Blog 8 Joost Schmidt

Bauhaus Exhibition Poster 1923

The Bauhaus School was born from the angst of World War I and ugliness of the industrialized society that had brought Europe to that point.  Its goal was to recognize and unify the commonality of the fine arts and the applied arts.  The Bauhaus School worked to elevate standards of design and public taste through excellence in design and craftsmanship. [Whitford]

This particular piece was designed by Joost Schmidt for the Bauhaus Exhibition of 1923.  This piece reflects on of the many "shifts" if the teaching philosophy at the Bauhaus School from "Art meets Craft" to "Art meets Machine."  This was a natural, if not controversial within the school, step for the Bauhaus during the industrialization on the early 1900's. [Whitford]

This early modern work uses geometric shapes and machine forms to showcase the innovative work done at the Bauhaus.  One can see influence of other types of art from the period in the piece, cubism, constructivism, Di Stijl which also reflect the principles of the school - to take diverse styles and meld them into new design approaches.  

The high contrast color scheme creates drama and intensity in poster, although I am not sure that it comes across in the scan.  The repetition of circles, textures (solids, pavement-like surface, lines, and mesh), color, and typeface all create unity in this work.   

The typefaces is square-shaped with no curves except for the Ausstellung and 1923. The text is placed perfectly to guide the eye through the work.  The face is the "seal" of Bauhaus and signifies how man meets machine.  I like the tilting of the axis of the poster; it, creates a sense of imbalance - the teetering of the machine.  Or is this just a part of a much larger work - a larger machine?  And is humanity just part of a larger machine?  Waxing philosophical, here!?!

Personally, the object in this poster remind me of a toy my daughter had as a baby.  It was called a "Weeble" and it's ad-line was "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down."  It had a rounded, weighted solid bottom and she would bat at it and it would bounce right back.  It wasn't quite as artfully designed as the poster, though.  I think it had a pink plastic puppy on the top. I wonder how the Bauhaus artists would feel about the Weebles...

Source:  Whitford, Frank, Bauhaus, The World of Art Series, Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.

Blog 7 (EXTRA) - Radiohead

Radiohead - 

The King of Limbs

Radiohead recently did a full hour special on The Cobert Report.  My husband and I are long time fans of the band and get all of our fake news from The John Stewert Show and The Cobert Report.  The real stuff brings me to tears...  Anyway, I enjoyed listening to their music but especially loved hearing about their personal views on environmental issues and corporate sponsorship.  I think there are speaking out try to help us understand the evils of unchecked capitalism and the damage we are doing to our earth.  Maybe some listeners with heed the message.

I was very attracted to this CD jacket.  It is eerie and it has an other-worldly feel.  I looked up the designer on the internet to see his motivation of the artwork. [wikipedia]  Here is what I found:

Artist Stanley Donwood stated that the album's artwork is inspired by Northern European fairy tales and their association with forests and woods: "It's very much about natural forms. I'd heard something about the northern European imagination, in the all our fairy stories and mythical creatures, they all come from the woods - Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel & Gretel [...]  Me and Thom Yorke [sic] were working on these ideas of strange, multi-limbed creatures that are neither malevolent or benevolent, they're simply there, part of the living spirit of the forest. That's come through into all of the work.

This piece reminds me of the monsters that used to live under my bed as a child: nondescript, blob-like, big-eyed, with long slimy limbs.  It does appear that these creatures are appearing from the woods; you can see the trees plastered (as a part of) their bodies.

The colors used are captivating: the limbs are a sickening, slimy red, the eyes glow yellow, the darker blues,  greens, & black which create depth. The brightness of the yellow creature pulls you into the piece and you have to look closer.  

The text treatment is also very interesting,  The white lettering is obscured but the overlay of branches - a play on the title The King of Limbs.  The type is a simple san-serif font.  Well-chosen, I believe, anything too busy would distract from the image.

I believe this is a highly effective work and it is done beautifully.  It is unified through the texture that runs throughout the piece even into the text.  Gestalt theory definitely plays a role here in that initially the large creatures pull us into the image and then as we look closer we see all of the texture that contributes to the unity of the piece.  

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Limbs_Packaging_and_artwork

Blog 6 - Henryk Tomaszewski

Rok Chopinowski 1949

Henryk Tomaszewski is known throughout the world as a giant in the field of Polish posters. [Meggs]  In a forward by Shoji Katagishi, Tomaszewski's work is described as having no exaggerated posturing or hardness; that his free, open form of expression has a feeling of dignity and intellect; and that his drawn lines are refined, strong and lyrical, with ample amounts of space and color. [Meggs]

This poster was designed for an annual International Chopin Competition held in Poland in 1949.  It exemplifies all of elements that Katagishi points out about Tomaszewski's work.  The image of the grand piano is straightforward and open - just the keyboard and the top - in flat, broad shapes and simple lines.  The music stand, which consists of ornate curves, doubles as the title block for the poster.  Even though the lettering is small relative to the size of the poster, it is emphasized because of the complex border and the color.  The color scheme makes use of earth tones with a background of muted olive green in a cloudlike pattern, a flat rust color for the titles, and of course black & white for the piano.

