Introduction
Through this semester I've attended many lectures informing
the design of history through the years of modernism, post modernism, futurism,
constructivism, Bauhaus and also sustainable design. which I have taken notes
and been assigned the task of writing a blog with my notes and findings of what
I have learned and what has interested me. I will go more into depth with the
notes I have taken and add images that are relevant and interest me where I
will be giving my own opinion and thought. I will also disagree with the things
that I don't agree on and things I agree on and why. Through this I will also
be learning thing that I did not know in the design world and educating myself
the history of design.
Constructivism
Is
an artistic and architectural which started in Russia beginning in 1919, which had a great
impact on modern art. This artistic way was apparently an unwelcomed influence
at the beginning changing architecture, graphic and industrial design, theatre,
film, dance and fashion. However the technique was
liked because it gave artists a new style of design and to create pieces of art
to carry out a message to the people which is where propaganda came into it,
creating pieces of work in the easiest of ways communicating to the people on
the streets. Constructivism effected modern art in the 20th century which influenced
well known architecture such as the Bauhaus.
(Alexander Rodchenko and
Varvara Stepanova – Books)
This poster was designed for opening a new book store
with the use of limited simple colours with just the use of red, black, green
and blue. The bold geometric shapes and imagery used were also simple but effective
with the help of typography shouted out by the woman which gave the poster a
voice and movement with a bold clear typeface that can be seen from far away
grabbing the reader's attention.
Attending this lecture reminded me about the propaganda
artist Alfred Leete who I've done much research on before. He is a British
artist and the leader of propaganda posters. He is well known for
his wartime propagandist includes the poster for which he is known above all,
the Lord Kitchener
poster design,
which appeared on 5 September 1914.
(Alfred Leete's Lord Kitchener poster)
This is one of his well
known pieces of work which I like where
the graphics are very simple, The use of bold typography which is very
directive and grabs the audience attention. Also the imaged used of Lord
Kitchener makes you feel like he is actually speaking directly to you which
worked well for this design of poster.
Bauhaus
House of construction", stood for
"School of Building"
Was a school in Germany which was opened
from 1919 to 1933 which combined artistic crafts and the fine arts. Doing so
was famously known for its approach to teaching it
publicized and taught. The school was set up by an architecture Walter Gropius,
founded by an architecture I would of thought he would of had an architecture
department which he didn't during the five years. despite this the focal point
for the school was to bring all design medias together. The Bauhaus was
a huge architectural impact of its time which influenced in Modernist architecture and
modern design which changed architecture, art, graphic design, typography and
industrial design. The School was pressured by the Nazi to close down because
cause the thought it was a centre of communist
intellectualism but this didn't stop the staff from teaching as they left
Germany and went across the world.
(Weimar Typography)
I admire the concept with the play of typography through
this piece of work which gives it movement, words curving around shapes, I even
think that the shapes could possibly be lettering.
(Bauhaus products)
Really like the architecturally structured arm chair which
is very modern but simple. It could be looked at as a piece of art/sculpture
with the curves and the simplicity.
Futurism
In
the early 20th century was a artistic movement that came from Italy which
associated with concepts of the future. This would include anything that was
new and in the future such as technology,
speed, violence, youth, politics, car, plane, engineering and architecture,
even though UK and other places were involved in this movement Italy was more
involved. The people (futurists) used
every form of media, graphic design, fine art, painting, photography,
architecture, film, fashion, music, engineering ect....
As Italy was the biggest
involmeant a great futurists came out of the country such as Filippo Tommaso Marinette who was a poet
and was a key figure. He produced important works such as the French Le Figaro
newspaper, Boccioni's sculpture, The Dirigible, In the Evening, Lying on
Her Bed, She Reread the Letter from Her Artilleryman at the Front, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, and Balla's painting. French Le Figaro newspaper was Flippo's first major
work which started him becoming a futurist as other futurists started joining
to the movement. This group had their own beliefs that anything old is rejected and not even
glanced upon and that the future was the way forward in art. My own thought on
this subject is that I agree but also don't agree, I agree because we should
always be moving forward in design and experimenting which new techniques and
methods. But I also disagree because old techniques have their stamp in the
design industry where retro styles are still around us even with using
futuristic methods.
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4060/4484586548_cbae6b4f17.jpg
The Strength of the Curve (Tullio Crali, 1930)Marinetti was an Italian futurist and fascism which
is a new artist I came across when doing research. The technique used is in the
name of the artwork '' curve '' the way that he has just used curves to create
movement is so simple but affective which make the red car look like that it is
actually travelling at a fast speed. The limited colours also work with the
painting which I like.
Postmodernism
started in 1972 modernism had failed but what
postmodernisms thought, where modernists though less was more postmodernist
thought that was not correct and that more was better. For example Picasso is a
worldwide famous artist with people all over the world loving his work,
postmodernists people were not a great fan and thought just one technique of
style was just too boring so experimenting with other medias and techniques for
one piece or work was acceptable by using collage, reputation, manipulation and
so on which were more interesting and fun. By doing so this wasn't just for
fine art it was also for architecture, sculptures, graphics, music and fashion.
