Research and
Developmnet
Document
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El Lissitzky E
l Lissitzky was a Russian born artist, designer, typographer, photographer and architect who designed many exhibitions and propaganda for the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. His development of the ideas behind the Suprematist art movement were very influential in the development of the Bauhaus and the Constructivist art movements. His stylistic characteristics and experimentation with production techniques developed in the 1920s and 30s have been an influence on graphic designers since. issitzky believed that art and life could mesh and that the former could deeply affect the latter. He identified the graphic arts, particularly posters and books, and architecture as effective conduits for reaching the public. Consequently, his designs, whether for graphic productions or buildings, were often unfiltered political messages.
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I like the boldness and the contrasting colours of the shapes- it’s very eye catching
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Kurt Schwitters K
urt Schwitters is most commonly associated with the Dada movement, but also was an integral participant in the Constructivist and Surrealist movements. He worked in many mediums including painting, poetry, installation art, sculpture, graphic design and typography. His influence in the art world and the popularity of his collage style of artwork were far reaching both in Europe and the US. After World War I society in Germany began to become somewhat more stable and Schwitters became less active in the Constructivist and Surrealist movements and joined the German Dada group. During this time he published a periodical titled Merz, which was perhaps his most influential graphic design work.
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He makes a good bold typography, and makes it even more eye-catching with the contrasting use of colours- black and red. I love this connection, and I will probably use it in my own work. I also really like how he lays out his work. 5
Wim Crouwel I
n 1963, he was one of the founders of the design studio Total Design (currently named Total Identity). From 1964 onwards, Crouwel was responsible for the design of the posters, catalogues and exhibitions of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1967 he designed the typeface New Alphabet, a design that embraces the limitations of the cathode ray tube technology used by early data display screens and phototypesetting equipment, thus only containing horizontal and vertical strokes. Other typefaces from his hand are Fodor and Gridnik.
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A design should have some tension and some expression in itself. I like to compare it with the lines on a football field. It is a strict grid.In this grid you play a game and these can be nice games or very boring games.�
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He created very effectvie and usefull grid. Te grid can be customized to create different type of letters, which aren’t very usual, and this is what maikes the amazing. I have also tried to do some of my own typography with the use of his grid. 7
Max Miedinger M
ax Miedinger (December 24, 1910 in Zurich, Switzerland – March 8, 1980, Zürich, Switzerland) was a Swiss typeface designer. He was famous for creating Neue Haas Grotesk typeface in 1957 which was renamed Helvetica in 1960. Marketed as a symbol of cutting-edge Swiss technology, Helvetica went global at once
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I have never designed a logotype without first trying it in Helvetica. It is still the most versatile, classic and readable of all typefaces.” - Steff Geissbuhler
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Miedinger created one of the most popular fonts. Helvetica is now used in logos of biggest companies such as Apple. 9
Emil Ruder E
mil Ruder was a typographer and graphic designer who, born in Switzerland in 1914, helped Armin Hofmann form the Basel School of Design and establish the style of design known as Swiss Design. He taught that, above all, typography’s purpose was to communicate ideas through writing. He placed a heavy importance on sans-serif typefaces and his work is both clear and concise, especially his typography.
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n 1947 he took a position as the typography instructor at the Schule fĂźr Gestaltung, Basel (Basel School of Design). Ruder, along with the great Armin Hofmann, developed a program structured on principles of objectivity in design. He broke away from the subjective, style-driven typography of the past and encouraged his students to be more concerned with precision, proportions and above all, the role of legibility and communication with type.
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Very giid typography, however the layout is the key thing here. The white text on the big “E� looks amazing and very professional. I also like the connection of red and green colours in the poster at the left, I think I will try to get a simmilar connection in my own work.
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Understanding of Modernism
and Post-Modernism
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Modernism • grid • logical • formality • discipline • rules • simplicity • caring • emptiness
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n my ungerstanding, the modernistic designs are very clear and simple, but at te same time very elegant and effective. Everything is done by following the set of rules, what creates very sophisticated kind of image.
Post-Modernism • dynamic • no rules • pushing boundries • chaotic/ no order • rebelion • selfish
In my understanding of post-modernism, it’s a very chaotic type of image, with lots of different things and techniques used at the same time, which are not always harmonize with each other. The post-modernism is a visualization of the rebelion feeling of the culture. 13
Development
of the
Mangazine 14
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Magazine Cover I had quite a lot of possible designs for the cover of my magazine, they were quite similar to each other, some of them just had different logo setting or some colour difference, and now I have chosen the 3 best one to decide which one will fite the cover the most.
This was one of my first ideas. I have used for it one of my graphics from street graphic project. I have also decide t use my own typeface as the logo, as I embedded it onto the graphic, I really liked the bold effect it has created, and to make it more eye-catching I have made it red, and put very small white words at the bottom of logo, so the customr can know what the shortcut stands for. I took the idea from Emil Ruder’s work, It’s not as advanced however I think it does the job. There’s also a grey underline of the logo and text inside of it.
