GRDS 229 QUIZ 3 Chp. 15-18
3 principles of constructivism
1. tectonics: unification of communist ideology with visual form 2. texture: nature of materials & how they're used in industrial production 3. construction: creative process & the search for laws of visual organization
for the voice
1923 book of 13 poems by vladimir mayakovski; el lissitzsky designed exclusively with elements from the metal type case set by a german compositor who knew no russian - intent was to interpret the poems as "a violin accompanies a piano;" a die-cut tab index along the right margin helped the reader find a poem; each poem's title spread is illustrated with abstract elements signifying its content; spatial composition, contrast between elements, the relationship of forms to the negative space of the page, & an understanding of such printing possibilities as overlapping color were important
prouns
a painting style by kasimir malevich; acronym for "projects for the establishment [affirmation] of new art;" introduced 3d illusions that both receded (negative depth) behind the picture plane (naught depth) & projected forward (positive depth) from the picture plane; pointed the way to the application of modern painting concepts of form & space to applied design
univers
a visually programmed family of 21 sans-serif fonts completed by adrian frutiger for the deberny & peignot type foundry in 1954; ranges from light/extra condensed to expanded/extra bold; all fonts have the same x-height & ascender & descender lengths = uniform & harmony; size & weight of capitals characters are close to the size & weight of the lowercase characters
books poster
alexander rodchenko, 1924; text - big block letters = clear & legible, no flourish of the artist's hand is evident; photograph of lilya brik, a fellow member of the constructivist circle calls out the russian word for "books;" image has been manipulated & integrated into the bold design
"woman in red stripes"
alexey brodovitch (art director), cover for harper's bazaar, june 1951; the feeling of summer is captured by the bold colors; the cropping of the image draws attention to the beach clothing rather than the model herself
rudolph deharak
american designer; had a continuing quest for communicative clarity & visual order, which are the qualities of he deemed vital to effective graphic design; initiated a series of over 350 book jackets for the mcgraw-hill publishers using a uniform typographic style & grid during the 1960s
art concret
concrete art; paintings were totally constructed of pure, mathematically exact visual elements - planes & colors; result are purely abstract
carlo vivarelli
an editor of the trilingual periodical "neue grafik"/"new graphic design"/"graphisme actuel" - presented the philosophy & accomplishments of the swiss movement to an international audience - its format & typography were a living expression of the order & refinement achieved by swiss designers
theo ballmer
applied de stijl principles to graphic design in an original way, using an arithmetic grid of horizontal & vertical alignments
jan tschichold
applied new approaches to everyday design problems & explained them to a wide audience of printers, typesetters, & designers; declared the aim of every typographic work to be the delivery of a message in the shortest, most efficient manner; emphasized the nature of machine composition & its impact on the design process & product; rapidly assimilated the new concepts of the bauhaus & the russian constructivists into his work & became a practitioner of die neue typographie (the new typography)
alexander rodchenko
ardent communist who brought an inventive spirit & willingness to experiment to typography, montage, & photography; his heavy sans-serif hand lettering engendered the bold sans-serif types that were widely used in the soviet union; often deployed contrasting bold, blocky type & hard-edged shapes against the softer forms & edges of photomontages
ernst keller
argued that the solution to a design problem should emerge from its content
giselle poster
armin hofmann, poster for the basel open-air theater, 1959; an organic, kinetic, & soft photographic image contrasts intensely with geometric, static, & hard-edged typographic shapes
ladislav sutnar
became the leading supporter & practitioner of functional design in czechoslovakia; advocated the constructivist ideal & the application of design principles to every aspect of contemporary life; his book jackets & editorial designs evinced the an organizational simplicity & typographic clarity, giving graphic impact to the communication
"this is nazi brutality" poster
ben shahn (social realist), poster for the u.s. office of war information, 1943; a dire crisis is conveyed using the most direct words & imagery possible; shahn's paintings addressed political & economic injustice during the depression, reached a larger audience in posters conveying nazi brutality
wassily kandinsky
blue rider painter (alongside paul klee); his belief in the autonomy & spiritual values of color & form had led to the courageous emancipation of his painting from the motif & form representational elements; joined the bauhaus staff in 1922
paul klee
blue rider painter (alongside wassily kandinsky); integrated modern visual art with the work of non-western cultures & children to create drawings & paintings that are charged visual communication; joined the bauhaus staff in 1920
edward johnston
calligrapher & teacher; designed an exclusive, patented typeface for the underground: johnston's railway type in 1916 - these elemental letterforms were prototypes for reductive design; sans-serif font whose strokes have a consistent weight
max miedinger
collaborated with edouard hoffman & executed the designs for the sans-serif type helvetica (originally called "neue haas grotesk" - it was renamed in 1961) in the mid-1950s
jean carlu
commissioned by charles coiner (art consultant) to create one of the finest designs of his career, the famous "america's answer! production" poster - intense powerful communications from the graphic designers, illustrators, & fine artists commissioned to create posters for the office of war information
eric gill
complex & colorful figure who defied categorization in the history of graphic design; his 1913 conversion to catholicism intensified his belief that work has spiritual value & that the artist & craftsman serve a human need for beauty & dignity; created the typeface gill sans
the golden section
cover design for théo van doesburg's de stijl journal by vilmos huszar, 1917; huszar combined his composition with type & van doesburg's logo to create a concise rectangle in the center of the page
gerrit rietveld
de stijl architecture was realized in 1924 when he designed the celebrated schroeder house in utrecht
joost schmidt
designed the bauhaus exhibition poster in 1923 - combined geometric & machine forms, which reflected the reorientation occurring at the bauhaus; also shows the influence of oscar schlemmer
oscar schlemmer
designed the later bauhaus seal in 1922; connotes the emerging geometric & machine orientation
helvetica
designs executed by max miedinger in the mid-1950s - originally called "neue haas grotesk"; had a larger x-height than univers; well-defined forms & excellent rhythm of positive & negative shapes - made it the most specified typeface internationally during the 1960s& 1970s; lacked the cohesiveness of univers because its variations were developed by many different designers
h.n. werkman
dutch artist; noted for his experimentation with type, ink, & ink rollers for purely artistic expression; beginning in 1923, he used type, rules, printing ink, brayers, & a small press to produce mono prints, which he referred to as druksels (prints); like lissitzsky, he explored type as concrete visual form as well as alphabet communication
piet zwart
dutch designer; created a synthesis from 2 apparently contradictory influences: the dada movement's playful vitality & de stijl's functionalism & formal clarity; designed the space as a "field of tension" brought alive by rhythmic composition, vigorous contrasts of size & weight, & a dynamic interplay between typographic form & the background page; created dynamic & arresting layouts; once dubbed himself a typotekt - both an architect & a typographic designer
de stijl journal
edited & published by théo van doesburg from 1917 until 1931; this publication spread the movement's theory & philosophy to a larger audience; advocated the absorption of pure art by applied art; became a natural vehicle for expressing the movement's principles in graphic design; van doesburg developed a new horizontal style in 1921
about two squares
el lissitzky, 1922; suprematist picture book for kids
"beat the whites with the red wedge"
el lissitzsky, 1919; space is dynamically divided into white & black areas; suprematist design elements are transformed into political symbolism that even a semiliterate peasant can supposedly understand: support for the "red" bolshevik against the "white" forces of aleksandr kerensky is symbolized by a red wedge slashing into a white circle
suprematism
elemental geometric abstraction that was new & totally nonobjective; founded by kasimir malevich with his painting style of basic forms & pure color
max bill
embraced concepts of art concret; constructed layouts of geometric elements, organized with absolute order, featured mathematical proportion, geometric spatial division, & the use of akzidenz grotesk; important concerns: linear division of space into harmonious parts, modular grids, & arithmetic/geometric progressions, permutations, & sequences
gill sans
eric gill, issued between 1928 & 1930; inspired by johnston's railway type; sans-serif type family, which eventually included 14 styles, does not have an extremely mechanical appearance because its proportions stem from the roman tradition
johannes itten
established the vorkurs (preliminary course) at the bauhaus; his goals were to release each student's creative abilities, to develop an understanding of the physical nature of materials, & to teach the fundamental principles of design underlying all visual art; emphasized visual contrasts & the analysis of old master paintings; sought to develop perceptual awareness, intellectual abilities, & emotional experience
