What i aim to create: A publication in the form of large DPS displayed like "posters" that show the arguments between post modernist GD and modernist GD, i will look in depth at examples of each style analysing the visuals, hoping to gain a much greater understanding about the background of each style, i will also look at at arguments from designers for and against postmodern and modernist this can be used as the content of my dps along with my short evaluation for both styles. I aim to design the spreads in the style of the design both postmodern and modernist i will explore this by looking at existing work and my attempts will be produced in both styles of design.
dps: should the designs be on the same subject - conveying the same message but in two completely different styles of design?
Postmodernist GD is a reaction to Modernist GD:
“Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated.”
Paul Rand
Notes on "introducing postmodernism" by Richard Appignanesi and Chris Garratt
x
Notes from the helvetica film:
"Some people think that type should be expressive, they have a different point of view to mine. i don't think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word dog in any typeface and it doesn't have to look like a dog, for some people when they write dog it should bark."
"When Helvetica came about we where already for it, it just had all the right connotation for anything that had to spell out loud an clear.......MODERN!"
Poynor says:
That the 1950's was a very interesting period for the development of graphic design, this was during the post war period of ww2 some designers had a feeling of idealism. european designers based their design on reconstruction and making things run smoothly, for example much more democratic design. designers adopted the social responsibility, this led to the deconstruction and rational breakdown of the early experiments with high modernist design from the modernist period. This inevitably this caused the emergence of a style nationwide: this was commonly known as the swiss style: this was deliverd to the public in an intelligent legible manor this is also known as rational design.
This style was underpinned by the shared feeling of many of the designers of idealism:
Examples:
Muller Brochman:
Karl gernster:
Armin Hoffman
Max Huber:
Wim Crowel:
"i am a modernist, you know. i was trained in the period, i lived in the period, i love modernism i want it......."
Design should be clarity:
"Should be clear, should be readable it should be straight forward" he created the grid to give designers some sort of order.
"For me it is a tool of creating order, and creating order is typography"
Helvetica is a meaningless typeface - no meaning in itself meaning only in the content.
The design of helvetica - inter relationship of the figure background and how it holds the letterform in place:
During the 1970's there arose a reaction to conformity this came from idealism it became routine this was peoples need for change: Postmodernist Design:
Paula scher:
there are two cultures of design one corporate this focuses on visuual language/ corporate - helvetica
the other is morally opposed, counter cultures/ under ground zines/ push pin studios where the people really pushing post modernist design.
Paula Scher - she was told to move away from the press type that was the main part of the swiss style of design, she moved into the illustrative typestyle where she found that type could posses personality the spirit of the type could convey moods basically could be used as a pallet of expression.
Eric Speicherman:
- Hand writing can be understood because it holds a sense of rhythm, helvetica has non of this it is just there: holds no expression this is why it became the default typeface.
POSTMODERNIST PERIOD:
Designer where starting to break things up, getting away from the orderly clean smooth surface of the design and the horrible slickness of it all and aimed to produce designs with vitality:
The postmodernists wanted to express their subjectivity and their own feelings about the world a sense of having something to say through the means of design/ design choices they make.
this caused controversy between the two styles and example of this would be:
Massimo Vinnella:
Who was a high priest of graphic design from the 60's modernist era, His opinions on postmodernist designs, the psychedelic typefaces where basically up against helvetica and modernist GD he stated that this style was a disease that was confusing the youth.
On the other hand David Carson stated that:
The modernists where a group of people who where desperately looking to create order and structure, him and the style post modern basically picked all of the components up and threw this in the air, however he states that this was not his initial plan.
Postmodern - Experimental - Ray Gun:
He then went on to state that you should never confuse communication with legibility, post modernist graphic design is still as effective an example of this is, Zap Dingbat:
He states in the video above: "there is no sunshine here"
this basically shows how he feels about modernist type, no expression meaningless - boring
this is backed up by:
"there is a thin line between clear, simple, powerful. and clear simple and boring"
Stefan Sigmeister:
His views on modernist GD is that it is a disappointment simply because he finds it so boring he states that the overall communication of modernist design is "Do not read me because i will bore the shit out of you"
he states that the within modernist GD the design represents the same thing both visually and in its content.
