Essay

‘Design is where science and art breakeven’ What is the role and purpose of designers and artists in today’s society?

Artists: Mark weaver, Banksy Designers: Adhemas Batista Shepard Fairey In modern society, people are finding it harder and harder to discern between designers and artists. This could be caused from a variety of things such as an increasingly blurred line between the aesthetics of the two professions, or how an increasing number of artists are trying their hand at design and designers are trying to create art. I plan on explaining and comparing the roles, goals and general views of designers and artists in today’s society. To do this I will look at, analyze and explain a variety of artists, designers and individual pieces of work.

‘Design is where science and art breakeven’ is a quote I came across that I believe is a perfect description of graphic design, this is because although graphic design has a clear root in art the scientific side to it is less obvious. Science relates to graphic design not in the science most people think of, it is more of a ‘social’ science a psychological science even. This is due to the way graphic design is commonly used to influence the thoughts, ideas and supposed ‘needs’ of human beings, this is done through means that could be seen to have a scientific base. For instance this involves designing to appeal to a specific audience, a client; in order to do this extensive research is done to understand the wants and ‘tastes’ of this client. This can be based on cultural trends, such as clothing styles, current ‘fads’, recent cultural or political agendas and current events and ideas. These things can influence design to a huge degree to the point of creating entire new design styles or adapting older ones into a more modern style.

The first artist I plan on studying is Mark Weaver I have chosen this artist because of his contemporary modern and abstract style, and also to answer some questions such as, ‘what is the purpose of his work?’ and ‘what message is he trying to get across to people with his work?’ The next artist I will be studying is Banksy, who uses stencils in his graffiti work to get across his own particular political views to the general public, this has gained him both criticism and fame in equal measure, but some ask ‘just what is the point, the purpose of his work? This is one of the many questions I hope to answer in this essay.

The first graphic designer I have chosen to study is Adhemas Batista, the designer of the famous ‘Look on the coke side of life’ advertisement campaign, his colourful, simple and flowing designs have been seen and revered around the world by millions, possibly billions of people. It’s because of this I will be looking at these designs and asking if the truly reach there goal of advertising the product or do they take on a more artistic style. As stated before I will be comparing these artists and designers in order to explain and compare their roles in today’s society.

Firstly I will be looking at the artist Mark Weaver,was born August 10, 1981 in Boston Massachusetts, and in 2005 moved to his current location in Atlantas, he uses a unique and abstract style of work to create retro/futuristic layered collages, but some may ask what is the purpose of his work, what role does Mark Weaver play in modern day society. Some might say that artists contribute nothing of value to society, that they are ‘wastes of space’ and people are wasting their time as an artist.

Its easy to see why as art work doesn’t have an obvious practical use, to most people it is simply a ‘pretty picture’ it cant be used for some kind of manual labour task or anything along those lines, it is mere decoration. Some might argue that art is a luxury that should only be pursued by those rich enough to do so without worrying about a job or company. Others might say that art doesn’t require talent any more.

Which is understandable considering you see stories on the news all the time of so called ‘art’, for example the scandal earlier this year for instance of a dog chained to a pole and left to starve was called art. The question is however does Mark Weavers art fufill this criteria where it can be considered purposeless?

I believe that art has a rone in conveying a message to society at large, some might argue however that art has several uses for instance giving people a message, this message could have a variety of meanings. For instance a political message, or simply telling others their opinion on the matter. Another use of art is in advertising or similar outgoings, most people may think that this is the area of graphic design, but in the modern day this is shown to be a complete falsehood. Evidence of this is the 2012 London Olympics posters which were all created by artists, and debatedly fulfilled there goals. And I believe Mark Weavers work fufills this criteria with some subtle and other not so subtle references to war, space exploration and the problems that face humanity present in his work, some of it certainly convey a message, an example of this is shown on the next page.

The general theme of these messages is worry about war and political oppresion, this is shown clearly with words like ‘war’, ‘control’ and ‘extinction’ acts as the focal point for several pieces of his work. Not only this but several pieces of his work have been used as album covers showing that his art work has a place in the commercial world. Altogether I believe that this shows that Mark Weavers artwork has several purposes, be it commercial or political, in addition the joy of looking at an aesthetically pleasing picture.

