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Movements and Styles After Modernism

estefany — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:48:27 +0000

Hi everyone! We have one more Design History article, talking about the postmodern movements. Many things happened in the art world after the second war. See the most important movements that are still reference for designers.

The International Style

About 1950, in Switzerland, a new style came out, very clean, objective, neutral, using sans serif type, known as the International Style or Swiss Style. It was based on the idea that type should be neutral and not a distraction from the content. Its concepts expanded to other arts, like architecture, product and graphic design, becoming a world-wide style.

Pop Art

The Pop Art movement challenged tradition, joining the popular culture with fine art. Born about 1950-1960, the Pop Art is considered one of the earliest postmodernist arts. The most known Pop Art artists in the US were Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

Punk

Starting about 1976, the punk movement was a rebellion against traditional values, affecting different areas, from music to fashion, art and design. In fashion, it was market by intense make ups, bold hairstyles and aggressive, torn, cut, mutilated clothing.

Post Modern Architecture

The postmodernist architectural movement emerged in 1960, as a response to the International Style. It brought back the ornaments, colors, masses and texture, against the formality of the International Style. In modernism, these characteristics were seen as unnecessary, not functional and expensive.

New Wave

Wolfgang Weingart, considered the father of New Wave typography, made experiments with type, based on a huge knowledge of the functions on typography. He says that he started Swiss Typography and “destroyed” this concept, creating something new, but without the intention of creating a new style. His students were the ones to understand his ideas and spread the “Weingart style”. Among his students, the ones that most stood out were April Greiman and Dan Friedman.

Deconstruction in Literature

The French philosopher Jacques Derrida proposed the Deconstruction, as a method of analyzing literature, highly philosophical, which covers the different layers of meaning. On its approach, the text has contradictory meanings and different interpretations, showing that the language is constantly changing.

Deconstructed Typography

The deconstructivism is characterized by fragmentation, layering, non-linear shapes, distortion and dislocation. The movement initialized with Derrida’s studies had also a great importance for postmodern architecture.

References and further information:

Design History

As you could see there were many important artistic movements since 1950 – each one with its characteristics and importance. I can say that one of my favorites is the Swiss International Style, so clean, objective and elegant. I guess, although, for most people the “deary” is the Pop Art. What’s your favorite one?

Digital Revolution in Graphic Design

estefany — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:31:29 +0000

We’re finishing our Design History series with a more contemporary matter: the computer and the graphic design. We’re going to see some great names that we already know, like Apple, Adobe and Microsoft, and how they contributed for the graphic design. Good reading.

Computer Graphic without a Screen

Computer graphics exists even before the screens we know. In one of the firsts graphic images, created by Ben Laposky in 1950, an oscilloscope was used. Later, in 1960, William Fetter uses the term “computer graphic” as he was a graphic designer for Boeing Aircraft Co.

The Screen

The discovery of cathode rays, by Julius Plucker in 1959, made possible the creation of the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), which allowed data visualization. The firsts screens was only one color and very crude. Later they were improved, working with the three colors RGB.

CRT

GUI – Graphical User Interface

With the GUI (pronounced “gooey”), instead of using only commands on a keyboard, the user had an interface with pictures, buttons and pointers (in 1963, Douglas Englebart created the first mouse). It made a lot easier to use a computer and explore its possibilities. In 1981, Xerox launched the Star Workstation, the first station using GUI.

Xerox’s Star workstation

Digital Type is Born

Dr. Ing. Rudolf Hell created in 1965 the first device to produce characters on a CRT with digital control: the Digiset typesetting system. Other systems appeared and evolved near the 1970’s. In 1968, the Hell Design Studio designed the first digital type, called Digi Grotesk.

Bit Map Fonts

Also called “raster fonts” or “pixel fonts”, these fonts are made from squared dots, pixels, creating the shape of each letter. They look pretty crude, due to its squared shapes. Today they are used for Flash and web design.

Post Script Language Type 1 – Adobe, 1985

There were different formats for digital fonts, till Adobe created the PostScript Type 1 for the Apple Laserwriter printer in 1985, about six years earlier than TrueType format. The format permits scaling to any size, but it’s limited to 256 characters for font. For more complex titling, accents and ligatures, a “pro” version is needed.

True Type – Apple & Microsoft, late 1980′s

TrueType (first called Royal) came as PostScript rival, using a different curve system (quadratic curves). They look sharper on screen and need only one file, different than PostScripts, which needs a bitmap suitcase and a font file. Each one had its advantages and disadvantages.
OpenType – Adobe & Microsoft, 1990′s

Both technologies from the PostScript and TrueType were combined in OpenType. OpenType’s Unicode encoding allows 65,000 characters in a single font and it’s also cross-plataform, working on Macs and PC’s. So many characters can make complex fonts with special characters, accentuation and ligatures or even Greek and Cyrillic characters.

Microsoft ClearType and CoolType, 2000

These are sub-pixel font rendering technologies, created to provide sharper visualization of fonts on screen, but they only works on LCD displays. ClearType was created by Microsoft, while CoolType was created by Adobe and were added to E-book Reader and Acrobat Reader.

Digital Type Pioneers

Bitstream, 1981

Bitstream was the first digital type foundry, founded by Mike Parker, a traditional type designer from Linotype. His partner Matthew Carter was also a traditional type designer, that used his knowledge adapted to the new demands of digital type. Bitstream created some own fonts and also remade classic fonts in digital medium.

Macintosh”City” Type, 1983

Susan Kare designed for Apple a series of city-named fonts for screen. The main font of the series was Chicago, used for the operating system. The other ones were derivated from known fonts like New York fromm Times New Roman, Geneva from Helvetica and others.

Adobe Type Originals

Adobe started digitalizing traditional fonts, but about 1989 they started the Adobe Originals, where they produced a new series of type families. The known Adobe Garamond was one of the firsts fonts designed by Roger Slimbach for Adobe Originals. Some fonts that succeeded that were Traja, Lithos and Caslon.

The impact of the computer and digital type for graphic designers

We know that the history of graphic design comes much earlier than the computers. Then how could the computer turn everything so different? It’s hard to imagine myself doing everything without a computer, while the early designers needed to do everything by their own. Today it’s so simple to buy a beautiful font family, we don’t need to engrave letters in metal. How much is that good? I leave this question for you, to balance the good and bad aspects of “digital revolution”.

References and further reading:

The History of Advertising

estefany — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:10:44 +0000

Today’s article from the Design History series talks about something we’re used to see all the time in our lives but we don’t really know how it began or expanded so much: advertising. It’s an important matter for designers, advertisers, companies and customers. Check that out.

The beginning

One of the first advertisement medium was the “Pennsylvania Gazette” published in 1729 by Benjamin Franklin, containing pages with “new advertisements”. Later, in 1784, the “The Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser” started as the first successful daily American newspaper. Some newspaper banned advertising, while others not, but about 1870 many of them presented ads with an increscent demand.

Newspaper Advertising Agents

The early advertising agents were basically resellers of spaces in newspapers. The ads in general tried to convince the buyers of the qualities of the product, using images, descriptions and sometimes even testimonials. Only later they went deeper “selling” concepts like success, popularity, etc.

Early Philadelphia Agencies

The first advertising agency was opened by Volney Palmer in 1841. He possibly was the first person to use the term “advertising agency”. In 1869 Francis Wayland Ayer opens the N. W. Ayers & Son. that later bought the Volney Palmer agency and could call itself “oldest advertising firm in the US”. They offered services for marketers from all the country. Soon agencies started expanding their services including artwork and layout.

Francis Wayland Ayer

The Science of Advertising

About 1902 the field has expanded so much that people started studying psychology for advertising – like Walter Dill Scott, that published “The Psychology of Advertising in Theory and Practice” that year. He was a pioneer in marketing and advertising studies. According to him, the advertiser should understand how the mind of the customers reacts, what attracts them.

In 1905, Earnest Elmo Calkins publishes The Art of Modern Advertising, making a link between advertising and the consumer, retailer and manufacturer with his studies.

Art Direction

With the increasing of advertising in newspapers and magazines, and their need of images as “art” elements, emerged the need of an “Art director”, responsible for the layout. In America, art direction proceeded the profession of graphic design.

American Graphic Design

The American graphic design emerged due to two main factors. One was the advances in reproductive technologies, which made possible the use of design in large scale. Other factor was the arrival of modernist émigrés from Europe, that understood graphic design as methodologies guiding a creative process, which is the basis for graphic design as a profession. Among them were Bayer, Sutnar, Burtin, Maholy-Nagy and Matter. That time clients started being persuaded to minimize text on advertisings, using only the essential.

Some relevant American graphic designers

Paul Rand

One of the biggest influences for graphic design, Paul Rand, born in 1914, contributed with works on corporate identity, prints and ads.

Lester Beall

He was one of the first American designers to have his work published in the known German Magazine Gebrauchsgraphik. He proved to American business that graphic design can solve communication problems and deal with issues like marketing and budget at the same time.

Bradbury Thompson

Known by his good taste and elegance, Bradbury Thompson had a large knowledge of the printing process and knew how to use it well for his designs. He developed the “alphabet 26” or “monoalphabet”, consisted of 26 letters mixing lowercases and uppercases.

Louis Danziger

One of the first Americans to study and teach history of design, Louis Danziger exemplified the diversity of modernism. He worked with different design areas, such as advertising, editorial design, corporate works and exhibitions. One advice he gives to students: “Work, think, feel”.

References and further reading:

Design History

Wait until next week for the last article of the series, about the digital revolution in graphic design.

The Bauhaus

estefany — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:14:47 +0000

Here it goes one of the most expected articles from de design history series: The Bauhaus. Let’s see how everything begun, its artists, its influences and many things about the first big school of design, that means so much for us.

Bauhaus

The Staatliches-Bauhaus (Building House) was one of the first design schools. The interesting is that it was an attempt to integrate art and industry. Different than the ideas of the Arts and Crafts movement, the idea of Bauhaus was to embrace the technology and mass production with art.

Walter Gropius

One of the most known names of architecture, Walter Gropius was one of the founders of Bauhaus. After the WWI, he wanted to show that the industry could be used for a social good, not only for destruction.

Bauhaus – Phase 1 – Weimar, Germany

The first location of the Bauhaus was the School of Art & Crafts, directed by Henri van de Velde, when he had to leave the country due to his Belgian nationality and indicated Gropius as his successor. Gropius then reorganized the school under the name Bauhaus. In this first phase, the school was influenced by Expressionism and Arts and Crafts. Although it was doing successfully, the school was considered too liberal and was forced to move to Dessau.

Bauhaus – Phase 2 – Dessau, Germany

A modern building made of concrete, glass and steel was designer by Gropius and built in Dessau. That was the second location of the Bauhaus. Later, Gropius and his successor Hannes Meyer were replaced by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, because of their political views.

