movable type technique (again)

 
In the standard process of making type,

1- a hard metal punch (made by punchcutting, with the letter carved back to front) is hammered into a softer copper bar, creating a matrix. 
2- the matrix is then placed into a hand-held mold and a piece of type, or "sort", is cast by filling the mold with molten type-metal; this cools almost at once, and the resulting piece of type can be removed from the mold. 
3- the matrix can be reused to create hundreds, or thousands, of identical sorts so that the same character appearing anywhere within the book will appear very uniform, giving rise, over time, to the development of distinct styles of typefaces or fonts. 
4- after casting, the sorts are arranged into type-cases, and used to make up pages which are inked and printed, a procedure which can be repeated hundreds, or thousands, of times.

your turn #1: in the beginning was the mark

chinese-canadian tattoo artist nomi chi

hi kids: welcome to my arh 346 class.

we started this course talking about the importance of the mark. 

first, the anthropological need to make marks. then the many instances of marks:

the social ritualistic (paleolithic ancient cave murals, egyptian dead rolls, the willendorf venus, etc), the psychological (the "i love you" on a wall),

the political (graffiti),

the rule oriented (hammurabi code, confucius' analects),

the economic (ancient coins),

the semantic (as in alphabet development),

the scientific (early mathematics), etc.

now, write a 120-word minimum comment addressing any particular angle that you find interesting of this first class. again,

to make a comment 

click at the bottom of this post where it says "post a comment." you will get a box, after you are done, write down your full name at the bottom of your comment (even if you have a google alias). click "anonymous" (unless you have a google account with your alias). i advise you to write your comment first on word and then copy-and-paste it to the comment box in case it gets lost (this has happened to students). click i'm not a robot and click "publish your comment." by the way, you can preview your comment before you publish it.

 again, to look at what comments look like click here.

don't forget student evaluations!

thanks!

art chantry's low tech approach to graphic design

chantry builds his record, poster, and magazine designs by hand, eschewing the now-ubiquitous computer and laser printer for X-acto knives, Xerox machines, and photoset type.

it's all about about low tech,

who says design cannot change the world?

For now, Poster Boy and his movement is doing his part to fight De$ign.

Postmodern satire: Heeeeere's is The Onion

For the Onion's history click here.

Then, there's Spy!

Now with Kurt Andersen's selection of covers.

Rick Valicenti

Rick Valicenti formed Thirst in 1989 as the evolution of a career already eight years under way. I can think of no other body of work by any designer that has the amount of strength that Rick’s does, while simultaneously plundering the depths of style and defying uniformity (...) Often otherworldy, and sometimes dripping in political or social commentary, Valicenti and Fisher rode in tandem to fame partly on these electric, visceral pieces. And it is worth noting that bike enthusiasts—not just designers—remember these pieces from a time when personality in product as well as promotion was both appreciated and desired. What Rick forms with his clients is a relationship, what they give him is trust, and what results is a personal conversation which draws on all of their experiences and fuses the boundaries between expression and promotion. While each individual piece may at times seem bizarre, slick, cold or inscrutable, the work as a whole has continuity, love, passion and depth. While Rick's style has been emulated, the essence of his work has rarely been repeated (Marian Bantjes, AIGA's Medalists).

your turn #11 (what would the history of the poster look like without polish school's contribution?)

circus, viktor gorka, 1968

The stars of the Polish School of the 1960s and 1970s: Starowieyski, Lenica, Cieślewicz,  Wałkuski, Bodnar, Gorka, Tomaszewski, Zameczni, Świerz, Polka, Trepkowski. 

What do you think?*


________________
* I briefly referred to Polish cinema and theater as part of the cultural explosion going on in Poland during the 1960s &1970s: Take a look at Jerzy Grotowski's amazing theater (I only found this youtube documentary in French and translated into Italian). Another Polish theater iconoclast I forgot to mention is Tadeus Kantor (here a portrait in English). Kantor and Grotowski's so-called "traumatic theater" have influenced contemporary theater all over.
For Polish Cinema of the 1960s: A list of films and directors. Watch Andre Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds. Arguably the best realist Polish film. A masterpiece. 
The grisly murdered of Sharon Tate (then Polanski's wife here).
Jan Lenica's Labyrinth (1963).

your turn #10

r. crumb, 1960s

Kula Robbins' Jenny On The Job, Advertising, Pre-Logo years, Fortune Magazine, Anton Stankowski, George Giusti, The International Typographic Style: Huber, Armin Hoffman's vector fonts, Müller-Brockmann's rational order, Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Chermayeff & Geismar, Logo History. What's in a LOGO?

