'Form follows function' - most famously attributed it by
- Architect Louis Sullivan 1896
- most applicable to typography within graphic design
is it there to be decorative or the vehicle of communication?
- Hand made v technology
Beatrice Warde - 'the crystal goblet'
- Argues that graphic design should be an invisible vehicle
- good design is invisible
- Helvetica, on the extras disk - different takes of this argument
- Post modernist argue it should be expressive
- 30's - 60s (modernism) // 70s onwards post modernism
- Studios applying modernist theories to current design
- Modernist designers - more attention to audience
Modernist could be considered more socialist
- Quality
- Access to information
- Communication to all rather than elite few
- Internationalism
Sources
Adolf Loos - ornament is crime
Swiss international graphic style - neue grafik
Architect Louis Sullivan 1896
Glenn Ward - compare modernism and post modernism
Looking closer - 5 books - collections of essays on graphic design - frame the question
Wim Crowell
Modernism / Consciousness from the machine age / mass production
Things being effective in what they do - effectiveness
How well something works over how it looks
What is the purpose of graphic design
is the designer there to self publicise or is it a designers role to be selfless
invisible for the greater good of society
Contextual & Theoretical Studies
21.5.12
3.5.12
Dissertation - Library Research
Focus
Relevance
Research Methods
- Visual practice, experiment, interest and enquiry (research and critical diaries
questionnaires
- Interviews
Literature search
- Books (generally academic books are A5)
- Journals (largely text - bibliography's at the end)
- websites blogs
- Videos / dvds
- Cds tape cassetts vinyls records
- TV Radio
- Newspapers / maps / records
- Printed ephemera - i.e flyers / posters / beer mats
Literature search 2
- Knowing where to look most effectively
- Effective use of catalogs
---- narrowing and broadening search terms
---- using related terms
---- browsing using Dewey Decimal Classification
- Use of contents page and index
- Reading the introduction or abstract
- Using a books own bibliography to inform further reading
Books Search
- LCA / Leeds Met / Leeds Uni
- British Library in Boston Spa
- COPAC copac.ac.uk
Relevance
Research Methods
- Visual practice, experiment, interest and enquiry (research and critical diaries
questionnaires
- Interviews
Literature search
- Books (generally academic books are A5)
- Journals (largely text - bibliography's at the end)
- websites blogs
- Videos / dvds
- Cds tape cassetts vinyls records
- TV Radio
- Newspapers / maps / records
- Printed ephemera - i.e flyers / posters / beer mats
Literature search 2
- Knowing where to look most effectively
- Effective use of catalogs
---- narrowing and broadening search terms
---- using related terms
---- browsing using Dewey Decimal Classification
- Use of contents page and index
- Reading the introduction or abstract
- Using a books own bibliography to inform further reading
Books Search
- LCA / Leeds Met / Leeds Uni
- British Library in Boston Spa
- COPAC copac.ac.uk
30.4.12
Sustainability Seminar
Briefing for Dissertation
6000-8000 words
Discrete chapters
Bookended -intro conclusion 1500 combined
between 4-5 chapters 1500 words each chapter
P r o p o s a l
4 different questions or 4 different ways you explore that theme
N e e d s t o h a v e
Coherent Methodology (unified approach)
(feminist, semiotic, communication theory, Marxism, media studies, ecological, narratology
P r i m a r y R e s e a r c h
Interviews, art objects, designers, empirical, study, archives
- Apply your own reading to something else
e.g. reading Floyd and providing your interpretation
S e c o n d a r y r e s e a r c h
Books on theory, topic, approach, primary research
S t a r t
- Finding books for secondary research
- Find and interpret a selection of essays on type
S u s t a i n a b i l i t y
Design that prioritizes ethics over profits - central cause over argument
Interest of the common good (Communism / socialism ) (Ethics) V Profit - individual gain (Capitalism)
Altruistic over self serving
Consumer culture
Profit is driving force
1987 Brundtand Mission report
- Meeting the needs of the future without compromising the needs of today
E n v i r o n m e n t a l i s m V s E c o l o g i s m
Greenwashing - peoples concerns can be capitalised on
'V. Papanek - The green imperative'
McDonough - Cradle to cradle - green manifesto for sustainable design
Can we as designers set aside 10% of out time to work for a better cause yet still being able to sustain own lives
Environmental x social x economic
something sustainable must have all of these things at its core
Case study on a specific studio / printers / practice
Allows you to make broad arguments but then focus it on one practice
e.g. - is it possible to run a sustainable design company?
