The Final Essay.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO DESCRIBE ANY ASPECT OF GRAPHIC DESIGN TODAY AS POSTMODERNIST?

To obtain a greater understanding of what defines post modernist graphic design you must begin by looking at the aspects that define modernist design, and where modernist designers acquire their inspiration.

            Modernist design as a generalization is born from a Europe that is in a transitional period of social and cultural change. Largely the vehicle for this social and cultural change was that of revolution and industrialization with in Europe.

            Around the turn of the 19^th century the French were the first to embrace the ideal of modernist design, and everything that came with it. It was the optimistic, fresh approach of this period that inspired work such as this shown below.  

This a poster by Toulouse-Lautrec made in the 1890’s. It shows the first movement away from fine art, with use of typography and simple design layout. The typography suggests early modernism, with its san serif typeface and text manipulation. The colors used also suggest early modernism, with synthetic colours, suggesting an early movement away from painting. These aspects are typical throughout the modernist age of design. This poster is typical of early French modernism, advertising a cabaret show, an aspect of life that came about due to the social changes of modernism.

            Perhaps the first movement with in modernism that rejected all old ideologies and marked progression through out Europe was Futurism.  This quote from Futurism’s founder backs this up.

“There can be no nostalgia, no pessimism, there is no turning back”

This quote really shows a turning point in the mind set of the design community of the time, it was the aim of Marinetti and the futurists to renew and revitalize all aspects of human life, through design. An example of Marinetti’s work is shown below. 

This is a perfect but simple example of Marinetti’s work that demonstrates his futurist styles. Innovative text manipulation, and layout amplify this works futurist definition.

            The next big movement within modernism came in the 1920’s in Russia, with constructivism. Like the futurist movement the constructivists were focused on changing the lifestyles of the average person.  The constructivist movement developed from the Russian revolution.  Specifically this movement was based hugely around propaganda, enforcing change on the Russian people. Perhaps the most obvious aspects of the work from this period was its simplicity in layout and that it was largely image based. This was due to the low literacy rates of the time.  The colours used were also eye catching and bold. A prime example of this period is shown below. 

Photomontage was a new technique that was typical of modernity. The san serif type also highlights this. Perhaps the main theory/belief that came from the constructivists was that all design should be free from ornament; a series of coded signs. This is a huge aspect in determining the difference between Modernist and Postmodernist design.

            Perhaps the most influential group of designers throughout Modernism were designers that attended the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus enabled students to be multi disciplinary, and aimed at producing design for mass production with functionality. It is this functionality that set the strap line for the entirety of modernism ‘form follows function’.  The Bauhaus also had a philosophy of universality, another important aspect in defining modernism.

One of the most notable names to take the principles of Bauhausian design was Paul Rand, who from 1930 took the principles to the mass markets, in advertising and corporate design. His work is shown below.

This a prime example of modernist beliefs in the mass market, with the typeface used and the simplicity in design. The quote below shows Rand’s belief in simplicity.

“Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated”

Another group of hugely influential modernist designers hailed from Switzerland in the 1950’s, by the 70’s they had created the most prominent graphic style in the world. It was known as the international typographic style. And took modernist ideologies of clear and objective design to its limits. With gridded designs, unified structure and sans serif typefaces. A prime example of this is shown below.

  

This is a prime example of simplicity, advertising an event by using simple imagery and only the information required, a great example of the form following the function.

To develop this essay we now have to look what really defines post modernism, and compare graphic work produced today to both theories. It’s important to remember the true aspects of Modernist design. Specifically remembering the quote. “Form follows function”

As this quote really embodies everything that is modernist. From the social change in the early 19^th century that was the birth of Modernism, to the structure and functionality of late Swiss modernism.

            The Postmodern era is said to have began in the 80’s, closely linked with the digital age of design. On a broad scale Postmodernism is the rejection of orthodox modernist simplicity and purity. It rejects the modernist ideals of form following function, and has greater emphasis on what the piece of design physically looks like.

            Wolfgang Weingart was a seminal figure in the development of the “new wave” that in time came to be called postmodernist. Weingart was a Swiss designer highly trained in international typographic style. Weingart began to reject the regulations and objectives of modernist design. Saying it suppressed his creative urges. The quote below proves this.

“It seemed that everything that made me curious, was forbidden”

Weingart was determined not to be constrained by the Swiss typographic styles, and began to experiment by manipulating the type and using alternative layouts.

Here you can see the embryonic stages of Postmodernism; weingart was beginning to push the boundaries of legibility, through text manipulation and rejection of Swiss modernist layouts. The manipulation gives a sense of spontaneity, something that Postmodernist designers aim for.

Postmodernist designers believed that there should be no boundaries between high-end culture and popular culture, abolishing boundaries between socio economic groups. By exploring many different styles and movements in one piece of work, designers could try to abolish this boundary. Giving the piece diversity from the old to the new.  The quote below proves this.

“Generally post modern artists like to mix the highbrow and the populist, the alienating and accessible, and the ‘sample’ elements different styles and eras…

Now you can reinvent yourself endlessly, gaily pick ‘n’ mixing your way through the gaudy fragments of a shattered culture”

An Example of the “pick n mix styles” and the breaking down of the set modernist grids and styles is shown below.

The designer Reid, used a variety of different materials on this cd cover. Again putting across his idea’s and his spontaneity, its almost a crude piece of design, that gave inspiration in the 80’s to thousands of amateur designers, making design possible for the masses, destroying a social boundary, typical of this period of postmodernism, and postmodernism as a whole.

            Another way to distinguish postmodernist design would be to look at design composition as a whole. Modernist design believed in the simplicity and effectiveness of structured layout. Postmodernism often has a full composition, and is very ornamental in its portrayal. Its expectable in postmodernism to almost confuse onlookers. A great movement within postmodernism that proves this, is that of deconstruction. Cranbrook Academy was perhaps the epicenter for the deconstructionist movement; this movement was designed to question legibility, and is without a direct attack on modernist theories. There is no set layout, or set spacing within typography and image. The onlooker has to work to discover the meaning of piece, if there is one at all. This is the direct opposite to modernism. A great example of this is shown below.

You can see the difficulty in legibility and the confusion created in the composition, typical of postmodernist works.

                 It’s not time to begin analysing the recently created Graphic Design, create a conclusion to the question “is any aspect of graphic design post modern?” When analyzing the question, its important to take in the use of the word “any” suggesting we only need to find a few definite examples of modern graphics to confirm that there is indeed postmodernism with in Graphic Design today.

“Postmodernism was a passing fad, the best thing about it, is that it is dead.”

This is a quote from Massimo Vignelli, he believes strongly that postmodernism was never a period at all, and just a fad or false idea. To me this shows the upmost naivety, as there has been such a distinctive shift in graphic design, from the 60’s onwards, especially if you refer to typographic pieces. The 60’s Swiss designers focused entirely on what was clear and legible, with set structures and layouts. If you compare to the digital age we are in today you will see the use of type as image and ornament. This Virgin mobile advertising campaign demonstrates this well. I believe the digital age, has given designers ability to be more creative. Thus postmodernism and its ideologies were simply a natural progression in the history of design due to age of technology. 

One of the main features of postmodernism as explained earlier, is that postmodernism takes aspects from other eras and periods of design, and combines them together. It is this combination of styles that could lead to conclusion that indeed postmodernism is dead. Jonathan Barnbrook, rejects the idea that his work is post modern. Saying,

“Belief in the socialist construct of modernism is housed perfectly in the contemporary language of postmodernist forms”

However there is no doubt that Barnbrook’s work includes some influences of postmodernism and modernism alike. With compositions not of simplicity, but of complexity and typefaces that would never have been used in a modernist age out of principle. Not to mention his projects are largely for the mass market, specifically for clients in advertising and art who would seem to represent the kind of values he rejects.  The image below is a prime example of Work that gives suggestion of postmodernism, with little typographic structure, and a incoherent layout. 

This leads me to conclude that perhaps it is impossible for modern designers to escape the ideologies of postmodernism, and that indeed postmodernism is apparent within graphic design today. 

original essay

 IS IT POSSIBLE TO DESCRIBE ANY ASPECT OF GRAPHIC DESIGN TODAY AS POSTMODERNIST?

To obtain a greater understanding of what defines post modernist graphic design you must begin by looking at the aspects that define modernist design, and where modernist designers acquire their inspiration.

            Modernist design as a generalization is born from a Europe that is in a transitional period of social and cultural change. Largely the vehicle for this social and cultural change was that of revolution and industrialization with in Europe.  

            It wasn’t until the later 19^th century that modernist design started to appear, on European streets.  It was the French who were the first to embraced, what was then, the evil of industrialization, beginning to take an optimistic outlook for the future.  The first pieces design in the public eye would have been posters promoting cabaret shows and such like, a major part of the new modern ideology.

This a poster by Toulouse-Lautrec made in the 1890’s. It shows the first kind of movement away from fine art, with use of typography and simple design layout.  It wasn’t until about ten years later that the rest of the industrialized nations with in Europe  begin to embraces these French ideologies of optimism and change. It wasn’t until 1903 that functional design came to fruition with in Europe, which caused a major shift in the way design was viewed, bridging a gap between art and industry.  

An example of early advertising design, for cocoa cola.

            Futurism was really the first movement within modernism that completely rejected all old ideologies, and this quote by Marinetti the founder of futurism backs that up.

“There can be no nostalgia, no pessimism, there’s no turning back!”

(Marrinetti,1909,Graphic Style,page 90)

it is this gusto that can be seen in his early futurist work, with new way of manipulating text. With almost entirely text based works. What futurism was really trying to achieve was to renew and revitalize all aspects of human life. Like the change that futurist tried to apply to everyday life of the average person, 1920/30’s Russian constructivist also had the same theme. The Russian revolution was in full swing and graphic design was constantly in the public eye in the form of propaganda. Due to low literacy rates in the country among other reasons, designers such as Rodchenko believed that graphic design should coded signs, free from ornament. It is this idea that graphic design should be free from ornamentation that is a major difference between modernist and post modernist design, and will be crucial in assessing weather any aspects of graphic design made today is indeed, post modernist.

This is an example of Russian constructivist propaganda, with simple colorful style and layout, typical of this period.

            Perhaps the most influential group of designers throughout modernism were designers that attended the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus enabled students to be multi disciplinary, and were aimed at producing design for mass production with functionality. It is this functionality that set the strap line for the entirety of modernism ‘form follows function’.  The Bauhaus also had a philosophy of universality, another important aspect in defining modernism. This is demonstrated perfectly in Bayer’s typeface.

San serif typefaces are typical with modernism. This universality is embodied in the typeface Helvetica, created in Zurich, Switzerland by max Miedinger.

            In summarizing what really defines modernism in a piece of design,  you must look for its universality, functionality and real lack of ornamentation. Modernist designers favored the clean and simple.

            To further develop this essay, it is now important for me to define Post Modernist design, looking at the influences that caused the movement and the characteristics it posses.

            The postmodern environment within design, is said to of began in the 80’s,  in collaboration  with the age of electrical design. On a broad scale post modernism is the rejection of orthodox modernist simplicity and purity, and reverts back to portraying something in a more ornamental manner.  It could be said that it is less precise, more about form that the piece of design takes.  Post modernism is a mixture of theories and practices. A true post modernist would need to embrace such eighties styles as neo-dada, neo-expressionism, punk and pacific modern.  Post modernism takes inspiration from the exuberance of historical art, and the raw technology, to produce a commercially expectable look.  Below is a quote from Simon Reynolds from the guardian newspaper in 1990, it demonstrates how diverse post modernism is in terms of it inspiration for the movement itself.

“Generally post modern artists like to mix the highbrow and the populist, the alienating and accessible, and the ‘sample’ elements different t styles and eras…

now you can reinvent yourself endlessly, gaily pick ‘n’ mixing your way through the gaudy fragments of a shattered culture”

(Simon Reynolds,The Guardian,1990)

This quote describes perfectly the style and inspiration of postmodernism.

            Postmodernism can be seen not only in graphic design, but through out any form of design, and is especially prevalent in architecture and textiles.

            Text based graphic design in its modernist form, would follow rules and order,  however in postmodernist graphic design there is a sense of spontaneity and inclusion for the viewer. 

