Paul Rand and Corporate Identity

Similarly to Saul Bass, Paul Rand’s work was also in the wake of modernist designs and as such was highly influenced by styles such as De Stijl and Constructivism. While Saul Bass was very popular for his designs for movie posters and intros, Paul Rand was very successful when it came to corporate branding, specifically in the field of logos. Paul Rand is very interesting to discuss because of his work with logos and how relevant they are today. Many of the logos he made more companies are still used by those same companies today, so many years later.

Over here we can see some examples of the logos that Paul Rand has made over his career. At first glance, we can note down his use of typeface across different projects. There is a mix of serif and sans serif fonts but in both cases the type seems to retain a very clean and formal look. These characteristics found in the font are very important design decisions that are carried over to other aspects of the logo design. Paul Rand's logos became very popular and widely sought after and I believe a reason for this was because of how simple yet effective they were. When looking at these examples we can see that most of them are either composed of very basic shapes mixed with a clean font so from a technical standpoint they are not doing very much, but the little that is done is very effective. This is a concept that harkens back to the earlier modernist principles like the posters and publications we see in the constructivist style.  His use of colour is also worth noting with these designs. The colour, like the other modernists before him, is generally composed of single shades of block colour or not colour at all in the case of the purely black and white ones. This was important for logos especially due to how easily recognisable they needed to be and any excess clutter would hinder that principle.

This next example by Paul Rand was a magazine cover for the publication ‘Direction’. With this example we can see a concept that I haven’t really gotten to talk about much in these blog posts which is the use of humour or wit in a visual form.  Through the use of photomontage, Paul Rand was able to play with the visual concept of a wrapped Christmas present, only his rendition of a present uses barbed wire as a ribbon. A subtle detail in this poster is the use of the small red dots randomly placed on the white background to mimic a pattern for the wrapping, only, in the context of the barbed wire, those red dots suddenly take a much darker tone and turn to blood in our minds. This is an interesting lesson in the importance of context in design as well as other art forms.

While certainly not the first artist or designer to attempt something like this, I personally feel that Paul Rand had achieved something quite innovate and niche to his design that would be the source of inspiration for many contemporary artists and designers alike.

References:

·         Paul-rand.com-paul-rand.com-2014[ http://www.paul-rand.com/ ][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]

·         Library.rit.edu-2014 [http://library.rit.edu/gda/designer/paul-rand][last accessed on 23/01/2015]

Saul Bass and the New York School

The New York, starting in the 1940’s while not a direct response to modernist design, did look to do away with some of the concepts of modernist design in favour of a more casual and informal design philosophy. When looking at Modernism, it is very easy to see that there is a very strong focus on structure and order. The use of strong geometric shapes give modernist design a very structured look and the use of sans serif lends to that look even more. The New York School attempts to do away with less focus on geometric shapes and wider use of photography and photomontage. The New York School also opened the doors for more culturally diverse designs

Saul Bass was a designer during the time that had a very distinct style that allowed him to stand out from the rest.  Here we see an example of his work. This is a captured frame from the opening credits of the movie ‘Anatomy of a murder’.  When looking closely at this work we can see some of the characteristics of his style and some of his influences. We can see that while the style is very simple in nature, it is still a lot more figurative than the modernist works we have previously seen. An interesting point of note is the use of typography in this work and many of Saul Bass’s other works. He tends to use a selection of sans serif typefaces but as opposed to modernist typography, the typefaces he uses tends to be a bit more organic in nature due to the irregular nature of the lines that compose them. Another thing to not of Saul Bass’s style is how he deals with figures and forms in his work. He very often employs the same irregular lines from the type into the other shapes to create this whole cut-out aesthetic that we see in this image over here. His use of colour in this image and most of his other work is generally composed of a solid bright colour mixed with black figures and shapes.

Due to his unique style, Saul Bass was very popular with the film industry and hence he was asked to design the opening credits and posters of several films just like the example we discussed above.

As a personal note I am very fond of the general aesthetic that Saul Bass employs in his work which is probably the reason I chose to write this blog post about him instead of other designers of the time. His work generally uses a very simple aesthetic yet it leaves a very memorable impression in my memory which tells me that his work has a lot of character that is very cleverly conveyed.

References:

·         http://www.csun.edu/~pjd77408/DrD/Art461/LecturesAll/Lectures/Lecture09/NewYorkSchool.html

·         http://www.saulbassposterarchive.com/gallery/film-posters/

Herbert Matter and photomontage

Born in Switzerland Herbert Matter was designer that worked on many commercial projects with his masterful use of photomontage, this included magazine publications such as ‘Vogue’ among others. Much of his work was very influential to artists that came after him especially with a further growing trend of photomontage being used in design.

When looking at an example of his work like the one we can see here, we can instantly see how innovative his use of photomontage was for the time. This poster over here was done for the Swiss tourist office and it highlights some of the key characteristics of his work. The first thing of note with this poster is Matter’s use of colour. We can see a juxtaposition of two elements here in regards to his use of colour. The figure in the foreground seems to have been reduced of colour while the background seems to have a vibrant blue.  We can also see the use of a bold and striking sans serif font which really stands out against the photos in the background.  Herbert Matter’s poster truly were innovative for the time due to how painstaking the process of making them was as opposed to how easy these kind of designs are to make today in the light of so many technological advancements.

This next poster was also done for the Swiss tourist office and I feel like this poster highlights some of the other characteristics of his work. In this poster we can see a very interesting use of perspective and depth. The poster seems to lead the viewer from the bottom sans serif type up towards the road that leads off into a one point perspective.  From then on it seems to get a more surrealist feel as the roan meanders off into a series of twists and turns that don’t seem to make sense in a physical sense. I also find this particular poster interesting due to how the photos blend together to create a somewhat believable yet fantastical landscape. 

I personally found Herbert Matter’s work to be very interesting because of how much his work seems to foreshadow the widely contemporary notion of photo manipulation and digital design that we see today.  With all the developments in computer technology , images and posters like this are all too common and are somewhat easy tom make but for Herbert Matter to get this level of photomontage before the release of the personal computers was a feat in itself.

References: designhistory-designhistory.com-2014  [http://www.designishistory.com/1940/herbert-matter/][last accessed on 23/01/2015]

Jan Tschihold

Somewhat related to The Bauhaus due to his visitation of a Bauhaus exhibition in the early 1920’s, Jan Tschihold was a modernist at heart from that time onwards. He switched to favour san serif typefaces over all else and other modernist design principles such as asymmetric layouts and the practical and functional use of hierarchy in design specifically in regards to type. In his manifest called ‘Die neue Typographie’ Tschihold advocated for a reform of sorts through design. In this publication is where he explained his applications of modernist typography and his rejection of the serif typefaces that pretty much were used exclusively at the time in Germany.

Looking at some of Tschiholds work, we can instantly see some similarities and influences to the previous movements and artists we have discussed. The first thing we notice is the use of predominantly geometric shapes in the design. The large circle takes the centre stage of this design.  Reminiscent of DeStijl and constructivism, this design has a very ‘minimal’ and abstracted feel as per the use of simple lines and shapes along with a large amount of negative space and a limited colour scheme. In this work we can also see the use of Tschiholds advocated typeface style of sans serif which was very unorthodox to the rest of the community in his early career as a modernist. Another modernist characteristic we can see in this work is the lack of any focus in the centre of the page. The designs have all been shifted to either the right or left side of the page which has also given the design an asymmetric element to it. The use of hierarchy is also evident in this work through the scaling of typefaces. The title placed on top of the only coloured element on the work instantly attracts the viewer tell them that that’s where they should start reading from. The eye then turns downwards to read the smaller type that is placed in a line to direct the eyes.  

