We began tonight by looking at the controversial works of Barbara Kruger and the underlying premise behind deconstructivism. We also took a look at the revolutionary typographic works of Cranbrook and David Carson. After examining further influences of deconstructive theory on design, we ended with looking at the works of Chip Kidd and Stephen Sagmeister, and discussing how the role of the 21st century graphic designer will be challenged.
Key Points:
-Deconstruction is an attitude, not a style.
-Use of potentially offensive/disturbing messages to evoke emotions.
-Question how the alphabet shapes the speech.
-Question how the speech changes the alphabet.
-There is no innocent speech.
-Breaking the rules of typographic hierarchy.
-Rapid outpouring of new typefaces with the use of computer technology.
-Messages can be deconstructed and rebuilt as totally different messages.
-Structures can be reshuffled and re-inhabited.
-The role of language in our construction of reality.
-The culture jam.
-Emphasis on the body.
-Characteristics of Postmodernism.
-Experiments of the 90's.
-The book covers of Chip Kidd.
-Stephen Sagmeister's work as a designer.
-Outsourcing of basic production work in the present day.
-The dynamic graphic systems of the 21st Century and the challenge for today's designers.
As one who's opinion is not always the popular one, I find it important to see the significant power contained in the ability to take one message and turn it around, sometimes completely against the creator of the original message. I've also always been a fan of many of the more questionable typefaces (two semesters of Type haven't destroyed my fondness for papyrus and comic sans), so it's interesting to see how some of the more unorthodox typographic work came into play.
Throughout history, it seems as though civilization and design have taken turns moving and changing each other. As we move forward into the 21st century, it should prove interesting to see which way this interaction will take us next.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment