Important topics introduced tonight:
• Postmodernism
• Wes Wilson
• Victor Moscoso
• Push Pin Studios
• Wolfgang Weingart
• New Wave Typography
• Willi Kuntz
• Rosmiare Tissi
• Siegfried Odermatt
• April Grieman
• Paula Scher
• Charles Anderson
• End of History and Death of the Author
• Neville Brody
• Jacques Derrida- Grammatology
• Cranbrook
• Ed Fella
• David Carson
• Émigré
• Deconstruction
• Bruce Mau
• Why not Associates
• Benjamin Saviginac
• Jonathan Barnbrook
• Chip Kidd
During class tonight we talked and saw works about several artist's and companies that I like very much such as Neville Brody, David Carson, and Why Not Associates. I find all of their work to be very different and innovative. They use things and combine things in a way that really call my attention and make me want to research them more and use them as inspiration. They mix images, text, textures, transparency, and many other effects that really make a simple photograph call anyone's attention. Many times the original image looks nothing like the end product, but it looks better and they add more life to them. The role of the graphic designer will be seriously challenged in the 21st century.
In the last page of tonight's lecture presentation it says "...Designers will need to have something to contribute other than basic production skills. Designers no longer work with stable flat compositions but instead conceive of graphic systems that coordinate multiple back–stage tasks..." I think this is very true. Graphic design is evolving and constantly in change. Once we graduate we have to be up to date with all the programs and new innovations because the basic production skills we learned in college will eventually become obsolete.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Design Discourse 2
Why Designers Can't Think
by: Michael Bierut
Key Points:
• Graphic Designers
• structure
• communication
• SPECIALIZED DESIGN SCHOOLS- two categories
- Process Schools: form-driven, problem- solving approach
drawing letterforms, "translating" three-dimensional objects into idealized high-contrast images, and basic still-life photography.
- Portfolio Schools: provide students with "books" that will get them good jobs upon graduation.
problem solving mode is conceptual, bias for appealing, memorable, populist imagery. The product, not process, is king.
staff is impatient with idle exercises that don't relate to the "real world."
-SOMETHING IN COMMON:
What's valued is the way graphic design looks, not what it means.
"Semiotics" or " Conceptual Problem Solving"
Employers want trained designers, not writers and economists.
• Typography
• Visual Problem Solving
• Advanced Aesthetics
• formal training
• curiosity
• culture, science, politics, history
• high school seniors-bright future in "graphics"
• Swiss style process schools- perceived "slickness"
• design education
• Corporate Identity Firms
• Package Design Firms
• diverse alternatives
• technical skills
• purely visual solution
• "Principles of design"
• "Communication Arts Design Annual"
• technology
• Graduates will continue to speak in languages that only their classmates understand. And designers, more and more, will end up talking to themselves.
In this image we see how graphic designers can partake of as many fields of interest as they have clients. In a single day, a designer can talk about technology with one client, cancer cures with another, and about beauty with a third. I imagine how hard it must be for other people that only have one thing to think about all day long. For example a dentist who has nothing to do all day but worry about teeth. I found this idea very interesting because I never thought about designers like that. We are versatile and are always working in different things. We learn about different topics every day, because to be able to come up with a good design we have to make some research about the topic, their competitors, and their customers or consumers.
So who decides what good design is?
Many successful graphic designers share the same traits that make artists, painters or sculptors unique. I believe graphic designers like artists are born with a gift that only a lucky few possess. There are a lot of people out there that may claim to be graphic designers because they happen to have the latest version of Adobe and a Mac. It’s not the tools, it’s the talent that exists within. A natural born designer will make it happen, they’ll find a way to express themselves. A person without raw talent can be taught the ins-and-outs of graphic design. They can learn the mechanics, concepts, theories and tools of graphic design but can they truly create great designs if they don’t possess that spark of creativity?
Design schools and degrees can only take students to a certain level. If that student lacks the imaginative talent, he or she won’t be a successful or “great” designer. There are many types of designers and I think there's a place for everyone although it might be more difficult for some to achieve. Unfortunately our educational institutions are sometimes more interested in collecting a paycheck than sending students along the correct career path. Unfortunately there are some who don't look at a career as something that engages and fulfills them, but to make money. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it may be for the wrong reasons.
by: Michael Bierut
Key Points:
• Graphic Designers
• structure
• communication
• SPECIALIZED DESIGN SCHOOLS- two categories
- Process Schools: form-driven, problem- solving approach
drawing letterforms, "translating" three-dimensional objects into idealized high-contrast images, and basic still-life photography.
- Portfolio Schools: provide students with "books" that will get them good jobs upon graduation.
problem solving mode is conceptual, bias for appealing, memorable, populist imagery. The product, not process, is king.
staff is impatient with idle exercises that don't relate to the "real world."
-SOMETHING IN COMMON:
What's valued is the way graphic design looks, not what it means.
"Semiotics" or " Conceptual Problem Solving"
Employers want trained designers, not writers and economists.
• Typography
• Visual Problem Solving
• Advanced Aesthetics
• formal training
• curiosity
• culture, science, politics, history
• high school seniors-bright future in "graphics"
• Swiss style process schools- perceived "slickness"
• design education
• Corporate Identity Firms
• Package Design Firms
• diverse alternatives
• technical skills
• purely visual solution
• "Principles of design"
• "Communication Arts Design Annual"
• technology
• Graduates will continue to speak in languages that only their classmates understand. And designers, more and more, will end up talking to themselves.