Bauhaus – Phase 3 – Berlin, Germany

The Bauhaus had a brief period of time in Berlin. The Nazis forced the school to shut down in 1932, making critics about the modern styles, defined as “un-German”. The building below is the Bauhaus Archive, created in 1979, designed by Gropius.

Bauhaus Typography

The main aspects about Bauhaus typography was clarity, combination of type and photography, unadorned and clean type. László Moholy-Nagy had a great importance for the Bauhaus typography.

Herbert Bayer

In 1925, Gropius asked Bayer, which had been a student from Bauhaus, to create a typeface for the school communication. Then there was born the Universal typeface, an “idealist” geometric sans-serif font. For bayer, serifs were unnecessary, as well as upper and lower cases for each letter. These were the beginning of “The New Typography” style, based on simple, short, communicative and functional type.

Joseph Albers

While in the Bauhaus, Alberts developed the “Kombinationschrift” alphabets, using 10 basic shapes and its combinations to write any letters or numbers. The system was simple, efficient and cheap for production.

Johannes Itten

A great color theorist, Itten was a teacher at the Bauhaus. His studies and books are still used. He was the first to identify the known color combinations.

Alma Buscher

Only one quarter of the students from the Bauhaus was women, most of them in textile area. Alma Busher got her transference to woodcarving workshop and was successful in her career designing children’s furniture and toys.

Marianne Brandt

Brandt was a talented painter, sculptor, photographer and designer. She was temporary director of metal shops in 1928. Her household objects are considered precursors of the modern industrial design.

For further reading check Design History.

Interesting, isn’t it? Particularly, I love the Bauhaus typography ideals. They are such an important heritage from past graphic designers. And you, what do you think is the most affecting and important aspects of Bauhaus for us?

History of the posters – Part II of II

estefany — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:12:17 +0000

In this second part of posters’ history we can notice the graphic and ideological evolution that happened after the discovery of new techniques and uses.

British posters in World War I

The British government had urgent need of men on the army and it was hard to get men to enlist. London government started making and spreading posters for inspiration, persuasion, encouraging men to enlist.

American posters in wars

Like other countries, the USA produced lots of posters when entered the World War One in April 1917. An interesting point is that many of these posters were focused on saving food and supplies. Later, in World War Two, many of the posters intent to motivate women to work hard, specially on the armed services.

German posters in wars

“Of the nations which went to war from 1914-18 Germany was arguably the best prepared. Along with France the German government had long planned for war.” (First World War). The German subjects were different as you can see in posters like the ones bellow:

“Text announces an exhibition of artwork by German prisoners of war held in Switzerland.” (World War Pictures )

“Poster is an advertisement for cigarettes produced by Menes Cigarette Factory, Wiesbaden, Germany.” (World War Pictures)

“Misery and destruction follows anarchy”

John Heartfield and Photomontage

Different then today, there were no softwares for photomontages, but artists used multiple exposures or combining printing from negatives for create this effect. One of the most important artists that used this technique was John Heartfield. He made subliminal critics to Nazis and Hitler.

The Swiss International Style

Also known as The International Typographic Style, it is strongly recognized for its typographic use as the main element for the layout. The style became predominant in the world by the 70’s. Some of its important aspects were the use of grids, asymmetric layouts, sans serif typography and black and white photography.

The Non-commercial Poster

After the World Wars, the posters started being used as a mean for protesting against different issues, especially in the 60’s and 70’s.

Some interesting artists

Wes Wilson

Wes Wilson, who is generally acknowledged as the father of the ’60s rock concert poster, was born Robert Wesley Wilson, on July 15, 1937, in Sacramento, California. Wilson grew up without the special interest in art that is typical of most of his contemporary poster artists. Instead, he was more interested in nature and the outdoors, studying forestry and horticulture at a small junior college in Auburn, California. He attended San Francisco State, but dropped out in 1963, where his major, at that time, had become philosophy.

Taken from : wes-wilson.com

Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser (b.1929) is among the most celebrated graphic designer in the United States. He has had the distinction of one-man-shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Center. In 2004 he was selected for the lifetime achievement award of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. As a Fulbright scholar, Glaser studied with the painter, Giorgio Morandi in Bologna, and is an articulate spokesman for the ethical practice of design. He opened Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and continues to produce an astounding amount of work in many fields of design to this day.

Taken from: miltonglaser.com

Nancy Skolos and Tom Wedell

They integrate techniques of graphic collage, multiple exposures, and graduated papers to create three-dimensional, often surreal images. Some of their work is inspired by the illusory spaces and compositions of early modern artists such as Malevich, Leger, and de Chirico.

Taken from: mkgraphic.com

Official site: skolos-wedell.com

Ralph Schraivogel

The poster is a medium that combines the acts of seeing and reading to effectively communicate its message. The Swiss Graphic artist Ralph Schraivogel, born in 1960, has continually challenged the relationship between image and text, confronting viewers with images that may be «read» and texts that may be seen as forms in them. A designer of posters for a wide range of cultural events and institutions, Ralph Schraivogel’s extraordinary approach to visual communication has won him broad international recognition. His work for Zurich’s Filmpodium, the Theater am Neumarkt, the Museum of Design Zurich and for the Festival of African Films, «Cinemafrica» are the result of his intensive visual exploration, a journey whose destination may be unknown but which nonetheless is full of wonders. With each new poster, all established norms and practices seem cast into question, with the result that his work is unrelentingly innovative. Schraivogel completed the graphic design pro gram at the School of Art and Design Zurich. The show is the first in Zurich to present an overview of his startling output.

