New visual language by Zoe Freeman

NEW VISUAL LANGUAGE 10/04/2015 ISSUE:- 1 Form Follows Function

An Exploration Of Modernism And Post Modernism

Graphic Design is a method of Visual communication through the art that is Type, space and Image. The line of work is considered a usage of Visual communicationa and communication design. Graphic Designers use a series of methods to create visual representations of their ideas and typographic messages. The form of communication can differ from being physical or virtual including images, typography or graphic forms. Design can occur at any scale of work differing from the simplicity of a poster to the complexity of motion graphics which inclue title sequences for films and programmes.

New Visual Language Defenition of Modernism Defention of Post Modernism Classic Modernist Designers Post Modernist Designers

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 9

Magazine Design Moodboards of magazine design Page 15 Magazine design reviews Page 17 Masthead design reviews Page 23

CONTENTS Projects City in flux Earth Artifact Typography Manifesto

Page 29 Page 36 Page 42 Page 47

MODERNISM

The term Modernism is quite hard to define clearly because it can differ from a variety of things such as artistic and philosophical movements like symbolism, surrealism, expressionism and imagism. There have been arguments about when Modernism of art and design actually began as some have said it began during the first world war but other historians are lead to believe that Modernism began in the 17-1800â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s but this was modernity of literacture and in fact Modernism appeared within art and design many years later. In the 19th Century advances of modernism began to develop in many new

ways helping to shape and mould human culture. Modernism covers many creative aspects such as design and art to also the influence of architecture and music.It is most arguably themost influential movement of the 20th Century as the impact of it was so large it effected other art forms and styles such as Cubism and Impressionism.It especially changed the process or graphic design and Typography as before the modernistic movement it was all very elaborate with the use of every white space on a poster being covered with type or image.

POST-MODERNISM Post moderism is a term used to describe contemporary culture, it is quite a lose term as it is hard to define just like modernism it is vague and there is no definitive starting point in histroy as to when society suddenly changed to a post modern one. The term came about in the late 1900â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when books and articles strated being published on post modernism. Postmoderism refers to a broad arrey of cultural trends and ideas rather than an artistic movement, the graphic design industry changed from a post modern era to a modern era quite drastically which made things such

as posters become a lot more complex with a lot more work through and behind them, post modern art and deisgn work consisted of alot on one page, filling the whole page with colour, image a typography where as now its a very minimalist line of work to be invloved in. If you look at magazine from the different cultural eras you will see major differences within the design of them and see how far technology within the modernistic era has had a mass effect on the work people are creating everyday.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the disease is what we have around and what we try to do is cure it somehow.â&#x20AC;? - Massimo Vignelli.

BROCKMANN Josef Muller-Brockmann was a swiss graphic designer who also studied architecture, design and art history at university in Zurich. Brockmann is known for his simple designs along with the typography and colours in which has led his work to inspire man graphic designers. He has also published several books about graphic design to show his work from a more analytical in depth way, he created these in depth books to provide a foundation for young graphic designers that wish to learn more about the complex profession.He also founded his own graphic design company in 1967 called Mul-

ler-Brockmannand Co, his company was responsible for the signage of Zurich airport and the identity of the SBB Swiss Railways. In an interview with him he had this to say about his work :- Order was always wishful thinking for me. For 60 years I have produced disorder in files, correspondence and books. In my work, however, I have always aspired to a distinct arrangement of typographic and pictorial elements, the clear identification of priorities. He worked and travelled exhibiting his work until he sadly passed away on the 30th August 1996.

Armin Hofmann is also a Swiss graphic designer and spent a lot of his career designing posters in particularly for the Basel Stadt theatre alot similar to Josef Brockmann. He also wrote a book on the outlines of his philosophies. At the age of 27 he had completed the apprenticeship he was doing in lithography and again like Brockmann, he started teaching at the Basel school of design but differing from him also by teaching typography, he taught for seven years then became the head of the school. Alot of his teaching methods where seen as unorthodox as he set new standards that soon be-

came known worldwide within institutions of design. Hofmann was one of the most influential graphic designers in teaching, his work still continues to have a determining effect within the international understanding of graphic design. The design style his work and posters presented where that of a universal style emitting a goal of communication amoungst each piece.