In this image we see how graphic designers can partake of as many fields of interest as they have clients. In a single day, a designer can talk about technology with one client, cancer cures with another, and about beauty with a third. I imagine how hard it must be for other people that only have one thing to think about all day long. For example a dentist who has nothing to do all day but worry about teeth. I found this idea very interesting because I never thought about designers like that. We are versatile and are always working in different things. We learn about different topics every day, because to be able to come up with a good design we have to make some research about the topic, their competitors, and their customers or consumers.
So who decides what good design is?
Many successful graphic designers share the same traits that make artists, painters or sculptors unique. I believe graphic designers like artists are born with a gift that only a lucky few possess. There are a lot of people out there that may claim to be graphic designers because they happen to have the latest version of Adobe and a Mac. It’s not the tools, it’s the talent that exists within. A natural born designer will make it happen, they’ll find a way to express themselves. A person without raw talent can be taught the ins-and-outs of graphic design. They can learn the mechanics, concepts, theories and tools of graphic design but can they truly create great designs if they don’t possess that spark of creativity?
Design schools and degrees can only take students to a certain level. If that student lacks the imaginative talent, he or she won’t be a successful or “great” designer. There are many types of designers and I think there's a place for everyone although it might be more difficult for some to achieve. Unfortunately our educational institutions are sometimes more interested in collecting a paycheck than sending students along the correct career path. Unfortunately there are some who don't look at a career as something that engages and fulfills them, but to make money. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it may be for the wrong reasons.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April 7, 2010
Important topics introduced tonight:
• Armin Hoffmann- Graphic Design Manual
• Josef Muller Brockman- Grid Systems
• Swiss Movement
• The Swiss Grid
• Paul Rand
• Lester Beal
• Saul Bass
• Bradbury Thompson
• Corporate Design
• Ivan Chermayeff
• Tom Geismar
• Chermayeff and Geisman Associates
• Vignelli Associates- NY City Subway System- Knoll
• Alexis Brodovitch
• Media revolution
• Henry Wolf
• George Lois- advertising
• Doyle Dane Bernbach
• George Lois
• The role of art director was expanded into editorial deliberations.
• Herb Lubalin
• Goal: give graphic form to a concept or message that engaged the reader through an intensification of the message requiring active participation.
• Postmodernism
From the film seen today in class I wrote down some of the main characteristics of postmodernism. Postmodernism rejects boundaries between high and low forms of art, rejects rigid genre distinctions, emphasizes parody, irony, and playfulness. Postmodern art favors reflexivity and self-consciousness, fragmentation and discontinuity, and emphasizes on the non structured, dehumanized subject.
The movement of Postmodernism began with architecture, as a response to the perceived blandness, hostility, and Utopianism of the Modern movement. Modern Architecture was focused on the pursuit of a perceived ideal of perfection, and attempted harmony of form and function by eliminating ornaments. Postmodernist architecture was one of the first movements to openly challenge Modernism as old, favoring personal preferences and variety over objective, truths or principles.
I found it very interesting how in the film they talk about all the different ways of communication and arts. How they talked about specific artists and what they did in this movement, also how their work was influential to what we know and use now a days. Many of these artists had different ideas that were very influential. They also talked quickly about Andy Warhol, which I believe is a great innovator. Personally I like his works a lot because of the different styles he uses.
• Armin Hoffmann- Graphic Design Manual
• Josef Muller Brockman- Grid Systems
• Swiss Movement
• The Swiss Grid
• Paul Rand
• Lester Beal
• Saul Bass
• Bradbury Thompson
• Corporate Design
• Ivan Chermayeff
• Tom Geismar
• Chermayeff and Geisman Associates
• Vignelli Associates- NY City Subway System- Knoll
• Alexis Brodovitch
• Media revolution
• Henry Wolf
• George Lois- advertising
• Doyle Dane Bernbach
• George Lois
• The role of art director was expanded into editorial deliberations.
• Herb Lubalin
• Goal: give graphic form to a concept or message that engaged the reader through an intensification of the message requiring active participation.
• Postmodernism
From the film seen today in class I wrote down some of the main characteristics of postmodernism. Postmodernism rejects boundaries between high and low forms of art, rejects rigid genre distinctions, emphasizes parody, irony, and playfulness. Postmodern art favors reflexivity and self-consciousness, fragmentation and discontinuity, and emphasizes on the non structured, dehumanized subject.
The movement of Postmodernism began with architecture, as a response to the perceived blandness, hostility, and Utopianism of the Modern movement. Modern Architecture was focused on the pursuit of a perceived ideal of perfection, and attempted harmony of form and function by eliminating ornaments. Postmodernist architecture was one of the first movements to openly challenge Modernism as old, favoring personal preferences and variety over objective, truths or principles.
I found it very interesting how in the film they talk about all the different ways of communication and arts. How they talked about specific artists and what they did in this movement, also how their work was influential to what we know and use now a days. Many of these artists had different ideas that were very influential. They also talked quickly about Andy Warhol, which I believe is a great innovator. Personally I like his works a lot because of the different styles he uses.
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