Taken from: dexigner.com

It’s interesting to learn about the historical context of something that we commonly see nowadays and understand that it had such an important political and social role. Besides that, the graphic movements, styles and evolution are inspirations for all of us. Keep waiting for our next historical article.

References and further information

History of Posters – Part I of II

estefany — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:29:25 +0000

In the follow-up of historical series posts, based on the design history, we are going to see about posters. They have been largely used since a long time ago and have an important historical function. There are important political issues and also important marks for advertising. Let’s learn more about the historical aspect of the posters.

Broadsides

This kind of posters were used for public announcements, printed in one side, roughly and quickly made. It was a way to communicate about public matters in general and they were soon discarded. At first the letters were small, although these posters were meant to be read from a distance. As big metal casts were hard to make, they were used only for titles.

Wooden Type

The big metal casts were replaced by wooden casts, because wood was the more adequate material considering printing qualities and affordable price. It permitted bigger typography on posters, better for reading from distance.

Lithographic Posters

Alois Senefelder has searched for an alternative to the metal plate engraving and invented the process of lithography, which is based on the repulse of water and oil. The technique permitted printing letters or images, using a greasy crayon directly on the stone.

Posters of the Belle Époque

After the Industrial Revolution the middle class was born creating a new piece for market, spreading the posters as an art form. By this time, the posters were elevated to the status of fine art and the Art Nouveau arised.

Japanese Ukiyo-e prints

Ukiyo-e, “pictures of the floating world”, was a Japanese kind of art focused in the cultural pleasures. Many of the Ukiyo-e posters advertised about theatres, restaurants and brothels. They were made using lithography, first black and later colored.

Three stone lithographic process

With Jules Cheret’s new lithographic process, it was possible to get a large range of colors using the three stones with the primary colors red, yellow and blue. The process was difficult, but could generate great colors and nuances and also be inexpensive.

Poster Art through Europe and the United States

Posters became a way for advertising and educating people after the Industrial Revolution, creating new consumers. Before long there were beautiful women in images exhibiting products. The power of the image for persuasion was discovered. Some artists stood out and should be remembered, like:

Alphonse Mucha

After early education in Brno, Moravia, and work for a theatre scene-painting firm in Vienna, Mucha studied art in Prague, Munich, and Paris in the 1880s. He first became prominent as the principal advertiser of the actress Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. He designed the posters for several theatrical productions featuring Bernhardt, beginning with Gismonda (1894), and he designed sets and costumes for her as well. Mucha designed many other posters and magazine illustrations, becoming one of the foremost designers in the Art Nouveau style.

Taken from britannica.com

Official Mucha Site muchafoundation.org

Privat-Livemont

Was an artist born in Schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium. He is best known for his Art Nouveau posters. From 1883 to 1889, he worked and studied in the studios of Lemaire, Lavastre & Duvignaud. He, with Lemaire, created the decor of the Theatre Francais as well as the Hotel de Ville. He later moved back to Brussels, and worked on theaters and casinos there.

Taken from wikipedia.org

Edward Penfield

Came to fame as a poster artist where precise use of line and color attracted the eye and the customers. It was a natural progression from posters to advertising, and Penfield excelled on these smaller canvases for clothiers, car makers, and Kodak. Also in demand for calendars and cover work for Collier’s, Life, Saturday Evening Post, and many others.

Taken from: americanartarchives.com

Official Penfield site : edwardpenfield.com

Henri Van de Velde

Belgian architect and teacher who ranks with his compatriot Victor Horta as an originator of the Art Nouveau style, characterized by long sinuous lines derived from naturalistic forms.

Taken from: britannica.com

Official Van de Velde Site: henry-van-de-velde.com

Beyond Art Nouveau

After the departure of three major Art Nouveau posterists, Mucha, Charret and Toulouse-Lautrec, the style started decaying. The brothers-in-law William Nicholson and James Pryde, Beggarstaff Brothers, revolutionized poster art with their simple and bold designs. The brothers used pseudonyms for their commercial art.

That’s it for now, in the second part we are going to talk about posters for the Great Wars, Social Activism and more.

Another 30 Designers that Shaped the World

estefany — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:46:58 +0000

After the great feedback and suggestions we had with the post “70 designers that changed the world”, we decided to make another list with your suggestions. So, here are more 30 great designers, architects, artists.

Andy Warhol

Painter + printmaker + filmmaker (1928 – 1987)

“Andrew Warhola, more commonly known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker, record producer, author, and public figure known for his membership in wildly diverse social circles that included bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy aristocrats.” [1]

Marilyn, 1967
Mickey Mouse
Ingrid with Hat

Antoni Gaudí

Architect (1852 – 1926)

“Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí – was a Spanish Catalan architect who belonged to the Modernist style (Art Nouveau) movement and was famous for his unique and highly individualistic designs.” [1]

Palau Güell, 1885–1889
Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family (Sagrada Família), Barcelona, Spain
La Sagrada Familia: Passion facade, Barcelona, Spain

Armin Hofmann

Graphic Designer (1920-)

“Armin Hofmann (HonRDI) is a Swiss graphic designer. Hoffman followed Emil Ruder as head of the graphic design department at the Basel School of Design (Schule für Gestaltung Basel) and was instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the Swiss Style. He is well known for his posters, which emphasised economical use of colour and fonts, in reaction to what Hofmann regarded as the “trivialization of colour”. His posters have been widely exhibited as works of art in major galleries, such as the New York Museum of Modern Art.” [1]

2 – Poster Municipal Theater Basel 63/64,1963

Battista Pininfarina

Automobile designer (1893 – 1966)

“Giovanni Battista “Pinin” Farina (later Battista Pininfarina) was an Italian automobile designer, the founder of the Carrozzeria Pininfarina coachbuilding company, a name forever associated with many of the best-known postwar sports cars (especially Ferraris).