Source: Meggs, Philip, Six Chapters in Design, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California, 1997

Blog 5 - Saul Bass

The Shining

This is the poster art for the Stanley Kubrick's psychological thriller, The Shining.  With this poster Saul Bass manages to capture the sheer terror of the movie with color, texture and simple imagery - his trademark style.  The color red is an emotionally intense color - it stimulates a faster heart rate and increases our breathing rate.  Black tends to represent power: the color of villains.  Bass uses these two colors effectively in this poster to create fear.  The imagery does a great job at creating fear as well.  The face trapped in the letter "T" looks startled and horrified.  The graininess of the image gives the feeling of being lit by candle light from below.  The "trapping" of the face in the "T" further creates the feeling of panic.  This movie was one of the most frightening films I have ever seen and I believe that Bass captures the essence of it with this poster.

Source: Meggs, Philip, Six Chapters in Design, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California, 1997

Blog 4 - C. Harvey Graphic Design

Greiner Consulting

  

 

This is a website for legal training firm [greinerconsulting] that was published in Design Elements.[Samara] It was designed by C. Harvey Graphic Design.[charvey]  It reminded me of the beethoven poster by Josef Müller-Brockmann that our classmate, Angela Norman, posted on her blog.  It also made me think of another Müller-Brockmann called musica viva.[moma] 

  

 Ah, I really do not have to reinvent the wheel!  How could I improve on designs like this anyway?  Look at the beauty and simplicity of the lines and curves; how the eye guided through the layouts to the important information; how we see the whole then look closer to see the individual parts. Unity. Focal point. Gestalt theory.  Emphasis. Generous use of white space.  Clean typography.  Intellectual connections everywhere. The Müller-Brockmann posters exude the music.  The light feel of the music viva practically dances off the page while the beethoven is heavier and more grounded.  
   
With the Greiner website, the spiral staircase upward represents career evolution and the staircase is similar to the spiraling geometric shapes in their logo.  The Greiner website uses color quite effectively.  They basically use the blue-green analogous color scheme with a touch of orange (complimentary) for the home and contact links. 

Sources:       Samara, Timothy, Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual, Rockport

                           Publishers, Beverly, Massachusetts, 2007

                      http://www.greinerconsulting.com/

                      http://www.charvey.com/

                      http://www.moma.org/

Blog 3 - Susan Ferguson

Serenity Rules - Tim Lynch

 

Tim Lynch is a producer for Woodshed Films. They make films and documentaries "about an experience".  According to their website, "Woodshed is a co-op of talented artists, directors and producers who seek to entertain audiences while subtly introducing them to environmental and socially relevant issues.  Born out of our love for the ocean and surfing, Woodshed tells stories that strive to inspire." [180^o South]

 In this piece which is published in Design Elements, I especially love the way that the collage of text creates texture.   The changing of typeface and sizes (which breaks all of the rules!) echoes the graffiti on the wall of the photo.  Laying type into the photo creates visual interest; and the words chosen reflect the attitude of the subject of the piece (bound by my dream, drum, peace, believe, of tomorrow,...).  The colors chosen for the layout are natural hues rust, peach, brick, brown, also reflecting the "love of nature" outlook of Tim Lynch.  The choice of typefaces themselves also create visual interest: COOL in all caps in a simple, bold, san serif; calm in all lower case serif; and [CONNECTED] in a tight, modern, all caps san serif.  The placement of the text creates a pleasing visual triangle.

I think that Susan Ferguson [graphiczone] has captured the personality of Tim Lynch, with his laid-back adventure approach to film producing, in this layout, Serenity Rules.

Sources:    Samara, Timothy, Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual, Rockport

                         Publishers, Beverly, Massachusetts, 2007

                  http://www.180south.com/filmmakers.html

                  www.graphiczone.ca

Blog 2 - Neville Brody

 DREAMER IN THE REAL WORLD - Morrissey

By the end of the of the late 1980's Neville Brody was known as the best British Graphic Designer of his Generation. [Wozencroft p. 5]  He was a designer who pioneered new styles, broke the rules, and developed & experimented with typography in new and innovative ways. [Wozencroft p. 5-7]  About working for the magazine The Face, Brody said, "I had never in my wildest dreams intended to work on a magazine... Suddenly, with The Face, I was confronted with traditional typographic and layout problems...  working around them became a challenge for me." [Wozencroft p. 15-17]  

Dreamer in the Real World  was published initially in The Face, No. 61, May 1985.  Several things attracted me to this piece.  First of all, I am a Smiths fan so when I saw the picture of Morrissey, I wanted to take a look at the graphic style that was used on his spread.  Second, I enjoy large close-up photographs, especially the treatment of this one - cutting off half of Morrissey's face, showing his penetrating eye - the intensity of his gaze.  Third, I like the choice of black & white for the layout. In my opinion, it is perfect for Morrissey.  Many say his music is depressing.  He is a complainer.  But I think he speaks for many that struggle with social and identity issues.  However, I should mention that many of the spreads in The Face are in black & white. Third, I find the typeface so engaging; it has a big personality - kind of supernatural and mystical . The tall thin letters, sharp turns, and interesting angles.  This typeface was developed by Brody just for this issue of The Face. It creates a dynamic look on the page and demands the use of negative space.   Fourth, the layout breaks the rules - the picture bleeds over the fold and into the center of the spread.  The large picture is balanced by the super-sized title, DREAMER, the subtitle, IN THE REAL WORLD, and the large black circle containing the word the.  The other textboxes are nicely placed to create balance as well.

Source: Wozencroft, Jon, The Graphic Language of Neville Brody, Universe Publishing, New York, New York, 2001