New Visual Language // May 2015 Issue 1 // Form follows function // an exploration of Modernism and Post Modernism.
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Pages 03-10
Pages 11-12
Pages 13-22
Pages 23-24
Art History
Workshop Briefs
Studio Briefs
Artist Manifesto
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3
2
Modernism
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Post modernism
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Helvetica
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Grid System
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Bauhaus
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Typeface Transcript
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4
City In Flux
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Earth Artefact
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Artist Manifesto Review
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Personal Manifesto
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Modernism // Postmodernism Modernism is defined as a philosophical movement which took place during the late 19th and early 20th century. Factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the vast growth of cities, followed then by World War I. This movement of modernism included art styles such as; Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism and Surrealism. Artists from the modernist era include; Matisse, Fernand Leger, Max Ernst, Magritte, Kandinsky and many others. ‘Function should always dictate form’ was a huge focus in this movement.
The movements overall concept was to completely reject all prior theories and design, specifically the idea of ‘realism’ and to create something more unique, original and at the time often controversial. Modernism drastically changed many aspects of design including typography. Prior to the movement typography was very elaborate and overdecorated however after this movement type bean to become more simplistic, clean and structured with the introduction of the grid system. These new typefaces included; Helvetica Neue, Futura and Franklin Gothic.
Postmodernism was an art movement during the a late-20th-century that was a progression from modernism in the arts and architecture. Postmodernism is known as ‘weird for the sake of weird’. It is often chaotic and meaningless , it is very fragmented. Postmodernism includes interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. It is often associated with deconstruction and poststructuralism because its usage as a term gained significant popularity at the same time as twentiethcentury post-structural
thought. Modern design treats ornament, or decoration, as a dangerous supplement. It seeks the foundations of design and rejects the unnecessary. The term postmodernism has been applied to a host of movements, mainly in art, music, and literature, that reacted against tendencies in modernism, and are typically marked by revival of historical elements and techniques.
In 1957, Max Meidingler set to creating the font Helvetica, a widely used sans-serif typeface, with input from Edouard Hoffmann. It’s design fit in seamlessly with modern life and adapted as the world changed around it. The typeface was designed to be a neo-grotesque or realist design, influenced by the famous 19th century typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk and other German and Swiss designs. It quickly became one of the most popular typefaces of the 20th century and its use became a hallmark of the International Typographic Style that emerged from the work of Swiss designers in the 1950s and 60s. A wide range of variants have been released in different weights, widths and sizes, as well as designs for non-Latin alphabets. Notable features of Helvetica include the termination of all strokes on exactly
horizontal or vertical lines and unusually tight letter spacing, which give it a dense, compact appearance. Characteristics include, tall x-height, which makes it easier to read in smaller sizes, an oblique rather than italic style, a common feature of almost all grotesque and neo-grotesque typefaces, two-storied a (with curves of bowl and of stem). narrow t and f and squarelooking s. The typeface even inspired a compelling and successful movie (Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica), whose view is that on the streets of the world, the font is like oxygen. You have little choice but to breathe it in. Gary Hustwit is an independent filmmaker and photographer based in New York and London. He has produced and directed a number of documentaries including the 2007 film Helvetica.
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‘I’ve come to think that Helvetica was never intended to be the cold, perfect, rational typeface it’s portrayed to be. There is a subtle warmth in the shapes that was lost over the years.’
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- Christian Schwartz
* The font that changed the world
GRID SYSTEM
A Grid System is a structure made up of a series of horizontal and vertical lines which intersect and are then used as guides to arrange the documents content. It is a way of providing a consistent system for designers so that they can work to a structured layout to present the documents content in a more readable and manageable way. By using a grid system it becomes extremely easy to
achieve consistency in your designs, which would be nearly impossible otherwise. The Grid System was made popular by the International Typographic Style move ment and pioneered by legends like Josef MüllerBrockmann and Wim Crouwel. After World War II, graphic designers Max Bill, Emil Ruder, and Josef Müller-
“ The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice. ” Josef Müller-Brockmann Brockmann, began to question the relevance of the typical page layout of the time. They began to devise a flexible system able to help designers achieve coherency in organizing the page. The result was the modern typographic grid that became associated with the International
Typographic Style. Although grid systems have been a significant tool to designers in print media, web developers have only recently noted interest in it. Some grid systems have fixed-width elements with pixels, and some are ‘fluid’. This means that they call for page element sizing
to be in relative units like percentages, rather than absolute units like pixels or points. Although the grid system is something that becomes invisible to the final viewer, but it is an incredibly vital tool to a designer.
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Key ideas constituted the Bauhaus philosophy include new ideas in practice, visual science, ‘utopian dream/aspirations’ and revolution in art education. The foundation course we know today came from the Bauhaus School. Bauhuas has a huge emphasis on geometry and primary colours in the foundation course. They produced many items we still use today. Many ‘bauhaus’ products would not look out of place as a modern piece in our houses today. We are still producing and selling a wooden shape game said made out of colours, geometric wooden shapes that was designed by a Bauhaus student. Theatre was also a vital part of Bauhaus as it brought lots of different artist movements together (Triadisches Ballett) Professor Kurt Kranz was the first graduate to then go on to teach at Bauhaus Due to the Bauhaus, graphic design was completely re thought serif fonts were basically banned and layouts were completely rethought.
