RMIT 1-1 "Communication Design Studies"

Title page: Cut out letters and lots of chaos.

Page 1: “How were you born?”

Chaotic typography and weird juxtapositions. 

Page 2: A display page inspired by Hugo Ball’s poem ‘Karawane’.

Page 3: “How did you influence art?”

Page 4: “How are you different from surrealism?”

This ask me anything project really made me push the boundaries throughout the whole process. It was an interesting and a fun assignment to work on although it stressed me out a lot. It was mainly because I wanted it to be really good yet every time when I came back to it I would see rooms for improvements and wouldn’t be happy with my outcome. 

Brief: Respond to a historically significant designer or an art movement by creating a zine

Messy work in progress desk situation

Incomplete zine pages (WIP)

After learning about the generative design and the parametric design in the lecture, I wanted to explore further on how I can make those designs. For the next few weeks I am going to experiment with creative coding and I’ll share my progress here. The screenshot is from The Coding Train, super helpful resources on youtube.

A very basic experiment drawing with code. So far, I’ve learnt how to create shapes on the canvas, how to fill it in with colours, how to place it in the canvas, how to add a stroke etc. I can’t wait to learn how to animate stuff and interact with it with the mouse. 

Using random () functions, I finally started animating things on canvas. Understanding how things work and actually using the knowledge to make things work are two very different things. There needs to be lots of efforts and time on bridging that gap. 

https://editor.p5js.org/Insun/full/iRe04IHWO

In week 11 lecture Andy and Karen covered the parametric design. Rules for computational logo creation and type design were established through a repetition of parametric systems. This parametric design parallels the sought-after symmetry in grid and typeface design in the early 20th century.

I looked further into parametric design and apparently it is widely used in architecture. Parametric design defies traditional shapes and symmetry. It is a very efficient design option for architecture which builds an aesthetically pleasing structure with maximum efficiency. Parametric design also solves spatial issues by utilizing every part of the given space which attracts property developers.

Generative design was also covered in the lecture. Its main difference with parametric design is that it’s not deterministic and final. The design will generate itself into multiple different options. If engineers define their desired outcome with basic parameters, generative design combined with AI and computers can help find numerous design options.

- computation art (generative) -

Generative design does not just rely on past experience or one’s imagination like human designers. It collaborates with technology to come up with all the possible solutions within set parameters. Designers and engineers can then select the best few outcomes from those options. Generative design sounds great so far but it arouses some controversy among designers. They say generative design puts stress on quantity over quality too much and that’s not how design is supposed to work. Also they believe the parameters that generative design operates on are not a critical part of design. It’s not about the measurements they say. 

References

Akella R, 2018, ‘What generative design is and why it’s the future of manufacturing, 16 March, New Equipment, viewed 3 June 2020, <https://www.newequipment.com/research-and-development/article/22059780/what-generative-design-is-and-why-its-the-future-of-manufacturing>

‘Parametric design and buildings - 6 ways technology will change architecture’, n.d., Archistar, blog post, viewed 3 June 2020, <https://archistar.ai/blog/parametric-design-and-buildings-the-6-ways-technology-will-change-architecture/>

Citerne D, n.d. ‘Parametric design for better buildings’, Arup, blog post, viewed 3 June 2020, <https://www.arup.com/perspectives/parametric-design-for-better-buildings>

During the weekend, I went through some interior magazines and decided to make a new typeface by collaging some images together. Although this took a lot longer than I expected, I’m quite happy with the results. I’m going to name this one “interior”.

This lecture started with an introduction toward the conceptual art where artists had a power to frame their own artworks without them having to coincide with the traditional forms anymore. The artworks would be defined by their context and not just their functionality.

I really loved it when Andy and Karen talked about the COLORS magazine. I felt like a lot was covered from communication design to editorial photography and photojournalism. The cover designs for the COLORS magazine have such strong aesthetics and I really love their style. I was really inspired by Oliviero Toscani and I wish I could have featured him in my upcoming project. 

We saw a series of his photographs for the italian high fashion brand Benetton. According to Andy and Karen each of them was as controversial as the other at that time. The Benetton ads were all very interesting to look at because the only element that promotes Benetton is their logo. The photographs in the ads are very thought-provoking but it’s hard to notice whether they are promoting the brand had it not been for the logo. The Benetton ads helped raise awareness of various social issues and really pushed the boundaries. They helped the brand grow immensely even though it wasn’t that obvious that they were promoting the brand.

Oliviero Toscani was not just a successful advertising photographer whose magazine company was funded by Benetton. He drew attention to various social issues such as war, racism, capital punishment and religion through his works. He was a photographer who really had an impact on this world and was not afraid to be challenged. I was really inspired by his belief that a company has to show their social sensitivity and intelligence as much as they need to promote themselves. He made me realize that advertising photos are not always about some fancy photos with pretty models in the frame. By seeing beyond the superficiality of the images, I could contain important messages in the photos. As I am an aspiring photographer as much as a designer I would love to incorporate some of that into my own works in the near future.

References:

Famous photographers, n.d., ‘Oliviero Toscani’, Famous Photographers, blog post, viewed 31 May 2020, <https://www.famousphotographers.net/oliviero-toscani>

I decided to dedicate a whole post to the Memphis group which was covered in week 9 lecture because I feel crazy about them. Their fun, playful, and colourful aesthetics are absolutely stunning. 

Memphis is a postmodern design (punk) movement that began in the early 1980s in Milan, Italy. It was an exuberant and colourful reaction to the 1950-60s mid-century modernism authenticity and 1970s minimalism. They were not that popular when they first came out as they had a bizarre style that was very contrasting to the slick minimalist style which dominated the 70s. However, some people like Karl Lagerfeld loved Memphis so much that he had an entire apartment decorated in the style. 

Some defining features of the Memphis design: I. Bright colours, wacky geometry, and graphic patterns II. Bold, primary reds, blues, greens and yellow III. Squiggles IV. Laminate and Terrazzo

https://marciamooredesign.com/mad-for-memphis-design-the-80s-style-that-pushes-the-envelope/

In this lecture we looked at how the future came to an end and how postmodernism came after. Punk movement was a counter-cultural movement in the postmodernism era. Although music is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of punk Karen told us it also influenced design greatly. We looked at some of the examples of how the punk movement shaped design in the late 20th century.

Jamie Reid was one of the artists that was involved in the punk movement. He had a rebellious approach to typography that would not have been respected by the bauhaus or modernism. He had no regard to harmonizing the type fonts or balancing the upper and lower cases. Andy said Jamie Reid would not have even been considered as a designer under the bauhaus ideals. Designers, of course, can never be separated from their environmental context. Here are some examples of his works which are quite sexual.

Andy talked about how highly influential David Carson was in the 90s with the typography and the new aesthetic that he had developed. David Carson was not originally a graphic designer which seemed to have resulted in a lot more freedom for him to experiment with texts and images. His editorial design was characterized with unrecognizable letter-forms that have been heavily manipulated and disregard to former design conventions such as the grids and the consistent layout of typography. Carson really pushed himself to try everything that was possible with the development of a computer. I’m really taken to his fresh approach to making the text almost unreadable to draw even more attention to the text. Rather than just skipping through the pages the readers would really try to decipher the text and appreciate the design.

Neville Brody was also mentioned in the lecture and I found his interview when I was doing further research. One of his interview questions was about whether he still thinks it is important to study at an institution to establish oneself as a designer, given all the available resources online. This was something Andy also mentioned in our last tutorial. Andy said we shouldn’t need a bachelor degree or an adobe suite or some fancy materials to function as a designer. He said as designers we need to produce the best outcomes out of what we currently have. Brody has the same view and he elaborates on what we could actually get out of our degree. We can experiment and develop our ways of thinking and our works while working alongside like-minded individuals. We get a chance to fail and improve ourselves freely which isn’t as easy to achieve in the professional realm. 

References:

Butler, A 2012, design boom, blog post, 10 October viewed 31 May 2020, <https://www.designboom.com/design/interview-with-graphic-designer-neville-brody-10-10-2014/>

Work in progress. Experimenting with typefaces. I combined four different kinds of typefaces and collaged some images together for a more interesting composition for each letter. I really enjoy experimenting with typefaces. 

This week’s lecture was about a group of Italian artists who were eager to embrace the developing technologies of their time, the futurists. There were a couple things that really drew my attention, the futurist cookbook by Marinetti and the collage in the book by Munari.  

Before I explore more about these topics I wanted to do a bit of research on Italy in the 20th century to get more social and political context. Under the rule of Mussolini, the era of fascism came about after world war 1 from 1922 to 1943. Fascism was a totalitarian ideology that sought to organize people under state power. It valued unity and nationalism and influenced the Nazi movement in Germany.

Andy said that the futurist cookbook written by Marinetti in 1932 was a political agenda disguised as an easy-to-read cookbook. Marinetti believed an individual is shaped by what they eat and drink which is why he wrote strict rules about not only how to eat the food as well as how to serve and prepare the food in his book. He wanted to radically revolutionize Italy even in the way they eat. He went as far to condemn the old fashioned Italian food pasta saying that Italians should consume Italian-grown domestic rice instead of pasta. He made this a matter of patriotism and claimed the riddance of pasta would set Italy free from the expensive foreign goods. 

Andy showed us some examples of how Munari incorporated photo montage of Mussolini in his works. I find it a bit disturbing how much political impact Mussolini had on the artists and the designers of that time. Due to the fascist regime there were a lot of limitations on the cultural industry but Munari has successfully carried out his works under the constraints. 

Here are some of the examples shown to us in class.

References:

Jones, J 2017, Open Culture, blog post, 24 April, viewed 31 May 2020, <http://www.openculture.com/2017/04/11-rules-for-the-perfect-italian-futurist-meal.html>

Waxman, O 2019, Time, blog post, 22 March, viewed 31 May 2020 <https://time.com/5556242/what-is-fascism/>

Popova M, n.d., brainpickings, blog post, viewed 31 May 2020 <https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/21/futurist-cookbook-marinetti/>

Colizzi L, 2013, ‘Milan’s Anarchic Modernist’, Eye Magazine, viewed 1 June 2020, <http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/milans-anarchic-modernist>

Today we did an activity called shapeshifters in class. I wasn’t too happy of what I achieved in class, the letterforms looked alright but the photos turned out awful due to messy background and lighting so I did it again after class. When I worked on the pangram image a few weeks ago it took me a few hours to get rid of the background completely. A friend of mine who is in her final year of design studies told me there is an easier way to do this by using the color range tool. I instantly looked it up on linkedin and watched a tutorial on it and it only took me 10-15 minutes to come up with the final image above. 

This week’s lecture was one of my favorite lectures so far. It was inspiring to learn about an innovative institution like Bauhaus where they first started taking a holistic approach to teaching design. Walter Gropius who was the founder of the Bauhaus school wanted to bring together various talents. He believed in the collaboration of diverse artistic fields. 

One of my goals is to become a multi-disciplinary designer who is capable of multiple things such as design, photography, film etc. This personal thought of mine aligned with the teaching method of Bauhaus which really sparked my interest in this institution. 

Andy introduced us to many designers, artists, photographers who were in Bauhaus and it was interesting that Wassily Kandinsky was also a part of this school. Kandinsky is an artist that I knew from a very young age and I remember enjoying his abstract and colorful artworks. What I find inspiring is that Kandisky was heavily influenced by music because he had a synesthesia which made him see colors when he listened to music. I’m going to quote what he said about his experience at a music performance, “I saw all my colors in spirit, before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me.” 

Here are some of his paintings that I like. His paintings do look a bit like music when you have that background information about him. Andy once advised us against only following graphic design but encouraged us to get inspired from all areas such as fashion design or photography or architecture. Kandinsky seems like someone who has done that really well with a hybrid nature to his artistic ability.  Andy suggested we look further into Moholy-Nagy but I ended up more intrigued with his wife, Lucia Moholy. Lucia Moholy was also a talented photographer who has played a huge role in shaping the Bauhaus school’s identity and image through her photographs of the school. However she was seldom credited for her works because of her gender.

Moholy documented the architecture and the facilities of the Bauhaus which helped construct the image and the identity of the Bauhaus. Later Walter Gropius used Moholy’s images in various catalogs and in an exhibition but did not credit her works at all. One of the worst things you can do to creatives is using their works without permission or credit and Walter Gropius being a creative himself should have known.

Here are some of her photos that she took at Bauhaus. Even by modern standards these look fantastic in terms of lighting and composition. I remember Karen saying in the lecture that Walter Gropius believed women cannot think in three dimensions. Walter Gropius does not seem like the kindest person but no doubt that his school Bauhaus was phenomenal.

References:

Miller R, 2014, ‘Wassily Kandinsky’s symphony of colors’, Denver Art Museum, 19 May, viewed 1 June 2020, <https://denverartmuseum.org/article/staff-blogs/wassily-kandinskys-symphony-colors>

I’ve always associated ballet with soft, graceful dance movements. The Triadic ballet is quite different from that image as they are geometric and stiff. 

Oskar Schlemmer conceived the human body as a new artistic minimum which is why he wanted to present his ideas of choreographed geometry through ballet. The idea of the ballet was based on the principle of the trinity. It has 3 acts, 3 participants (2 male, 1 female), 12 dances and 18 costumes. His consideration of the human form (the abstract geometry of the body e.g. a cylinder for the neck, a circle for head and eyes) led to the all important costume design, to create what he called his ‘figurine'. 

This week we had to find letter forms by looking out on our windows. Andy showed us how he found some letter forms in his backyard and encouraged us to do the same. At first I thought it would be more challenging for me to come up with letter forms because I live in an apartment with no backyard but I did find quite a few letterforms. However I wanted a more consistent looking typefaces so I went out on a walk and found these letterforms with the sky/buildings. 

Here is my finished outcome of the assignment - “my question is....” I decided with the question “What can I use to design?”. This was inspired by my tutor Andy as he was clear that designers should not need some fancy adobe suites. It is more about the willingness and determination and designers should be able to design with any tool that they only have access to.

Here are some in progress pictures. For manipulating the final image, Andy's photoshop demo on 3/4 tutorial was really helpful. Basically we learned how to work with layers to manipulate an image nondestructively. Although I initially thought photoshop itself is not enough to edit an image now Andy showed me otherwise. I was first going to go with a plain white background but it looked too flat and boring so I added a photo of a cutting mat as a background. I think it worked out really well. Also I added a question mark that has a bigger proportion than the other letters so that the composition would look more interesting.

On this post I want to focus on two people that were mentioned in Andy and Karen’s lecture in week 6. I did a bit of further research on Jan Tschichold and Josef Muller-Brockmann as they drew my attention the most.

1. Jan Tschichold was one of the most significant typography designers in the 20th century. Andy mentioned his book ‘New Typography’ and I explored further on what the book is about. In his book, Tschichold finds the mathematical proportions that would form a certain type of layout that is ideal to his eyes. When it comes to typography, Tschicold states that clarity should come first rather than beauty. He also says that the message should be delivered as short and efficiently as possible. What was interesting was his introduction of the asymmetry. He says asymmetrical type should be used instead of the former symmetrical type to show clarity of the text instead. He advises against the use of ornamentation as it can hinder the true understanding of the text.  

On last week’s lecture I did a research on Claude Garamond. Apparently Jan Tschichold was influenced by Claude Garamond and created a typeface Sabon in 1967 based on the Garamond font. His typeface is referred to as a revival of the typeface Garamond.

2. Josef Muller-Brockmann was a Swiss graphic designer who has his background on both graphic design and architecture. Although Muller-Brockmann was influenced by Tschichold’s works, Muller-Brockmann stated in his book that “the grid system is an aid not a guarantee”. Andy says that this is softening Tschichold’s position about the grid system.

Muller Brockmann says the typographic grid is dividing up the page space evenly into horizontal and vertical units and some consistent spacing between them. This is allocating the elements to a grid. He described his own style very well and I thought I would quote what he said. “In my poster, advertising, brochure and exhibition creations, subjectivity is removed in favour of a geometric grid that determines the arrangement of words and images. The grid is an organisational system that makes the message easier to read, this allows you to get an effective result at a minimum cost.”

References:

Morris B, 2019, ‘Josef Muller Brockmann grid based layout and web design’’, Ben Morris, blog post, 13 March, viewed 1 June 2020, <https://www.ben-morris.com/josef-muller-brockmann-grid-based-layout-and-web-design/>

Read N, 2009, ‘Graphic design theory : the new typography’, Noahred, blog post, 8 November, viewed 31 May 2020, <https://noahread.net/blog/graphic-design-theory-the-new-typography>

Purcell K, n.d., ‘Joseph Muller Brockmann’, Design is history, blog post, viewed 1 June 2020, <http://www.designishistory.com/1940/joseph-mueller-brockmann/>