The second person I will be looking at is the designer Adhemas Batista, he is a multiaward winning brazillian graphic designer who has worked with many companys including ‘Coca-Cola’ and ‘Absolut’, his work shows his brazillian heritage with bright bold colours that he says ‘the vibrancy and color of my homeland still shines through any corporate quagmire’, the most obvious example of these bright colours in Brazilian culture is the carnival parade which the country is famous for. But the question is what role or purpose does Adhemas Batista and his work have in modern day society?

For graphic designers their role in society is conveying informating in an image based way, infographics, this can mean anything from newspaper and magazines to book covers and adverts, although the layout and style generally used is completley different the design principles are the same.

But this raises another question, is graphic design necessary for advertisement?

Couldn’t the products name, price and other relevant information be stated and that would be it? The answer is no, this is because nobody would notice the advertisement in our busy, visually, rich world they would just blend into the background. Because of this there will always be a place for graphic designers in the world. But you may argue that graphic designers may use their skill for getting people to think about certain things and focus their attention on something, for other means, for instance inciting unrest among a population. This could be in the form of showing disapproval of the current government or political system or getting people to show their disapproval of something or someone in particular. This may seem almost silly at first glance but the evidence is there with propaganda playing an important role in almost every 20th-21st century revolution, riot and rebellion. This means that a graphic designer may play a much more controversial and important role than we may think, as graphic designers could be seen as masters of manipulating the way we think.

An example of this is WW2 propaganda, as shown above propaganda was effectively used by all sides in the war to incite a hatred of the opposing country with, posters and cartoons at the forefront of making people see their ‘enemy’ like monsters. Although this may seem far-fetched it is a possibility. A more subtle version of this is used every day in almost all forms of media such as, television,

news papers, magazines, and the many different websites particularly on blogs. All of these mediums aim to convince others to see their point of view on an issue; this can vary from government politics to celebrity gossip. Graphic designers work to alter our views on all of these things and much more.

However the most common thing graphic designers try to convince you to do, is to want to buy a product. This is a significant role as they are necessary on a scale most don’t realize for without advertisements most products would go ignored and have to rely on word of mouth; this in the modern day would simply not result in enough sales to keep the economy running. The classic role of a graphic designer is to solve visual communication problems, this means they work to get messages across to people, be it for profit or politics, in a visually and mentally stimulating way.

I believe that Adhemas fits into several roles; firstly he has worked for several companies to design advertisements which are clearly his main role in society. He also spreads the vibrant culture of Brazil through both his advertisements and his own personal work simply through his unique style.

Thirdly I will be looking at the artist Banksy, who due to his favored method of graffiti art has developed equal amounts of acclaim and criticism. Graffiti is constantly debated as to whether it is art or vandalism. This argument has 3 sides those who claim that all graffiti is vandalism, those who say that it is all art and people in the middle ground who claim that it depends on the content and the context. When it comes to the context it depends on the reason for the graffiti for example, if the graffiti is a gang sign it is generally considered vandalism as it isn’t intended for an ‘honorable’ use, so to speak it is designed to mark the territory of most likely criminals. Possibly if it is simply for aesthetic quality or for sending a message to a

larger more open audience without interference it is generally considered art. For instance there can be huge gaps in quality in graffiti as shown below.

These two images are the extremes of both sides but it is important to remember there is plenty in between these two ends of the spectrum. However it is clear enough which one could be considered art and which one is vandalism. But some may ask if a person has this kind of talent why do they put it on a wall instead of a canvas, the awnser is simple enough, they want publicity they want people to see their artwork without having to pay or take time out of their day. It is helpful in particular if they are trying to get an uncensored, un-altered message to the general public. This medium also means that whoever is sending the message can easily remain anonymous, it is common place for people to misinterpret or alter a message based on who is sending it, this method takes out the ‘middle man’ as it were to avoid such a problem. This means the viewer gets the message and nothing but the message at most the identity of the creator is kept to a nick name, which still avoids this problem.

