After Class 03/19/10

Peter Behrns is created with being the first designer to create a "visual identification program" for a company. What this means is he created a standard logo, color, and look to "brand" the company AEG. We may take this for granted in our modern era because we are familiar with so many brands. This is quite an achievement because Behrns recognized the benefit repetition of style for a company would have. It would make it so much more memorable and hopefully profitable because people would be able to relate good feelings with recognition. Behrns also was concerned with typography. He considered it the "most characteristic picture of a period." I agree that you can tell a lot about a certain time in history and the people by what their writing looked like. Going back, we can obviously see the Sumerians and Egyptians were concerned with farming. Later we see during the times of the renaissance, religious literature was beautifully written. Behrns advanced the use of sans-serif type. He was giving writing a very clean look. This style was called "New Objectivity." Rather than be concerned with fanciful elaborate designs, this style was about simplicity and focusing on the needs of the industry. Behrns represented two concepts: Neoclassicism and Sachlichkeit. He designed a tea kettle that was simple and functional. He "eliminated social class recognitions."
Other breakthroughs in New Objectivity were the first sign for the London Underground railway system. It was created in 1890 and designed by Frank Pick. His poster to advertise the railway was bold, bright, and stood out. He used positive and negative space with bright blue, red, and white colors. His design became the blue print for "corporate design."
I think it's interesting to see how design began to become simpler looking. With all advancements in technology, the most important thing the industry needed was for it to be practical and functional. I would be curious to know if London has ever considered re-doing the UNDERGROUND sign

After Class 03/17/10

Today, Patrick gave his presentation about the lead designers, architects, and influences behind the movement that began at the turn of the century. Frank Llyod Wright was a major influence. He was born in Wisconsin, but the houses he designed stretched across the midwest and into Arizona as well. His homes were "prairie style" homes, and was considered to be way ahead of his time for his visionary thinking. He designed not only the exterior, but all aspects of the house. The interior windows, furniture, and set up were all decided by Wright. His vision was for the house to all be "in sync." All parts of the house flowed together harmoniously. Wright was also a graphic designer. In the winter of 1896, he and William Winslow printed "The House Beautiful" which was written by Rev. C. Gannett. Wright meticulously designed the borders that accompanied every page.
The Glasgow school of the arts produced four tight nit designers and architects who were fans of Wright. "The Four" who were Mackintosh, McNair, and the MacDonald sisters created new geometric designers similar to the geometric designs found in Wright's stained glass and houses. Their designs were streamlined but also had curved floral elements at the end of them. "The four" also designed rooms that were anti-Victorian. They were white walled rooms, that flooded with light and contained few objects as opposed to the overstuffed and busy Victorian rooms. In the posters they designed, they were also the first artists to distort a human body. This was considered very controversial. Other designers were Jessie Marion King and Tawlin Morris who were influenced by medieval style fantasy illustrations. Morris also became the director of the Glasgow school.
The Vienna Secession was a group of students who outed themselves from the Kunstlerhaus school. They rejected what they were learning there and wanted to explore new design and styles. Their greatest accomplishment was "Ver Sacrum" which means "sacred spring". It was a magazine that illustrated the innovative and ever chaning creative designs are artists and editors. It had 300 subscribers, but they always printed 600 copies. This was so that more people could be exposed to their new designs. It was a "design laboratory" where many artists created and pushed the envelope in designs.
The magazine ran for only five years; from 1898-1903. I would be curious to know why it did not suceed? Were they not making any money on it? Did artists go onto other projects and disband?

Before Class 03/17/10

At the end of the 19th century there was a push, vision, and hope for a new direction in the arts. People and artists questioned the philosophies, rules, and styles of old and sought out new inspirations. There were many many influential people in this period who helped further these ideas. One of the most notable figures was the American architect Frank Llyod Wright. He became known for his ideas about architecture, and how ones "living space" should be approached. He believed that the most important part of the house was the inside, and how it would be functional to the individuals living there as a place of work, play, and relaxation. He was influenced by Japancese designs and looked for "a model of harmonious proportion and visual poetry." He was also influenced by geometric and mathematical designs of pre-colombian architecture. Straight lines, and evenly spaced proportions were important to him. He also valued white and blank space. As a printer, in his basement he recognized the importance of careful layout, design, and execution. He became known across Europe especially to the Glasgow school of Art in Scotland. Four scholars, who became known as "The Four" were especially fond of his vision. Charles Mackintosh, Herbert McNair, Frances & Margaret Macdonald all colaborated and shared ideas of this movement. They produced works with "lyrical originality, and symbolic complexity." Floral designs, mystical, and religious symbols were all employed by these designers. Bold, and simple lines were typical of their flat-color posters. The simplicity and "fairy-tale" imagery was a complete change for the busy, elaborate, and ornate styles of years past. Their ideas spread across Europe to Vienna. However, they were not always welcomed. "The Four" and the Creative Artist's Association in Vienna all had to fight to get their works on display. Painter Gustav Klimt led the revolt in Vienna. In Vienna much of their imagery was found in Greek mythology. After Glasgow, Vienna became an area of importance and "creative innovation." The Secession artists used more borders and headpieces than the Glasgow people,but they still maintained the simplistic and clean layouts the movement believed in.
I would be curious to know more about the influence this movement had on nursery rhymes. When I see many of the pictures, they often remind me of children's stories.

Before Class 02/26/10

The impacts of the Industrial Revolution are almost immeasurable. It changed our world and the way we can manipulate, create, and produce commodities at a much faster rate. For the first time, farming was not the main source of income for most people. Mass amounts of people left the rural areas and flooded into the cities. Animal power was replaced by machines and steam-power. The machine was not the most resourceful tool in society. It was faster and more efficient than humans. Because of this, handicrafts and skilled tradesmen were no longer needed. Machines mass produced everything at cheaper costs. As far as communication goes, this was the beginning of Mass Communication. Friedrich Koenigh developed the high speed printer. It was also the beginnings of advertising. Posters were hung around towns in vibrant colors. Producing and consuming was the main goal of the industrial revolution. With faster printmaking, typeface also changed. The new fonts were BOLD. "Fat Face", "Egyptian or slabface" both had "load-bearing slabs." They were huge letter forms that got your attention right away. To people these days, they might look like the typical "Wild West" fonts. Also, letter forms in newspapers and books were "sans serif." To us, this is MUCH easier to read, but to people back then they had a difficult time reading the smaller, thinner, letter forms. It is quite amazing that from 1450-1800 there were virtually no changes in the printing press. In one machine, the way we communicate, and how quickly we can receive information is changed. This was the beginning of the world becoming "faster."
I would be curious to know what happened to all the land that people left to go to the city? Did countries buy it up? or did other rich people? Land used to mean wealth and power, and it is surprising people would move away from it.

After Class 03/05/10

Art Nouveau was a movement about creativity, invention, and pushing the "norm." Many art movements and styles have been an extension of another type, but Art Nouveau really wanted to push the envelop with the new ways of creating, designing, and using materials in art. The style reached all avenues of design; architecture, furniture, typeface, and posters. It began in France, and spread across Europe and eventually to America by means of Harper's magazine. The style was " organic, linear, and imaginative." The famous burlesque house of "Moulin Rouge" had posters designed that represented the Art Nouveau movement. Henri de Toulouse-Lautree designed the poster style for Moulin Rouge. Vincent Van Gaugh and Paul Gaugin were also influenced by this style. Across the pont in America, Louis Rhead advertised in Harper's magazine with "vibrant unexpected color combinations" It was an "eclectic style" like no one had ever seen before them. What I think is most interesting about this style is the colors of of the posters. It doesn't have the "natural" feel like designs of the "arts & crafts" movement, yet it is not uncomfortable. It looks NATURAL, just not so heavily relied on NATURE. I really enjoy the beautiful posters. It has a simplistic quality, yet we can tell it is not because the colors are so vibrant. It really is attention-grabbing. I would be curious to know more about where the posters were seen generally. Would they only in Paris? Was America's exposure to this style only in magazines?

Before Class 03/05/10

Like many art movements, there are numerous contributing factors that influenced the style. Historical, cultural and political forces all had an influence on the movement that began in Paris in 1890. Chinese art was a style all of it's own. Citizens of the East were banned from visiting other places. Because their land, people, and country was all they knew and could be exposed to, that is what they drew. The art was beautiful almost dreamlike pictures. Most commonly art was of beautiful women, flowers, birds, and nature scenes. Kitagawa Utamaro was a great artist of the late 1700's. There was great detail and "tenderness" in his artwork. Chinese art had a "kinetic energy." Katshuhika Hokusai created the most pieces of art; 35,000. Japanese books of art were meticulously planned out, arranged, and styled using "tecture, density, and dramatic action."
Finally at the turn of the century, Eastern influences began to pervade western art. Like most art forms this style reaches all avenues of design; architecture, typography, fashion, graphics, and print. It began in Paris and was called "New Art" because it was not influenced by anything else. The vines and lines were free. Graphics were invented and not just copied from nature. The was a whole movement of art because it was about finding new avenues for inspiration. The two artists that championed this movement the most was Cheret and Grasset. When French rules about censorship dropped, they began creating this art nouveau style. Posters filled the streets and galleries were stocked with new design. Cheret was the inventor of the modern day poster we see today. Posters were dominated by illustrations now, rather than large bulky letters and words. This was also a new style of women in advertising. Cheret portrayed them as the "ideal woman." They encompassed all that a woman now had. They had freedom, happiness, were self-assured, and living life to the fullest with wine and cigarettes. Grassat created posters and designed books more influenced by nature than advertising. In England, books were reprinted in the art nouveau style. Shortly art nouveau spread across the pond to the United States. Flat color was the style, and design was less busy.
I would be curious to know what type of censorship there was in France and why?

After Class 03/01/10

Today in class we discussed further the impact of the Industrial Revolution on design. Most notably is the development of the camera as an important tool in spreading ideas, recording history, and in advertising. The camera was developed by chemists. Also, during this time advertising became much more prevalent. Large colored posters were now common sights. Color became a huge part of design. Books and posters all had vivid colors. Typeface design on posters was large with huge serifs. Although to our eye it might look disorganized and difficult to read, this was the style of the times.
Also in class we made up time lines in order of how writing and design has progressed. My group noted how art began combining words and pictures early on. Hieroglyphics would be the first example of this. Later illuminated manuscripts also achieved this with beautiful results.
I would be curious to know how much one of the first camera's would have cost?