HOFMANn

CROUWELL Wim Crouwell is a Dutch graphic designer that bases his work on modernist principles and his approach to design is under pinned by a grid based method. The process his work undergoes is very experimental but he develops his work right down to its absolute essence which means it achieves a great impact and purpose in his exhibition and print design. Throughout his career he has created posters, calendars, typefaces and stampsas well as many other creative developments within his vast arrey of work . Crouwell was born in a small cultured city in the north of Holland

and as a child he was never interested in the usual things children have interests in, he found his within concrete, glass and steel which is where his influences of architecture began. He is recognised in the world of graphic design because of his radical and modular letter forms which pushed the boundaries of legibility. His innovative type was often supported by the typeface sans serif which gave it a carefully structured framework and al his typefaces where digitised and available for modern designers to to use from the type library.

As one of the most influential designers of the past century, Vignelli won some of the industry’s most prestigious awards, including the AIGA Gold Medal (1983, with Lella), the first Presidential Design Award, presented by President Ronald Reagan (1985), the National Arts Club Gold Medal for Design (2004), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (2005). Born in pre-World War II Milan in 1931, the young Vignelli and his classmates would regularly have to leave school after hearing bomb alarms and run to a shelter. “I don’t

know how I existed,” he told the Epoch Times in 2012 of his life before discovering design but “children grow up no matter what.” Vignelli also remarked on his luck, believing that if he had been born in the generation before or after his own, he would have either been part of the war or part of the national rebuilding effort, and not a designer. In his last, gravely ill days, Vignelli’s son, Luca, sent out an unusual and touching request: that anyone who had been influenced or inspired by his father’s work send him a letter.

VIGNELLI

BAUHAUS The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in the city of Weimar by German architect Walter Gropius (1883â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1969). Its core objective was a radical concept: to reimagine the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts. Gropius explained this vision for a union of art and design in the Proclamation of the Bauhaus (1919), which described a utopian craft guild combining architecture, sculpture, and painting into a single creative expression. Gropius developed a craft-based curriculum that would turn out artisans and designers capable of creating useful and beautiful objects appropriate to this new system of living.

The Bauhaus combined elements of both fine arts and design education. The curriculum commenced with a preliminary course that immersed the students, who came from a diverse range of social and educational backgrounds, in the study of materials, color theory, and formal relationships in preparation for more specialized studies. This preliminary course was often taught by visual artists, including Paul Klee (1987.455.16), Vasily Kandinsky (1866â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1944), and Josef Albers (59.160), among others.

CARSON 9

David Carson is an American graphic designer, art director and surfer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. He was the art director for the magazine Ray Gun, in which he employed much of the typographic and layout style for which he is known. In particular, his widely imitated aesthetic defined the so-called “grunge typography” era. Currently calling New York his base of operations, Carson was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and spent much of his early life in southern California where he was a high school teacher before becoming a designer. Ingrained within the surfing sub-culture of southern California, Carson started experimenting with graphic design during the mid 1980s. Not only a

designer, in 1989 he has qualified as the 9th best surfer in the world. His interest in the world of surfing gave him the opportunities to experiment with design, working on several different publications related to the profession.Transworld Skateboarding, Beach Culture, How Magazine and RayGun were among the primary publications on which he worked. However, it was RayGun where he gained perhaps the most recognition and was able to share his design style, characterized by “dirty” type which adheres to none of the standard practices of typography and is often illegible, with the widest audience.

contribution to The Face completely revolutionised the way in which designers and readers approach the medium. Though Brody rejected all commercialisation of his graphic style, his unique designs soon became much-imitated models for magazines, advertising and consumer-oriented graphics of the eighties. Brody also won much public acclaim through his highly innovative ideas on incorporating and combining typefaces into design. Later on he took this a step further and began designing his own typefaces, thus opening the way for the advent of digital type design.

BRODY

Neville Brody is probably the best known graphic designer of this generation. He studied graphic design at the London College of Printing and first made his way into the public eye through his record cover designs and his involvement in the British independent music scene in the early 1980s. As the Art Director of Fetish he began experimenting with the beginnings of a new visual language that consisted of a mixture of visual and architectural elements. Later he was able to put these ideas into practice and to set new precedents through the innovative styling of The Face magazine (1981-1986). It was his work on magazines that firmly established his reputation as one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading graphic designers. In particular, his artistic

WEINGART 11

Wolfgang Weingart is an internationally known graphic designer and typographer. His work is categorized as Swiss typography and he is credited as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the fatherâ&#x20AC;? of New Wave or Swiss Punk typography. He was born in 1941 in salemertal in southern germany, attended the merz akademie in stuttgart from 1958 to 1960, where he familiarised himself with typesetting and the process of making linocuts and woodcuts. after this he trained as a typesetter and discovered swiss typography. since the 1970s wolfgang weingart has exerted a decisive influence on the international development of typography. in the late 1960s he instilled creativity and a desire for experimentation into the ossified swiss typographical industry and reflected this renewal in his

own work. countless designers have been inspired by his teaching at the basle school of design and by his lectures. Weingart also held summer courses in brissago and from 1972 onwards gave lectures throughout the world, frequently in the usa where most of his students came from. weingart was a member of the agi from 1978 to 1999 has received several awards for his lifework: in 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts by massachusetts college of art & design in boston, in 2013 the aiga medal. Weingart spent his childhood in Germany, moving briefly to Lisbon in 1954 with his family.

and nonprofit organizations to educational and cultural institutions. Longhauser’s design work has consistently received awards and has been featured in international publications and exhibitions. Six of his works were included in “Typographism,” an international exhibition of graphic design at the Georges Pompidou National Contemporary Art Center in Paris. His posters have been exhibited in international poster biennales held in Helsinki and Lahti, Finland; Warsaw, Poland; and Brno, Czechoslovakia. His posters have been exhibited in international poster biennales held in Helsinki and Lahti, Finland; Warsaw, Poland; and Brno, Czechoslovakia.

LONGHAUSER

William Longhauser received a BFA degree in graphic design from the College of Design, Art, and Architecture at the University of Cincinnati, and an MFA in design from Indiana University. He has also completed two years of post-graduate study at the School of Design, in Basel, Switzerland. Before moving to Los Angeles in June, 2000, he was a tenured professor at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, where he taught in the graphic design department since 1977 and was chairman of the department for three years. In addition to his activities related to graphic design education, he is president of Longhauser Design, a design firm offering comprehensive visual communications services to a wide range of clients, from corporations

TISSI 13

Rosmarie Tissi grew up in an artistic family in Tayngen in the canton of Schaffhausen. She completed her apprenticeship as a graphic designer with Siegfried Odermatt in Zurich. After working together for ten years, she and her mentor set up the collective studio O&T in 1968. Their clients include printing houses, companies of all kinds, cultural institutions and the public sector. Her designs are characterised by an objectively clear yet undogmatic style, and the approach whereby writing influences form can be called a style-defining characteristic of Tissi’s work. However, she has always steered clear of straight-laced ‘Swiss style’. The graphic designer is also known for her love of travelling, which has already taken her to

over 60 countries – not just for pleasure, mostly for lectures and workshops in high-profile institutes and universities on all five continents. After working together for ten years, she and her mentor set up the collective studio O&T in 1968. Odermatt and Tissi work independently of each other, although there is obviously a close feedback among them. Their clients include printing houses, companies of all kinds, cultural institutions and the public sector. Her designs are characterised by an objectively clear yet undogmatic style, and the approach whereby writing influences form can be called a style-defining characteristic of Tissi’s work.

“Graphic Design will save the world right after Rock and Roll does” - David Carson.

LITTLE WHITE LIES Magazine Review

This is my review of the magazine Little White Lies and the magzine itself is all about films which is shown in the covers of each issue of the magazine, the cover ranges from a wide possibilities of print and 3D design. There is a limited amount of colour used within some of the covers but none the less they are still as effective as the ones with colour. They stand out and are very inspiring to many people within design especially me, i like how the covers are very distinctive annd that although the mast head is in a circle it still has the same effect within each cover, throughout the interior of the magazine the theme is very much a standard layout but it still works effectivley. I dont feel that there is an-

ything in particular that i dislike about the design as its just a standard design for a magazine. I also feel that the cover images work really well with what the magazine is actually about because it incorporates actors/ acresses and images from certain films within the cover which works really well. If i was to change anything about the layout designs of this specific magazine i would probably make the interior more interesting to match with the cover but not too much that its a whole layout of animation, image and 3D imagery. The layout works well in my opinion and draws people in to buy it with the variety of colour and typeface used.