Banksy fits into the role of an artist and in a sense a public speaker, this may seem odd as he never actually talks to people about his work but he still spreads his opinion as his work focuses on sending a message usually politically related or targeted. His art generally criticises the government or government policies to the point of ridicule, this can also be aimed at police forces, claiming they are brutal and that the country is becoming a police state. But the government is not the only target of his work, he also often points out flaws in the modern way of living and targets large coporations saying they are controlling.

He also targets average people accusing them of being ‘sheeple’ or corporate monkeys. All of this has led to, as stated before, a mixed oppinion of his work.

However the role of banksy in a modern society is clear and simple, he is a voice for those who have none, although his opinions may be considered extreme at times, they can usually be agreed on by many people that show he is not the only one who thinks this way. I say he can be considered an artist as his work can also be appreciated simply for its aesthetic quality, his unique style and the simple but effective equipment he uses.

The last person I will be looking at is Shepard Fairey an american graphic designer born 15 February 1970. Shepard works with a pop-art style reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marolyn Monroe, his work also seems influenced by Soviet Russian propaganda with strong use of the colour red. His most famous piece is the ‘Hope’ poster he created for Barack Obama’s presedential campaign which again shows these pop-art and Soviet influences.

His style of work is unique in the modern day and because of this is easily recognisable, he has also done several pieces of work for the ‘Obey’ clothing brand.

As to his role in society it can be seen as both vairied and focuesed for instance he has a strong position in the design of propaganda, this is evident in his world reknowned ‘HOPE’ poster that has given him incredible publicity. The use of propaganda is to simply convince others to agree with a particular view, it could be as trivial as music taste or as complex and as important as world politics. He also as stated before designs graphic work for the ‘Obey’ clothing brand, which has the tagline ‘Worldwide propaganda delivery’ which only eccentuates his talent for this area since he is the prime designer of all their modern clothes, posters and advertisements. The ‘Obey’ clothing brand was orginally a simple sticker titled ‘Andre the giant has a posse’ which is shown below.

This piece was designed by Shepard and was the original design behind the more famous ‘Obey’ poster that featured a close up of the mans face but in a much cleaner stencil style. Other than propaganda Shepard also does graphic art which he states is to get the viewer to ‘question everything’ this in a sense could also be seen as propaganda, but this could be said about most graphic art. His work covers a wide variety of mediums and materials including scraping it into metal, but it still sticks to the same style of simplistic almost stencil artwork. The purpose of this work as stated before is to make people ‘question everything’, what is meant by this can be seen in various ways such as to question the basic fabric of reality or to question the government and its policies.

In conclusion the role of both artists and graphic designers can be entirley different and incredibly similar, this is because both generally have the skills neccesary to perform either role but focus on their particular work style and format. However either one clearly leans to its own particular ‘general’ role. For instance in these areas of graphic design spacing and placement play a major role in how effective the piece is, for if the piece is too condensed into one are it can be difficult to understand or if its spaced out too widley it can be too much to take in. Another important factor of placement in graphic design is considering how these images will guide the eyes over the design, there needs to be a clear flow/pathway to make the information easy to understand and less of a cluster of barely understandable information. Graphic designers have a lot too consider when it comes to working in these format and these are skills that certainly have to be learned, which gives graphic designers an aqquired skillset which for other art based proffesions can be hard to pick up. Artists general role in society is to create aestheticly appealing, thought provoking work which unlike graphic designers isnt limited to two dimensions, this can be anything from a painting to a sculpture. Their work has to have an idea behind it though, artists cannot make it anywhere in the modern day without there being an idea behind their work. This can turn artists, as I explained with Banksy, into public speakers this is due to the unique form in which artists can convey their opinions and the opinions in others. This role is one that is rarely considered or noticed by the general public, at least on a level where they see artists like this, however this does not hinder what artists say through their work and people still pick up on their messages. Overall graphic designers and artists do have clear roles in modern society even if at times the lines seperating the two can be quite blurred, this leads to a very odd mixture of skills which can lead to some incredibly unique, innovative and thought provoking creations, some of these are works of genius and others are wastes of space but even then it all depends on your personal viewpoint on the matter, as the famous saying goes ‘one mans trash is another mans treasure’.