Why do I want to be a designer?

I don't want to be bound within a box where I HAVE to do something, hence I did not study art in the later years of school. I'm more free with my creativity, and hate to be held down. Design, is a way I can make a living out of what the human mind can conceive.

Where my desire to enter into the world of design came from, was my passion for creating things, be it with lego, pencil, or on a computer. I also, like the marketing aspect of businesses, and contemplated doing a business degree. More recently however, it's all because of my desire to use external influences and express them through my designs. I want to merge the world of street art, both spray-painting and illustrating, with a classic knowledge of design theory.

I want to be a designer, because there are limitless possibilities as to where you can go. The human mind is capable of infinite ideas, and ideas are the core resource of a designer. I want to think outside of the box.

DuBuffet and Basquiat

DUBUFFET

These images obviously show that DuBuffet is exploring his creative mind, letting go of all rules, and creating works which show how creativity really works.

BASQUIAT

Basquiat is obviously in the same boat as DuBuffet, and exploring his creativity. It is all about not being restricted, and trying everything, all mediums, and all applications. Using non dominant hands, and closing one's eyes whilst painting.

Elizabeth Gilbert and Sir Ken Robinson

Elizabeth Gilbert is an American writer, who has a very comedic, and somewhat lighthearted outlook on life. Her concepts on the creative mind are quite accurate, stating that the assumption that creativity and suffering are somehow inherently linked is a dangerous one. She promotes separating the creative genius from the human artist, as to remove the pressure and responsibility from their work. Which both prevents narcissism and failure. She has a view in which individuals are afraid to be wrong, afraid of failure.

While, Sir Ken Robinson, a British author, although similarly comedic, has a more humanistic approach stating that humans are not using their talents to the best of their ability, but are in fact, becoming educated out of being creative. Not separating creativity from the human, but trying to unite it in a more functional and beneficial way. He does not value what education does to one's creative nature, and calls for an education revolution, not evolution. He wants people to prepared to be wrong, not be afraid of being wrong, because mistakes is where true creativity comes from. He suggests several inhibitors of creativity:

-> Fear of making mistakes

-> Admiring logic too much

-> Avoiding ambiguity

-> Wanting to be practical

-> Thinking play is frivolous

-> Thinking thats not my area

-> Not wanting to be foolish

-> Deciding you are just not creative

How Art Made The World

MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN
This film explored how we as a human race have come to perceive the body the way we do. Through the analysis of the workings of the human mind, starting with the Venus of Willendorf, an ancient statuette, depicting the female form in a very exaggerated manner. Evidently due to the fact that fertility and reproduction was important at this time.

Then, moving onto Egyptian art forms, the two dimensional representations of the human forms. This was founded to be based on a grid, and strict measurements, as to where each part of the body would be. Also, all aspects of the human body were portrayed at their best angle, which resulted in non-realistic representations of the human form.

Continuing through time, we come to the Greeks, who somewhat lawfully distorted the human body to achieve an inhuman perfection. It was also mathematically based, dividing the body up into sections which were to be separately manipulated using mathematics. Greeks used this to the extreme to create sculptures which displayed impossibly athletic men.

THE DAY PICTURES WERE BORN

Cave paintings were the first ever form of pictures, but what possessed an ancient artist to paint these images on the walls of caves. We need to go way back in time to find out. Many ancient artists usually painted the same images, colours and patterns, why was this? At first it was believed it was due to the animals they hunted, that theory went down the drain, as the question was raised, if you cannot understand what a picture is, how do you come up with the idea of painting one?

It was thus proven that prolonged time in dark spaces, and trance like states induced the same effect on the human mind. It causes us to see colours and patterns, hich are hardwired into the human brain. This explains the similarities between paintings found on opposite sides of the world.

