Summations for Period 3

This period was the most informative out of the three, as it the period that I live in, which means that I understand and relate with this period more than others. I did a number of groups and people, and also talked about the main changes and revolutions in the last 50 years. I researched things like post-modernism, the Digital Revolution, many famous artists and designers and a type foundry.

Post Modernism was the hardest of all, as I was not able to find a solid definition of what it actually meant, and was not clear in every example. After a while of researching I found a few examples that were the same theme and eventually understood what it was. I finished this part of the period knowing a lot more than when I began.

I didn’t even need a lot of research to explain what exactly the Digital Revolution was, as I knew a lot of it from memory. I found that the things I did need to research quite easily and without a lot of hassle. I also realized that the digital revolution had quite an impact on normal day-to-day life, as something as simple as reading a newspaper was drastically changed. From what used to be a piece of paper turning into looking at a screen was an amazing transition and was revolutionary.

I researched a number of people, such as Paula Scher, Chip Kidd, Neville Brody, David Carson and Ian Swifty. As I had done for the rest of the periods, I researched their early life and examples of their work. I also researched a type foundry, Designers Republic, and talked about what work they had done and what messages it had.

I enjoyed the last period more than the rest, as it was much more recent and in a time where everything was documented, which meant there was no lack of information or examples of work. I learnt a lot about the different types of work that each artist had done and also discovered artists I had never heard about. Overall, this was the most enjoyable time period I looked at.

Summation for Period 2

This group of research was much more centered on specific art movements and was around a period of 100 years. I researched things like Bauhaus, Constructivism, Dadaism, and Swiss Graphic design. Within these I learnt and talked about certain leading figures in a movement. This led me to understand what these movements were about and where and how they originated.

I first began research into art movements with Swiss graphic design, and looked at the work of Josef Muller Brockman, Herbert Matter and Jan Tschichold. Their work was based more around simplicity and readability, and added shapes as elements in their work. I think their use of colour as quite influential too; they often used contrasting colours which were very effective and made their work much easier to read, which led to a rise in popularity of Swiss graphic design. They used bright and vivid colours to catch your eye and would stand out anywhere, which also gave them more popularity. It was certainly very interesting to learn about who they were and what they did.

I also looked a bit into Constructivism and researched El Lissitzky. I liked his work and how he used many random shapes in his designs to create great pieces of work. His work was quite complex and I liked how the 3D work of his inspired many designers in the 20^th century. The work he did was not seen by many people at that time, and was seen as very innovative and new. His work was very eye-catching and stood out from the crowd.

The Bauhaus movement was a very interesting movement and was one of the 20^th centuries shaping movements. There were many different designs of the Bauhaus movement, and each of them was as inspiring as the next.

                                                                                                                  

Dadaism was the easiest I found to research, as it was much more my style of work. Even though there were paintings in my research, I really liked the shapes they created and is a very early example of low poly style. I researched artists named Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia. This was my favourite movement from all the groups of Period 2 as most of the creations were shapes incorporated into designs and painting that looked very modern, yet they were created ages ago.

I found this period easier than the last, mainly because it was more recent and was only in the past 100 years, rather than Period 1, which was hundreds of years ago and did not relate well with me.

Summation for Period 1

My research began in the first period, when I researched hieroglyphics and cuneiform. This form of type was still very early and was a very long time ago, so to see the human race still wanting to communicate through visuals was interesting to read about. There were no letters, and a script was formed through a various mix of different complex symbols. I found it interesting that there was so much written in hieroglyphics and cuneiform and still died as a type of visual communication, and this makes me wonder if it will ever happen to the English language way into the future.  

I also talked about the Industrial Revolution and how it was a time of innovation among machinery and the economy as a whole. I found this extremely fascinating, as I was able to see the link between the tools and type we have today and the things they had back then. It was interesting to see how much has changed since then, and I also understood how type was made. I like to think that the Industrial Revolution played a part in how the world is today, as creating text and books easier meant making them faster, which meant getting books created and available for everyone meant people being educated. Technology was changing, and this didn't just mean type, but all sorts of new inventions, such as the steam engine created by Thomas Newcomen. When this was made use of, great things were accomplished.

