OUGD401: Context of Practice - Graphic Design : A Medium for the Masses

Graphic Design

• Origins of Graphic Design
• Graphic Design in relation to fine art and advertising
• Graphic Design as a tool of capitalism
• Graphic Design as a political tool

• Bison and Horses - Cave Painting, Lascaux, France - Simplistic form to communicate
• Giotto di Bondone, Betrayal, c. 1305, Fresco, arena chapel, Padua, Italy - Relays the story of Christ - Art, visual communication
• John Everett Millias, Bubbles 1886 - Pears soap advertisement, relationship between art and design
• William Addison Dwiggins (Successful designer)

• Herbet Spencer : (about Graphic Design) 'Mechanized art'
• Max Bill and Josef Muller : 'Visual Communication'
• Richard Hollis : Making or choosing marks to communicate and idea

• 'Looking Closer' - Series of 5 books - Library?

• Edward Manet (1832-83) - Money to spend
• Henri de Toulouse-Latrec - Fine Art
• Artistide Bruant -1893
• La Goulue - 1890 -Early Graphic Design lins to advertising
• Alphonse Mucha - Art Nouveau style, created avertisments
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh - Scottish Musical Review, 1896
• Koloman Moser, 13th seccession
• Peter Behrens, AEG 1910- Links to fine art, simplified
• Saville Lumley, 'Daddy what did YOU do in the Great war?' - fine art with type place onto it

• Julius Gipkens - Trophies of the air war
• Wassily Kandinsky - breaking down images into geometric shapes
• El Lissitsky - 'Beat the whites with the red wedge' -abstract shapes inspired by fine art

• London Underground map - simplified design
• Simon Patterson - 'The great bear' 1992, Graphic design into fine art

• Oskar Schiemer - Bauhaus Logo
• Kandinsky 60th birthday exhibition, Herbet Bayer - Modernist

• Piet Zwart, Phone book (Dutch) 1938
• Herbet Matter - Swiss Tourist board
• AM Cassandre - L'Intran

• Britain, 1937 - fineart / illustration

• Ludwig Hohlwein - Reichs sports day for the association of German girls
• Degenarate Art - collected by Hitler, who did not like abstract art

• The New Star of freedom - Josef Renau, Screen print, interesting use of type
• Let's Squash Fascism, Pere Catala 1936 - Rising up from the streets, media for the masses

• G.lucis (Russian) - using new technology

• Abram Game 'Exhibition of Science' - Celebrate Britain, festival of Britain
• Saul Bass, Man with the gold arm, anatomy of murder - Hotchcock films, pop culture

• Paul Rand, Iconic American designer - American Brodcasting Company logo and IBM logo

• Ken Garland - First things first manifesto 1964 - Designers should consider what they are doing, think of the community - Step back to propaganda and informing the audience not advertising to them
• FHR Henrion, Stop nuclear suicide poster, 1960 - social conscience
• Hippy Movement - Starts as political movement
• Art works coalition, Q: and babies? A: and babies - stark imagery

• Hipgnosis - over indulged CD covers
• Jamie Reid, 'Never mind the bollocks...' - simplistic

- Both convey genre of music

• Peter Saville, The factory night poster - Tony Wilson emplyed him on the basis of this piece which was completed two days late
• New Order, Blue Monday sleeve design, 1983 - company lost 30p for every one sold, more interested in creating a beautiful design than making money

Post Modernism

• Neville Brody - Face Magazine, 1980s

• Public Image Limited, stayed away from embelishing the product - says what it is
• Peter Blake, Band Aid : Do they know its christmas? - British Pop Art Movement
• Chumbawamba
• Designers Republic - pop will east itself
• Julian House, 2000
• Mark Farrow, Ladies and Gentlemen we are the floating in space - spritulised, limited edition designed to look like pill packets - blur between function of packaging and beautiful 'un-opened' object.

• The Coup, Party music - Made one month before 9/11, was withdrawn

• Stephen Hellar- cometry on Graphic Desgin, 1991
• Olympukes - what purpose does it serve?
• Naomi Klien - No logo
• United Colours of Benetton (1990-92) - shock advertising, nothing to do with the product they were selling
• Judy Blame, Keep Britain Tidy t-shirt - Graphic Design / fashion

Final thoughts / summary

• Graphic Design is a relatively young discipline
• The links between Graphic Design and different diciplines, e.g. fine art, advertising are arguably becoming increasingly blurred
• Although it was born out of consumerist / capitalist interests, Graphic Design is arguably becoming increasingly concerned with social issues.