The image above shows a book cover created by Wolfgang Weingart. Here you can see the way in which the text has been manipulated to include an almost interactive sense to the on looker, defiantly showing a sense of spontaneity which is common in post modernism.  You can say that post modernism really pushes the boundaries of legibility. 

            During the early 80’s punk was in full swing, and this gave way for post modernist designers to explore exciting and chaotic ways of demonstrating the style, collaging was very popular at this time, and was considered a mainstream technique.  As I explained earlier post modernist graphic designers had a huge effect on the architecture of the time, gone of the days of housing estates, built for purpose, hello to the stylized buildings of postmodernism.

            Postmodernism is really a responses, or attack of modernism. Where the strap line for modernism was “form follows function’ perhaps postmodernisms would be ‘everything has already been done’. Its looking at technology and the advances that have been created from it, and rejecting them. Has technology driven our lives to exhaustion?

            Now knowing the diffences in modernist and postmodernist graphic design, its time to look at graphic design today, and asses the criteria of postmodernism and compare to what is being created  now.

“postmodernism was a passing fad, the best thing about it, is that it is dead.”

(bigthink.com/ideas/19593)

Massimo Vignelli, believes strongly that post modernism was never really a period at all, merely a fad, a false idea in its entirety. This approach is to one sided, there are aspects of graphic design today that demonstrate higher levels of ornamentation as apparent in the large majority of typography with in advertisements. The typography below shows an example of type as image, surely this by definition cannot be modernist graphic design, as it is not the legibility that is paramount but the form that it takes.

(par of virgin mobile advertising campaign)

Modernist design incorporated ideologies of simplicity and symbolism, with in post modernism, there is a much more expressionate, literal way of working and this is demonstrated primly in the advertisement for ‘ink this 2’

Its obvious that some of the inspiration for the piece of work will have come from the romantic painters, and combined with the technology used to create it, it proves that post modernism exists, and exists today.  

David Carson is a famous American designer, who holds a lot of postmodernist ideologies. Not only does he design work today but it’s constantly in the public eye suggesting not that postmodernism is coming to a limping end, but in fact still influencing the decisions of the people. Like in the punk stages of postmodernism.

            In conclusion, to me it is very apparent that postmodernist theory and practice is still occurring, throughout graphic design,  to say that postmodernism is at an end is foolish. The thing I would say however is that modernism as whole was given around 70 years to flourish and develop. The ideologies of postmodernism have still only been given 25 years. Postmodernism, if following trend, should continue to develop for a lot longer into the future. 

Postmodernist Task

Post modernism, a is the rejection of modernist ideologies, focusing more greatly on the appearances of a piece of design, rather than staying structure to functionality, layout and clarity in message. Postmodernism is also a about experimentation with a variety of medias and style with in one piece, as well as destroying boundaries between high culture and everyday life.  Its this this that I will be analyzing in these 5 images.

(Wolfgang Weingart, Grotesk, 1981) 

http://www.coroflot.com/laurenpeters/graphic-design/2

This is an early piece of postmodernist design, the designer is starting to question legibility and the previously, set in stone layout of modernist design.

 (J.Reid, God Save The Queen, 1977)

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Documents/Images/About%20Design/Types%20of%20design/Graphic%20design/GodSaveQueen_275.jpg

For this CD cover, the designer used a combination of materials, and combined styles, something that is typical of postmodernism. The text is not set out in a structured manner, which suggest postmodernism. 

(Dan Friedman. (1971) 'Typografische Monatsblatter')

http://www.uartsgd.com/GD40/Friedman/DanFriedman.html

This piece to me suggests postmodernism, for the ornamentation of the piece, it also a show erratic seemingly spontaneous typographic layout. 

(Rice, J (1979) Black Flag Gig Poster)

http://www.crispinsartwell.com/hc.htm

the reason for me choosing this piece is due to its m=punk like qualities, use of different serif and san serif fonts, suggesting a piece from modernist ideologies. It shows a coming together of different styles, typical of postmodernism. 

(Katherine McCoy, the graduate program in design,1989)
http://www.webdesignstuff.co.uk/hp005/files/2011/01/essay5.jpg

This a piece of deconstructive design, however this is all part of the postmodern era, with unstructured layouts for the text. Questioning legibility. typical of postmodernism. 

