Graphic Design & Modernism
Modernism is simply.. cultural responses to the modern world
Modernity: 17th - 20th century
Industrial large scale capitalism
Modernist graphic design was evident in the 20th century
* Rejection of ornament (Adolf Loos (1908) Ornament and Crime). Stripped down aesthetic.
* Form follows function (Louis Sullivan (1896) The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered).
- Fashionable, superficial style
- Without connotations
- Architectural theorists
- Seeks to strip out all hindrances.. style is secondary
EXAMPLES
Cheret (1884)
Toulouse - Lautrec (1891)
- New forms of leisure
- Social relations
- Not modernist in the sense that 'form follows function'
Parole in liberta (1914) Audio poem
- Experimental typography
- Setting and arranging type
- Minimalist
- New techniques and processes
- Type not limited to a structure or grid
- Type forms images
Marinetti (1909) Futurist Manifesto
- Embracing modern times
Fortunato Depero (1927) Bolted Book
- Modernist typographer
- Links to industry (binded with bolts)
- Staying true to materials
Appolinaire (1918) Il Pleut
- Words cascade like the rain
- Experimental typography
Jan Tschichold (1927)
- No fonts except Grotesk fit for the modern age
- Naturalist, historic connotations ((in relation to Fraktur)
- Graphic design should be neutral and international and therefore appreciated worldwide
- Design should aid communication
Boyne & Rattansi (1990) - Postmodernism & Society
1) Aesthetic self-reflectiveness - celebrated the media which the design is working with. Jackson Pollock, for example, focuses on the process of creating design aswell as the message it portrays.
2) Montage - merging photography and print is a new technique and process
3) Paradox, ambiguity and uncertainty - more complex to decode, open to interpretation
4) Loss of integrated individual subject - In pre-modern times, identities were fixed and certain. Modernity shattered this certainty and new technologies, classes and fashion, for example, become apparent. However, people are no longer confident with their self-image.
5) Optimism and utopianism - Modernists wanted everyone, all around the world, to be equal. Their use of the Grotesk sans-serif font, meant there were no naturalist or historial connotations (as aforementioned), as opposed to the Fraktur typeface, but it could be appreciated by everyone.