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Another design from the street graphic project. The same setting of logo, only different grabhic at the back. I like it quite alot, however I think it works better with the previous design.
This design is taken from the cabinet of curiosity projectthose are the bottle caps with massages underneath. I have also used my own typeface in the logo here, with the smaller text at the bottom of them, but I have chaned their setting, and the colour of “V” on green, so it looks similar to the Emil Ruder’s poster. After adding the ceramic filter to the photo, it gave it this hidden effectiveness that made this design very good, with this old looking, corupted twist. I have also added the same filter to the logo, so it doesn’t look too different from the rest. Looking at the design and considering the hidden messages under the caps, I decided this is the best cover design for my magazine.
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Content Page Layout From the beginning I have Imagined my content page black , with the black and white bold black and white image from the street graphic project, which I was thinking of nusing as a cover page design, as it does much better job as a addition in here than it would as a main desgn in the cover- it just wasn’t enough for it. I have alco made a big white headding with the very bold and eye-catching font, but I’m still not sure if I leave the white background of the text there, or just change the coulour of text on white, as I fell like this white box destroyes the effect.
I didn’t liked that the text is so close to each other, so it looked like there’s not a lot of content, and it just looked like this is just simple text which has been written without any consideration, so I put the page numbers at the seperate line and aligned them to the right so they more visible and outstanding from the text. I have also made the text without the page numbers bigger and bolder, so they more outstanding, and in bigger position.
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As I have decided taht the changes I have made with the page numbers align to the right, and making text bigger, wasn’t enough, and I felt, it’s still not what I’m looking for, I made the “Typeface” red. This small change, made this page much better- it gave it this something I was looking for.
I wanted to see how those pages would be looking without the white, background box for the text, so I removed it and made text white, and it turned out it was all those pages needed.
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Street Graphic Pages Layout
On the first double pages commited to the street graphic project I put one of my improved graphic, which I broken down into peces and created collage out of it, to show the space between one building and the other. As there wasn’t much space left, I put the heading vertically, with the same font as I did with the content heading. I used red and black colours to make them bold and eyecatching, as Kurt Schwitter’s did in his work. I also put some text at the bottom about the street garphic project and the graphic itself. I used for that a very simple font, similar to the Helvetica, and made the firt letter of each paragraph capital to make it look more stylish.
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The next 2 pages of the street graphic content, took me much longer to complete, as I wanted to put there 2 of my improved graphics, but I couldn’t figure put how to lay them out, so they won’t look like a child did them. First I tried to make one a bit bigger than the othe, however it didn’t look so stylish.
Then I made the graphics bothe the same size. It looked better than in the previous version, however it’s still wasn’t what I was looking for.
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Then I created the dark brown background- almost black, and I think it didn’t make it any better as the pages became even darker, sadder, and the background colour made the graphic blend with it too much.
Before I have changed the background colour, I have tried to find some different position fir the images. Now I have tried to put one f the graphic at the other side of the pages, howeer it only mage it worse, and there wasn’t too much space for text.
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Then I have changed the dark brown colour to the pure black, and made the rectangle, which didn’t fully covered the pages- there was some white spaces at the top and the bottom of the pages. Then I have also tried to work on the layout, so the text will fit in, so I have made the graphics smaller and put on ta the bottom and other at top, so one coveretd another for a bit. But I still didn’t like it, as I didn’t looked very professional or stylish.
I have decided to go back to the one of the firsts layouts, when the graphics had the same size and were at the same possition next to each other, with this new background of black and white it looks much better. After I have added some white text, and the page numbers, it really componates quite well with each other.
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Cabinet of Curiosity Layout Ont the first 2 Pages of the cabinet of curiiosity content, I put the photo of the box and objects inside it, I have made.
To make this photo fit more to the magazine, and not look like just a photo, I have cut out the top of it, where there’s a white wall wisible- this would look awful otherwise. I have also moved the photo down, to make this cut out corner, less visible.I have also changed the background collour to black, so the box is very eye-catching and contrasting.
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I have added dome long headding in white, to describe what my cabinet is about, however it didn’t looked very good, nas it looked so usual, and I wanted to make this magazine very bold and stylish. I have added some tezt at the bottom to engage people to see what’s in bthe box, by turning the page, however the brown colour blends too much withy the image itself and makes it look very cheap.
To make those pages more bold and stylish I have changed the white headding to red, what made it very eye-catching, then I have put 2 black rectangles behind the grapphic, so it created this unsymethric background. At the end I just added the text, to explain in more depth what my cabinet of curiosity is about. I used for this the same simple font, with the first letter caps. I made part of text which was on the white backfround black, and the text on the black white. At the end I just changed the colour and the font of the bottom part, engaging people to turn over- now it’s also red, and changes this pages completely on their advantage. 25
On the next 2 pages of the cabinet of curiosity content, I have put separate images of each object that was in my cabinet, and the photo of the way that I have stacked the items. I have set the background collour on black, however after looking on it, I decided it was a bad choice, as the pages are too dark now, and photos are blending with the background.
