Category / Uncategorized

by Davy

My Presentation

Vietnam War Propaganda

Firstly, I will list my tutors feedback.

  • Good linking between between topics and images of the slides.
  • Clear definitions used throughout my presentation of key terms (referring to propaganda and the Vietnam War).
  • Could use rearranging.
  • Talking more about flower image.

Disclaimer: Obviously, being my own presentation, I am not only going to be more informed, but more critical on myself, so expect this to focus more on negative, rather than the positive.

My response to this feedback and other feedback I have picked up myself.

I do believe my slides did link well with the topics I was presenting, yet I feel that some did not fit in, as most but not all, were in black and white. Not only that, but there was one specific slide that layout wise, was nothing like any other slide in my presentation.

My definitions I feel were clear and gave the viewer the context required for my presentation.

With the rearrangement, I was to fixated on using a template that I received, which without the context or proper layout, made my presentation confusing in the “summarising slides”, which acted more like an extra slide for each topic that had been put randomly at the end.

I also agree that I should have talked not just about the flower image, but about all the images and examples. I felt that my evidence was quite summarised with most examples not even stating a date, nor author, although this was because Vietnam War Propaganda was a surprisingly hard to find information on; Even when searching the library, I only found 1 book which related to the military side of Propaganda, and another, I just used for images.

There is some good that I feel came out of this assignment, and that is that pecha kucha’s make a long presentation feel very short. I may use aspects of this assignment in future presentations.

“Be your own worst critic. When things go wrong it’s tempting to shift the blame. Don’t. Accept responsibility. People will appreciate it, and you will find out what you’re capable of.” – Paul Arden

 

 

 

by Davy

Lecture Week 4 – The Legacy Of Swiss/International Style

Swiss Style

This particular lecture discussed the Swiss AKA international style, which emerged in Russia, Germany and the Netherlands. This style focused on functionality overall, with the influence of a clear grid and rationality. One of the more famous creations to represent this style was the font Helvetica, which had a large x-height and shorter ascenders and descenders for easy reading.

ArialvsHelvetica.jpg

https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fyti/typefaces/arial-vs-helvetica

Josef Müller-Brockmann

Brockmann was a graphic designer in the mid 1900’s who by the 1950’s was the leading practitioner and theorist of the Swiss Style. He created the founder of the “Neue Grafik” (New Graphic Design), a magazine about graphic design created in this Swiss Style.

ng_1.jpg

http://ingallery.ie/

As seen above, the magazine utilised design features, such as a clear grid system, simplistic colour scheme and a definitive hierarchy of text. This style also showed a distinct use of negative space which was also a key aspect of Swiss Style. Armin Hofmann released a similar publication which also illustrated the Swiss Style called “Graphic Design Manual : Principles and Practice” as seen below.

9783721200065.jpg

https://www.bookdepository.com/Graphic-Design-Manual-Armin-Hofmann/9783721200065

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Mies was a key contributor to the International Style in architecture, after being the director for Bauhaus. His buildings were modernistic, representing the era of their creation, like that of Gothic and Victorian architecture, using industrial steel and plate glass. Many of his creations would feature large windowed areas, allowing them to be on display for the public to see. This worked well for office style buildings, but did not fair well for his residential creations, with his most famous being Farnsworth House, which replaced all exterior walls with glass, allowing any voyeuristic prowler to see inside.

farnsworth-house-movie-news-architecture-mies-van-der-rohe_credit-flickr-user-david-wilson_dezeen_hero.jpg

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/02/08/mies-van-der-rohe-farnsworth-house-hollywood-movie-jeff-bridges-maggie-gyllenhaal-residential-architecture-usa/

 

 

 

by Davy

Lecture Week 3 – WW1 and the Rise of Graphic Design

This weeks lecture discussed the rise of graphic design through the use of propaganda. This propaganda used a combination of images and text to inspire young men to join the war. From the examples that were being shown during the lecture I found there were three main categories of propaganda used:

Fear of invasion

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https://study.com/academy/lesson/wwi-propaganda-posters-and-other-techniques.html

Call for patriotism

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http://www.ww1propaganda.com/

Guilt for those fighting

3g12183u-1410

http://www.ww1propaganda.com/

The Propaganda imagery worked by telling a story created by the imagery and characters, through through the use of symbolism and body language. As men were the main audience of these posters, the metaphorical countries the men were fighting for were depicted as women. Britain was represented as an angel or angelic figure wearing a white dress leading their men to battle. America depicted their country as a more muscular woman who wears an American flag print dress. Women were similarly depicted as an encouraging force to get men to fight in the war and also encourage other women to join the war effort through supporting roles.

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http://www.ww1propaganda.com/

Aside, from propaganda, the war also utilised graphic design through the creation of public warning posters. This poster was used to inform the public of what aircraft are safe. This poster further used typographical techniques, such as using bold font on the important information and even using a primitive style of a grid system with the layout of their page.

5-BritishvsGermanAirships

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Public-Warning-Aircraft-Identification-Poster/dp/B00B5DLOE2

At this time Russia was developing the constructivism style of design. This style was not far off of geometric vector works we see in contemporary graphic design. It was mainly created with most aspects being on a diagonal line, and with all features being perfectly straight. Colour wise these works would only use three colours, with most using black, white and red, with the exception of some opting out the white for a pale yellow.  Constructovism personally is a favourite of mine after looking more into it, as it is a style similar to works I have created in the past.

leninvoce.jpg

http://cometastudio.eu/week-end-di-studio/week-end-di-luglio-voce-il-7-e-l8-luglio/

Bauhaus

Bauhaus art school was opened 1919 in Germany and became one of the most influential facilities in design. They developed in the use of minimalist colour use in graphic design. Bauhaus also had a large role in the creation of the functionalism movement which involved breaking down an object to its most basic state of being functional and focusing on a minimalist aesthetic.

Bauhaus also created new design choices for the sans serif font, such as open tailed “g” and simplified “a”. Advancements like this led to the blurring between art and design.

g-comparison.png

https://qz.com/1244871/why-does-the-letter-g-look-different-in-print-than-in-handwriting/ (not actual example of their font, could not find original source from lecture)

Art Deco

Art Deco was also developed after WW1, due to the lack of materials. This involves the use of layered stencil style design that refined with flattened colours, usually simplistic and geometric. Moderne, followed art deco, focusing heavily on layout, using a machinery aesthetic. This design focused on movement and transportation, using imagery such as boats and trains as the focus of the artwork.

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https://www.internationalposter.com/style-primers/art-deco-posters/
by Davy

Week 3 Reading – Design and Modernism

This reading produced an interesting perspective of design within the early 1900’s (roughly between 1910-1935) focusing mainly on modernism. Not only did it explain modernism as a whole, but it also went through a list of countries that were designing a modernistic style and the achievements and place within the design industry. One of the most eye-opening parts of the reading to me personally was Gerrit Rietveld’s Schröder House (depicted above (interior) and below (exterior) and is still available to be viewed by the public to this day) which was designed and created in 1924, yet rivals modern stylistic housing used today. Overall, I found this reading to be quite informative in the history of design, and well-paced, through the use of dividing up the countries into individual topics.

Het_Rietveld_Schroderhuis_foto_Ernst_Moritz

https://centraalmuseum.nl/media/medialibrary/2012/05/Het_Rietveld_Schroderhuis_foto_Ernst_Moritz.jpg
by Davy

Week 2 Lecture – Following on from Gutenberg

At the beginning of this lecture, we discussed the how the Gutenberg revolutionised the spreading of information and the affordability of books. In the year of 1456 alone the press printed 180 bibles. This further in turn, allowed for literacy rates to increase, due to this mass production books.

banner-1544x500.jpg

https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/

Unlike what most people believe, Gutenberg was not the first person to create press dtyle printing. The Chinese used a wooden characters in the same way 600 years earlier, with the oldest intact book being found originating 868 AD. This method was less successful as the wooden casts would wear out easily, unlike Gutenberg’s later metal type.

Alois Senefelder invented lithography in 1796, this allowed for the recreation of images and artwork through the use of mid-tones. This added a shading effect that could not be achieved before with just black and white print. Although this was not considered graphic design as it was the mere recreation of an image.

Our lecturer mentioned a weird thought, that around this time there would be no images when you are walking down the street. Most signage would be lettering.

The Work of Art and the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, written in 1934 has a discussion about why people don’t just look at an image of a place rather than go there. This brought up a discussion what is the difference between images and the real thing. The discussion led to what people though when visiting the Mona Lisa, which according to input from other students, wasn’t really worth it for the physical viewing, and more just as a feeling of seeing one of the worlds most famous paintings. In reality it was apparently much smaller and less colourful than the images online.

B9714598521Z.1_20180131105130_000+GGUAJSO0A.1-0

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/308321/article/2018-01-31/le-maire-de-lens-ecrit-au-president-pour-inviter-la-joconde-au-louvre

by Davy

Week 2 Reading – Typographica

The week 2 reading “Graphic Design A History (Typographica)” was quite informative in retrospect to the history throughout the 19th century of typography, and in turn, leading to the development of graphic design, although, I felt the reading struggled from the beginning to explain whether it was re-accounting typographic events from the 1800’s or whether it was discussing its flaws. Since the reading was so drawn out, I found myself focusing more on the description and history of the examples rather than the argument the author was trying to put forward during the introduction. I feel that this could be improved with a clearer argument.

Although this description is harsh, it is still my personal opinion and can be proven wrong with further insight.

*This has been written before the tutorial.*