LUCKY PEACH Magazine Review

This is my review of the magazine design for Lucky Peach and i have looked at the internal design aswell as mainly the covers of each magazine issue mainly because the covers of these magazines interest me and draw me into the magazine itself, i feel that the design of the cover is a very important part of a magazine as its what draws the buyer into it and this magazine does exactly that with its extraordinary use of cover image and colours mixed in with an arrey of type and fonts. This is a very well thought out magazine as it is about food they grasp that concept within every cover they provide. I feel it works really well mainly because of the colour use that is included in it, this is what makes it stand

out from every other magazine. If this magazine was my own design i dont think i would actually change anything within it because not only is the layout of the cover great the interior of the magazine also draws people in with again its amazing use of imagery and colour. One thing i am not too sure about the layout design is that i feel there is no actual structure to it and its a very messy unorganised way of working but what baffles me is its also really effective and efficient within the magazine industry and every magazine they have created looks very similar to these ones, Cartoon imagery and real life imagery merged together, it some how works.

MASTHEAD REVIEW Within the mast head of this magazine little White Lies i have found that the font doesnt actually change all that often, the only thing that changes on rare occasions would be the colour and that is based on what is on the magazine cover image, I like how it stays the same a lot of the time because it makes the magazine cover more recognisable to the people wanting to buy it, i think that the masthead works really well with the cover because it keeps a continuous shape with what the masthead font is in, if i was to change it in anyway i think i might have the shape with which the font is in blend into the cover image a little bit more than what it does because although it stands out from the cover image which

is a good thing i also feel that on some of the front covers it could look better blended into the image, for example the butterflys cover. I would of personally kept the shape of the circle but made it look as though some of the butterflys are coming from the circle rather than have a solid shape. The masthead works on each cover though no matter what the image is on the front of it.

MASTHEAD REVIEW The masthead on this magazine Lucky Peach changes quite often not only in colour but it also has been known to change for certain issues, the colour change withing the cover makes the masthead stand out a lot more as there is quite a lot of other type within the imagery used. The use of colour is very unique and is a part of what makes the magazine stand out against others, the type face is a very untidy looking one but it still works just as well on the odd occasion that they actually do change it. The colours that they use all depend on the colour of the background image and as to wether the masthead will stand out against the image as the masthead is one of the most important things

on the cover of a magazine. I like that they do change the colour to make it stand out more efficently against the busy background of each cover although i dont particularly like the type of font they have used because its quite untidy and doesnt look like something you would use for a food magazine, i would personally change it to a more constructive font that will fit in with the cover better. Even though i would change the font i still think it works quite well with the use of illustration each issue has on it.

For the City in flux project we were required to research into the visual language of the City, how imagery, artifacts, sounds and ephemera of all kinds to bombrad the senses with visual messages and experiences. I the first instance we had to demostrate our ability to select suitable subject matter for translation into our own visual experiments.

This visual research we collected had to take the form of traditional or virtual sketchbooks. Our research had to be either static, moving image, internet, installation or a mixture of all. we had to be able to demonstrate multiple ideas and be able to employ a range of media and methods to appropriate for us to complete the brief at a high standard of work.

In my specific project i decided to get research on cities that are fluctuating and then from all the research i got i came across the idea of abandoned places and how the opposite of a fluctuation occurs as nature starts to over grow and take back what it once had already claimed untill construction and development within a city occured, from this i stumbled

across quite a few abandoned places that i could of used for the base of my ideas but i decided to use chernobyl as its the one of them all that interested me the most and i found it so interesting learning about what had happened and what the city of chernobyl looks like today after the disaster. So on that basis i made posters about overgrowth.

Development This is the development process shown in a use of thumbnails of the posters that i created for my City in flux project, I started out with the simple idea of a skyline showing over grown nature like in Chernobyl but as my ideas developed further and i experimented a lot more with what i could do to the image to make it look better and stand out a lot more as a poster needs to be noticed. I started out with a single skyline image adding in the nature through the use of photoshop to give it a better effect but then i felt it may look better if i add-

ed a sort if reflection within the image ti say that not only the greenery of nature has taken back over but water has aswelll turning the city into what it once was. After a lot of experimenting i came across a skyline look that i liked and started to add in the different types of font and different warped and sized fonts to see which look gave the poster a more approachable meaning to its audience. I created in total fifteen possibly poster designs which made it hard to narrow it down to one.