Then I have changed the background back to white, and now it does look much better- so clear and the images are visible much better.
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Then I have added a red headding, to make the pages bolder and more stylish, and I think that red works very well with those images, thanks to the last image of red packing dog drops. I have also removed one of the objects’ photo, as I decided there would be not enough space for the text in the seccond collumn. I chosen the sheep keyring, as it was the least special, as it could be probably bought anywhere and could not mean anything special.
After adding text, the pages look even more stylish than they were before. I have used the same font and the same paragraph styles as in the pages before. I have made the first paragraph a bit bigger as the subheadding. Overall I think it componates quite well.
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Earth Artifact Layout At the 2 first pages of the earth artifact content I putted the first of my graphics just on the white background.
I have decided to try a black backround for those pages. The graphic on white pages looked kind of empty, but at the black background, it’s still not very good, as it’s kind of too dark, and the graphic blends a bit with the background.
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Then I have added the headding with the same bold font as I have used before. I made the “Earth” red colour, and “artifact” white- this makes this headding stand out a lot, and made those pages bolder.
As I decided before, the graphic blends too much with the black bacground, so I decided to tweak it a bit, and made only top of the graphic with black background. I think it’s better, howevert it’s still not what I’m looking for.
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Now I have made the black rectangle go the whole lenght of the pages instead of only top of the graphic, and also left a very tighny space between the rectangle and the graphic, what makes it very stylish, and at the same time leaves the graphic out of the black background, whatmakes it more outstanding, instead of blending with the background.
After adding the text, the pages look even more spectacular. I put some project description at the first paragraph and made it slightly bigger as a subheading, however the formatting is still the same as in the rest of the text. The subheadding has a white colour and is on the black background, where the rest of te test has a black colour and is on the white background, what also seperates them well.
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At the next 2 pages of the earth artifact content, I tried to make the design of the pages quite simillar, so I made a black rectangle, which doesn’t cover fully the whole pages, is slightly higher than the grphic itself, and goes the full lenght of the page. Whe I have adding text I have first tried to fit it in underniath of the graphic and its background, at the 2 little columns, however it didn’t worked out very well, as it didn’t looked very spectacular, and didn’t fit a lot of text there.
Then I have tried to fit the text on the black background column, so I had to change the colour of the text on white, but afterall it turned out very well, and with text those pages look much better.
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Typeface Page Layout I have made the black bacground of the first page of my typeface content, and made a huge headding “Typeface”, and made first part of it red and the other white, to make this very nice contrast. I had also put a very little in comparence to the “typeface” word, “my” with the same font, however as I said before, much smaller size. I put the image that my typeface was based on, at the bottom of the headding, however I don’t like how it works- it looks like there’s a hole in the black page. I put the image of my font at the other page, but left it in the white background. I was considering to use my own font as a headding to this page, but it would be too much, and the magazine wouldn’t be consistent because of it.
I changed the height of the black rectangle, at the first page, and made it start just above the image of the sample image. I think it makes it look better, however this is still, not what I’m looking for.
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Imade the rectangle to be partly a background of the sample image, so it has partly white and partly black background, and I think it works very well now. Now I just ned to do something with the oher page as it’s too simple and doesn’t fit to the first one.
I tried to make the other page very similar to the first on, so I have made another black rectangl, but put it to the bottom, and left a blank space at the top- what was opposite to what I did in the first page, however it work out terrible, and even managed to destroy the effect of the first page.
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I have removed the black rectangle at the second page and just inserted some text at the white background under my type face. It looked quite good, but I think it was missing something.
I have made the black rectangle around the text, and made the text white. It wasn’t bad, but at the same time wasn’t perfect.
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I have made the black backroun of my text much higher, so it goes on the full lenght of the collumn, and behind my typeface, like some kind of margin. I think it works very well.
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Manifesto Pages Layout I have made a double black pages of manifesto content. At the first page I have mad e a huge headding as I did in the typeface ones, however this time it had 3 leves of hight, and kept it all in white, but because of it, it looked quite sad. At the second page I have created a white rectangle at the middle of the page, and into it I inserted the text of my manifesto. I made the font Lucida Calligraphy, so it looks like handwritten piece.
I have changed the colour of few letters in the headding on red, in each level of it. This way this page became more alive, bold and stylish. I have also added a red stoke to the white background of the text, so it looks as it’s framed, and stand out more. I have also added some white text at the bottom right corner of the seccond page, to explain what inspired mi to create this manifesto.
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And finally, at the back page, I have placed the graphic of my manifesto- it has very similar colour shame to the whole magazine, what make sit very good ending of this magazine.
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I
have also inserted the page numbers to some of the pages, but made them much bigger, than they usually are, with the sam font of the headding. It might be quite risky move, however I think it works quite well with the rest- the only thing is that the page numbers aren’t usually that big.
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