armin hofmann
evolved a design philosophy based on the elemental graphic-form language of point, line, & plane, replacing traditional pictorial ideas with a modernist aesthetic - sought a dynamic harmony where all the parts of a design are unified
emil ruder
faculty of the basel school of design - typography instructor; called upon his students to strike the correct balance between form & function; taught that type loses its purpose when it loses its communicative meaning - legibility & readability = dominant concerns; advocated systematic overall & the use of grid structure to bring all elements into harmony with each other while allowing for design variety; realized the implications of univers
container corporation of america (cca)
founded by a major figure in the development of american modern design beginning in the 1930s, a chicago industrialist, walter p. paepcke in 1926; paepcke was unique among the large industrialists of his generation, for he recognized that design could both serve a pragmatic business purpose & become a major cultural thrust on the part of the corporation; their new visual signature (& its implementation) was based on 2 ingredients: the vision of the designer, & a supportive client; during wwii, innovated used for paperboard packaging, which freed metals & other strategic materials for the war effort - a "paperboard goes to war" advertising campaign continued the design experimentation of the earlier institutional ads; postwar: paintings by artists from each of the then 48 states - each would present an artist's interpretation of a great idea selected by adler & his colleagues/series served to advance a bauhaus idea: the union of art with life
kasimir malevich
founded suprematism; rejected both utilitarian function & pictorial representation, instead seeking the supreme "expression of feeling, seeking no practical values, no ideas, no promised land;" believed the essence of the art experience was the perceptual effect of color & form; argued that art must remain an essentially spiritual activity apart from the utilitarian needs of society - rejected a social or political role, believing the sole aim of art to be realizing perceptions of the world by inventing forms in space & time
stenberg brothers
georgii & vladimir augustovich stenberg were talented brothers who collaborated on theatrical designs & over 300 film posters produces from 1923 to 1933; mindful of the reproduction difficulties with photographs at the time, they improvised a projector to enlarge film images & then made meticulously realistic drawings for their posters by skewing, tracing, & combining the images - these 3d illusions were contrasted with flat forms of bright color in dynamic posters conveying strong, direct messages
bauhaus
german design school, 1919-33; ideas from all the advanced art & design movements were explored, combined, & applied to problems of functional design & machine production; logical consequence of a german concern for design in industrial society that began in the opening years of the century; years in weimar were intensely visionary & drew inspiration from expressionism; no distinction was made between fine & applied art
the ulm institute of design
germany, 1950-68; attempted to establish a center of research & training to address the design problems of the era with educational goals similar to those of the bauhaus
schroeder house
gerrit rietveld, 1924; so radical that neighbors threw rocks, & its inhabitants were taunted daily; new architecture composed of planes in a square
"everyone must vote" poster
gustav klutsis, series poster, 1930; the same montage was used for various campaigns
london underground
henry c. beck, 1933; by depicting a schematic concept of the subway lines rather than a conventional map, beck simplified the communication of information for the subway rider
universal alphabet
herbert bayer, 1925; experiment in reducing the alphabet into one set of geometrically constructed characters maximizes differences between letters for greater legibility - the lower letterforms show different weights; later variations include bold, condensed, typewriter, & handwriting styles
kandinsky poster
herbert bayer, exhibition poster on the occasion of kandinsky's 60th birthday, 1926; type & image are arranged in a functional progression of size & weight from the most important information to supporting details
schweiz poster
herbert matter, 1934; swiss tourism poster (swiss national tourist office); angular forms & linear patterns convey a sense of movement appropriate to winter sports
herbert matter
his advertisements for molded-plastic chairs by eero saarinen are remarkable in their dynamic composition - biomorphic shapes, while quite fashionable during the late 1940s & early 1950s in painting, furniture, & other design forms, became trapped in this time frame & are now associated with the sensibilities of the period; his "chimney sweeper" proved to be the most enduring advertisement in the history of the company, the culmination of one of the most lasting designer-client relations in american graphic design
piet mondrian
his paintings are the wellspring from which de stijl's philosophy & visual forms developed; by 1911, he'd moved from traditional landscape painting to a symbolic style influenced by van gogh that expressed the forces of nature; influenced by schoenmakers' philosophy; began to paint purely abstract paintings composed of horizontal & vertical lines; believed the cubists had not accepted the logical consequences of their discoveries; this was the evolution of abstraction toward its ultimate goal, the expression of pure reality
will burtin
his work combined a graphic clarity & directness with a lucid presentation of the subject matter; the "design decade" architectural forum cover demonstrates his ability to bring together structural form & symbolic information in a cohesive whole - the dates, printed on acetate, combine with the architect's tools to signify design during the preceding decade; shadows become integral forms in the design - his keen understanding of science is reflected in designs for the upjohn pharmaceutical company interpreting such complex subjects as bacteriology - was an art director for fortune magazine; in 1948, he became a design consultant for upjohn & other companies, making a major contribution to the visual interpretation of graphic information
laszlo moholy-nagy
hungarian constructivist; explored painting, photography, film, sculpture, & graphic design - new materials such as acrylic resin & plastic, new techniques such as photomontage & the photogram, & visual means including kinetic motion, light & transparency were encompassed in his wide-ranging investigations; had a marked influence on the evolution of bauhaus instruction & philosophy; his passion for typography & photography inspired a bauhaus interest in visual communications & led to important experiments in the unification of these two arts
lester beall
in the challenging social & economic environment of the depression era, he attempted to develop strong, direct, & exciting visual forms; admiring the strong character & form of 19th century american wood types, he delighted in incorporating them into his work during this period; often, flat planes of color & elementary signs such as arrows were combined with photography, as he sought visual contrast & a high level of informational content
the new typography (die neue typographie)
jan tschichold, 1928; designer was disgusted with "degenerate typefaces & arrangements," he sought to wipe the slate clean & find a new asymmetrical typography to express the spirit, life, & visual sensibility of the day; his objective was functional design by the most straightforward means
musica viva poster: beethoven
josef muller-brockmann, 1955; shapes align in harmonious juxtaposition to imply a visual interpretation of music
constructivism
led by vladimir tatlin & alexander rodchenko; opposition of malevich & kandinsky in 1921 - renounced "art for art's sake" to devote themselves to industrial design, visual communications, & applied arts serving the new communist society; called on the artist to stop producing useless things such as paintings & turn to the poster
el lissitzsky
mathematical & structural properties of architecture formed the basis for his art; his tremendous energy & range of experimentation with photomontage, printmaking, graphic design, & painting enabled him to become the main conduit through which suprematist & constructivist ideas flowed into western europe
rural electrification administration posters
poster for the rural electrification administration (a federal agency charged with bringing electricity to the less populated areas of America where close to 80% of farms still lacked electricity), c.1937; patriotic graphics & happy farm children imply a rural life improved by government programs; the stripes of the flag are echoed by the wooden fence & imply a bond between farming & the nation
typophoto
moholy-nagy called this objective integration of word & image to communicate a message with immediacy "the new visual literature;" he saw photography influencing poster design - which demands instantaneous communication - by techniques of enlargement, distortion, dropouts, double exposures, & montage
de stijl
movement launched in the netherlands in the late summer of 1917; founder & guiding spirit: théo van doesburg; working in an abstract geometric style, artists sought universal laws of balance & harmony for art, which could then be a prototype for a new social order
fortune magazine
multinational business magazine, published & owned by time inc. & headquartered in nyc; founded by henry luce in 1929; commissioned herbert matter for design & photographic assignments
the isms of art