Type and Hand style: commonly used within postmodernist design, in an instant tells you about its process in a very elegant fast way however "this isn't all we do"
Type then returned to its earlier ways of designing but with a new set of theories to support it, Modernism has - image/primarily concerns with functionalism and utilitarianism, late modernism/ early futurism,DADA, all had dialectical side that went against something:
50's Netherlands late modernist, as a designer and as a person you are inspired by what you grow up with: where you lived and what you grew up with it was everywhere:
Micheal C Place:
He was more about reacting to certain things for example obsessive with making beautiful things out of the ordinary, he based his idea on being about the emotional response to the piece:
Mauel Krebs:
Dimitri Bruni:
Both looking back to Modernist design to find structure, they both use only a few typefaces, absoloutley no humanistic type, rational design no need for excessive expression
Ideas of Visual Communication/Graphic Communication: Expression of this personality
WHAT I HAVE FOUND VISUALLY:
Post Modern Graphic Design goals;
• Upset established thinking, provoke convention and set new standards
• Incorporate subjectivity
• Include social and political commentary
• Blur the lines between fine art and commerce
• Embrace historical reference and decoration
There are distinctive visual characteristics in the Post-Modern style that blends history, new technology and decoration;
• Playful Kinetic Geometry with Floating Forms
• Sawtooth Rules and Randomly Placed Lines of Type
• Multiple Layers and Fragmented Imagery
• Pastel Blends of Color
• Disconnected Letter spaced Typography
• Frequent References to Art and Design History
• Upset established thinking, provoke convention and set new standards
• Incorporate subjectivity
• Include social and political commentary
• Blur the lines between fine art and commerce
• Embrace historical reference and decoration
There are distinctive visual characteristics in the Post-Modern style that blends history, new technology and decoration;
• Playful Kinetic Geometry with Floating Forms
• Sawtooth Rules and Randomly Placed Lines of Type
• Multiple Layers and Fragmented Imagery
• Pastel Blends of Color
• Disconnected Letter spaced Typography
• Frequent References to Art and Design History
• Origins; Basel, Switzerland
• Attitude; Advancement of Modernist principles, Recycled Modernist styles and techniques.
• Visual Characteristics; Loosening up on old forms, Look more informal, Used photographic and electronic technologies, Complexity using layered text and imagery.
Contributors:
• Wolfgang Weingart – late 60s, experimented with freeform type, he rejected order and cleanliness of Swiss grid.
• April Greiman – student of Weingart, explored bitmapped fonts, patterns, •
layered imagery and kinetic photography.
• Dan Friedman – also a student of Weingart, Friedman also taught along with designing, tested relationships between avant-garde and practical design applications.
Zurich 80s
• Origin; Zurich, Switzerland
• Visual Characteristics; Based on geometrics, Simplicity, use of white space and primary colors, Typographic collage
• Contributors; Rosemarie Tissi, Siegfried Odermatt
• Origin; Zurich, Switzerland
• Visual Characteristics; Based on geometrics, Simplicity, use of white space and primary colors, Typographic collage
• Contributors; Rosemarie Tissi, Siegfried Odermatt
American New Wave 80s
• Origin; New York, San Francisco
• Visual Characteristics; Graphic Imagery Reflects the Contemporary Fetish
for Products of the Material, Commercial, and High-Tech Culture
• Contributors; John Jay, Tibor Kalman, Rudy Vanderlans
• Origin; New York, San Francisco
• Visual Characteristics; Graphic Imagery Reflects the Contemporary Fetish
for Products of the Material, Commercial, and High-Tech Culture
• Contributors; John Jay, Tibor Kalman, Rudy Vanderlans
MODERNIST GRAPHIC DESIGN
VS
POST MODERNIST GRAPHIC DESIGN
When I think of modernism, I think of cutting edge, new, fresh, and original…
When I think of post-modernism, I think of all these things, but with also an added element of irony and/or deeper meaning such as a radical political statement, deconstruction of historical benchmarks, or socio-economic commentary, not that modernism can’t contain these things, but I believe it’s more pronounced in post-modernism.