6000-8000 words
Discrete chapters
Bookended -intro conclusion 1500 combined
between 4-5 chapters 1500 words each chapter
P r o p o s a l
4 different questions or 4 different ways you explore that theme
N e e d s t o h a v e
Coherent Methodology (unified approach)
(feminist, semiotic, communication theory, Marxism, media studies, ecological, narratology
P r i m a r y R e s e a r c h
Interviews, art objects, designers, empirical, study, archives
- Apply your own reading to something else
e.g. reading Floyd and providing your interpretation
S e c o n d a r y r e s e a r c h
Books on theory, topic, approach, primary research
S t a r t
- Finding books for secondary research
- Find and interpret a selection of essays on type
S u s t a i n a b i l i t y
Design that prioritizes ethics over profits - central cause over argument
Interest of the common good (Communism / socialism ) (Ethics) V Profit - individual gain (Capitalism)
Altruistic over self serving
Consumer culture
Profit is driving force
1987 Brundtand Mission report
- Meeting the needs of the future without compromising the needs of today
E n v i r o n m e n t a l i s m V s E c o l o g i s m
Greenwashing - peoples concerns can be capitalised on
'V. Papanek - The green imperative'
McDonough - Cradle to cradle - green manifesto for sustainable design
Can we as designers set aside 10% of out time to work for a better cause yet still being able to sustain own lives
Environmental x social x economic
something sustainable must have all of these things at its core
Case study on a specific studio / printers / practice
Allows you to make broad arguments but then focus it on one practice
e.g. - is it possible to run a sustainable design company?
25.3.12
24.3.12
Mechanical Reproduction Task
Shepard Fairey - Communist Propaganda
The Marxist theory states that the superstructure transforms the substructure. The reproduction of art and design has created a situation where both are seen out of their intended purpose therefore affecting different peoples understanding of them. Because of the technology progressions such as lithography, and more recently digital printing reproduction is starting to become a higher quality than the originals.
Marx states ‘even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be’
This is obvious when looking at the design of Shepard Fairey who has used themes of communist propaganda in a very different sense, although the work has obvious political messages they follow a more capitalist regime. Also as his work has become so popular it can now be seen in peoples homes, detaching ‘the reproduced object from the domain or tradition’. It is this process that Marx refers to as a ‘shattering of tradition’ and ‘the liquidation of the traditional value of cultural heritage’ therefore altering the aura of when experiencing the piece in its natural situation. Marx states ‘the unique value of the “authentic” work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value’
As the design has now been reproduced, people may have already formed opinions of the work and been altered by the opinions of others, Marx states that ‘the distinction between author and public is about to lose its basic character’ so the new creations of the work are constructed under a new law – Marx explains painting in a similar manor ‘That of the painter is a total one, that of the cameraman consists of multiple fragments which are assembled under a few law’ here he is referring to the change over where reproduction becomes a higher quality than that of the original.
The Marxist theory states that the superstructure transforms the substructure. The reproduction of art and design has created a situation where both are seen out of their intended purpose therefore affecting different peoples understanding of them. Because of the technology progressions such as lithography, and more recently digital printing reproduction is starting to become a higher quality than the originals.
Marx states ‘even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be’
This is obvious when looking at the design of Shepard Fairey who has used themes of communist propaganda in a very different sense, although the work has obvious political messages they follow a more capitalist regime. Also as his work has become so popular it can now be seen in peoples homes, detaching ‘the reproduced object from the domain or tradition’. It is this process that Marx refers to as a ‘shattering of tradition’ and ‘the liquidation of the traditional value of cultural heritage’ therefore altering the aura of when experiencing the piece in its natural situation. Marx states ‘the unique value of the “authentic” work of art has its basis in ritual, the location of its original use value’
As the design has now been reproduced, people may have already formed opinions of the work and been altered by the opinions of others, Marx states that ‘the distinction between author and public is about to lose its basic character’ so the new creations of the work are constructed under a new law – Marx explains painting in a similar manor ‘That of the painter is a total one, that of the cameraman consists of multiple fragments which are assembled under a few law’ here he is referring to the change over where reproduction becomes a higher quality than that of the original.