your turn #9

anton stankowski, 1950s

there is plenty to talk about in this rich period mid1930s- mid1950s: modern designstars, piet zwart (master of de stijl), piet mondrian's contribution to modern design, the one and only master of preWWII elegance, a. cassandre, ladislav sutnar (the neue typographie standardizer), herb lubalin (the laconic master of positive/negative), the avangardist ted mcknight koffer, the exquisite moods of cipe pineles,  saul bass' groundbreaking collaborations with o. preminger and a. hitchcock, the inimitable alvin lustig. then we have WWII posters (both sides of the war) and a brief analysis of propaganda.

pick what you like and spin it.  

your turn #8

this famous alan aldridge poster for chelsea girls has its surreal twang

We talked about Surrealism (within the context of graphic design), WWI and WWII posters, and the star émigrés of the New York School: Binder, Beall, Matter Brodovitch, Agha (more to come). For better or worse, they changed the direction of modern graphic design. 

your turn #7

Natalia Goncharova. In A Game in Hell: A Poem (Igra v adu: Poema), 1912

We've covered an amazing chunk of history: Cubism, Expressionism, Constructivism, Neue Typographie, Futurism and Dadaism. At each step of the way I've tried to connect these developments and techniques to graphic design, only now, graphic = a mark and design = the possibility of a mark in a space. 

Yesterday, I reiterated this idea of typeface as the smallest graphic experimentation unit. So,

Typeface  =  line (drawing) =  floor plan (architecture) = chair (furniture) = string quartet (music) = monologue (theater) = pirouette (dance).      

What's on your mind?

________________

pS: I said that Johannes Itten was a director @ the Bauhaus. Not exactly. He was director at the Kunstgewerbeschule, and one of the masters at the BAUHAUS faculty. Gropius, Meyer and Mies (in this order) were directors are BAUHAUS.  My lapse and my apologies. :)

your turn #6

kandinsky, improvisation #19, 1911

plakatstil, klinger, werkbung, gesamkunstwerk, new typography, adolf loos & ornament, blue rider, expressionist woodcuts, schmidt rottluff!

your turn #5

toorop, dalende gevolen, 1894

Chéret, L'art pour l'art, Art Nouveau, Decadence, Viennese Secession, Beardsley, Toorop, Lebeau, Mucha, Delville, van de Velde, Delville. Pick your favorite.

your turn #4

edward steichen, portrait of marlene dietrich (early 1930s)

this post is ongoing with the forthcoming info (of next monday class). remember i close the comment box early next wednesday morning.

your turn #3

takato yamamoto's erotic illustrations at juxtapoz (check its current erotica section)

photography (daguerrotype), photography as hobby, monsieur nadar, freaks!, pictorialism, designing circus, the civil war illustrator, erotica.

your turn #2

hypnerotomachia poliphili (1499)

we've travelled even deeper into typeface character: ratdolt's euclid's elements, griffo's amazing bembo, from gutenberg's high gothic to italian and french roman, geoffory tory's pre-neoclassical design, the broken pot, humanism, the nuremberg chronicles, garamond the virtuoso. unlucky tyndale, maps, vesalius's human altas. wow!

what's on your mind? 

your turn #1

this is one of my favorite ornate initials. 
Lindisfarne Gospels (c.698aD). simply amazing!

hi, class. we've covered miscellaneous aspects of the history of graphic design (up to the high middle ages), right around the emergence of the Gothic script (circa early 15th century).

you should post a 150-word comment on any of those aspects treated in class: whether a specific typeface, design style, design development, image, concept, object, mark, etc. try to make your comment relevant to our discussion --so far. don't be just casual about it, think about what to say and do your best to add something meaningful to the discussion. next wednesday we'll open the class with your reading of these comments.

you can post anonymously if you wish, or with your google, facebook accounts. just don't forget to sign at the bottom of your comments (not alias, but your real name).

 i'll close the post for comments on tuesday night.that's the deadline for posting a comment. 

mall-r-us

designing sexploitation

redesigning parking

parking lots are urban wastelands of asphalt, but there is a solution: implementing solar panels in car parking lots to keep regular cars cool and in some cases to charge electronic vehicles. at about 4 meters high each 'tree' is topped-off with a canopy covered in solar cells.

how advertising does food

redesigning coastal development

the impacts of climate change are likely to worsen many problems that coastal areas already face. shoreline erosion, coastal flooding, and water pollution affect man-made infrastructure and coastal ecosystems. confronting existing challenges is already a concern. addressing the additional stress of climate change may require new approaches to managing land, water, waste, and ecosystems.

