Blog Entry 3: Designer Methodologies October 10, 2011
Posted by Kaleena Tucker in : Unit 4 , trackbackNeville Brody: Methodologies
Arjo Creative Papers and D&AD joined to create a wonderful video series titled: The Blank Sheet Project. In their first interview, they sat down with Neville Brody. In Chapter 1, titled: Inspirations ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQxvx7QLQsM&feature=related ), Brody speaks about the influence that punk music had on him, he says: “It was saying that anything is possible. That was the bit that I connected with. The kind of anarchistic way of looking at things. Which connected with my interest in Dadaism, Constructivism, and then it was William Burroughs, and Brian Gison, all these kind of very challenging creative thinkers.” [1]
He continues to say… “When I was in college my work was largely about exploring ideas outside the box, and looking at stuff which was not part of that kind of pattern-making, this is the way you have to do it. So, alot of it was about breaking the rules. And for me, punk broke the rules.” [2]
In Chapter 3 of the interview ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7OkOnZ86I4 ), Brody says: “I think the role of design and the responsibility of the designer is to take these kind of hidden or invisible spaces and make them tangible and clear. So I think that the role of design is to reveal stuff, not to conceal.” [3]
In analyzing Brody’s ideology, it’s easy to see how his method of not following the rules helped to shape his design.
In the video, Brody shows a design he created after joining an edgy, punk, new wave record design agency. The deconstructed look and contrasting colors used in the design, speak well to the anarchist attitude and outside-of-the-box style that have influenced his methodologies.
Works Cited
[1, 2, 3] Arjo Creative Papers. The Blank Sheet Project: Chapter 3 – Neville Brody. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7OkOnZ86I4&feature=related) Accessed 10/8/2011
David Carson: Methodologies
When I look back on work that I created when I first started out as a designer, I cringe. It would seem that I had a complete disregard for the “rules” of design, when in reality, I just had no clue what I was doing at all. Maybe if I had studied the work of David Carson, I would’ve been able to understand the brilliance behind the organized chaos that he was able to do so well.
In Making and Breaking the Grid, Samara writes: “The shift from traditional hand skills to digital designing and production introduced high-level digital editing and typesetting to a vast audience; in this way, the assimilation of vernacular modes of expression was complemented by a reverse assimilation of design craft by individuals who weren’t trained as designers. David Carson epitomized this shift.” [1]
Speaking of his method of working, the article goes on to say: “His unstudied layouts relied on an intuitive sense of placement that spoke more about interpreting the experience of the content, not about rationally or impartially organizing it.” [2]
“By using the extensive typesetting capabilities of the computer, Carson was able to explore typographic arrangements and effects that had been impossible before its invention: overlapping lines of type and letters that flipped backwards and forwards, dense textures of type and image, and columns of type whose contours weren’t parallel–or, for that matter, straght lines at all.” [3] I personally think that this shift in technology is one of the most significant factors in the “non-traditional, anti-design” style that defines this artist.
What I find really interesting though is how he was still able to create unified work. “In his design of the culture magazine Raygun, published between 1991 and 1996, no overarching structure exists, yet every issue is recognizably related; the ferocity of the layouts and the continual destruction of conformity on every page visually define a system that is identifiable and understandable, despite the lack of a consistent editorial grid structure.” [4]
http://wadejohnston1962.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/raygun4.jpg
Works Cited
[1, 2, 3, 4] Samara, Timothy. Making and Breaking the Grid. Rockpork Publishers, 2005
April Greiman: Methodologies
http://kingygraphicdesignhistory.blogspot.com/2010/05/april-greiman-judy.html
In an article titled: Riding a New Wave, by Erfert Nielson, Greiman is quoted as saying: “It’s ridiculous to try to conceal the fact that it’s desktop published,” … “I asked myself, within the restrictions of the technology, how can we push it the other way, so it’s obviously desktop published, but elegant?” [1]
The article goes on to talk about her use of bit-mapped fonts developed by Emigre magazine. “They make a strong statement that this is desktop publishing,” Greiman says. “I’d rather go with something eccentric–but beautifully eccentric.” [2]
Nielson writes, “That willingness to exploit serendipity is central to Greiman’s success. “In traditional design you learn from accidents: You spill paint and come up with something better than what you intended,” she observes. “The same thing happens on the Mac: You go into Fat Bits, see a pattern, and say, ‘Ah, that looks better than the original!”’ Clearly, April Greiman aims to break new ground–by accident or design.” [3]
In looking at Greiman’s designs, it’s easy to see her how her ideas regarding technology and eccentricity have found their ways into her methodology.
In this poster for the UCLA Summer session, found here: http://madeinspaceshop.com/lrgposterimages/UCLA-Summer-Session-2500.jpg , we see her embrace of technology as she makes unapologetic use of bitmapped fonts as a part of the design.
Works Cited
[1, 2, 3] MK Graphic Design. April Greiman: Riding a New Wave. Nielson, Erfert. (http://www.mkgraphic.com/greiman.html) Accessed 10/8/2011
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