When it comes to Modernism, in a nutshell I can say it is a time in our history when traditional values began to change. Modernism attempted to rethink science, art, culture, ethics, philosophy and psychology. It attempted to the find new or hidden meaning in the human experience and had to deal with coming to terms with new ideas. (articlesbase.com)
Modernism
Modernism is a term used in the aftermath of the 1st world war and the Russian revolution in a period where the artistic avant-grade dreamed of a new world free from conflict, greed and social inequality. The term modernism was used in graphic design itself since around the 1925-1930, as once economic conditions improved designers had to reassess their work, adapting it to a mass markets, and sometimes even to the demands of fascism. Initially before this time modernism was only largely experimental but then moved from the sketch board to the real world. Modernism has survived for all this time and still remains a powerful force of the design world of today. (Designing a new world V&A: 1)
I looked at what “Designing a new world had to say about Modernism more in depth. Whilst researching the subject I came across some interesting information, first of all it states that at the core of Modernism lay the idea that the world had to be fundamentally r
ethought. The carnage of the First World War led to widespread utopian fevour, a belief that the human condition could be healed by new approaches to art and design, more spiritual, more sensual, or more rational. Then it went on to say The Russian Revolution offered a model for an entirely new society. (Designing a new world V&A: 2)
ethought. The carnage of the First World War led to widespread utopian fevour, a belief that the human condition could be healed by new approaches to art and design, more spiritual, more sensual, or more rational. Then it went on to say The Russian Revolution offered a model for an entirely new society. (Designing a new world V&A: 2)
Designing a new world V&A goes on to talk about how modernism was promoted back then. It states that as modernism was campaigned, it generated many exhibitions and countless books, journals, posters and advertisements. Then it goes on to say that in both design and content it would argue the case of ‘New’, often with a generational and political bias against the old. Lastly under “promoting modernism”, it states that Modernist graphic design and advertising came to be known as the New Typography and it favoured sans-serif lettering, sometimes without uppercase letters and Typo-Photo in which photographic images were montage alongside type. Also Colour and composition were influenced by abstract paints. In my opinion when it come to Modernism as a whole it can be a bit disturbing in regards to the political side of things and in regards to the way it was used, but when it come to design itself I prefer modernist design only because of the outcome of a particular design, I guess I am attracted to the way they are composition, together, and in order, I generally like that fact that I need to work toward some sort of order/grid/rule but only to a certain extent. (Designing a new world V&A: 12)
Paul Rand
Paul Rand is one of the world’s most famous graphic designers, he’s best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, etc.
Paul Rand is a very popular modernist designer. He’s core beliefs in Modernist Design is what drove his career, this is why his lasting influence, was the modernist philosophy he so revered. Paul Rand celebrated the works of artists from Paul Cezanne to Jan Tschichold, and constantly attempted to draw the connections between. (google.co.uk)
Biography:
Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum, August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was a well-known American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs. Rand was educated at the Pratt Institute (1929-1932), the Parsons School of Design (1932-1933), and the Art Students League (1933-1934). He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. From 1956 to 1969, and beginning again in 1974, Rand taught design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Rand was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. He designed many posters and corporate identities, including the logos for IBM, UPS and ABC. Rand died of cancer in 1996. (paulrand.com/about)
Postmodernism
Welcome to the world of Postmodernism A term, used within the graphics design world since around the 1980s. When it comes to postmodernism there are several opinions on what it actually means as many people didn’t have a clue, even the most knowledgeable people with the graphic design world had doubts about it, i.e. Judith Williamson author of Decoding advertisements, interviewed in a design journal “the term is too vague to be useful in anything other than a stylistic sense”, Richard Kostelanetz author of a dictionary of the Avant-Grades, he is even blunter and says “My personal opinion holds that anything characterised as postmodern, weather by its author or it’s advocates, is beneath critical consideration, no matter how immediately popular or capable it might be”. In my opinion I must say, although I do not entirely agree with they way the terms postmodernism and modernism was used back in them days, I prefer Modernism when it come to my graphic design work. (Poynor 2003:8)
Jeffery Keedy Emigre Type Specimen Series
Booklet No4: Keedy Sans, typrographic
Illustration, Emagre, USA, 2002
Post modernism – Rick Paynor:
Rick Poynor founded Eye Magazine in 1990, and edited it for seven years. He also wrote the book “NO MORE RULES” a book about graphic design and postmodernism. I took the opportunity to research Poynor’s views on the subject and came across some very remarkable information.
Poynor states that even twenty years of the term Postmodernism was used, that it still remains a difficulty topic, and he goes on to stat that there is already a vast amount of literature devoted to every aspect of postmodernism, as well as new books about arriving all the time about the subject and publications running whole series of articles attempting to explain what it meant. Poynor 2003:8)
What is Postmodernism?