Milton Glaser, and Frank Gehry exercise

MILTON GLASER

Is an American designer, who was involved in the production of several iconic logos, and designs. His "I Love New York" design probably his most well known one. His style revolves around referencing movements from the past, and making them somewhat appealing within a modern context. He is also known as one of the artists who have renewed the 1964 manifesto which called for designers to be more than commercially driven. The "First Things First Manifesto 2000", was the reviewed version of this "pact" to make a difference in the world through design. He is helping to change the idea that the world has about graphic designers, and move away from being simply driven by monetary gain. He continues to work, promoting these ideals, staying true to himself and what he believes. He always thinks conceptually, and has a new take on each situation.

FRANK GEHRY EXERCISE

Gehry's Disney Hall (top), definitely has its similarities with the Sydney Opera House (bottom). For instance, the obvious pointed, curved structures jutting out from the core structure of the building, most likely for the acoustic purposes of the two buildings where performances occur. Also, the colour scheme of the materials is monotonic, and their structure as a whole building is quite abstract, and extravagant. While at the same time, there's a certain deliberateness about them. Gehry's building does differ slightly, with more geometric angular structures amongst the curves of the structure.

The Memphis Group, MORE Post Modernism

MEMPHIS GROUP

Mainly primary colours were used, yet they were used boldly, creating a great clash of colours. Some designs seemed very simple, but then they are contrasted to vastly different designs originating in this period. Simplified, irregular, organic shapes are used in almost all works from the Memphis Group. Something just doesn’t work within this particular style of design, it appears as if there is a great lack of unity. This is a given, as it was a reaction to the strict rules of modernism, form has nothing to do with the function of the object. However, some form of logic exist but confusion is created through the lack of unity.

THE CRISIS OF MODERNISM

This crisis was due to people taking advantage of the uniformity of post modern design. For instance, in regards to apartment buildings, architects became cheap when constructing the buildings to give them that post modern, simplistic, and repetitive feel. This crisis occurred in many aspects of design during the post modern era.

ALESSI

This is an Italian design company founded in 1921, which specialises in kitchen utensils and accessories. They are known for their post modern, and exclusive designs. They have revolutionised the way that people use and perceive kitchenware, and have made it an exclusive facet of people's everyday life.

PHILIPPE STARCK

Is a French product designer, and is very much a contemporary designer. He is k

nown for his stylish designs, and is very much an all round designer. Capable of designing interiors, and everyday products. He worked with Alessi to revolutionise the juicer into almost a post modern artwork.

Contemporary Designers

ODED EZER

BJORN JOHANSSON

DANIEL GORDON

These contemporary designers, all revolve around typographic based work, and use illustrative type as an image, and are all highly experimental in their work. They all reject the clear cut nature of modern typography, and embrace their own individual styles to deliver their message. Their post modern works are unique, but effective. Their work is emotional and powerful, using inventive lettering to create a fusion of science and design.

Post Modernism

Post modernism, obviously came after modernism, but what are the characteristics of design from this period? Considering that this movement arose out of a rebellion against the clean styles of swiss modernism, post modernism introduced a radically different perspective to society. Firstly, the objective of designs are constantly changing. This movement is a state under which everyone's individual expression is true. in an essence, anything goes. Truth is no longer universal, and there are no strict rules. There is a great sense of individual style within designer's works, and many doors within design as a whole have been opened due to post modernism. It is the contemporary style which we as designers now follow. Anything goes, there are no limits or restrictions to design today.

DAVID CARSON

STEFAN SAGMEISTER

Late Modern, and Swiss International

LATE MODERN

This period spanned from 1945 to 1970, and was dominated by American innovation, and inspired by the European avant guard movement. During this post-war period, German and Russian artists moved to America, which was at the time the cultural centre of the world. Early modern styles of design evolved into promoting the capitalist government of the USA, and the dogma of early modernism was discarded. Most designs followed the principle of function before form. function of the design was the main objective for designers of this period. For example, Frank Lloyd Wright constructed buildings which fir into the landscape, he was all for the merging of natural and man made styles. Wright said that designers can have their own style, instead of simply following the trends, but he still put function first.

Late modernism was a combination of function and simplicity, designs revolved around simple aesthetic elegance. In essence it was a merging of

organic shapes and simple geometry. However, the Italian designers of this era always took things two steps too far in regards to outrageous designs. This was due to their history in fine art.