The printing press and movable type was a big part of the history of type, and sped up the process of individually writing out an entire book a lot. However, in Gutenberg’s time, he created a much more efficient and mechanical printing press, which was able to print 42 entire lines of text simultaneously, which drastically reduced the amount of labour needed to work and function of these machines, which ultimately led to faster creation of type and books. When the Gutenberg Bible had been created it was available for everyone, and not just the churches or the rich people. I was now learning and was seeing the development of type in history and how it changed as the course of time went on.

When the Linotype was created in 1884, it completely changed the world and how type and text is created. It has been said that it is one of the most notable inventions in US printing history. It was created by a man named Ottmar Mergenthaler and was something the world had never seen before. The name ‘Linotype’ is derived from the words ‘line of type’. The keyboard bears a great resemblance of a typewriter, a later invention, and sticks out of the machine. Mergenthaler was not the only one who created a mechanical printing press, and there were many competitors. One other rival that was more well-known than some of the others was called the Compositor, which promised a faster and a more practical machine. In the end the Linotype was the one that succeeded, mostly because of its simplicity and was easy to use and understand.

This is a brief summary of what I researched and learnt over Period 1. There was a huge jump of time, from hieroglyphics to Gutenberg, and was varied in terms of what I was seeing when I researched elements of old type. This was mostly the hardest and most time-consuming period to complete, mainly because of what eras I was researching and was not familiar with a lot of these particular time periods. 

Ian Swifty

Ian (Swifty) Swift is a lone wolf graphic designer and is very focused on urban art. He was very interest in art in school at an early age, but had always planned on going to work to fight for the country and work in the army. He had never planned on doing anything in the art sector, as his father had always wanted for him to be an officer in the RAF, as he was from the army himself. When he was 15, his father died, meaning he did not have any pressure to join the RAF anymore.  He went for a foundation course in a college in Warrington for two years. By the end of the first year, Martin Dutton, his graphics tutor, gave him a copy of The Face and told him this was the future. He also met Neville Brody later in life and was offered a job by him. By 1995, he had done everything on his list, and had acquired his own studio and employed a few people. He left the studio in the late 90’s and lost a big client, and realised the dynamics of graphic design was changing. Since then he has been working freelance, and has been creating his own style of work for clients. 

"Talkin' Loud" Album Cover

This is an album cover for Talkin’ Loud, and is in the style of urban street art. I like the use of the paper background and the colour scheme works well. The colours used are green, purple and an off-white colour. The purple works well with the dark green and stands out against it. The first letters of the words, such as the T and the L, are outlined and filled with purple, and are a bigger size than the rest of the letters. It is inside a circle, and outside of the circle is a square filled with the same shade of purple, which is crammed full of text in white. As it goes behind the circle you can only see it from the edges. This is a simple yet effective album cover and catches attention because of the white on green. 

Soul Tree Logo

This logo is called the Soul Tree Logo design, and is a much more modern approach to logo design. Swifty usually experiments his logos with an urban style to his work, so this is quite different to his work. It is a good combination of text and image and the style and choice of font has been picked very well. What I noticed about this image was that what I originally thought was a tree is actually a male with an afro hairstyle, and is made to look like a tree, as there are roots coming out of the bottom. The font is a modern stencil-style font and goes well with the overall image. I think if you invert the colours the image still works well. 

David Carson

David Carson is an American graphic designer and art director. He is mostly known for his innovative magazine design and his unique take on typography. He was also the art director of Ray Gun, in which he used his typographic knowledge and exceptional layout style. He was born in 1954 in Texas, and attended San Diego State University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. He got his first taste of graphic design in 1980 at the University of Arizona during a two week graphics course. In 1982 he became a teacher and taught at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, and at the same time was a professional surfer.  He left his teaching post in 1987 and in 1989 he was ranked the 9^th best surfer in the world. He began to experiment with graphic design in 1983 and found himself heavily interested in the bohemian culture of Southern California. He attended the Oregon College of Commercial Art. The same year he went to Switzerland to attend a three week workshop in graphic design as part of his degree. His first great influence was Hans-Rudolf Lutz. In 1995 Carson was hired by Marvin Scott Jarrett, a publisher, to design Ray Gun, an alternative music and lifestyle magazine that debuted in 1992. Ray Gun is where he became well known. He used Dingbat, a font that only uses symbols, as the font for what he thought was a rather dull interview with Bryan Ferry. The interview was published in a legible font in the back of the magazine, but it was about the act that mattered so much. He left Ray Gun to create his own studio in 1995, and named it David Carson Design in New York City. He began to attract many famous worldwide companies and clients, and for the next three years he worked for Pepsi Cola, Ray Ban, Nike, Microsoft, Budweiser, Georgio Armani, American Airlines and a few more. He later worked for a range of clients, such as AT&T, British Airways, Kodak, Sony, Mercedes-Benz and many more. He is seen as one of the world’s leading graphic designers of the 20^th and 21^st century. 