Here we have another example of Tschiholds work. We do see similar modernist characteristics in this work that we have already touch upon when discussing the previous work. Things like the limited colour pallet, exclusive use of geometric shapes, off centre design layout and even the use of purely sans serif typography. Another thing that is worth mentioning with this work is the way the lines are created in this work. It seems like everything has been shifted and rotated on its axis to create this sense of dynamism.  This is something that became increasingly popular at the time. To me, this work seems to be more influenced by constructivist works than anything else due to the colour scheme of red, white and black used.

Tschihold has a very important place in history because of how much his work and his philosophies influenced the typography that came after him and even the typography we see today on a daily basis.

 References: 

·         Designhistory-designhistory.com-2014[ http://www.designishistory.com/1920/jan-tschichold/][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]

The Bauhaus and Johannes Itten

Translating to ‘Building House’ The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. With somewhat specific goals, The Bauhaus tackled various aspects of design. The Bauhaus philosophy was to achieve a unity in the arts. This required a sense of partnership and equality between artist and craftsmen, hence the students at The Bauhaus learnt both craftsmanship and artistry with equal importance. Some other philosophies they promoted was the notion of form following function. They wanted their products to have an emphasis on functionality and an aesthetic that, while looks good, does not in any way hinder its functionality in any way. This lead to simplistic and ‘to the point’ designs. One could call their design principles very utilitarian in essence. Their designs were made to be the most functional they could be that would help the most people they could. Aesthetically, Bauhaus followed their principles which meant that their look was characterised by simple yet strong shapes that serve a very clear purpose. The work was clean and void of unnecessary decoration, contrary to some of its predecessor’s like Art Deco and Art Nouveau.  

Johannes Itten was a teacher at The Bauhaus school.  He is namely known for his work with colour. His work with the colour wheel is arguably some of his more popular work but for this blog post I’d like to explore another one of his works that ties in very closely to the colour wheel.  This very simple work over here is, at first glance just a bunch of different coloured squares on different backgrounds. That in theory is a correct description but there is a bit more to this that makes It all the more interesting. Looking deeper into this work we can make the observation that this is an exploration colours effect on itself. The colour of the internal square is repeated on its horizontal counterpart, but the background is different. This gives the impression that the colours are different but they are in fact the same colour. This shows how colours interact with each other and how our mind perceives these colour combinations together. 

We can see The Bauhaus principles even in this work by Johannes Itten. The use of simple shapes was very typical of the style. The piece also tries to convey a message about the relationship of colour in a very straightforward and practical way which was also very typical of Bauhaus.

I do appreciate the work that The Bauhaus was trying to accomplish and all the remnants we see of it to this day in our current designs. That said, I would personally never choose to willingly work with that ethic in mind. The whole notion of ‘Art for the sake of Society’ rubs me the wrong way and makes me think there would be lots of thrown away ideas because it was not needed or functional enough.

References:   Johannes-itten-johannes-itten.com-2014[Last accessed on 23/01/2015][ http://www.johannes-itten.com/]

El Lissitzky and Russian Constructivism

Beginning in Russia in 1919, Constructivism is something that encompassed both art and architecture.  With a heavy focus on geometric shapes and a very specific colour scheme, constructivism paved the way for other similar movements such as Bauhaus. Similarly to De Stijl, Russian Constructivism was very focused on ‘minimal’ aesthetics through the use of geometric shapes and simplistic colours, namely red, white and black. In the design context, propaganda was a common theme that appeared in many Russian constructivist works.  El Lissitzky’s work was one of these examples as his work often attempted to put forward an agenda to its viewers.

Russian born artist and designer El Lizzitzky was quite the prominent figure in the Russian Constructivist scene.  His work being highly abstracted in nature managed to convey very political themes.  In this piece here called ‘Beat the Whites with the red wedge’ we can see how Lizzitzky has managed to apply constructivist concepts to his work.  The big red triangle in this piece is the first thing that catches the viewer’s eye. The triangle is representing the Bolchiveks penetrating the White movement during the civil war. Lizzitzky has managed to capture these complex political issues using purely geometric shapes and has done so in a way that the general public of the time had no problem understanding. This ease of understanding is something that is very important to any piece that is intended to be used as a form of propaganda as a clear message will garner more support for your agenda.  From a more technical standpoint, this work and many others under the constructivist banner have a very similar aesthetic to De Stijl which was covered just previously. Both deal with highly abstracted forms which are essentially geometric shapes in a block colour. The difference between the two styles arrives in a more conceptual form. Constructivism was all about the symbolism attributed to these shapes while De Stijl was all about achieving clarity through abstraction.

