post
modernism
post
modernism
Written and Designed by Kassandra Dominguez
post-
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modernism From breaking the rules that modernist designers came about to finding a sense of balance within, Postmodernism otherwise known as “New Wave typography” livens up the years following the 1970s. We can thank Wolfgang Weingart, Hans-Rudolf Lutz, and many other pioneers of the Postmodernist movement for the risk taking factors it took. Beyond the thought of rule breaking, there are new ideas to consider, such as Swiss Punk with album art, computer design coming into light and New Wave typography. Since this book is about “Postmodernism”, the clarification for what “Modernism” is must be discussed. Modernism came about in the early 20th century, when the focus was primarily on the basis of a grid system and importance of negative space. Swiss typographer Emil Ruder was an active modernist; in which he wrote a book named “Typographie” that discussed the rubric of how to create Modern typographic style prints for textbook use. As you can see in the picture
below; the letters in this photograph, are following a grid system to create a clean and simplistic style. This idea of Modern typography or International Style was strict on guidelines which made it easier to read for the target audience and was classified as a more “Swiss” style than basic principles.
The Art Critic, 1919 photomontage and collage by Raoul Hausmann. “Typographie” book cover written by Emil Ruder
Which now leads us to the best part, Postmodernism. The prefix word “post” means “after” so we can refer to postmodernism as after modernism or the new modernism since things have begun to change. “It is important to stress that Postmodernism exists alongside Modernism, it does not advocate a completely different approach but rather it sets out to question and deconstruct the ideas behind Modernist design” (Twentieth Century Design). Postmodernism typography can also be described as using various techniques to manipulate type for a composition, but it is thought out designs that still follow some of the basic rules of Modernism. The only type of movement that is similar to Postmodernists designs would be Dada, for it used the collage styled approach and mixed medias within pictured down above.
One of the biggest influencers of the New Wave would be Wolfgang Weingart. Born in Germany and grew up learning a great deal of typesetting at Tuwe Printing in Stuttgart. He was an apprentice of Karl-August Hanke, who was a former design student at Basel School of Design. Since Weingart’s hometown was near the Switzerland border, Hanke was in the process of making him aware of design and the International Style which was being produced Ruder, Armin Hofmann and Karl Gerstner. Surprisingly enough, Weingart’s earlier designs had a sense of Swiss orderliness that was being seen when he was learning in Ruwe. Because he had learned to master the International Style so well, he wanted to experiment a little more, which led him to his biggest achievement today. His story is that he dropped a case of six-point type and lifted it from the floor to form a disc. By doing this he made the discs make the illusion of spheres. Later, Hofmann and Ruder decided to engage in a group at the Basel School, and asking Weingart
olfg
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ang
did not conform to the r u l e s made by Ruder,
Weingart
ei
t ar ng
for assistance as well. He was not an as well-known of an artist to teach a typography class but he fit right in the type shop. After teaching workshops for testing and expansion of models for new typography he concluded that he and his students had started to take the International Style to a higher step. Weingart did not conform to the rules made by Ruder, which set him apart from everyone else. He knew how to still abide by the rules to a sense but still discover exploration throughout his
which set him apart from ever yone else.
work (Appendix III). Weingart taught many important designers of our time today in the Basel School of design, some of them include April Greiman and Daniel Freidman which both became visionaries for the New Wave typography in the United States.