Art and design cross-fertilise each other. As Paul Rand said, "To design is to add value and meaning...To design is to transform prose into poetry."

In terms of posters of this era, typography and illustrations were generally simple, there was a fusion of image and typography,overlapping shapes, and designers were developing their own styles, within the set norms of design at the time.

SWISS INTERNATIONAL

This design movement coincided with late modernism, starting in 1945, and ending in 1985. This was an international style, which was very austere and simple. The success of this movement was hinged on the adherence to the grid, the grid is god in the swiss international movement. The grid aligns the pieces of work, and everything must fit into the grid. All designs are extremely clean, uniform, scientific, and socially useful. It was extreme abstraction based on pure geometry. All of the typography was minimal, and unity was achieved in designs by repetition of shapes. Many pictograms e use today emerged out of this period of design.

“Don’t confuse legibility with communication”

The statement, “Don’t confuse legibility with communication”, reflects the attitude of post modern artists towards swiss modernism. Basically, the post modern movement brought about a revolution in terms of style and presentation. Artists like David Carson were catalysts for this change of attitude. They were simply fed up with seeing the same typeface and style in almost all swiss modernist works. This attitude brought about the post modernist movement, which introduced “different” and unique styles to society. Not only in regards to typography, but the style as a whole. Where the swiss modern camp would have clean, clear, and simple styles of typography, post modernism challenged this with grungy fonts, and indistinguishable and unique typefaces. This is where the above mentioned statement comes into play.

Through the eyes of a post modern artist, the message to be conveyed, through a piece of art, does not need to be stated in a clear visual manner. In fact, many post modern pieces, are grungy and practically illegible. However, these are still effective pieces of work, as the message does not need to be in the content of the text, but in the visual appeal of the typeface. This is what Carson meant when he made that comment. The revolution against Swiss modernism introduced a new style, and way of thought, through the post modern movement.

In the 50’s, the aesthetics of objects and designs was generally highly intricate, and constructed with purpose. The post modern mindset opted to move towards deconstructive aesthetics. Post modern artists were bored with the modernist ideals, clean designs, and wanted to experiment with many new forms and processes of design.
For instance, a post modern artist, Stefan Sagmeister, even experimented with cutting typography into his own body.

In comparison to the very strict, clear cut ideals of Swiss modernism, post modernism brought forth an extremely experimental mind state, wanting to move away from the so called norms of design at that time. The rational and organised nature of swiss modernism did not fit in with the irrational, and anarchical thoughts of the post modernist designer. The film Helvetica explores this concept, but not in great depth. However, it makes reference to both Carson and Sagmeister, and their revolt against Swiss modernism.

Helvetica as a typeface, represents the modernist movement quite well, with its clean lines and extreme legibility. It is, still used very widely across the world, some would say it is over-used. The precise reason for postmodernism, not the typeface, but the fact that everything starts to look the same, and there’s nothing truly different. This is why, Carson would state, “Don’t confuse legibility with communication”, as communication is the purpose of art and design, the transmission of a message. How we transmit the message does not have to be legible to be effective.

Helvetica

Helvetica is a rational typeface, it presents visual expressions of the modern world in a legible and intelligible way. Its creation involved doing away with the manual details, and creating a more neutral typeface. The typeface had no meaning, but the meaning would be contained within the content of the text itself. The design of the typeface is all about the interrelationship between the negative shape, the space between the characters hold the letters. Each letter lives in a powerful matrix of surrounding space. When corporations use helvetica, it makes them appear more accessible and comfortable.

There was somewhat of a revolution against the overused helvetica typeface, and types similar to it, through the emergence of a period of grunge typography. During this time, typefaces were hardly recognisable, and were messy. Eventually type reverted back to the old ways, but with new rules to govern it.

It is evident that it is almost impossible to improve helvetica, it has an inherent rightness in its form. It is UNFIXABLE.