The last design personally attributed to Battista Farina was the iconic 1600 Duetto for Alfa Romeo. This was first seen by the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966.” [1]

Cadillac 1931 452A Pininfarina X4520
Ferrari 1956 410SA SuperAmerica X4585
Cisitalia 1949 Pininfarina X4522

Charles and Ray Eames

Product Designers (1907–1978) (1912–1988)

“Not only did Charles Eames and his wife, Ray design some of the most important examples of 20th century furniture, they also applied their talents to devising ingenious children’s toys, puzzles, films, exhibitions and such iconic mid-20th century Los Angeles buildings as the Eames House and Entenza House in Pacific Palisades.” [2]

EA124 aluminium chair, 1958
Eames lounge chair and ottoman (1956)
LaChaise, 1948

“Coco” Chanel

Fashion Designer (1883 – 1971)

“Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of the famous fashion brand, Chanel. Her extraordinary influence on haute couture was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the 20th century.” [1]

Chanel nº 5, 1921
Coco Chanel by Cecil Beaton
Hat by Chanel

Flaminio Bertoni

Automotive Designer (1903-1964)

“One of the 20th century’s most gifted automotive designers, FLAMINIO BERTONI (1903-1964) was responsible for designing the bodywork of such classic – and stylistically diverse – cars as the elegant Traction Avant, supremely functional 2 CV and alluring DS 19.” [1]

Citroën Traction Avant, 1934
Citroën 2CV
Citroën DS19

Eero Arnio

Interior Designer (1932 -)

“Eero Aarnio is a Finnish interior designer, well known for his innovative furniture designs in the 1960s, notably his plastic and fiberglass chairs.

Aarnio’s designs were an important aspect of 1960s popular culture, and could often be seen as part of sets in period science-fiction films. Because his designs used very simple geometric forms, they were ideal for such productions.” [1]

Ball chair, 1963
Screw Table
Bubble chair, 1963

Ferdinand Porsche

Automotive Engineer (1875 – 1951)

“Ferdinand Porsche was an Austro-Hungarian automotive engineer. He is best known for creating the Volkswagen (Beetle) as well as the first of many Porsche automobiles, and for his contributions to advanced German tank designs: Tiger I, Tiger II and the Elefant. Porsche was awarded in 1937 the German National Prize for Art and Science, one of the rarest decorations in the Third Reich.” [1]

Ferdinand Porsche
Beetle, 1945
Panzerkampfwagen VI, 1942

Salvatore Ferragamo

Shoe Designer (1898 – 1960)

“Salvatore Ferragamo was a florentine and Italian shoe designer. He worked with many Hollywood stars in the 1920s, before returning to Italy to found the eponymous company making unique hand-made footwear. His scientific and creative approach to shoes spawned many innovations such as the wedge heel and cage heel. Film stars and celebrities continue to patronize his company, which has evolved into a luxury goods empire spanning the world.” [1]

“Invisible” sandal, 1947
Ankle-strap sandal, 1938
Shoes, 1948–50

Frank Gehry

Architect (1929 -)

“Frank Owen Gehry, CC is a Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles.

His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions. Many museums, companies, and cities seek Gehry’s services as a badge of distinction, beyond the product he delivers.

His best-known works include the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, Experience Music Project in Seattle, Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, Dancing House in Prague, Czech Republic and the MARTa Museum in Herford, Germany.” [1]

Dancing House, 1996
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 1999-2003
Stata Center, 2004

George Lois

Graphic Designer (1931 -)

“George Lois is an award-winning American Art Director, designer, advertising leader and author. George Lois is best known for the legendary and brilliant covers for Esquire Magazine which he produced as a consultant for Esquire from 1962 to 1972, never actually being an Esquire employee. Lois’ Esquire covers offered a controversial statement on life in the 1960s with subjects including Marilyn Monroe, Norman Mailer, Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol, Germaine Greer, and Richard Nixon. In 2008, The Museum of Modern Art exhibited 32 of Lois’ 92 Esquire covers.” [1]

MTV advertising, 1982
Art direction – Photo of Virna Lisi for Esquire magazine cover, 1965
Art direction – Photo of Andy Warhol for Esquire magazine cover, 1969

Gianni Versace

Fashion Designer (1946 – 1997)

“Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Elton John, Sting, and Princess Diana among many others. Openly gay, Versace and his companion Antonio D’Amico were regulars on the international party scene. Versace was murdered outside his Miami home at the age of 50 by spree killer Andrew Cunanan.” [1]

1 – Haute couture collection, fall 1996
3 – Evening gown, spring/summer 1991

Giorgetto Giugiaro

Automobile and Product Designer (1938 -)

“Giorgetto Giugiaro is an Italian automobile designer responsible equally for a stable of supercars and several of the most popular everyday vehicles driven today. He was born in Garessio, Cuneo, Piedmont.

Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century 1999 and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2002. In addition to cars, Giugiaro has designed camera bodies for Nikon, computer prototypes for Apple, and developed a new pasta shape “Marille”. [1]

DeLorean DMC-12, 1981
Maserati Ghibli Spyder 1969-73
Scirocco TS, NSR 1975

Harley Earl

Industrial Designer (1893 – 1969)

“Harley J. Earl was an automotive stylist and engineer and industrial designer. He is most famous for his time at General Motors from 1927 until 1959, where he was the first Vice President of Design. He designed the first concept car, the Buick Y-Job, he started “Project Opel”, which eventually became the Chevrolet Corvette, and he authorized the introduction of the tailfin to automotive styling.” [1]

Firebird II, 1956
Buick Y-Job, 1938
Futurliner, 1950

Jan Tschichold

Typographer and Graphic Designer (1902 – 1974)

Jan Tschichold was a typographer, book designer, teacher and writer. “Early in his career Jan Tschichold was a shit-disturber of the highest order, writing at length about all that had gone wrong since the industrialization of printing, and in particular of the complacency and mediocrity dogging typography between the wars. He wrote about revolutionary concepts like asymmetrical page layout and reinvention of the alphabet; and for this bolshevism he was incarcerated by the Nazis.” [3]

“Die Frau ohne Namen. Zweiter Teil” (The Woman Without a Name, Part II), 1927
Sabon, 1964
Issue of Typographische Mitteilungen, 1925

Jimmy Choo

Shoe Designer

“Dato’ Jimmy Choo OBE, born Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat, is a London-based luxury fashion designer best known for his hand-made women’s shoes, Jimmy Choo Ltd.

Choo currently resides in London. He is currently involved in a project to set up a shoemaking institute in Malaysia, where his iconic status is often evoked to inspire budding shoemakers and fashion designers.” [1]

Stay – encrusted with crystals, 2007
Gold sandal, 2008
115 mm metallic bootie, fall 2007

Josef Muller Brockmann

Graphic Designer (1914 – 1996)

“Josef Müller-Brockmann, was a Swiss graphic designer and teacher. He studied architecture, design and history of art at both the University and Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. In 1936 he opened his Zurich studio specialising in graphic design, exhibition design and photography. From 1951 he produced concert posters for the Tonhalle in Zurich. In 1958 he became a founding editor of New Graphic Design along with R.P. Lohse, C. Vivarelli, and H. Neuburg. In 1966 he was appointed European design consultant to IBM. Müller-Brockman was author of the 1961 publications The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems, Grid Systems in Graphic Design where he advocates use of the grid for page structure, and the 1971 publications History of the Poster and A History of Visual Communication.” [1]

Akari
Beethoven – 1955
“Stravinsky, Berg, Fortner”, 1955

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

Painter and Photographer (1895 – 1946)

“László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.” [1]

Construction Z I 1922–3
A 19 1927
Composition #19, 1921

Le Corbusier

Achitect (1887 – 1965)

“Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also painter, who is famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called Modern architecture or the International Style.

He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout central Europe, India, Russia, and one each in North and South America. He was also an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer, and modern furniture designer.” [1]

Le Corbusier; Iannis Xenakis; Edgard Varèse – Poème électronique, 1958
Villa Savoye, 1929-30
Ronchamp chapel, 1955

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Architect (1886 – 1969)

“Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies was a German-American architect. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, along with Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of Modern architecture. Mies, like many of his post World War I contemporaries, sought to establish a new architectural style that could represent modern times just as Classical and Gothic did for their own eras. He created an influential 20th century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity.” [1]

Farnsworth House, 1950
Barcelona Chair and Stool, 1929
German Pavilion, 1929

Michael Thonet

Product Designer (1796 – 1871)

“Michael Thonet was a German-Austrian cabinet maker. “With the invention of bentwood furniture, Michael Thonet laid the cornerstone of industrial production. Together with his sons he founded a company in 1849; within a short amount of time it became globally successful and expanded rapidly. More than 865,000 bentwood chairs per year were produced in today’s Czech Republic, Hungary, and Russia.” [4]

Bentwood chairs, 1850

Milton Glaser

Graphic Designer (1929 -)

“Milton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo,his “Bob Dylan” poster, the “DC bullet” logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the “Brooklyn Brewery” logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.” [1]

I Love New York logo, 1977
Urban Forest banner
Dylan – Design for Bob Dylan’s Greatest hits album, 1966

Oscar Niemeyer

Architect (1907 -)

“Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho is a Brazilian architect who is considered one of the most important names in international modern architecture. He was a pioneer in exploring the formal possibilities of reinforced concrete solely for their aesthetic impact.” [1]

MAC – Museu de Arte Contemporânea (Contemporary Art Museum), 1996
Church of St. Francis in Pampulha, 1943
Brasilia’s Metropolitan Cathedral, 1958

Paul Rand

Graphic Designer (1914 – 1996)

“Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum) was an American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, Westinghouse, ABC, and Steve Jobs’ NeXT. He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design.” [1]

ABC Logo, 1961
Cummins Engine logo
IBM logo, 1972
UPS logo, 1961
Yale University Press logo
Westinghouse logo
NeXT logo, 1986
Enron logo

Philippe Starck

Product Designer (1949 -)

“Philippe Patrick Starck is a French Product designer and probably the best known designer in the New Design style. His designs range from spectacular interior designs to mass produced consumer goods such as toothbrushes, chairs, and even houses.” [1]

Wrapped watches, 2007
Juicy Salif, 1990
Chrome Flos Gun Collection, 2008

Pierre Cardin

Fashion Designer (1922 -)