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a p p l e
a d o b e
a l d u s
In around the 1960-80s there were a lot of talk of machines changing the world. Some of those were Apple, Adobe, and Aldus. The idea of a “computer� creating images, graphics and others art related objects, made designers horrified when it first came out. The first Macintosh computer was unleashed and they were expensive, but top of the line. Because of this, it intrigued designers and opened up the possibilities of different design, it just took a little bit of an open mind. Before the full accessibility of computers each designer was required to use common tools such as X-Acto knives, drawing tables, tweezers, rubber cement, and pens/pencils. The integration of the tools used before computers and the computerized software is surreal, by actually copy and pasting manually and then doing it with a click of a button. But the new computerized
life of graphic design was headed in the right direction, it just took a while for others to see it. Going off of the computer design tactics, Adobe created what was called back the “PostScript”. This program gave designers the ability to create vector graphics and print them as well. The other important product being used was Aldus, which first came out with “Pagemaker”. This program was expensive as well but was useful in typesetting which made it worth the money in the end. Some pioneers of the computer age would be type designers Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko, and graphic designers Wolfgang Weingart, April Greiman, Neville Brody and Erik Spiekermann.
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A pril G
n
a m i e r
April Greiman, an important designer, for many reasons. Born and raised in New York City, she attended school at the Kansas City Art Institute. While attending the KCAI, she learned about the philosophies of Modernism by a group of designers that attended the Basel School of Design in Switzerland. Because she was inspired by their work and ideas she decided to attend the school for her graduate years. Her mentors were both
Grieman received the
Grand Prize
in Mac World’s First M a c in t o s h M a s t e r s in A r t C o m p e t it io n .
Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart, they both taught her very different mindsets of design, such as International Style and Weingart’s style of New Wave typography. When Greiman attended an opportunity in Los Angeles everything changed. She created a large formatted piece that folded out into 3 pieces. This visual was a naked self-portrait with overlays of various objects and text. In that day in age, computers were foreign to most designers, and there was no explanation of what they could do. So when Greiman’s “Does it make sense”, featured in (Appendix IV), came about from the new Mac computers, it opened up the possibilities for design to come. Since Greiman was using the Macintosh in great ways, she received the Grand Prize in Mac World’s First Macintosh Masters in Art Competition.
“Does it make sense” by April Grieman
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Another student of Wolfgang Weingart and Armin Hofmann in the Basel School of Design was Dan Friedman. Friedman was a huge sponsor of the Postmodern typography movement. He was an American born designer that resided back in the United States to teach graphic design at Yale University and then become a big influencer of Study in Design State University of New York at Purchase. Being affiliated with these schools he was involved by creating brochures for the two. He then started working with Pentagram for several years, he worked on many times of design formats, such as corporate identity programs, packaging, letterheads, and logos. He wrote his own books called “Radical Modernism� in 1994 to stray away from the unlikeliness of the term postmodernism. This book discusses countless design topics about the responsibilities of designers to
ed
Dan
ma n
i r F
create their work in a bigger context and not simply subjective, he talks about the integration of technology coming into play and challenging each designs with altered diversity within it.
“Radical Modernism” book cover written by Dan Friedman
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lbum
rt
In the integration of pop culture, Paula Scher, attended the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia graduating with a degree in fine art. She then makes her way to the city of New York for a children’s book publishing company. She received an opportunity to work for CBS in the advertising and promotions division. This is where her mark in design comes into play. An infamous Best of Jazz poster would put her on the map, with taking
Boston’s album art for “The Eponymously” designed by Paula Scher
ideas from wood type and converging them with Russian Constructivism she created a geometric piece that flowed together well. Scher is the very first women to become a partner of Pentagram in the New York office. She is known for her designs made for record covers, which in that time period the connection of a well-known musical artist and their album cover art was highly important. One of her best graphic design pieces would be known as “The Eponymously”, a cover art for the band Boston (See appendix V). This artwork and other important ones, would categorize Scher as a pioneer of the Postmodernist movement because she would carry on her inspirations from many different ideas but was still interested in keeping her designs in the appropriate manner.
A big turnaround in the Postmodern design era was the integration of album art. A design group named Hipgnosis was well known for their amazing album covers. The members of this group are Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, and soon later they will be joined by Peter Christopherson. Their named derived from the beginning of their named “hip” to mean brand new, cool, etc. And the rest of their name came from an ancient learning. This group achieved great work, with no computers. Today we would not think of going the extra mile to use dark room techniques for many different exposures, overlays and distortion. As stated earlier with Paula Scher, the album art meant just as much as the content within it. This made it a more stressful concept to grasp. This group started by designing the British band Pink Floyd’s album art. Their most widely known artwork was “The Dark Side of the Moon” album art. The idea of the prisms reflecting off of each other was a great representation of Pink Floyd’s live concerts since they provided light shows within. After the publication of this artwork, Hipgnosis gained a ton of credibility. Some of those are Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Paul McCartney & Wings, Styx, and so on.
Pink Floyd’s album art for “Dark Side of the Moon” by Hipgnosis
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Jamie Reid, another designer that had was working on those visuals he was great work in the album cover industry. He forced to think in collage design and other was born in London, England and attendeasier methods since funds were not ed Croydon College in London to study available for those types of groups. As art. While he attended school there he met stated earlier, Reid also went on to create Malcolm McLaren, which would be an imalbum artwork for the Sex Pistols which portant person to Reid because he managed had connotations about the punk anthem the Sex Pistols, which he would soon go at the time, when the on to create album art for. He also grew up younger generation in a home that was politically active, which was out of jobs, carried through Reid’s work in following hope and future. years. He was affiliated with political groups, anarchists, and women’s groups. When he Sex Pistols album art for “God Save the Queen” designed by Jamie Reid
D u m b a r ’s s t u d i o w a s
widely known
for a system called
controlled chaos
o
d u i t
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um
b
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Gert Dumbar, a Dutch graphic designer and the founder of Studio Dumbar, was a very powerful designer. He created many designs for the Dutch Postal and Telecom Services, Dutch Railways, Dutch Police, Danish Post and Czech Telecom. Dumbar’s studio was widely known for a system called controlled chaos. This was intended for designers to work together and have open conversations because it Swiss railway logo designed by Studio Dumbar
is imperative in the design process. Dumbar believed in complexity layered with typography. This studio gained a great deal of clients that are considered very important such as, Apple, Nike, Phillips, and many others, which is why Studio Dumbar is still being run by Michel de Boer after Dumbar decided it was time to retire. Going back to the beginning of design where Modernism took control, you can tell that as the years passed the ideas became enlarged on surpassing boundaries of the grid. Although it was tough reaching other designers’ acceptance of postmodernism, it has progressed to become an altered style of modernism with keeping the basic principles.
Biblio graphy: Staff, Creative Bloq. “The Easy Guide to Design Movements: Modernism.” Creative Bloq, Creative Bloq ART AND DESIGN INSPIRATION, 22 Oct. 2013, www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/easy-guide-design-movements-modernism-10134971. Biography by AIGA. “April Greiman.” AIGA | the Professional Association for Design, www.aiga. org/medalist-aprilgreiman. “Dan Friedman.” History of Graphic Design, www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/postmodern-design/767-dan-friedman. “Dan Friedman.” Politics of Everyday Life | Yale University Press, 26 Oct. 1994, yalebooks.yale. edu/book/9780300058482/dan-friedman. “‘Dark Side of The Moon’ Album Cover Art Explained.” The Sound, 20 July 2018, www.thesound.co.nz/home/music/2018/07/Dark-Side-of-The-Moon-album-cover-art-explained.html. Galarraga, Ignacio. “Then and Now: Graphic Design Before Computers by the NetMen Corp.” The NetMen Corp, Ignacio Galarraga Https://Thenetmencorp.com/Wp-Content/ Uploads/2017/07/Logo.png, 22 Sept. 2017, thenetmencorp.com/2017/08/then-and-nowgraphic-design-before-computers/. Seddon, Tony. Twentieth Century Design: a Decade-by-Decade Exploration of Graphic Style. PRINT, 2014. Hollis, Richard. Swiss Graphic Design: the Origins and Growth of an International Style: 19201965. Yale University Press, 2006. Greiman, April, and Aris Janigian. Something from Nothing. RotoVision, 2001.