Day 11

NOTES

SWISS DESIGN
- Swiss Design doesn't look like anything. It's an approach and thinking. It's more then just grids.
- Visual unity is achieved through an asymmetrical unity
- embraced subjective photography, sanserif type, flush left rag right, mathematical grids.
- One of the biggest ideas is that design should / is sociably useful.
- More important then the appearance is the attitude. Very spiritual belief in design. "What if?" How else can I effect the world with my work.
- Swiss design has it's routes in European modernism like De Stijl and Bauhaus.
- Design as a socially useful and important activity
- Grids can be anything not just squares. Just a system of rules you have to play the game by.
// ULM 1 is the city school where they structure a catalog with one typeface just by altering the weight and visual hierarchy.
- Semiotics the philosophical theory of signs and symbols- what things mean i relationship to other things.

SEMIOSTICS
-Semiotics what things mean to relationship to other things.
-There is no inherent or independent meaning. Get over it.

Broken in three different parts!
Syntactics - order (red followed by yellow followed by green)
Semantics - meaning or reffered to (You should probably slow down…)
Pragmatics - how it is used (fire! <- it has no meaning)

-The lens theory.. see the same image and change it's surroundings and changes it's meaning. Just like Semiotics.

 MORE SWISS DESIGN POSTERS
-// Giselle poster made by Armon Hoffman
- Hoffman designed the negative space the rest will work
- //Joseph Muller Brocksmann created the giving hand poster.
-// Noise awareness poster by Joseph Muller Brocksmann. Weniger Larm Poster
-// derFILM poster by Joseph Muller Brocksmann
- // Weinger Laim poster and grid poster and another poster all use the same grid. A good grid can be amazing.

SWISS MODERNISM VS NYC MODERNISM
- Paul Rand, Saul Bass, and Ivan Chermayeff
- 1940' begin to see effects of Modernism in advertising
- European theoretical NY, pragmatic
- "The Big Idea"

 PAUL RAND
- Paul Rand is a very old and grumpy old man. Although he was a god in design.
-// made a cover for a magazine called 'Directions' .. the cover has barbwire, war, holocaust, and christmas, and a present. Great use of semiotics.
-// made book cover called 'Leave Cancelled'
-// Paul Rand created the UPS logo
-// "no way out" by Paul Rand.
- His work was made by cut and paste. Rip and tear it. Very cubist. It's loose it's fun it's quick. Very organic. SAUL BASS - known for his film type
-// 'the man with a golden arm' by Saul Bass
-// 'Anatomy of a Murder' by Saul Bass

IVAN CHERMAYEFF
- 'Nausea Jean-Paul Sartre' is a book cover by Chermayeff
- 'Not just another gift guide' magazine design - a dot by its self has no meaning. The context and relationship with other dots and layout will give it meaning.
- 'Vagina Monologue' magazine article.

 POSTMODERNISM
used to note a break with the earlier modernist principles by placing emphasis on form over function, by reintroducing traditional or classical elements or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes.

- seen in Art, Design, Literature and Architecture.
- Emphasis on feel rather than rationale
- Emphasis on surface, texture and materials
- Self-consciousness or self-referencing
- Mixes high and low
- Historical reference
- Vernacular
-Break within modern ideas
-taming the machine
- Structure and order
-Modernism comes from social upheaval and chaos
- We are modernist because we have to tame machines. We live in a post modern condition.
 - Meta is a postmodern idea
-Post modernism starts coming out in the 60s
- // 'Union and Now' poster by Rosemary Teesee (sp?) and ..
-// 'Didacta Eurodidac' poster by Wolfgang Weingart
-Memphis group starts in 1971
- really about texture, pattern, etc.

PERSONAL THOUGHT
Today we focused a lot in the beginning of class on Swiss Design. Especially how it focuses all on grid system. I really respect the idea of Swiss Design puts a lot on their energy into making design sociably useful. I love learning about Swiss Design. It's really clean, refreshing, minimal, and very grid structured.

Semiotics was very interesting to learn. It's like diving into the conceptual meaning beyond a design. The break down of Semiotics really helped. Syntactics, Semantics, and Pragmatics. I'm really big into conceptual art and double (or even triple) meaning. This is why I'm a designer. This right here. The fact that we as designers have the power to manipulate type, photos, illustrations, etc to convey multiple messages is really what I love about being a designer.

Yay! We touched postmodernism! Postmodernism still really confuses me. This is the last lecture class which makes me sad because I really want to learn more about postmodernism. If I had to pick something it would be the post modern idea that all things are on the table. It doesn't get caught up in the sort of rationalist dogma that often hinders modernism.

QUESTIONS
Do you think in this day in age someone can be truly original with their art? Or do you think everything has already been done?

This is a fairly big question to digest but just thought I'd ask anyways. We're in the postmodern age what do you think / predict will be the next phase in design?

What is your all time favorite art movement?

Day Ten

Notes

Herbert Matter
-Swiss born photographer and designer
- important for us because of his use of imagery, objected imagery and scale shift
- Swiss Tourism did posters of
- 1936 comes to USA people like him because he's like a regular guy
- Made Ad for Kular(sp?) chair ad
- 1956 made more chair posters

Lester Beall 1903 -1969
- Kansas city native and gets a degree in Chicago.
- Works as a designer but mostly self taught
-Moves his studio to New York and becomes very involved in corporate design (like Madmen)
- he really likes visual contrast / elements / arrows / dots/ diagonals lines
- /// 1935 Pioners in peoria
- /// rural electrification administration 'running water' poster
- /// rural electrification administration 'two people with american colors'
- He uses negative space very effectively
- /// WPA exhibition nov 28 - dec 10 1938 poster

WPA
- public awareness posters become super popular
- Also produced calendars
- Their graphic posters were very simple but still had depth

KEY
/// art the person did

Personal Thoughts
Today we watched a movie on 1900 American design and how swiss influenced it significantly. The movie went over Herbert Matter's life. Matter was really interested in photography. Alvin Eisenmann admired Herbert Matter and became a professor in Yale University in graphic design. It was interesting to learn the first graphic design education programs in America. To see Herbert Matter's life is really remarkable all the things he was able to accomplish. Out of all his accomplishments I most enjoyed listening and learning about his concept of design and use of imagery. I also liked seeing the development in the logo design, process work, and branding with the New Haven Railroad.

Motion design! This is the first time where we touch on film and how it involves with advertisement. His film making was very experimental. Advertising and making it into art. As a photographer I really enjoyed this movie. Matter really has a gift to speak the visual language.


Questions
Matter inspired many other artist. But who did Matter look up for inspiration for his art?