When looking to contemporary world of design and looking for constructivist influences, I found this interesting piece right here. This piece is obviously either done in parody or in tribute to El Lissitzyk’s  ‘Red Wedge’ propaganda poster that we just discussed above.  With this poster we can see that the designer has taken the fundamental elements from El Lissitzky’s  work and manipulated it to suit his own fantasy agenda instead, fantasy referring to the ‘Star Wars’ film series.

As a personal observation, I find that Russian Constructivism is a bit more interesting than De Stijl due to the symbolic nature of the work. The abstracted aesthetic is something that has intrigued me before but only when there was some thought behind it to make it more interesting and constructivism seems to attempt to do that by trying to convey these complex political messages through the use of basic shapes.

References:

·         Designhistory-designhistory.com-2014 [http://www.designishistory.com/1920/el-lissitzky/][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]

·         Arthistoryarchive-arthistoryarchive.com [http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/constructivism/][Last accessed on 23/01/2015

Piet Zwart and De Stijl

Chronologically following the Art Deco movement, De Stijl was a very much a reactionary movement to the ‘excess’ of the Art Deco and relatively the Art Nouveau movements respectively. Geographically starting in the Netherlands, De Stijl was led by artists such as Theo Van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. De Stijl being a somewhat reactionary movement, their design principles was highly influenced by what they discouraged from Art Deco. They were against the highly decorative nature of Art Deco and hence reduced their work to basic principles of aesthetics. 

Contextually, De Stijl emerged in a post-World War I setting, and as such had a focus on rebuilding society a new with a new ‘visual Language’. This idea of a visual language was a key theme that is seen throughout the movement and the various artists and designers. By using a visual language, the goal was to achieve an aesthetic that anyone from any culture would be able to appreciate. To achieve this, the artists and designers reduced the style to the key concepts of aesthetics which meant that anyone could appreciate it since the work consisted of purely geometric shapes with block primary colours that anyone would be familiar with.  These principles are highlighted perfectly in the work of Piet Mondrian. His work was composed of primary colours and geometric shapes exclusively. 

Moving along to the Graphic Design side of things, De Stijl was also relevant to this corner of the creative arts. Piet Zwart was a Dutch designer that had work relevant to this movement. Taking this work of his as an example, we can see how these principles of De Stijl that we discussed from a fine art perspective have been used in the design world. In this work here we can see a clear attempt to use a very bare minimal aesthetic. The work is composed of purely strong geometric shapes. Along with this use of geometric shapes we can see a very simplistic use of colour. The colours we see here seem to be translucent block colours placed over each other at various sections to create darker tones. Something that is also typical to the De Stijl style is the sense of balance and structure in the work. With these two works we can see that with the use of strong straight lines the works achieve a sense of linear balance that is something that is seen throughout the De Stijl movement.

When looking to contemporary work, we can very often see the influences of De Stijl. In this work over here we can see some of the major characteristics of De Stijl present in the work. The use of somewhat block colour and highly reduced geometric shapes. Something that is specific to Piet Zwart’s design is also present in this contemporary example and that is the overlapping of shapes and colours to create a middle colour in between.

As a personal note, De Stijl is not really a movement I was too fond of purely due to the aesthetic of the work.  While the ‘minimal’ approach to work does fascinate me and the aesthetic is generally pleasing, the pure use of primary colours or a variation of them seems a bit too limiting for my tastes.

References:

·         Arthistory-arthistory.org-2014[ http://www.theartstory.org/movement-de-stijl.htm][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]