NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
ISSUE: 1 1
4-7 7-9
10-17
MODERNISM
SWISS STYLE
CITY IN FLUX
18-23
EARTH ARTEFACT
24-25
HELVETICA
26-27
TYPOGRAPHY
2
CONTENTS
3
# 4
MODERNISM Modernism was a movement that swept across western society in the early twentieth century. The factors that shaped modernism were heavily influenced by new technologies that were available after the horrors of the first world war. Schools such as the Bauhaus were massively influential in this as they taught all aspects of art, from graphic design to architecture. The school itself was built in a modernist style again due to new building techniques that were available. The ‘Swiss Style’ is one of the most well known products of modernism as it was influenced by some of the best known graphic designers, such as Max Bill and Joseph Muller Brockmann. Some people interpret modernism as ‘Making things new’, simplifying them with new tools and methods instead of using the clunky outdated ways of the past. It removes ‘clutter’ just leaving what is necessary to keep the piece legible. Over the past hundred years modernism has leaked into almost every subject, and is still present today in design such as magazines and advertisements. Although the ‘era’ has ended it’s influences can still be seen around the planet.
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WEIRD WEIRD FOR THE SAKE OF
It’s hard to explain post-modernism although I feel that the quote ‘‘weird for the sake of weird’ best sums up the movements and it’s factors. By the nineteen seventies many believed that the modernist era was over as we no longer had the need for a modern aesthetic in a new post-industrial society. Designers let there hair down and well, went mad, work no longer needed to be clean and legible, they could include hidden messages and so on. The range of media also expanded . Big names were the result such as Nevile Broady and Stephan Sagmeister who are still working today. The era resulted in some of the most well known advertisements and branding campaigns. Although it’s not to everyone taste the post modernist style has proved hugley popular around the world as some people feel that the strict grid system of the modernist era were too controlling.
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SWISS STYLE
Swiss style was a design movement that started in Switzerland at some point in the 1950’s. It emphasised cleanliness and readability whilst still been appealing to the viewer. This new found style literally changed the world. Gone were the days of messy advertisements full of illegible type and images. The new style birthed new internationally recognisable sanserif fonts such as Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica. Many artists influenced the swiss movement although designers such as Joseph Muller Brockmann and Armin Hoffman are most well known. There work is easily recognisable due to its minimalist style. This magazine itself follows a modernist minimalist style. Later on in the book we will learn more about how products of the Swiss style such as Helvetica changed the world.
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City In Flux ‘City in Flux’ of course meaning city in change. That statement couldn’t be more true. every city across the globe is changing, perhaps not daily but weekly and monthly. Buildings are constantly been torn down and rebuilt as well as new facilities and road networks. In some areas the growth is more apparent than others, for example the city of York still has many buildings dating back to the thirteenth century where as cities such as Dubai have literally exploded over the last thirty years, transforming form a small town in the middle of a desert to one of the wealthiest cities on the planet. When looking into this brief I decided to look into the cities close to home, gaining an insight into life on the street through the use of photography.
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Danger Lurks Everywhere Dangers within city life are literally everywhere. Whether its busy roads, other people or obstacles getting in your way. The city itself can be seen as a haven, there are many plus sides, relative job security, necessities are always close and of course there is always something to do... Although it’s not all its cracked up to be. Living conditions are cramped, the constant onslaught of pollution can damage your health and that’s not to mention the crime and danger. This photograph in-particular was taken in Huddersfield on an old abandoned transformer station. Although the ‘Danger Danger high voltage’ sign adds a humours element to the image it still conveys the serious dangers that are associated with living in suburbia
SHOCKING! 13
Feeling Lonely? In today’s world anyone would think that living in a city would mean a constant hive of activity, doing new thing and meeting new people all the time. Sounds about right? The truth of the matter is that things couldn’t be more different. People feel cut off, more isolated than ever.
This photograph was taken in Huddersfield town centre. I was struggling for ideas to convey a sense of loneliness when I was surrounded by bust shoppers and students. I then stumbled across this old pay phone. A rare sight in this day. It’s run down state made me realise that as well as been lonely in the real world we rarely communicate with people over the phone. Everything is done behind a screen. A screen with no human emotions. This lack of emotion has become so apparent in the digital world that we have had to hundreds of specific pictures to convey them. 14
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The Change It’s not uncommon to here older people complain that society is changing and that ‘back in the day’ things were better. But were they really? In my experience growing up I loved playing out with my friends, weather it was on our bikes or football in the fields. But that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy playing on the computer too. Why shouldn’t children play on games consoles? Of course lack of exercise is one thing but on the other hand we are building a more intelligent society. There isn’t a job in the world that doesn’t involve technology and its a well known fact that the younger we learn things, the better we adapt to them. The new generation will be more skilled in computing than ever, helping us build a more intelligent world that can progress with medication and climate change. Of course there’s ups and downs to everything although I feel that the future is bright.
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PLUTO [5.906 B KM FRM SUN]
EARTH [149.6 M KM FRM SUN]
SATURN [1.443 B KM FRM SUN]
MERCURY [57.9 M KM FRM SUN]
JUPITER [778.1 M KM FRM SUN]
NEPTUNE [4.498 B KM FRM SUN]
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URANUS [2.877 B KM FRM SUN]
Artefact
HABITABLE ZONE [CAN SUPPORT LIFE] [EARTH//Y] [MARS//N]
MARS [227.9 M KM FRM SUN]
VENUS [108.2 M KM FRM SUN]
Earth Earth Artefact, a relic of human life after our extinction. There’s so many aspects to life on Earth, how could anyone possibly try to make record of ALL of it. Well, that’s exactly what the team at NASA tried to do when creating the voyager craft. At a time when computers were just starting to show there potential records were the best way of storing data such as music. This was the media of choice when they created a golden record back in 1977. They encrypted it with photographs of the seven wonders, our DNA as well as images of how we globally lived our daily lives. Sounds were recorded as well as a message from the current President, offering nothing but peace and knowledge and if needs be to learn from us too. Of course strapping a record to a satellite is easy enough although how is another life form going to play it? A set of instructions were etched into the surface of the record although only time will tell weather another life form will understand. To this day the voyagers are the furthest man made object in space.
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Habitable Planet’s?
Our solar system is comprised of eight main planets and one hundred and seventy six moons. Each planet and moon is totally different, they are either made of rock, gas or ice with there position in the universe influencing this. Despite all this matter in our solar system there is only one habitable planet. Earth. Despite this we aren’t the only planet in the habitable zone of the suns range. Mars lies on the outskirts of the habitable zone and its thought that life may have thrived there, long before life evolved on earth. At the moment there are two active rovers on Mars although many others have been collecting data for years. Mars is the only possible habitat other than Earth in our solar system, as the planets share many similarities.
The lack of habitable planets in our solar system poses a problem for humanity. We currently use the resources of three planets while our population swells. Other planets like Earth have been discovered such as ‘Keplar’ although it is highly unlikely man will ever reach there.
Although it is unlikely that man kind will ever be able to inhabit any planet in our own solar system, it is possible that we may fine refuge in different solar systems. Scientists have discovered various earth like planets.
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What We
Know When looking into the brief for the project I decided to conduct my research by looking into what we actually know about our own universe and the answer is, well... not a lot. We don’t even understand gravity. Of course we use physics to try get our heads around things which in turn is helping us make progress, especially within the last seventy years. It’s hard to leave a record of something we don’t know much about. One thing we are rapidly gaining knowledge about is the planets in our solar system, so I decided that would be the subject I would use.
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Helvetica. The font That changed The world. Helvetica is one of the most widley used fonts globally. It was designed by the Swiss designer Max Miedinger and was based off the font AkzidenzGrotesk as well as input from other well know fonts. It was the fuel for the new swiss style that was emerging. Today its still as popular as ever as its used in the logos of huge companies such as TOYOTA, Jeep and THE NORTH FACE. As well as been used in huge companies logos it can be seen on almost any high street. Huddersfield railway station itself uses the typeface on all it’s platform signs. In fact, you’re reading helvetica right now! 24
A L C I E H VET L E A H TIC E V HEL ICA T E V
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Broken Curve/-- Alexander Nicholson
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Type Transcription. After creating three type variants by hand based on different artists I decided to create a new type face inspired by modernists while adding my own style. I decided to create a capitalised type face as a lower case version could easily be adapted. The Font on the left is bold version as it is clearest to see on the page, I have also created a ‘regular’ and ‘Light’ version of the typeface. I decided that rather going for a more extravagant style I would keep things simple so that the piece of text could be easily read. I then decided to break up the font giving it a more futuristic look whilst the subtle curves at keep the typeface looking ‘friendly’. This font would most likely be used in advertising as a small pt size the text may become hard to read.
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Form Follows Function That has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union. -Frank Lloyd Wright
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UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD
ALEXANDER NICHOLSON
NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
ISSUE: 30 1