Pepsi Cola advert

This is a design created for Pepsi Cola by David Carson. I think this is a very eye catching design and looks very effective as an advertisement even though the text is hard to read. The text is hard to read because this is David Carson’s style. The way he has written his name on top of the Pepsi bottle is very interesting, and is made up of thin and thick chunks of text, and is made up of different weights. This stands out very well against the white background, apart from the “o” on the bottle. It has a collage feel to it, as if he cut out and stuck the letters on. The only colour on the poster is on the Pepsi bottle and can, which draws attention. He also out his clients in the top left corner, but put all of them overlapping each other, which demonstrates his style of work. 

"Don't Mistake Legibility for Communication"

This is also a piece created by Carson and he used it as an example during a talk in 2003. He used this to explain that communication and legibility were separate elements of type. This is a very interesting and confusing piece of art, as the words are split in half and jumbled around so you cannot read it in normal order. It allows the viewer to interact with the design, as they actually have to use their brain to understand the message rather than have it easy to read. The words say, when in order, “Don’t Mistake Legibility for Communication.” This was to prove his message that “Just because something is legible doesn’t mean it communicates.” I really like the way Carson creates art and how he tries to interact with the viewer, creating a link between himself and the viewer. 

Neville Brody

Neville Brody is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director. He was born in April of 1957 in London, and was also brought up in London. He attended the London College of Printing and the Hornsey College of Art. He is one of the most influential figures in graphic design of the era end and is most known for his work in The Face magazine and Arena magazine. He is the head of the Communication Art and Design department at the Royal College of Art. In addition to this he has worked and designed record covers for independent record companies such as Fetish, Hannibal, and Phonogram Records in the 1980’s. He created the company Research Studios in 1994. He has also created many fonts in his lifetime, such as Arcadia, Insignia and Industrial. He was one of the founding members of Fontshop in London and designed many typefaces for them.

Typography created by Neville Brody

This is a design that Neville Brody created and is one of his most famous works. This is a great example of typography and I really like the use of colour on this piece. Brody is an innovative thinker and expressed this using both design and type. The image is basically a man’s face that has been created with only text. The details of the face have been recreated using type. The type is made up of multiple fonts and is mostly serif typefaces and traditional typefaces. The separate fonts and typefaces are all made up of different sizes and weights, which I think is good considering the image would not look as good if it was the same size.  The image also ranges from colour from dark blue at the bottom to light blue to red on the right to orange on the left. I also like the light shining at the top left of the image and I think this a good addition to the image, so it wouldn’t simply be just type. There are also words like “Unravel”, or “Tumbling Dice”, or “Ashes to Ashes”.

Brody's Nike advert

This is a poster advertisement for Nike that was created by Brody and is a perfect example of how talented he was at grabbing attention from a viewer. The first element that I notice is the two separate halves of the page. The half on the left is of a man’s face with a neutral expression, and the other half is just plain white. The reason this image is so well-known is because the typography on the image looks very disorganised, yet is very organised and was made to look like that. Brody intentionally made the text look like this and made it all over the place to attract attention. There are words in this that are very commanding yet inspiring, such as “bounce”, or “slam”. Words like this are used because Nike’s tagline is “Just do it.” I also like the fact that the word “just” is inside the letter “b” of “bounce”, and the way the word “it” is inside the letter “m”, and that the colours differentiate between the two halves of the image and also when some words are in letters. Another thing I find fascinating is the way each word and even some letters are in a different angle and location than the word before it, which creates a link between Brody and the viewer. There are also three Nike trainers placed to look like they are sitting on the word underneath, which is very effective.