespread influence as did the styles of many other artists. Some of this art work became very popular with the general public during the time and it became a massive hit over all genre of art and design.
What is it ?
POP ART
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid1950’s in Britain and in the late 1950’s in the USA. Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture. In pop art material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated and with unrelated materials. The concept of pop art art refers not as much to the art itself but as to the attitudes that led to it. Pop
art employs aspects of mass culture such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects. It is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then dominant ideas of abstract expressionism as well as an expansion upon them and due to its utilization of found objects and images it is similar to Dada. Pop art is aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture.
Wim Crouwel is a Dutch designer who is an except in any area we works in. Since exploding on to the Modernist scene he has become one of the designer to look for with the movement and within the area of Typography. Below is the “New alphabet� which he designed in 1967, in this typeface he embraced
the limitations of the cathode ray tube technology used by early data display screens and phototypography equipment. From 1964 and onwards Crouwel was responsible for the design of the posers, catalogues and exhibitions of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
What is it ?
WIM CROUWEL
What is it ?
NEVILLE BRODY
Neville Brody is an English designer focusing mainly on typography and magazine work for many studio including “The face” and “Arena”. He known in Modernist graphic design for his work on the magazine and as well as designing record covers for artists such as Depeche and Canaret Voltaire. He created the company Research studios in 1994 and is founding member of Fontworks. He is the head of the CADwhich stands for the Communication of Art & Design at the Royal College of Art.
What is it ?
RAYGUN
Raygun was an American alternative rock and roll magazine first published in 1992 in CA. Led by founding art director David Carson Raygun explored experimental magazine typographic design. The result was a chaotic, abstract style not always readable but distinctive in the appearance.
What is it ?
MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
What is it ?
MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
What is it ?
MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
What is it ?
idPURE MAGAZINE
What is it ?
idPURE