“Pierre Cardin is an Italian-born French fashion designer, known for his avant-garde style and his space age designs. He prefers geometric shapes and motifs, often ignoring the female form. He advanced into unisex fashions, sometimes experimental, and not always practical. He introduced the “bubble dress” in 1954. Pierre Cardin was also designated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1991.” [1]

Cardin Coat
Cardin Coat
Cosmos, 1967

Raymond Loewy

Industrial Designer (1893 – 1986)

“Raymond Fernand Loewy was one of the best known industrial designers of the 20th century. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States where he influenced countless aspects of North American culture. Among his many iconic contributions to modern life were the Shell logo, the Greyhound bus, the S-1 locomotive, the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators and the Studebaker Avanti. His career spanned seven decades.” [1]

PRR S1 locomotive, 1938
Pencil sharpener, 1933

Seymour Chwast

Graphic Designer (1931 -)

Seymour Chwast an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer. Chwast is famous for his commercial artwork, which includes, posters, food packaging, magazine covers, and publicity art.[2] Often referred to as “the left-handed designer,” Chwast’s unique graphic design melded social commentary and an innovative approach to photography. He is thought of as a key American designer who, along with Herb Lubalin and Tibor Kalman, influenced Howard Milton. He is the font designer of Chwast Buffalo[3], Fofucha, Loose Caboose NF, and Weedy Beasties NF.

Ad for The Economist, 2007
The Push Pin Graphic: A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration, 2004
Various fonts

Will Wright

Game Designer (1960 -)

“William Wright is an American video game designer and co-founder of the game development company Maxis, now part of Electronic Arts. In April 2009 he left Electronic Arts to run “Stupid Fun Club”, an entertainment think tank in which Wright and EA are principal shareholders.” [1]

Sim City, 1989
Spore, 2008
The Sims, 2000

[1] Extracted from Wikipedia
[2] Extracted from Design Museum
[3] Extracted from Textism
[4] Extracted from Thonet.de

Hope you liked it and even have other suggestions. Let’s talk about design! :)

Avant-Garde Art Movements in the 20th Century

estefany — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:29:16 +0000

If we go deeper in design history we can notice that many of the styles, techniques and visual languages we see today are inspired by avant-garde art movements. They were so important for breaking rules, exploration, imagination, that they are still reference for designers from all over the world. That’s what we are going to see in this article of our historical series, again based on the Design History.

Art Nouveau

Previous to the Art Nouveau movement, the Arts & Crafts was introduced to Europe in 1884, but did not spread to the world like Art Nouveau did. Anyway, the Art Nouveau was the first popular art movement of the 20th century, going contrary to the previous styles. It was marked by organic curves and ornaments expressed mainly in decoration and architecture. The style inspires artists all around the world until nowadays.

Art Nouveau Organic

The Art Nouveau split into two styles – organic and geometric. Countries like France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and the United States adopted the organic style. Some of the important artists of this style were:

Victor Horta

Henry Van de Velde

Aubrey Beardsley

Candace Wheeler

Art Nouveau Geometric

Other countries, such as Scotland and Austria adopted the Geometric style, which would later be basis for the 20th century design with its abstraction and reductionism. Important names of Art Nouveau Geometric:

Margaret McDonald

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Wiener Werkstätte

The Wiener Werkstäte (Vienna Workshops) was funded by 1903 as an association of artists working to create well designed pieces accessible for anyone, against the massive industrial production, in the spirit of the Arts & Crafts movement. The design style was influenced by artists as Rennie Mackintosh, Hoffman and Moser.

Deutsche Werkbund

The Deutsche Werkbund was an association of German artists and designers formed in 1907 that was created with the intention to produce high quality products competing against the British and American markets. They would later contribute to the Bauhaus creation.

Peter Behrens

Behrens was an architect, artist, typographer and designer, pioneer in modern industrial design. Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius studied with basis on Behrens teachings. He would later become AEG’s artistic director.

AEG – Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft)

As AEG’s artistic director, Peter Behrens managed all the design aspects of the company. He created a program of “standardization”, which was one of the first examples of corporate identity, using logos, advertising material, publications, etc.

Kazimar Malevitch

Malevitch introduced in 1915 a style called Suprematism, with abstract and geometric elements. Also in 1915 he made his first manifesto From Cubism to Suprematism.

El Lissitzky

In 1919 the designer Lazar Markovich Lissitzky met and was inspired by Malevitch’s style. El Lissintzky produced in 1920 the famous poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge and later developed his own variant of Suprematism, the Proun. The “Project for the Affirmation of the New” explored 3D elements and abstractions. His art was an expression of his beliefs about politics and social matters. His work marked the beginning of a new graphic art, specially after the narrative The Story of Two Squares.

Russian Constructivist Style

The main aspect of the Russian Constructivism was the use of arts for social concerns. Esthetically, it was marked by strong colors and typography, dynamic texts and geometrical shapes, including, later, photomontages. Again, El Lissitzky had a great importance as inspiration for other artists.

Futurism

This art movement happened originated in Italy, where it has concentrated. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, an Italian poet, can be considered futurism’s father. He was the first person to make a futurism manifesto, which called “Manifesto del futurismo”, in 1909. It was marked by a despise for traditions, full of dynamism, technology and strength. The style exalted aspects of the modern life and exclude everything that was “past”. The industrial changes were seen as the triumph of the man over the nature.