Punch Magazine and Marshall McLuhan

PUNCH MAGAZINE

This example from Punch Magazine alludes to the Shakespearian text, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It makes a political statement through the use of the classic, cartoon, Uncle Sam.

MARSHALL MCLUHAN

Was a Canadian scholar, who specialised in media theory. He quoined the phrased "The medium is the message", which related to the relationship between medium and the message, and how the medium influences how a message is perceived. He proposed that the medium itself should be studied, not merely what the medium carried. The medium also effects society not only the content which the medium carries. He stated that the content on the medium had no effect on society, but the medium itself was the major influence. He stipulated that television would have the same effect on society no matter what types of programs were showing. He was highly controversial, and will always be remembered for his media theories.

American Kitsch

1945 marked the end of World War 2, which meant there was a general atmosphere of optimism about the future in the air. This was the zeitgeist of the time; looking to the future with bright-eyed optimism. There was mass excitement about the technological innovations and advancements which were occurring, and designs at that time were taking a futuristic turn. Aerodynamics, and space crafts heavily influenced the design of products in this era. Products had to look "modern", however much of the styling was superficial and had nothing to do with the function of the product itself.

The word kitsch literally means "in bad taste", and designs associated with this era are often pretentious and vulgar, but often have a sentimental theme behind them. It started as a radical movement, emerging from the emergence of sub-groups in American culture, but eventually became mainstream. The sub-group icon, James Dean, heavily influenced the beginning of the movement in America, as he promoted a rebellious image to society.

Aeroplanes were perhaps the greatest influence on 50's design, there were dynamic curves and lines, and themes of space travel. Aerodynamic styling found its way into automobiles and architecture, with many buildings having a "space age" feel to them.

In terms of type, casual scripts and italics ere typical of the design at that time. The text was generally loose, and crazy. While designs themselves were constructed using semi-geometrical curves and quasi-modern looks. The electric guitar and jukebox, created in this era, were manufactured with aeroplanes and aerodynamics in mind. Posters and packaging at this time usually depicted people with exaggerated expressions, cartoon looks and caricatures. Drama was usually emphasised, script was hand drawn, and the colour scheme was bright and loud. Another characteristic of design at this time was the used of disembodied heads, seemingly floating around the page.

In comparison to today's society, it seemed like a much more innocent time to live in. The atom bomb was used in a romantic way to sell many products and services.

Many modern designs reference this era of design, there has been a revival in kitsch-style appliances and car interiors.

John Heartfield

Was a German artist who pioneered the art of photomontage, which involved the combination of two or more images to create a whole new image, similar to collage. Heartfield's purpose was to make political statements through his works. He used his art to protest the Nazi rule of Germany, specifically Hitler's third reich. He achieved this by using political images, and satire to convey the message of protest against the greedy government of Germany.

The text on this poster

translates to:

THE REAL MEANING OF THE HITLER SALUTE

THE LITTLE MAN ASKS FOR BIG GIFTS

I'VE GOT MILLIONS STANDING BEHIND ME

This poster makes a statement about the nazi-fication of the church.

THIS IS THE "HAPPINESS" THEY'RE BRINGING

A good example of early photomontage by Heartfield.

As you can see, Heartfield effectively used photomontage to convey his message to the public.

Modernism

It all started before the industrial revolution, in a time where people were moving away from religion, and towards science. A time called the Scientific Revolution, which occurred in the 17th century. It revolved around the ideal of the search for enlightenment, and seeking answers. This period led to shifts in power, and changes in the class of individuals. Consequently, many revolutions occurred, around the world, due to this change in political and social philosophies.

An important word to use in relation to the whole modernist movement is zeitgeist. This means something that was prominent in the air of that era. Changes in society led to the Bauhaus movement, which contained many textile artists, painters, sculptors and designers. It established rules for design, and stated that "less is more" focusing on reductionism. Constructivism followed, which started in Russia, by using the ideas from the Bauhaus movement for political propaganda design. it involved reducing objects to their basic elements, and was highly idealogical. Descartes brought about a new stage of philosophical thought, a more complex idea of personhood. While Neo-Classicism revived an interest in antique art, and involved art educating the viewer.