Evaluation Overall i think that this is a good outcome from the project as i found it hard to get in to, i tried different experimentations of the text and posters to get to my final stage which is this. I like this image because its very full and in your face, it stands out clearly against anything which is a bonus when there could be the possibility of it being used on items such a buses and bus stop signs, if it stanbds out then more people will notice the work. I personally feel that if i was to do the City in Flux project again i would of played around with the

skyline a little bit more so that it could possibly have a textured look toward it rather than it just being a simple block image. Although i do really like the use of words within the poster â&#x20AC;&#x153;can we coincideâ&#x20AC;? because it says a lot about the imgae in which nature and constructive development within a city can coincide as one together.

EARTH AR For the Earth Artifact brief we were required over a period of weeks to create and submit creative proposals through to finished design work/animation for a new version of the Golden Record that is entitled as Earth Artifact. It did not have to be a slavish reproduction of the original golden record but it had to be a bit more of a contemporary version which

within should reflect the content and the format/ media channel of our own choice. We had to document all of our stages within the research and design process, this had to demostrate a critical understanding about the design challenge. Within this we had to be inventive and be abke to demonstrate our ingenuity in solving the creative challenge that is Earth Arti-

RTIFACT

fact. We had to generate several creative solutions only taking one justified idea forward ti a final soultion of the project brief. Communication within this brief was at the top of the agenda as we had to justify a critically review and adjust our work throughout the project brief. There were a variety of possible outcomes that we could of accomplidhed from this project

and those were Information Graphics, Data Visualisation, a Book, Fil or Animation. Me personally i decided to take the brief to a new level and think about the depth of the brief going into the experiences of the people of earth but basing it on my experiences.

Development This is the development process in which i came up with my final product for the Earth Artifact Project. I started my development from my idea to create my own memory box/time capsule as it said on the brief that base the project on the experiences of you and the people on earth so i thought i would go further into depth with that and base the project on the experiences of my life on earth so far, so i experimented and developed into creating a box and how i could use different materials also how i could make it look a little bit aged. The items

i put inside the box are similar to what was on the Golden Records but my version of them, such as my school shirts, leavers books, photos of family and places iv been also languages iv learnt. I developed from a cardboard box as i felt that it had to be an item that would hold the items and keep them from damage where as cardboard was good for a rough concept i decided to make my final piece from pallet wood and use a dark wood stain to make the box look aged.

EVALUATION This is the final outcome of my Earth Artifact project and i have created and personalised a memory box to show my time on earth, my experiences and what i have done so far, I am really pleased with the outcome of it because although it was quite hard to make the actual box and get the materials needed i managed it and i think after all the work i have put in i made it look rustic and worn which is the desired effect that i wanted to achieve with this piece of work. I am very happy wth the final outcome. Although if i was to do this project again i would

of been able to experiment with the different effects that i could get by using different wood stains but due to not having half of the materials and supplies that i needed to get what i wanted i didnt get to achieve that depth of experimentation that i wanted. Over all i am glad that the product has turned out the way that it has. I enjoyed myself throughout this project because it let me go further into detail with the materials i used and the depth of experimentation.

TYPOGRAPHY

REFERENCES

Within this Typographic mini project we had to do i produced a minion character font with the sticks that they are holding and my evaluation of this work is that its not my best work and that i could of done a lot better if i hadnt of chosen a type that would take so long to draw out and colour, i tried it on illustrator and couldnt get the shape right. If i was to re create a typeface of my own again i would definetly consider taking time to get some useful resources before starting some ideas.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you do good work for good clients, it will lead to other good work for other good clients. If you do bad work for bad clients, it will lead to other bad work for other bad clients.â&#x20AC;? -Michael Bierut.

Personal Manifesto I tend to take a more creative route within the work that i create, i like to do a lot of experimentation to ensure that i am happy with the final product i have created but i like to get more hands on within the designing process such as drawing, painting and making things as well as using the adobe software to create and develop my work. I aim to achieve my goals by looking at the wants and requirements of the brief i have been given and before i start the work i think about what i need to do and within what order i would do it in so i can organize myself and plan out my time subsequently and get everything done in the time that i have been given to do it in. I approach my work with attention to detail, organisation and precision so i can aim to work to the highest of my ability.