Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Chapter 20 and 21
1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph:
Chapter 20 starts off explaining, yet again, the advances in technology during World War II. Progressions in mass production of goods and the economy itself (being taken off the Gold Standard) led to a demand for design in corporate identity. AEG, for example, comissioned Peter Behrens to create a recognizeable logo for their company. Behrens would undoubtedly be known throughout history as one of the founders (if not the father) of corporate identity. Camillo Olivetti founded the Olivetti Corporation, and his son Adriano comissioned artist and designer Giovanni Pintori to create a simple concept of futuristic text, even his most complex designs had a simplicity about them. The design of CBS's corporate identity was a big concept in the chapter. The then President of CBS, Frank Stanton and his colleague William Golden designed CBS' "eye in the sky" design. The chapter also talks about the first African American to become a successful and prominent graphic designer. George Olden held a high paying position designing for CBS and other TV stations even before the civil rights movement. His style was based heavily on the use of symbolic imagery and had a habit/theme of working with silhouettes. The chapter goes on to talk about Lou Dorfson, William Golden's predecessor becoming the new President of CBS. became the director of all of CBS after Golden's death. We then move to the corporate identity of IBM, who's main player was Paul Rand. Rand designed logos not only for IBM, but NeXT, Westinghouse, and Westinghouse as well. The chapters go down the list of other designers that created corporate identity logos such as Lester Beal, who created logos for Connecticut General Life Insurance and the International Paper Company to name a couple. created corporate identities for Martin Marietta, Connecticut General Life Insurance, and the International Paper Company. I guess Beal considered himself an expert on the subject of corporate identity because he wrote a manual explaining some guidelines as to what images help people memorize and connect it to business' as well as what kinds of lines, shapes and images create positive images that would relate to the company, ect. The chapter ends with some examples of transportation signage and how it evolved over the years.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
I enjoyed reading about Behrens again, since he had been mentioned in class before we were assigned to read this chapter. It was interesting to get some deeper information on him since he's basically the father of corporate identity.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
Why did IBM not try to contract/keep Paul Rand, rather than actually allow him to be comissioned to design for their rival computer company?
Chapter 20 starts off explaining, yet again, the advances in technology during World War II. Progressions in mass production of goods and the economy itself (being taken off the Gold Standard) led to a demand for design in corporate identity. AEG, for example, comissioned Peter Behrens to create a recognizeable logo for their company. Behrens would undoubtedly be known throughout history as one of the founders (if not the father) of corporate identity. Camillo Olivetti founded the Olivetti Corporation, and his son Adriano comissioned artist and designer Giovanni Pintori to create a simple concept of futuristic text, even his most complex designs had a simplicity about them. The design of CBS's corporate identity was a big concept in the chapter. The then President of CBS, Frank Stanton and his colleague William Golden designed CBS' "eye in the sky" design. The chapter also talks about the first African American to become a successful and prominent graphic designer. George Olden held a high paying position designing for CBS and other TV stations even before the civil rights movement. His style was based heavily on the use of symbolic imagery and had a habit/theme of working with silhouettes. The chapter goes on to talk about Lou Dorfson, William Golden's predecessor becoming the new President of CBS. became the director of all of CBS after Golden's death. We then move to the corporate identity of IBM, who's main player was Paul Rand. Rand designed logos not only for IBM, but NeXT, Westinghouse, and Westinghouse as well. The chapters go down the list of other designers that created corporate identity logos such as Lester Beal, who created logos for Connecticut General Life Insurance and the International Paper Company to name a couple. created corporate identities for Martin Marietta, Connecticut General Life Insurance, and the International Paper Company. I guess Beal considered himself an expert on the subject of corporate identity because he wrote a manual explaining some guidelines as to what images help people memorize and connect it to business' as well as what kinds of lines, shapes and images create positive images that would relate to the company, ect. The chapter ends with some examples of transportation signage and how it evolved over the years.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
I enjoyed reading about Behrens again, since he had been mentioned in class before we were assigned to read this chapter. It was interesting to get some deeper information on him since he's basically the father of corporate identity.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
Why did IBM not try to contract/keep Paul Rand, rather than actually allow him to be comissioned to design for their rival computer company?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Chapter 19
1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph
The New York School style of art was the birth of magazine art, using layouts with a focus on one main image in the middle of lines of text. The book concentrated on this style much in the same fashion as the previous chapter, with a focus on its founders: Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Saul Bass, Bill Bernbach, Alex Steinweiss, Robert Brownjohn, and George Tscherny. Rand was the designer that really pioneered the movement. He started out with a heavy use of simple contrast on his images/photos. Saul Bass was responsible for the creation of a variety of corporate logoes and programs. He also created the world's first ever animated sequence for a movie title: The Man With the Golden Arm, a movie about drug abuse. Bass was really the first graphic designer to be involved with making corporate identity for film, he worked very closely with a lot of directors including the infamous Alfred Hitchcock. Most of the other important figures in this era of design worked in advertising firms, but others like Saul Bass off from this traditional place for graphic designers into other industries and became art directors at record companies and clothing companies.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
I really love Saul Bass' work. He really took two passions of visual art and combined them to do what he loved. I just think that's really something to aspire to.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
So was the New York School just a style or did it come out of an actual "school"?