Not everyone agreed to this because they thought it was wrong to recycle the
past to make something new and thought it was pointless, however the rise of
media helped postmodernism take of all over the world giving this movement a
force to be recognized with to question things why things are the way they are and the ways they aren't. It serves as an
overarching term for sceptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. 
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/T/T07/T07573_10.jpg
Duchamp FountainEven though I like postmodernism art there is a big
part I don't like, for example Duchamp Fountain sculpture I find it really
pointless and can't even call it ''art'' because in my opinion it's just a urinal
with crappy writing on the side which anyone can do even a drunk man in the
toilets can just create this piece of work as he is using a urinal.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/In_the_style_of_Andy_Warhol.jpg
Andy Warhol is an artist I know about which I know
was a big influence to Postmodernism who as an American
artist who was a visual art movement known
as pop art. This painting of Marilyn Monroe is a symbolic piece
of work repeating the image 4 times but coloured in bright bold colours which
pop which gives it a retro feel which I like.
Modernism
Modernism is the movement in art and cultural movement
which changed the western society in the 19th and 20th centuries. This had a
big impact on the industry and rapid growth which was followed by World War 1 were
the factors that shaped modernism. Modernist
reject religious beliefs and rejects enlightenment thinking therefore not moving on and not thinking into the future
and keep the more traditional form of arts, architecture, faith and literature which
were becoming outdated in the new economic/social and political condition in
the world. Modernists always thought that anything designed should be designed for its use and not how it should
look.ludwig mies van der rohe - less is moreGerman-American architetect and served as the last director of Berlin's Bauhaus, , and then headed the department of architecture. He establish a new architectural style that could represent modern times just as Classical and Gothic did for their own eras. He created an influential twentieth-century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity
Lester Beail - felt like design ''must work with one goal
in mind-to interrogate the elements in such manner that they will combine to produce
a result that will convey not merely a static commercial message, but an
emotional reaction as well.
http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name/images/Les-Demoiselles-d-Avignon.jpg
Les Demoiselles d'Avigon (1907)This is a oil painting created in 1907 which portrays five nude female prostitutes from a brothel. The work is widely considered to be of early stages of both cubism and modern art. I actually like the angular and disjointed body shapes which drawn me into the piece of work, I actually like the technique used with cubism which i add into my own graphic work.
Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso is my favourite piece of work but also his most famous work which shows the pain a suffer war does to innocent individuals. This is a powerful political statement aimed at the Naz's casualy bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War which surrealism and symbolism comes into the painting.
http://chicagoartreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Pablo-Picasso-Guernica.jpg
Sustainable design
Sustainable design aims to reduce impacts on the
environment therefore improving building performance. Therefore the main step
of sustainability is to reduce the consumption of waste, non renewable
resources and minimize waste, and create healthy productive environments. 80%
damage of the environmental impact is determined at the design stage, most of
the products involved the inefficient use of energy, water and natural
resources. The way around this would be to use environmentally preferable
products,
- minimize non renewable energy consumption
- enhance indoor environmental quality
- protect and conserve water
- optimize operational and maintenance practices
- use environmentally preferable products
most of the products involved the inefficient use of
energy, water and natural resources, 400 billion pounds is spent on
advertisement and marketing which has a big affect when transporting goods, by travel it creates 2-4% of global carbon
dioxide emissions which is 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2050.
In The USA 2,3bn paper cups a year in the, 43 thousand tonnes per year of waste
of coffee pods end up in landfills alone. This is one of the reasons why we
have to use recyclable materials paper bags vs plastic bags. Fabric bags are
the way forward because it takes a few weeks for a paper bag to decompose and
500 years for a plastic bag to decompose. However every person in the United
Kingdom uses up the equivalent of two trees a year because the waste of peper makes
up 50% (by volume) of our domestic waste 5million tonnes of paper is wasted, glass:
six billion glass bottles.
plastic: half the plastic bottles we now put out for
recycling are now sent to china for around £50 a tonne
metal: currently only 50% of drink and pet foods cans are
recycled, in 1990 McDonalds bowed to customer pressure and switched to
cardboard -
- 30% less energy to produce
- 46% less atmospheric emissions
- 42% less water borne waste
Product design is now trying to do its bit creating solar
trees, wind up light, advertisement created with sand, snow, grass and architecture
which is eco friendly.
As I'm a vegetarian I'm actually helping the world,
eating quorn products you save 70% of paper costs. And staying with the theme
supermarkets have been re designing the way they package there foods with more
eco friendly materials.
However reducing materials on food products does have its
downside, the first image of the chocolate cake the packaging is well designed
and makes you want to eat the cake more but with the second Imaged with less
packaging has lost its spark to grab the public's attention to make them buy
it. This should be pick up upon because yes it is a good idea to reduce the
packaging materials to help the planet but they need to find ways to make it
more appealing to the audience.