Mechanical Reproduction
I have been thinking about works of graphic design that have been affected through reproduction and immediately thought about shepherd fairey because of his iconic communist styled designs. I don't necessarily want to focus on his work at the moment as I feel it is slightly more artistic than graphic design orientated but because of its historic graphic traits I feel it might be worth exploring further.
Its obvious where Shepard fairey has taken his influences from. His work always has some sort of mild underlying political messages or agenda the same way communist posters of the 80's did but because of his global fame his images are often seen out of content.
Possibly just exploring communist design as a whole might be a suitable take on the set task - as this example showing the reproduced Franz Ferdinand cover shows.
Possibly just exploring communist design as a whole might be a suitable take on the set task - as this example showing the reproduced Franz Ferdinand cover shows.
23.3.12
The Gaze Task
‘according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ (Berger 1972, 45, 47)
The quote above is clearly demonstrated in this image, which consists of a woman sprawled in a seductive manor across a bed. The painting has been done in a way that allows men to enjoy the image without knowing they have been caught, the gaze is never challenged, giving the viewer the permanent ability to look without anyone knowing. When the gaze is returned the viewer is forced to engage with the woman as a person rather than an object. The hand is suggestive and the image has endless connotations, such as the dog on the bed and its relation to loyalty. There is also a sense of vanity, which forms as an insidious joke, and because of this it legitimises that men can look at her, an example of men looking at women, and women being objectified. It is imagery like this that has been repeated into modern cultures using associations particularly within fashion, resulting in an ongoing visual culture even in the 21st century.
Moving onto the second image the ideas of male domination and ‘the gaze’ where these visuals are pushed on you so much they become legitimised and turns into a style. Even though in the image there are men under the same scrutiny, in terms of they are there for people to look at but the connotations of male dominance are even stronger. In turn this evolves into a popular style where people no longer think its sleazy but about a study of beauty. In fact however it is far less innocent and it almost becomes the normal reality of how women are represented.
Imagery like this where women are portrayed as objects creates a system where women are subdued to a giant panopticon, a self regulating culture where women start to worry about their image resulting in surgeries, issues with weight and health because of these problems. Sex starts to become hyperreal where people begin to forget where the boundaries lie within real sex and what they are constantly having thrown in their faces through films, advertising and media.
The quote above is clearly demonstrated in this image, which consists of a woman sprawled in a seductive manor across a bed. The painting has been done in a way that allows men to enjoy the image without knowing they have been caught, the gaze is never challenged, giving the viewer the permanent ability to look without anyone knowing. When the gaze is returned the viewer is forced to engage with the woman as a person rather than an object. The hand is suggestive and the image has endless connotations, such as the dog on the bed and its relation to loyalty. There is also a sense of vanity, which forms as an insidious joke, and because of this it legitimises that men can look at her, an example of men looking at women, and women being objectified. It is imagery like this that has been repeated into modern cultures using associations particularly within fashion, resulting in an ongoing visual culture even in the 21st century.
Moving onto the second image the ideas of male domination and ‘the gaze’ where these visuals are pushed on you so much they become legitimised and turns into a style. Even though in the image there are men under the same scrutiny, in terms of they are there for people to look at but the connotations of male dominance are even stronger. In turn this evolves into a popular style where people no longer think its sleazy but about a study of beauty. In fact however it is far less innocent and it almost becomes the normal reality of how women are represented.
Imagery like this where women are portrayed as objects creates a system where women are subdued to a giant panopticon, a self regulating culture where women start to worry about their image resulting in surgeries, issues with weight and health because of these problems. Sex starts to become hyperreal where people begin to forget where the boundaries lie within real sex and what they are constantly having thrown in their faces through films, advertising and media.
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