Form Follows Function An Exploration of Modernism and Postmodernism Issue 1: April - May
Contents Art movements
1
Street Graphics
5
Modernism and Postmdernism Cabinet of Curiosity
3 9
Earth Artifact
13
Manifesto
19
Typography
17
1
Dada 1916-1922
Fauvism 1900-1920
Constructivism 1916-1922
Cubism 1907-1914
Art
Mo
Pop Art 1950s
De Stijl 1917-1931
ovements Minimalism 1960s
Surrealism 1920-1940
Modern Modernism is a movement that arose in the late 19th century. It influenced the development of art, design, architecture, literature and music. Modernist artists experimented with form and focused on machine-like perfection. Modernism developed at the time of the war and that is probably what made the artists reject the idea of realism. Utopian visions took over or in some cases rebellion. Such as the movement Dada, who protested against the war. Other art movements within this period consist of Cubism, De Stijl and Surrealism. Influential artists of this period are Pablo Picasso and El Lissitzky.
Postmod
nism and Postmodernism is the opposite.The era defies definition and shattered established ideas. It developed in the 1960s and brought about a new radical freedom and self awareness, which moved away from the utopian ideas. Art movements consist of Pop art and Minimalism, with Andy Warhol being one of the best known artists of this period. Vivid and bright colour is one of the key characteristics of this era, along with exaggeration. The artists use a sense of irony that seems to have a deeper message that is not clear at first. The movement was criticsed by hostile critics, but Rick Poyner states, that it cannot be understood without refering to modernism.
dernism
Street Graphi
F
or this project I started looking at artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Jean Dubuffet. Their work consists of sculptures that are placed in public areas. I liked the idea of this and decided that I wanted to create something that could be placed in a community to improve its sustainability. Instead of a sculpture I started looking at graffiti. However I didn’t want to cause any damage so I started reasearching more environmentally friendly ideas. That’s when I discovered moss graffiti this is when moss is mixed with other ingerients to form a mixture similar to a paint. Then using a paintbrush this is drawn onto a the surface. With care such as tending to a plant the moss will grow and form artwork. However I found that this took too long and I didn’t have the time.
Another type of graffiti I discovered was reverse graffiti. This is when a stencil is made and then placed on a wall or pavement. Then using a pressure washer yet over the stencil, it cleans the area to leave behing an image. I then discovered the work of Ross Ashton. He speacialises in large format projection, which is when lasers are used to create an image on the side of a large surface area, which is usually buidings. I thought about doing one of these ideas for my work. I thought about creating a logo that consisted of different ways to improve the sustainability within a community and then placeing it in one. However I didn’t have the resources to do this.
ics
6
7
F
or my final piece I decided to create a university guide. The aim is to help students get to know the local area before they attend university. I thought that the magazine will help students moving to the area get to know their surroundings and discover places more easily. As I would of found this useful when arriving to Huddersfield. I started by creating a survey and asking current students about what they like to do. The questions consisted of: “Where is you favourite place to drink?” “What is your favourite thing to do to pass the time?” “Where do you like to go to eat out?” I then put the answers into a spreadsheet so I could see the answers overall. In the magazine I wrote about the most favourable places and explainedwhy.Whetherthatbedue to price or location. The magazine consists of 4 sections which are: Accomodation, Night Life, Eating Out and Entertainment.
The magazine consists of pictures I have taken myself of places around huddersfield. All the pictures are places mentioned in the magazine. On illustrator I created shapes such as triangles, circles and squares and then selected this layer with the image to create a clipping mask. This makes the image fit into the shape.
“The QR scanner directs the user to the magazine online”
To make the magazine stay in keeping with current technology, I created a barcode scanner. I created this using a website and URL to the magazine on my issuu account. By scanning the barcode using a QR scanner app on a phone, it directs the user to the magazine online. This allows the user to acces it at anytime and saves needing to carry round the magazine with them.
8
Cabinet
9
Of C
T
he aim of this project was to build a cabinet, whether it be physical or digital, that captures memories or ephemera. We had to use our personal experiences to develop the cabinet. Since the brief is focused on memories I started thinking about my childhood. Two main experiences came to mind, my trips to Eurodisney and my parents divorce. I decided to follow both these concepts further. I started by researching the origins of Disney. As a way of showing this I looked at the work of three different designers and artists. The first was Anastassia Elias, she used toilet roll tubes and created small cut outs to fit inside them. She then shone a torch to show the scenes. The next one was Nikki Douthwaite, she created images out of the left over holes from a hole puncher.