one of the most influential book designs of the 1920s; lissitzsky edited with the dadaist hans arp - format for this book = important step toward creation of a visual program for organizing information; 3-column horizontal grid structure used for the title page & the 3-column vertical grid structure used for the text became an architectural framework for organizing the 48-page pictorially illustrated portfolio; asymmetrical balance, silhouette halftones, & a skillful use of white space are other important design considerations; by using large, bold sans-serif numbers to link the picture to captions listed earlier, lissitzsky allows the numbers to become compositional elements - this treatment of sans-serif typography & bold rules is an early expression of the modernist aesthetic
isotype
originated by otto neurath; involves the use of elementary pictographs to convey information; originally called the vienna method, this movement actually stands for "the international system of typographic picture education"
jacqueline casey
part of the staff of the mit graphic-design program - was the director of the design services office; this program enabled all members of the university community to benefit from free, professional design assistance on their publications & publicity material - an early recognition of the cultural & communicative value of design by an american university - committed to the grid & sans-serif typography
futura
paul renner, 1927-30; the extensive range of sizes & weights provided vigorous contrasts for printers & designers who adopted the new typography - various sizes; designed for the bauer type foundry in germany; had 15 alphabets, including 4 italics & 2 unusual display fonts; became the most widely used geometric sans-serif family
m. h. j. schoenmakers
philosopher; defined the horizontal & the vertical as the two fundamental opposites shaping our world, & called red, yellow, & blue the three principal colors
semiotics
philosophical theory of signs & symbols
max huber
produced phenomenal graphics with bright, pure hues combined with photographs in intense, visual organizations - he took advantage of the transparency of printing inks by layering shapes, typography, & images to create a complex web of graphic information
walter gropius
published the bauhaus manifesto in german newspapers in 1919, which established the philosophy of the new school - recognizing the common roots of both the fine & applied visual arts, he sought a new unity of art & technology as he enlisted a generation of artists in a struggle to solve problems of visual design created by industrialism; deeply interested in architecture's symbolic potential & the possibility of a universal design style as an integrated aspect of society
alexey brodovitch
russian-born, french-educated immigrant who worked in editorial design for fashion magazines; brought european modernism to american graphic design; art director of harper's bazaar from 1934 until 1958; had an affinity for white space & sharp type on clear, open pages, he rethought the approach to editorial design; sought a "musical feeling" in the flow of text & pictures - the rhythmic environment of open space balancing text was energized by the art & photography he commissioned from major european artists; saw contrast as a dominant tool in editorial design & paid close attention to the graphic movement through the editorial pages of each issue
3 branches of semiotics
semantics, syntactics, & pragmatics
bauhausbücher (bauhaus books)
series of 14 books; became important vehicles for disseminating advanced ideas about art theory & its applications to architecture & design
syntactics
study of how signs & symbols are connected & ordered into a structural whole
semantics
study of the meaning of signs & symbols
pragmatics
study of the relation of signs & symbols to their users
adrian frutiger
swiss designer who completed a visually programmed family of 21 sans-serif fonts named univers for the deberny & peignot type foundry in 1954
international typographic style
switzerland & germany, 1950s; asymmetrical organization; mathematically constructed grid; objective photography & copy that present visual & verbal information; flush-left, ragged right, sans-serif typography; universal & scientific; goal: achieve clarity & order
herbert bayer
the posters he produced during & after the war were surprisingly illustrative compared to his constructivist approach during the dessau bauhaus period; sensitive to his new audience & oriented toward communications & problem solving, he painted illustrations with a simplified realism & then combined these with the hierarchy of information & strong underlying composition he pioneered at dessau
anton stankowski
visual pattern & form were explored in his close-up photography of common objects, whose texture & detail were transformed into abstract images; ideas about color & form from his paints often found their way into his graphic designs; major contribution (post-wwii) to graphic design: creation of visual forms to communicate invisible processes & physical forces
scope magazine
will burtin, cover for the first issue of scope, 1941; to signify new "miracle drugs" under development, color illustration is superimposed over a black-&-white photograph of a test tube