The New York School style of art was the birth of magazine art, using layouts with a focus on one main image in the middle of lines of text. The book concentrated on this style much in the same fashion as the previous chapter, with a focus on its founders: Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Saul Bass, Bill Bernbach, Alex Steinweiss, Robert Brownjohn, and George Tscherny. Rand was the designer that really pioneered the movement. He started out with a heavy use of simple contrast on his images/photos. Saul Bass was responsible for the creation of a variety of corporate logoes and programs. He also created the world's first ever animated sequence for a movie title: The Man With the Golden Arm, a movie about drug abuse. Bass was really the first graphic designer to be involved with making corporate identity for film, he worked very closely with a lot of directors including the infamous Alfred Hitchcock. Most of the other important figures in this era of design worked in advertising firms, but others like Saul Bass off from this traditional place for graphic designers into other industries and became art directors at record companies and clothing companies.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
I really love Saul Bass' work. He really took two passions of visual art and combined them to do what he loved. I just think that's really something to aspire to.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
So was the New York School just a style or did it come out of an actual "school"?
Chapter 18
1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph
The International Typographic style came about during the 1950's.It was a design movement that emerged from Germany and immediately migrated to and became closely associated with switzerland (the style was also known as "Swiss Design"). Signatures of the style included clarity and conciseness in design, heavy mathematical methods for proportions; and we have seen geometric influences on other styles, but this style had a focus on abstraction of simple geometric shapes. Some "founders" of the movement included: Theo Ballmer, Ernst Keller, Max Huber and Max Bill, Anton Stankowski, and Rudolph DeHarak. I recognized Theo Ballmer when I read the chapter and realized it was because he had been a student that moved up in the Bauhaus. Ballmer developed a mathematical grid that he used constantly in his designs so that everything could be aligned to his idea of perfection. Ernst Keller taught how to use the style for advertising when he was employed at the School of Applied Art (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Zurich, Germany. The chapter continues to tell the stories and backgrounds of the rest of the Swiss Design style's founders and developers. Each having a unique and innovative idea to contribute to its growing popularity. Max Bill used the concepts from art concrete to produce very mathematically driven bright desings in his architecture and sculptures. Stankowski was an influential photographer who was eventually commissioned to participate in a design program being started in Berlin in 1968. And so on and so forth.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
I found Stankowski to be very interesting and was dissapointed that he wasn't as expanded on in the book as other designers from the era. It was nice to read about someone that used arithmatic influences and simplicity in photography. I just thought it was cool because I viewed it as a kind of follow up to Man Ray in a different style.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
How was something so simple and so organized so popular? I mean, these designers did a pretty good job of applying abstraction to simple shapes, especially DeHarak, but I still think it's kind of a boring style after a brief viewing of a piece from this era of design.
The International Typographic style came about during the 1950's.It was a design movement that emerged from Germany and immediately migrated to and became closely associated with switzerland (the style was also known as "Swiss Design"). Signatures of the style included clarity and conciseness in design, heavy mathematical methods for proportions; and we have seen geometric influences on other styles, but this style had a focus on abstraction of simple geometric shapes. Some "founders" of the movement included: Theo Ballmer, Ernst Keller, Max Huber and Max Bill, Anton Stankowski, and Rudolph DeHarak. I recognized Theo Ballmer when I read the chapter and realized it was because he had been a student that moved up in the Bauhaus. Ballmer developed a mathematical grid that he used constantly in his designs so that everything could be aligned to his idea of perfection. Ernst Keller taught how to use the style for advertising when he was employed at the School of Applied Art (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Zurich, Germany. The chapter continues to tell the stories and backgrounds of the rest of the Swiss Design style's founders and developers. Each having a unique and innovative idea to contribute to its growing popularity. Max Bill used the concepts from art concrete to produce very mathematically driven bright desings in his architecture and sculptures. Stankowski was an influential photographer who was eventually commissioned to participate in a design program being started in Berlin in 1968. And so on and so forth.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
I found Stankowski to be very interesting and was dissapointed that he wasn't as expanded on in the book as other designers from the era. It was nice to read about someone that used arithmatic influences and simplicity in photography. I just thought it was cool because I viewed it as a kind of follow up to Man Ray in a different style.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
How was something so simple and so organized so popular? I mean, these designers did a pretty good job of applying abstraction to simple shapes, especially DeHarak, but I still think it's kind of a boring style after a brief viewing of a piece from this era of design.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
More design sketches
These are my completed pieces from sketches I drew earlier. The first is a depiction of Bob Marley in a cubism style with just a swirl of rasta colors for the background. The second is a kind of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired design. I made it with a design for a rug or maybe a stained glass window in mind. I didn't make either of them for a specific purpose or reason, there's no marketing scheme going on here. I just like Bob Marley and wanted to create some images that I found aesthetically pleasing. No poster popped up in my mind for either of these styles, least of all for cubism. I don't really see Picasso's style as particularly geared towards advertising like most of the ones we've learned about.
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