The third was Charis Tsevis, who created a larger image out of smaller ones. I experiment with all three of these concepts but struggled to find a way to portray this in a cabinet. I then started thinking about the divorce idea further. I reserached the love lock bridge that orinated in Paris and now main cities all over the world have started making them. I thought about the family tree concept and instead of using locks, I created leaves out of paper to make a tree. I wrote the names of people that mean something to me whether it be good or bad. Those who I liked the most were at the top and those I didn’t were at the bottom. However I had the same problem that it wouldn’t create a cabinet. I then thought about making a stack of Top Trumps based on aspects of relationships. But there wasn’t enough possibilities.
Curiosity
For my cabinet I kept the Disney theme but made it more personal to me. I recently started a job at the cinema and had discovered all my old cinema tickets that I had kept over the years. For my cabinet I decided that I was going to base the theme on films. I decided on 6 films that have meant something to me which were: Treasure Planet, ResidentEvil, Prisoners, Despicable Me, League of Extraordinary Gents, and Disney as a whole.
11
I started by decorating the back of my box with the cinema tickets I had collected over the years. I then found film quotes that are memorable or that are from films that I enjoy. I printed of the sheet and placed it in the window. I left the outside frame white as I thought it gave it a cleaner look. On the inside to decorate each wall I selected something iconic from each film. For example in the Eurodisney box, I used thewallpaperfrom Andy’s room in the film Toy Story. For the back walls I selected a scene
from each film so it is easily known. To explain why the films mean something to me I created objects to go in each box to represent it. For example I scanned my passport and created a miniature version to show that I have been on many trips to Eurodisney. For the Despicable Me box, I made my name badge from work, since they ask us what our favourite film is to put on it. For the box I had to buy one from a shop, since I couldn’t find one in a charity shop.
12
Earth Arti The aim of this brief was to recreate the Voyager Golden Records. This shouldn’t of been a reproduction but a newer, up to date version. I started by reseraching the Golden Records to see what was origionally on them. I found that important scientific discoveries were the main area. I decided that my piece could either be a way of communicating with others, or a time capsule for Earth. My first idea was to create a magazine in the style of a calendar. I looked up as many events in 2013 as I could to try and fill each date. However it was impossible to find an event for every single day in the year.
ifact
14
h t r a E t c a f i t r A 15
God says that he’s going to create something called the world, and it’s only going to take 7 days! No way, that’s impossible. Science will have some participation in something that complicated.
Day 1 Let there be light Day 2 The separations of water
Look, here is his list
Day 3 The appearance of dry ground Day 4 Signs to mark seasons, days and years Day 5 Birds and sea creatures Day 6 Land Animals
It’s true
No! particles will join together. From a big bang.
NO, NO, NO!
Day 7 Day of rest
POW
Ba
ng
OUCH
BOOM
For my final piece I created a comic strip. I decided this because the minimal amount of word means thatitdoesn’tmatterasmuchifyou can’t read. This means that I would easily be able to communicate with others who aren’t from Earth. Since the origional Voyager Golden Records kept promoting what they had learned through science, I decided to stick with this theme. I chose one of the major disputes,ScienceVsReligion, How the world started.
16
Typography
In a Monday morning tutorial we were told that we were going to design our own typeface. We were given handouts of different artists. I began by sketching any letters I could find withing a piece of work by Herbert Bayer, to see if I could find any reacurring themes. To get a few ideas, I did the same with a piece of work by Joseph Binder and Wyndam Lewis. I decided that the sketches I made from Herbert Bayer’s work, worked best. I chose a couple of different letters that had different characteristics and began drawing different sketches that linked to the origional work, to see whether or not the letters would be easily recognisable. Once I found a style I was happy with I began drawing the alphabet onto graph paper. This was so that the letters were all the same size and format. When I had finished I scanned the work onto my computer and opened it in Illustrator. I used the pen tool to draw around all the letters so I had a digital copy. This makes the letters look neater.
18
I AM FO
is able to communic
is creates thei
does not confine themselves
but thinks outside the box
is not repet
IisAM FO imforati is simple
is inspir is brilliant is persu promote is origi is
For my maifesto I was inspired by two. The first was ‘The 12 Principles of Animation.’ I decided to make a version of this for Graphic Design using five basic principles, these were: Line, Size, Texture, Shape and Colour. For the manifesto I defined thesefiveprinciples.However,Ifeltthat this was too simple and so I decided to recreate Claes Oldenburg’s I Am For An Art manifesto. I changed this to “I Am For a Design,” and wrote what I thought made a good design piece. The title is the typeface that I created.
tha
has no limi
OR A DESIGNER WHO
cate their message and stimulate the right emotions
s passionate about there work ir own identity is always thinking of
titive, but unique what they can do next
OR A DESIGN THAT ive
is extraordinary rational is beauty uasive intrigues es wonder is sensible inal is art is mysterious childish
at grows
its is full of emotion