Experimentation was a common ideal in the early modernist movement, as a result of dissatisfaction of the past, and artists looking for radical change in society. Cubism sums up this movement away from the norms of society, where artists introduced multiple shapes and viewpoints into their works, changing the way society viewed things. Futurism and Dada made statements about the nature of society at the time, rebelling against the strict norms established in the past. The Swiss modernist movement introduced much more freedom into art, and removed the rules, which led to surrealism.

Arts and Crafts and The Art Nouveau Movement

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

Came about after the industrial revolution, as a form of rebellion against overproduction, and over working labourers. It focused greatly on the creation and detail of a product, and the movement was a reaction against the poor aesthetic qualities of products manufactured during the industrial revolution. It could be considered a socialist reform which started in Great Britain, and embraced al types of artists in the production process. Artists care about the way things look, as opposed to the monetary benefits of production.

The Arts and Crafts movement acted as a bridge between traditional Victorian values, and the modernist movement. It was a case of complicating objects opposed to simplifying objects. It represented a balance of harmony with complexity within pieces of work.

An important figure, and seen as the founder of Arts and Crafts, was William Morris. He dedicated his life to re-establishing the values which were once in place before the industrial revolution. He was all about making things "less ugly", through the use of organic shapes and natural materials within the deigns. In an essence it was about establishing the unity of the pieces of art as a whole. Morris emphasised craftsmanship, and the truth to materials to ensure the most aesthetically pleasing outputs of work were created.

In summary, the Arts and Crafts movement involved returning to the creation of work which was pleasing to look at, and rebelling against the mass production of the industrial revolution. Craftsmanship was an important concept, which was an essential part of this movement as a whole.

Here is an example of work from the Arts and Crafts period:

Notice the intricate carving on this piece of work, great attention has been paid to detail, and craftsmanship. The organic shapes carved, are typical of the Arts and Crafts era.

ART NOUVEAU

Literally meaning "New Art" in French, this movement was a direct descendant from the arts and crafts period, and was the first style that spread internationally. This style was used commercially to enhance the beauty of industrial products. Sinuous organic curves were used in the works, which were more free in comparison to those used in the arts and crafts movement. Many of the lines used were plant-like and energetic. It was also essential to ensure that form and function were working together. This movement was also, similar to Arts and Crafts, honest to the materials that were used. Aiming to enhance the function of the materials.

This movement drew heavily on inspiration from Asia, due to increased trade. A large influence from Asia, was woodblock printing from Japan. This had a large impact on posters created at the time, as the shapes used were highly abstracted, and usually had black outlines around objects on the poster. The posters of this era, also usually contained cut-off people in the foreground, bright lights, and often a focus on a subject in the distance. The type had highly organic shapes, only some graduated colour, and little modelling was used. Many of the posters were life-sized, and this could be seen as the beginning of the billboard.

Many of the designers at this time used idealised beauty in their works, depicting women with a "perfect" and elegant shape. Many of the women painted looked self-assured, and quite beautiful.

In terms of composition, there were dynamic spacial relationships, which gave the picture energy, and often destabilised things. The works of this time, were often asymmetrical, where colour created unity and guidance within the images. An example of a designer who summed up all elements of this design movement, was Toulouse Lautrec.

Lautrec used very simplistic shapes, inspired by Japanese printing, also he repeated these shapes and included organic curves. He often abstracted these shapes, simplifying them further. Here is an example of his work:

Look at the simply shaped blocks of solid colour, and organic curves of the feminine body. The style is simple, yet sophisticated, summing up this whole era of design.

The Art Nouveau style made a resurgence in the 60's, where it re-emerged through some of the psychedelic works.