Deconstructive Task

Typography, especially in the digital age has allowed readers to stop reading, with the introduction of things such as hyperlinks. This is also aspirant for physical books as well with contents pages, and page numbers etc. As well as this punctuation can be used to highlight specific areas of text, allowing a reader to jump around a page.

Punctuation and spacing is vital for the legibility of a piece of writing to be read as speech, the alphabet denotes the sounds made but the way in which its said is completely defined by the punctuation. The spacing of a text also allows the reader to flow through the text, so a classic deconstructionist trait is to alter spacing to confuse the reader and change meanings.

            Before the introduction of print and digital text, books and texts were handwritten, as a result, due to human error, there were mistakes made in the reproduction of texts, taking into account, translations and the tone of voice used by the copiers, which in turn affect the way it is read by the reader. However with the induction of print into, mass production, all copiers would become the same, even if mistakes were made in them. As a result people would read the same tones, and conversation.

However with the introduction of the Internet, web texts have seen huge popularity. This in terms of deconstructivism, has taken a U-turn. As web texts are obviously written by many different people, and can also be altered over and over. This creates problems in the way text is read on the web. The introduction of print helped, authors become the owners of text this was reiterated with the introduction of the copy write laws.

            Roland Barthes presented two opposing models of writing, in relation to the linearity of text, these were closed, fixed work versus the open unstable text in Barthes view, the work is a tidy, neatly packed object. Print is considered by Barthes to create perfect text. Barthes saw navigational features of a book, as attacks on linearity.

Barthes believes that the reader plays the text, reading is the performance of the written word.

 The image above is by a designer called Allen Hori, who attended Cranbrook academy in the US, famous for being at the forefront on deconstructionist design. The title of the piece I am analyzing is “typography as discourse” which means typography as speech through words.

            Typically with deconstruction, you are not immediately drawn to a start point of the piece, unlike that of a piece of text, where you are told where to look. This piece leaves the reader to choose where to begin interpreting it.

            The typography used on the image is unstructured, free from any graphically excepted grid, its pushing the boundaries of legibility.

            The spacing used is also a strong indication of deconstruction, with again inconstancy in spacing between letters, words. This makes the image harder to interpret for the onlookers. The image used on the piece, also draws you away from text, which feeds you the purpose of the poster, so this could also be considered deconstruction, as it is only making the piece harder to understand.

            Through out this image, there is irrational and spontaneous layout, pushing the boundaries of what is graphically accepted, and legibility. All these are typical features of desconstructivist design. 

avant-garde task

Avant-garde with reference to design refers to apiece that is innovative, provocative and has the ability to question the socially excepted norm and a result highlight reality and change the way people think.

The image above, is from a company called adbusters, there are renowned for taking interesting and innovative approaches to advertising. They take the realities of society and highlight them, unlike the false hope given to use by the norm. They use a shocking delivery to alter consumer perceptions and go against what the brand, in this case Calvin Klein try and portray. The image above is a prime example of this; Adbusters demonstrate a use of shock and humor. In the standard adverts from Calvin Klein the consumer expects to see beauty weather in male or female form. As a result of this beauty, it gives a false hope to the consumer, that they, as a result of buying this product will intern have this perfect lifestyle or body.  The Adbusters image allows the on looker to see the truth and alters the image of perfection and gives a sense of reality to the consumer. This demonstrates avant-garde design at its best, using innovative means to highlight realities and change people perceptions of the brand as a whole.

The image above is another strong example of avant-garde design. Absolute vodka, as a brand is recognized to be glamorous and gives the consumer image of class.  As it is an alcohol product it also gives has the association with fun, and having a good time. This advert again like the Calvin Klien ones, give a sense of reality to the consumer. With the re branded advert reading “absolute impotence”. It highlights the reality that if you drink it to much it will affect your sexual performance, something that no man wants. This will undoubtedly effect the consumer perception of the brand and highlights the effects of drinking something that is normally not thought about twice, in the pursuit of fun and happiness.  This is again is an innovative and provocative image, that changes the ideals and perceptions of drinking. Avant-garde design in there to provoke a reaction and change the ideals of a certain topic, and this is obvious in these two images.