Poynor starts off to say that "in the last 15 years graphic designers have created some of the most challenging examples of postmodernism in the visual art. Poynor says that few graphic designers have been eager to define their work as postmodernism and those who have laid the most positive and even argumentative claim to the label have tended to be American. In the book NO MORE RULES both American and non-American designers have produced work which relate to postmodernism and its themes, would reject the term strongly. In Poynor’s opinion for some designers, postmodernism is too closely identified with a particular historicist style of architecture current in the 1980s and it is consequently rejected on the grounds of aesthetic taste as much as anything.
Poynor states that postmodernism is viewed as stylistic by some of the commentators throughout chapter 1 of the book, which has inhibited an understanding of the way in which postmodern tendencies continued to influence design throughout the 1990s.
Poynor also tell us that the purpose of the book is not to provide an overview of postmodernism and all attempts at summary inevitably run up against the multitude of sometimes conflicting interpretations that postmodernism as generated. (Poynor 2003:10)
Poynor writes that postmodernism can not be understood without reference to modernism, while the ‘post’ prefix might seem to suggest that postmodernism comes after modernism, or that it replaces or rejects it, many commentators point out that postmodernism is a kind of parasite, dependant on its modernist host and displaying many of the same features – except that the meaning has changed.(Poynor 2003:11)
As I looked further in to what poynor had to say about postmodernism, I came across a vary interesting paragraph, in which I totally agreed with. He wrote “The products of postmodern culture may sometimes bear similarities to modernist works, but their inspiration and purpose is fundamentally different. If modernism south to create a better would, postmodernism – to the horror of many observers – appears to accept the world as it is”. Then he went on to say “Where modernism frequently attacked commercial mass culture, claiming from its superior perspective to know what was best for people, postmodernism enters into a complicitous relationship with the dominant culture. In postmodernism, modernism’s hierarchical distinctions between worthwhile ‘high’ culture and trashy ‘low’ culture collapse and the two become equal possibilities on a level field. (Poynor 2003:11)
Poynor refers to a couple of designers and their opinions about postmodernism which I found to be very interesting first of all he states that T.S Elliot a modernist poet, towards the end of his life observed that it not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them and the commonly held view that one should master one’s discipline before seeking to disrupt it also held true for design.
And John Lewis, a British designer and graphic design teacher, In Typography: Basic Principles (1963) includes a chapter titled ‘Rules are Made to be Broken. Before you start braking rules, he writes, you should know what they are. Once one knows what are the correct procedures, one can look at them critically and see whether by deliberately flouting them anything can be added to methods of communication. Then Poynor goes on to say that Lewis believed that there was even a place for illegiberately for mixing up fonts mutilating letters, if it would serve the message by adding some excitement. (Poynor 2003:12)
OTHER POINTS OF VIEW
I went on to research other points of view when it come to post modernism and came across some very interesting explanations on what it all about.
Wickapedida states that postmodernism is a way of being free to combine any elements or styles in a piece of work even if it is irrelevant to the subject and it stated that postmodernism rejects rigid genre boundaries and promotes parody, irony, and playfulness, commonly referred to as jouissance by postmodern theorists, in graphis design postmodernims has been a visual and decorative movment. Then It went on to say how some artistic movement saw postmodernism as pop art, which when I thought about it, I agreed with to a certain extent. Unlike modern art, postmodern art does not approach this fragmentation as somehow faulty or undesirable, but rather celebrates it.
This is the album cover for The Sex Pistol’s 1977 hit single “God Save the Queen”. Designed by British artist Jaime Reid, this cover comes to symbolize the punk movement of late 1970’s England. This cover would later come to influence a style that would come to categorize early postmodern design different typeface in one compositions with little to no visible organization and the use of appropriation.
I-D, the British youth culture magazine, quickly became an iconic representation of the new-wave and postmodern graphic design gaphic design aesthetics upon its publication in 1980. The magazine was designed by Terry Jones who utilized aggressive collages, heightened use of color, and experimental typography to achieve a striking, dramatic design aesthetic. As postmodernism favors expressive designs and a rebellion against for strict constraints, and many of the designers who pioneered this movement were young, the design
magazine centered around a postmodern youth culture proved to be a perfect catalyst for such experimentations in typography and image manipulation. An important facet of postmodern design theory is the idea of anti-humanism, which explains that a universal principle cannot possibly be shared by all human beings, and insists that any principles must be determined historically and culturally
aesthetics of a