DeStijl

Also called neoplasticism, the DeStijl was a Dutch artistic movement marked by straight angles, use of primary colors plus black and white. It was funded in 1917 by Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian and last for 14 years.

Now we know a little more about these important art movements and you should check these reference/further information links:

The evolution type – Part II: Printed type

estefany — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:43:10 +0000

Previously we saw the “Part I: Handwritten type” here. Now, the last part of this article talks about what happened when printed type turned up, making a big historical change, discarding the need of scribes. Imagine yourself as a scribe at that time see your life work being substituted by machines.

For other side, imagine how important was to create this technology that would simplify the work of writing a book and in future democratize publications. Let’s see what happened between all that.

Johannes Gutenberg – Movable type printing – 15th century

Searching for a system for automate writing, Gutenberg created the movable type system. This was not the first system, it had already been tried in China and Korea, but these versions from the 10th century demanded too much work. Guttenberg has used a metal alloy, which is still used today. He also printed what is known as the “Guttenberg Bible”, much cheaper than the handwritten bibles that time.

Type Founding

In order to make a type system, the first thing is carving each letter in a metal bar. This is called punchcutting. Then it’s improved to make the final matrix, which is a negative mold. The casting is made using the matrix to create a rectangular block called “sort” made of lead, tin and antimony.

After type founding…

… According to the Japanese National Diet Library “Dawn of Western Printing”, “… we can say roughly that in the age of incunabula, about 1,100 printers used 4,600 type founts to print 27,000 titles of books and documents. Gothic type accounts for 79% of all types used, while Roman types represents around 19%. Besides these two major founts, Greek, Hebrew … were created… Some 1,200 Gothic type founts were used in both Italy and Germany, and some 700 Gothic type founts in France. Most of Roman types were used by Italian printers, while only a small number of German, French and Spanish printers used Roman type. Printers in England and the Netherlands seldom or never used Roman type.”

The social matter

The type printing was a big evolution, but a problem for the church. Religious authorities, with their scribes, had control of what was published, but not with the type printing. To avoid the spread of undesired ideas, the government and church had to approve anything before printing.

Type history is really amazing, involving social matters and discoveries. Typography gets even more interesting when we know about its history, isn’t it? If you want to read more about that check the links:

The evolution type – Part I: Handwritten type

estefany — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:22:24 +0000

In a former post we talked about history of symbols. Now, in order to proceed our historical article series, we’re going to learn more about handwritten type and its evolution. From handwriting to printed type. It’s interesting to think how hard was it to write a book in days of old.

The scribes were the main piece for any publication. Imagine how much time was spent to literally write a book, writing word by word, using drawing ornaments and simple tools. The old handwritten type is so important that even today there are lots of computer fonts that simulates them. Now see how it evolved from drawings in clay to beautiful handwritten typography.

Cuneiform – 3100 BC

It was the first writing system, using clay tablets as basis for writing. In the beginning pictograms was used, then they became simplified symbols, written from left to right. Also, first they had about 1000 characters converted in 400. The signs were deciphered in the 19th century.

Hieroglyphics – 2613-2160 BC

The term means “sacred carving” in Greek. They were largely used by Egyptians in tombs, as a way to connect the dead to the divine world. The system used rebus and phonetic characters, generally recognizable in form, sometimes stylized and simplified.

Early Greek – 5th Century BC

The Greek alphabet was probably derived from Phoenician with some modifications. The first record of Greek writing is from 1400 BC, what makes it one of the oldest living languages. Greek characters have been used till nowadays in other languages in areas like mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and others.

Early Roman Lapidary – 2nd Century BC

Similar to the Greek alphabet, it had no serifs and simple trace. Words were separated by dots.

Classical Roman Lapidary – 1st Century AD

Finally serifs are born. There’s a theory saying that serifs were originated due to a technicality, that they were just a way to prevent the stone from splintering in the end of the letter. Below there’s the famous Trajan inscription from 113 AD.

Roman Capitals – 1st Century AD

They were a way to recreate the graved letters in stone, keeping its characteristics.

Uncials- 5th Century AD

It’s characterized by simple and rounded strokes, only using capitals, that later constituted minuscule letters. It was largely used in Christian and other writing works.

Half Uncials – 6th Century AD

It was the first use of minuscule letters (also derived from Roman cursive) using four guidelines, ascenders and descenders.

Carolingian Minuscule – 8th Century (789)-1100′s

It was an evolution on the half uncial, used in Charlemagne’s empire as a way to unify his reign, being recognized in different regions. It was more legible, uniform and disciplined.

Blackletter – 12-15th Centuries

With Charlemagne’s death came a new calligraphy, more condensed and heavy, also called Gothic script or Gothic minuscule. As the number of university increased, it had a larger use, not only for Christian works. Blackletter has four basic styles: textura, rotunda, bastarda and cursive.

Renaissance humanism – Lettera Antiqua

Two forms of letters were revived, based on the “antique” Roman models: Lettera Antiqua formata (formal) and Lettera Antiqua corsiva (informal).

The universal penman – 1741

It was another mark for calligraphy and writing, a publication by George Bickham compiling the best specimens of 24 great calligraphers by that time. A full book of Copperplate style, containing 275 letter speciments, 19 complete alphabets and many beautiful ornaments. The publication parts were joint and it’s sold until nowadays.

Now you see that many of the fonts you have installed in your computer are based in the antique handwriting. The part II of this article will show the transition from handwritten to printed type and how it has affected society. See you there, but while that, check the links for further information and our sources.