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During the 1930’s in Germany, there was a strong political reaction to avant-garde art. One of the principal targets was the Bauhaus, the art and design school founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius, where Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Ludwig Meis Vander Rohe and other luminaries taught. Through much of the 1920’s The Bauhuas has been struggling against an increasingly hostile political climate. In order to avoid having the school shut down, Gropius moved in to Dessau in 1926. Gropius left the Bauhaus not long after its relocation. His successors faced increasing political pressure on the school because it was one of the prime centers of modernist practice, and again they were forced to move it in 1932. This time to Berlin. After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazi party mounted an aggressive campaign against all modernist art. During Hitlers first year of regime, the Bauhaus was forced to close for good.
Typeface Transcript. In a physical studio workshop, I looked at Typography in Graphic Design. I began by looking at various pieces of work, and looking at these with the intention to make typographical characters. I began with 5 pieces of art and then picked 3 to work from. I started by choosing the different shapes and layouts in these pieces that could be make in to possible characters. I produced the letters ANEGS first as these are helpful for creating the basis of the alphabet. With these already designed, it was generally easy to produce the rest of the alphabet because they were similar shapes. For example, the letters b, c, and d are all developments of the letter a.
preliminary sketch for a poster from 1920, in a suprematism style. I furthered my development by using the circular shapes seen in Lissitzky’s work. I found this workshop extremely helpful when it came to looking at all the typographical elements. I have never studied typography in much detail so having to look in to it and make my own typeface really helped with this. I think what I found most difficult about this workshop was getting all my letters to look the same.
Personally I feel the letters M, S,V,W, and Z could have much more potential if i was to develop it further and these do not fit very well in to my typeface. I feel that they look to rigid and do not blend in well with the other circular I chose a piece by artist El Lissitzky to develop my typography letters. from. I used an abstract
CITY IN FLUX
BRIEF: The ‘City in flux’ can take many forms in its simplest and most literal form ‘City in flux’ is little more than the layout of the town and the associated directional signage. However, when we apply a more cultural interpretation, then the ‘City in flux ’is more than this alone. The success of the final outcomes depends on how thoroughly you have dealt with all components of the brief. You are required to research into the visual language of the City, how imagery, artifacts, sounds and ephemera of all kinds bombard the senses with visual messages and experiences. You should begin to translate your research and ideas into meaningful visual experiments. When starting this project
I was incredibly confused as to what to do. I wasn’t exactly sure what was being asked of me to create, and what was expected of me as a student. I was put in a situation where I could choose to take a project in any direction, as this was new to me. Once I gained a good understanding for the project I began to experiment a lot wit photography and various editing techniques. I think my favorite technique I found while experimenting was using black and white photographs and overlaying to create
double exposures. I found my project taking a different turn after talking to some of our tutors and we decided what I was doing didn’t quite fit the brief to the best of my ability. We decided that I should look in to creating a book around the theory of isolation in the city and how this effects a persons mental health. I was rather proud of my final outcome and I think the book I created fitted the brief very well.
EARTH ARTIFACT BRIEF: You are required to submit creative proposals through to finished design work for a new version of the ‘Golden Record’ entitled, ‘Earth Artifact’. This does not have to be a slavish reproduction of the original golden record, but could NASA placed a message aboard Voyager’s 1 and 2 - a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrial beings. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record, a 12inch gold-plated copper disk, known as the ‘Golden Record’. It contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. 115 images and a variety of natural sounds were assembled, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. They added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages to the disk. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Fast forward to 2015 and our newest project is based upon the ‘Golden Voyager’. Our brief was to create a modern and contemporary version of the Golden Record to showcase the planet Earth and our life on this planet as we know it today. I began this project by researching in to what the Golden Voyager
be a more contemporary version, which should be reflected in the content and the format/media channel of your choice.
was and what it contained. I realised it was basically an informative disk about the human race. From this I thought about what I could do that informed ‘extraterrestrial’ beings about Earth. I researched ideas and artists relating to the human body, concerns of the planet and wastage before settling on The Solar System. I also looked in to all the possible media I could use, before deciding on illustrated infographics. I then started looking at illustration artists such as Joe Van Wetering and Jeremiah Shaw. After experimenting with various illustration styles, I decided the method of Low Poly would be best for my modern/contemporary needs. This was the first time I had ever attempted the low poly design and I was really pleased with the way they came out . I set about designing some informative posters for each of the planets (including Pluto!) and used the low poly technique to create illustrations of each planet. I also designed a booklet to go along side these posters to explain the numeric facts of each planet such as mass, diameter, distace from the sun and length of orbit.
This is my manifesto as an artist and designer. I wanted it to represent me as a designer, but also as a person. My beliefs and opinions. I feel that my manifesto supports the way I feel about design and reflects the way I want to be as a designer and person. I tried to keep my design simple and chose to design it so that only the important words were highlighted and stood out more. It is heavily based on the manifesto I Am For… (Statement, 1961) by Claes Oldenburg. He is an American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects. I loved the theme of ‘I am for...’ The first verse of Claes Oldenburg’s manifesto is: I am for an art that is political-eroticalmystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a starting point of zero. I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap and still comes out on top.
I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT IS MEANINGFUL. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT IS POLITICAL. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT MAKES YOU THINK. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT MAKES YOU CONSIDER ALL THE POSSIBILITIES. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT DOES ALL THE TALKING. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT DOES NOT NEED TO BE EXPLAINED. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT CHANGES THE
COMMON PERCEPTION OF A DESIGNER. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT IS EQUAL. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE BECAUSE OF GENDER OR ETHNICITY. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT ISN’T AFRAID TO TAKE RISKS. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT I CAN BE PROUD OF. I AM FOR A DESIGN THAT PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES.