Ed Fella's 1980s vernacular

why Ed Fella? 

(born 1938) Fella is an artist, educator and graphic designer whose work has had an important influence on contemporary typography. his work is in the National Design Museum and MoMA in New York.

Fella dabbled at many different techniques, such as found typography, scribbles, brush writing, typesetting, rubdown letters, public domain clip art, stencils and more. his work made it to the right people and he was given the moniker "king of zing" because of his whimsical illustration style and sense of humor. 

so, in 1985 Fella retires from comercial design and decides to go back to school! 

he attends Cranbrook Academy of Art and graduates in 1987. at Cranbrook, Fella refined his already amazing craft and became a lecturer at CalArts, until he retired in 2013.

Fella has received the title of GRAPHIC GODFATHER by Emigre magazine.    

what's Fella's secret? 

1- deconstructing lines of copy, modifying typefaces, drawing,
2- turning Bembo into Bimbo,

3- cut & paste
4- hacking off the serifs,
5- eye-bending effects, 

April Greiman THE NEW WAVE (1980s)

512K! How could you do anything with that?

We finally got a 512k machine, the Mac Plus, which is how Design Quarterly was done. We used MacVision, which was a little beige box that hooked up to a video camera and ported right into the Mac. You could scan over an image and it was tiled out. We kept moving the camera, scanning and repeating.

April Greiman is recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a designing tool early as 1984 and, to a lesser extent, for introducing the New Wave aesthetic to the US.  

Greiman was not only influenced by the International Style, but also by the style later to become known as New Wave, an aesthetic less reliant on the Modernist heritage. 

Greiman is credited with establishing the New Wave design style to the US during the late 70s and early 80s, along with early collaborator Jamie Obers.

Ten years later, in 1984, the Macintosh was making an unsteady entry into the design market. Most designers were skeptical of—if not completely opposed to—the idea of integrating the computer into design practice, perhaps fearing an uncertain future wherein the tactility of the hand was usurped by the mechanics of bits and bytes. 

April Greiman recognized the vast potential of this new medium. An avid fan of tools and technologies since childhood, Greiman quickly established herself as a pioneer of digital communications design. 

I don't touch film, it's all digital. All of our printing is digital. I haven't touched a piece of film for 20 years. I really haven't.

Deborah Sussman: environmental design (1980s)

The design of an environmental identity for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics marked a watershed moment in post-modern graphic design.

Sussman's background included exposure to conceptual, visual, and performances arts as well as work in the offices of Charles and Ray Eames. Sussman's company here.

the 70s: PUNK design

never mind the bullocks, 1977

punk's embrace of the void is not that obvious in this album. reid's random note-style reflects a frustration with 1970's corporate media indulgence.

* flat colors reinforce 1970s nihilism. 

* fast, messy, unpolished—whether it was an album cover, a promotional poster or a DIY zine, these tenets held steadfast.

* these principles don't mean lack of planning or knowledge of design. No. 

* each design is supposed to question the standards and defying the norms of contemporary culture.

This was an art of expediency, making use of collage, cartoon drawings, hand-lettering, rub-down lettering, ransom-note lettering, stencils,…rubber-stamping and black and white Xerox copying, as well as silkscreen and offset litho. --Rick Poynor (for Design Observer).

And to prove the point of Punk graphic design having a nihilistic persuasion, look at this Dada poster by Raul Hausmann (1919): 

in the 1970s punk style took apart the workings of clean, seamless design

what do we have here?

1- language of anger and protest.”
2- influence (dada collage),
3- the aesthetics of underground press,
4- hap-hazard aesthetics,

Your turn #10 (& last post for comment!)

There's plenty to discuss: 1. Polish posters 1950-1970s, pick your favorite: Cieślewicz, Bodnar, Lenica, Flisak, Zamecznik, Gorka, Wałkuski, Tomaszewski, Świerzy. 2. The so-called self-conscious poster, 3. The amazing George Lois, or 4. Piet Zwart's typo-tect poster. 

If you are interested in exploring a future Polish-poster collection, click here,

or here.