VisComArts: Educational Poster
Professor Groat | Art 125
Your assignment is
to design a poster that serves as a tool for teaching the general public about
a particular Visual Communication occupation. The poster may present an informative overview
of a broad field such as fashion design, game design, fine arts, or explore a
more focused niche’, like cereal box package design, graphic design for the
skateboarding industry, wildlife photography, or even medical illustration for
brain surgeons. You decide! The design
must be visually engaging, legible and make use of the principles: emphasis,
alignment, contrast, balance, flow and repetition. Lastly, your poster design must contain conceptual design
elements that conform to one of the seven historical design styles listed
below.
Design Styles:
Art Nouveau (Late 19th
Century to Early 20th Century)
Bauhaus (1920’s)
Constructivism (1913-1920's )
Art Deco (1920-1930)
International Typographic Style (Swiss School of Design) 1950-1970
Modernism
/ Modern Movement/New York School 1940’s
Learning
Outcomes:
·
Create a
unified, balanced and aesthetically pleasing poster design involving both
typography and images that teaches the public about a particular visual
communication career.
·
Articulate
the main design attributes connected with Art Nouveau, Bauhaus,
Constructivism, Art Deco, Swiss Movement, Modernism, and Post Modern Design.
·
Articulate
verbally and in writing how the design principles: emphasis, alignment,
contrast, balance, flow and repetition have been used to create a unified
and balanced design that visually communicates the subject of the poster.
Size:
Poster Size 18”x24” – (Printed at Sams Club, Kinkos, Staples, etc.) | Media: digital | Full
Color
What’s Due:
11/14 3 examples of each design style posted on
blog, along with a bulleted list of the characteristic design attributes
connected with the style.
11/19 10
Thumbnails – FIRST ROUND
11/26 5 Thumbnails – SECOND ROUND
12/3 Digital
study with simplified geometric shapes and text – no pictures!
12/5 – NO CLASS - Class rescheduled
to 12/19
12/10 CRITIQUE - Comprehensive Posted on Blog
12/12 Improved Designs – Applied critique comments
12/17 Turn in mounted design for final grade
12/19 Make
up day, turn in mounted poster
Information
Required within Poster:
The content of the
poster (both images and text) must communicate informative information
connected with: What, When,
Where, and How.
- What is the name of visual communication occupation?
- What role does the occupation serve within
society?
- When did the particular visual communication medium
become an actual career within society?
- Where is the visual communication occupation
most prevalent?
- How did the visual communication occupation
emerge within society?
What’s
Required:
Ø Headline
Text
Ø Body
Text – Must explain what, where, when and how.
Ø Graphic
Illustrations or Digital Images
Ø Full Color
Ø Thumbnails, Rough, Comprehensive and Essay presented on blog!
Ø Poster sized Foam core Mounted Design
Graded
On:
How well you address
the needs of the assignment, craftsmanship,
creativity, posting creative process on blog, essay and meeting due dates.
Essay
Outline:
The project essay must outline the following:
1. How does your design teach something about a particular visual communication field and engage the audience?
2. How does your design conform to the "rule of thirds"?
3. How have the principles: emphasis, alignment, contrast, balance, flow and repetition
been implemented within your design?
4. In what ways do color, imagery and typography work together to communicate the message of your design?
1. How does your design teach something about a particular visual communication field and engage the audience?
2. How does your design conform to the "rule of thirds"?
3. How have the principles: emphasis, alignment, contrast, balance, flow and repetition
been implemented within your design?
4. In what ways do color, imagery and typography work together to communicate the message of your design?
Design Styles
Art Nouveau - Late
19th Century to Early 20th Century
- Art
Nouveau (French, = new art) as a style is marked by
- Intense
ornamentation a delight in the curves of stylized plants and
draperies, and hand lettered typography.
Art Nouveau (French, = new art) as a style is marked by intense
ornamentation, a delight in the curves of stylized plants and draperies,
and hand lettered typography.
Bauhaus - 1920’s
- "Form
follows function": the aesthetic of the Modern Era
- The
three principles of Bauhaus design were:
- Form
follows function
- Economy
of form
- Truth
to materials
The Bauhaus adopted a revolutionary teaching approach built
on practical work, where
students and teachers worked together on studio projects and
thus unified practice and theory. ... the Bauhaus seeks - by the
means of systematic theoretical and practical research into the formal,
technical and economic fields - to derive the form of an object from its
natural functions and limitations. (...) Research into the nature of objects
leads one to conclude that forms emerge from a resolute consideration of all
the modern methods of production and construction and of modern
materials. (Walter Gropius, 1926, quoted in Michl
1995). Founded in Weimar (Germany) in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, the
Bauhaus was the most influential design school of the twentieth century.
It drew inspiration both from Russian Constructivism (to the East) and De Stijl
(to the West).
Constructivism - 1913-1920's
Stylistically, Constructivism is marked by:
- Organization
of abstract, geometrical elements to make dynamic or visually stable forms
combinations of different sans serif typefaces for their visual and formal
properties as well as their literal meanings
- Simple,
flat, symbolic colors
- Extensive
white space as part of the design
- Photography
(rather than drawn illustrations) and photomontage
Constructivism emerged from the Russian revolution (1917)
and the need for quickly
designed and produced posters to promote the slogans and
campaigns of the reforming government. It was associated with
industrialization, a rejection of art as a bourgeois luxury, and adoption of
the new avant-garde art as a mass medium.
Art
Deco
1920-1930
·
Straight Lines
·
Flat,
geometric, constructed shapes
·
Chevrons
>>>>, zigzags, lightning bolts
In the typically modernist tradition, Art Deco style rejects romantic
decoration and
ornament. It delights in straight lines, flat, geometric,
constructed shapes, chevrons (>>>), zigzags, lightning bolts and all
forms influenced by machine aesthetics. But here these forms are used
with a softer touch, frequently ironic, humorous and sophisticated, consciously
self-referential. Art Deco evolved into an aesthetic of beauty, which is seen
as quintessentially French and stereotypically elegant. After World War I,
through the 1920's and 30's, French business and industry embraced the
avant-garde ideas of modern art and applied them to advertising and
publicity. Posters, packaging and the catalogues of the great fashion
stores sold not only goods but a new taste in art and design. Art became
transformed into elegance!
International Typographic
Style - 1950-1970
(Swiss School of Design)
- Clarity
of design objective
- Grid
Format
- Visual
Unity of design through asymmetrical organization through a mathematically
organized grid
- Predominant
Use of Sans-Serif expresses spirit of progressive age
During the 1950s a design movement emerged from Switzerland
and Germany that has been called Swiss design or, more appropriately, the
International Typographic Style. The objective clarity of this design movement
won converts throughout the world. It remained a major force for over two
decades, and its influence continues into the 1990s. Detractors of the
International Typographic Style complain that it is based on formula and
results in a sameness of solution; advocates argue that the style's purity of
means and legibility of communication enable the designer to achieve a timeless
perfection of form, and they point to the inventive range of solutions by
leading practitioners as evidence that neither formula nor sameness is
intrinsic to the approach, except in the hands of lesser talents.
The visual characteristics of this international style include a visual unity of design achieved by asymmetrical organization of the design elements on a mathematically constructed grid; objective photography and copy that present visual and verbal information in a clear and factual manner, free from the exaggerated claims of much propaganda and commercial advertising; and the use of sans-serif typography expresses the spirit of a progressive age and that mathematical grids are the most legible and harmonious means for structuring information. More important than the visual appearance of this work is the attitude developed by its early pioneers about their profession. These trailblazers defined design as a socially useful and important activity. Personal expression and eccentric solutions were rejected, while a more universal and scientific approach to design problem solving was embraced. In this paradigm, the designer defines his or her role not as an artist but as an objective conduit for spreading important information between components of society. Achieving clarity and order is the ideal .More than any other individual; the quality of discipline found in the Swiss design movement can be traced to Ernst Keller (1891-1968). In 1918 Keller joined the Zürich Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Art) to teach the advertising layout course and develop a professional course in design and typography. In teaching and in his own lettering, trademark, and poster design projects, Keller established a standard of excellence over the course of four decades. Rather than espousing a specific style, Keller believed the solution to the design problem should emerge from its content. Fittingly, the range of his work encompassed diverse solutions. The roots of the International Typographic Style grew from de Stijl, the Bauhaus, and the new typography of the 1920s and 1930s.
The visual characteristics of this international style include a visual unity of design achieved by asymmetrical organization of the design elements on a mathematically constructed grid; objective photography and copy that present visual and verbal information in a clear and factual manner, free from the exaggerated claims of much propaganda and commercial advertising; and the use of sans-serif typography expresses the spirit of a progressive age and that mathematical grids are the most legible and harmonious means for structuring information. More important than the visual appearance of this work is the attitude developed by its early pioneers about their profession. These trailblazers defined design as a socially useful and important activity. Personal expression and eccentric solutions were rejected, while a more universal and scientific approach to design problem solving was embraced. In this paradigm, the designer defines his or her role not as an artist but as an objective conduit for spreading important information between components of society. Achieving clarity and order is the ideal .More than any other individual; the quality of discipline found in the Swiss design movement can be traced to Ernst Keller (1891-1968). In 1918 Keller joined the Zürich Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Art) to teach the advertising layout course and develop a professional course in design and typography. In teaching and in his own lettering, trademark, and poster design projects, Keller established a standard of excellence over the course of four decades. Rather than espousing a specific style, Keller believed the solution to the design problem should emerge from its content. Fittingly, the range of his work encompassed diverse solutions. The roots of the International Typographic Style grew from de Stijl, the Bauhaus, and the new typography of the 1920s and 1930s.
Two Swiss designers who studied at the Bauhaus, Théo Ballmer
(1902-65) and Max Bill (1908-94), are principal links between the earlier
constructivist graphic design and the new movement that formed after World War
II. Ballmer, who studied briefly at the Dessau Bauhaus under Klee, Gropius, and
Meyer in the late 1920s, made an original application of de Stijl principles to
graphic design, using an arithmetic grid of horizontal and vertical alignments.
Max Bill's work encompassed painting, architecture, engineering, sculpture, and
product and graphic design. After study at the Bauhaus with Gropius, Meyer,
Moholy-Nagy, Albers, and Kandinsky from 1927 until 1929, Bill moved to Zürich.
In 1931 he embraced the concepts of art concret and began to find his way
clearly. Eleven months before Théo van Doesburg died in April 1930, he
formulated a Manifesto of Art Concret, calling for a universal art of
absolute clarity based on controlled arithmetical construction.
Modernism
/ Modern Movement/New York School
(1940’s)
·
Intuitive design / less
structured compared to European design
·
More informal with organizing
space
·
American approach to European
modern design
The first wave
of modern design in America was imported by talented immigrants from
Paul Rand
Milton Glaser
PostModernism
David Carson
Europe seeking to escape the political
climate of totalitarianism. These individuals brought Americans a firsthand
introduction to the European avant-garde. The 1940s saw steps toward an
original American approach to modernist design. While borrowing freely from the
work of European designers, Americans added new forms and concepts to the
tradition of graphic design. European design was often theoretical and highly
structured; American design was pragmatic, intuitive, and more informal in its
approach to organizing space. Just as Paris had been the most democratic city in
the world, with great receptivity to new ideas and images during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, New York City assumed that role
during the middle twentieth century.
Perhaps these
cultural incubators nurtured creativity because the prevailing climate enabled
individuals to realize their potential--or, the existing climate may have been
a magnet attracting individuals of great talent and potential. In either case,
New York City became the cultural center of the world in the middle of the twentieth
century, and graphic design innovation ranked high among its accomplishments. Despite
the European underpinnings, unique
aspects of American culture and society dictated an original approach to modern
design. The United States is an egalitarian society with capitalistic attitudes
and values, limited artistic traditions before World War II, and a diverse
ethnic heritage. Emphasis was placed on the expression of ideas and an open,
direct presentation of information. In this highly competitive society, novelty
of technique and originality of concept were much prized, and designers sought
simultaneously to solve communications problems and satisfy a need for personal
expression. This phase of American graphic design began with strong European
roots during the 1940s, gained international prominence for its original
viewpoints in the 1950s, and continued until the 1990s.
Perhaps more than any other American designer, Paul Rand (1914-96) initiated this American approach to modern design. His ability to manipulate visual form (shape, color, space, line, value) and skillful analysis of communications content, reducing it to a symbolic essence without being sterile or dull, allowed Rand to become widely influential while still in his twenties. Thoughts on Design, his 1946 book illustrated with over eighty examples of his work, inspired a generation of designers. For all his visual inventiveness, Rand defined design as the integration of form and function for effective communication. The cultural role of the designer was defined as upgrading rather than as serving the least common denominator of public taste. This is a major hallmark of his contribution--perhaps there is a limit to how far a designer can follow the modern painter into the uncharted realm of pure form and subjective expression without losing the vital foothold on public communication.
Perhaps more than any other American designer, Paul Rand (1914-96) initiated this American approach to modern design. His ability to manipulate visual form (shape, color, space, line, value) and skillful analysis of communications content, reducing it to a symbolic essence without being sterile or dull, allowed Rand to become widely influential while still in his twenties. Thoughts on Design, his 1946 book illustrated with over eighty examples of his work, inspired a generation of designers. For all his visual inventiveness, Rand defined design as the integration of form and function for effective communication. The cultural role of the designer was defined as upgrading rather than as serving the least common denominator of public taste. This is a major hallmark of his contribution--perhaps there is a limit to how far a designer can follow the modern painter into the uncharted realm of pure form and subjective expression without losing the vital foothold on public communication.
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