 

designing food

food deserts: 2.3 million americans live more than one mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. the report also notes that minorities and lower-income communities are often affected, as “urban core areas with limited food access are characterized by higher levels of racial segregation and greater income inequality.” it is not uncommon to go into these communities and the only food outlets found are fast food restaurants and convenience stores stocked with products that are highly processed and genetically modified – both characteristics that contribute to poor health and environmental degradation. food deserts have been a major contributor to obesity and other related health problems in these communities.

designing transhumanism

a list of 10 transhuman technologies happening or relatively soon in the horizon. 


nothing against technology. but transhumanism embraces technology unproblematically. designing transhumanism demands a careful balance between the liberating potential of technology with the moral consequences of an unchecked optimism.

other possible outcomes: the idea of reprogenetics to alter people's IQ. also, the idea of technologies for human enhancement.

your turn #9

nate waldon for adbusters

a long list of emergent designers from the 2000's (under 30) and mid-career star designers. the common thread of the work is the modularity & malleability of the mark, whether 1D, 2D or 3D.

in our post-human era, typeface becomes font, elevation, furniture, building, installation, environment, even data/structure.   
 
what's in your mind?

below, find our topics-for-the-final. also don't forget your teacher evaluations!

Typophiles of the world unite!

Typedia: still the wikipedia of typography

If you love typography you should check Typophile.

Friends with You (originally from Miami now in LA)

Friends with You is a company from Miami.

Established in 2002 by Miami-based artists Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, FriendsWithYou set forth on a mission to spread the idea of Magic, Luck, and Friendship™ around the world, and become Friends-With-You!

Designed as a resource center for all things creative, FriendsWithYou is a unique think-tank that has the ability to seamlessly incorporate their distinct artistic style and one-of-a-kind ideas into a wide range of mediums and applications. FriendsWithYou’s work spans all creative realms from fine art to large-scale experiential installations and interactive events to public playgrounds, directorial work, live performances, animation and multimedia projects, branding and licensing. All FriendsWithYou projects offer once in a lifetime experiences, as FriendsWithYou is in a category of its own as a first class multidisciplinary art collective and creative studio (from FwY website).

LUST

There is no other conceptual studio in The Netherlands where conceptual thinking about graphic design and cutting edge digital technology are as obviously interdependent as they are at LUST. Its members describe themselves and their select group of like-minded designers as Generation Random. What means that every piece conceived by LUST has an element that is randomly generated. Each job is seen as an incentive to research and question the strategies and workings of design itself.

LUSTlab researches, generates hypotheses and makes unstable media stable again. The future of digital media lies in the design of its use. Humanizing the unhuman, bringing the internet down to earth and finding the missing link between the digital and the physical. The outcomes vary from (strategic) visions to new communication tools, man-machine installations and physical products using digital content. 

Enter LUST.

TOKO

• When did you get started?

Toko was established in 2001 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and is now operating out of Surry Hills, Sydney, where it relocated in the beginning of 2006 to pursuit new (geo)graphic adventures.

• What about the name?

The name Toko has a strong Dutch-Asian historical background and is common Dutch slang for "shop".

• What do you do?

Toko is a multidisciplinary design studio with the emphasis on print design.

What more do we do; signage and environmental graphics, editorial, book and magazine design, identity and concept design, poster, flyer and invitation design, music and fashion related design and more...

• How can you describe your intervention area?

We would like to maintain our intervention area as broad as possible because every field has it's own unique set of opportunities for interesting and challenging outcomes.

• What place does typography take into your work?

Typography plays a significant role in our work. If possible we like to experiment with it or create an unique typeface per project. Typography is much more then just getting information across.

• Favorite cocktail?

The mix of creativity and a down to earth approach.

(Taken from TOKO's Website)

(TOKO's "CODE" above, for Final Exam).

NOWNESS

Nowness

your turn #8

art by dogboy

what a ride!

george lois, chermayeff & geismar, LOGO, bass' lesson, ed fella, jamie reid, PUNK, david carson's revolution,  the 2000's: sgameister, chris ware, eboy, ellery, barnbrook, shaoua, opara, bodkin, fanelli...