Printing, Victorian Design,and The Industrial Revolution

THE PRINTING PROCESS

Printing is an essential part of graphic design, and art in general, but in order to understand where modern printing processes and terms came from, it is important to look into the past. The first form of printing was cave paintings; rocks were used to leave marks on the walls of caves. These paintings are said to tell mythological stories, or perhaps even contained references to the social structure of the tribe to which the artist belonged. Petraglyphs followed the cave paintings. These were simple characters carved into stone and led to the use of hieroglyphs by the Egyptians. The Egyptians were the first civilisation to combine pictures using rebuses to make words.

The Greeks eventually created an alphabet, based on the basic shapes of the Phonecian alphabet, in which they used characters to represent portions of words. The Greek civilisation were famous for being great stone masons, and thus had the tools to carve these letters they had created into stone. Using a chisel and stone, the letter carving resulted in the creation of serifs, due to the manner in which they were carved. The Greeks also revolutionised handwriting, introducing ascenders and descenders into their writing, while the Roman civilisation altered the alphabet, introducing number systems and punctuation.

We now come to the Chinese civilisation, who revolutionised the way that letters and words were written and displayed. The Chinese developed an alphabet in which one symbol represented one whole word. This is known as a logogram. They also then invented a superior form of paper, and woodblock printing, which acted as a basis for all developments in printing methods which followed. This form of printing used simple principles of carving individual characters into small blocks of wood, removing the areas of the small blocks which were intended to be 'white'. Using this concept, a German man named Johannes Gutenberg, used moveable letter blocks to print a whole book, The Gutenberg Bible. This was a great improvement on the original method of hand writing the whole book.

The letter blocks were cast in metal, specifically lead. This is an explanation for the modern term leading in references to typefaces, it relates to the vertical space between lines of type. Also, at this time, other terms were introduced, kerning refers to the space between individual letters, whilst tracking is the overall and uniform spacing of a whole word or block of words.

With advancement in the printing process, came advancement in the materials on which to print. It went from sheepskin parchment, to the modern day wood pulp based paper, which is more environmentally friendly, cheaper, and generally more environmentally responsible, as it can be recycled.

Different methods of printing where also experimented with and developed; these include intaglio printing and lithography. Intaglio printing was a process of printing which involved etching or engraving into a metal plate, filling the grooves with ink, and pressing paper over the top to transfer the image. This method allowed for more detail to be included, such as crosshatching in images, and more tonal effects. While lithography used the physical properties of oil and ink, relying on the fact that the oil will repel the ink, marking all other places except those which contain oil or animal fat. A stone was generally used to create the lithographic prints, and many stones were needed to include colour in the prints created.

The development of all of these methods of printing, plus experimentation with other processes lead to the invention of the rotary press in 1843, which in turn lead to the development of the typewriter 30 years later in 1873. The typewriter revolutionised the whole process of printing and composing documents to be printed. The typewriter printed using the principles of linotype, with individual letter plates that transfer the ink onto paper, when the corresponding keys are typed.

The computer was introduced quite a while after the typewriter, modern ink or laser printers were then attached, and the rest is history!

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution was a period of time from the 18th to 19th centuries, which marked a rapid and widespread introduction of new processes and machines in the labour, transport, and agriculture process. Since more and more products were being manufactured during this period, the demand for promotion of these products also rose at the same rapid rate. This need for promotion led to the introduction of advertising as a whole, and thus lead to the widespread use of posters for promotion in that era. This means, that without the occurrence of the industrial revolution, the concept of graphic design would not have been developed. in fact, many of the mechanical and design concepts which we all use today, came about as a result of the industrial revolution.

VICTORIAN DESIGN

The beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, marked the beginning of the Victorian era of design. This period of design, can be summed up using three words: sentimental, nostalgic, and romantic. These themes were prevalent in the designs produced in this era, along with certain elements which could be seen as the basics required to create a design in this period. These were: elements of symmetry, architectural framing, curved typography, borders, and banners. The designs from this time were generally very intricate and ornate, cluttered, and busy.

Below is an example of Victorian design, a Coca-Cola advertisement. Notice the ornate borders, and curved typeface used in the advertisement. This advert is quite visually appealing, and in my personal opinion, a fine example of design from the Victorian era.

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