Form Format & Function

This is the most relevant concept to graphic design 


modernism - emerges from the consciousness of the machine age 
this is mostly about the effectiveness of coming from the idea of the machine age 


Form follows Function - louis sullivan 1896




most applicable to TYPOGRAPHY




Beatrice Warde - The Crystal Goblet 


Good Design is invisible.   (Watch Helvetica again) 




Modernism would be a much more socialism style of audience and approach to this




Typography - international typographic style neue fragik 


adolf loos ' ornament is crime'


compare modernism vs postmodernism




READ ... Glen Warde - post modernism


The hand made VS technological






If done on this subject, you must mention these designers 
Adolf Loos
Danny carson
Louis Sullivan 




Ideas given from this lecture
Why is graphic design there?
What is the purpose of a designer?  (self publicise or to greater good of society)
Hand made typography VS Computerised Typography 

Final Essay Draft

Open publication - Free publishing - More album covers

Task 5 - The Gaze

 

‘according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ (Berger 1972, 45, 47)

 

The image above is the work of Hans Memling and is named 'vanity' this shows that she is there for the inspection of men, so men themselves can look upon her yet she is looking in the mirror at herself instead of looking back at the viewer (the man) and thus giving the man dominance in this situation as this makes you feel as if you can look at her without her seeing that you are, making the man as i previously said the most dominant.

 

The way in which Memling has posed the women is in a way to which he thinks is alluring, by then placing the mirror in her hand which is to make us think that she is contemplating herself, this is supported by the way in which her body is posed, which again encourages the men to look. 

This you can see in modern day society as well, this is included in the way that you can see how women still are posed to make you want to buy and obtain certain objects. The Lynx advert below, shows a women in just her underwear, simply doing cooking yet giving of sexual connotations.

This is mainly used as sex sells items alot easier then most other things, the thing that interests me in she is gazing back upon the man, which in a defense way wants to stop you from gazing however the body language implies otherwise

 

Globalisation, Sustainability and Media

Task 4 - Hyperreality

Hyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced post-modern societies. Hyperreality is a way of characterizing what our consciousness defines as "real" in a world where a multitude of media can radically shape and filter an original event or experience. 

Universal Studios in americas Orlando theme park would be classed as hyperreality, this would come down to the way in which it has been created, you walk the streets of a theme park knowing that you are there however as you walk around the themes change and make you feel asif you are in different countries, there are tons of places which is changes through and this leads your mind to think that you are in a completely new scene. 

This is a stimulation that really plays with the mind and makes you change the way your conscious works, the way this works is to make you think of a place that you have visited or seen on the media and try to make you feel asif you are there, the more you let yourself believe it the better the experience and the more it takes over how you feel and how you look at the concept of the whole scenario. Orlando is a place which really changes the way that you look at these things and it doesnt really cross your mind until your walking the streets of italy and instantly a scene change to china, this is when it really kicks in.

This has now been placed into all of our heads to be the way in which reality can be seen as either fake or the truth but aslong as the general public are having fun then they dont seem to care that much about how or when it happens, this could be forseen as a problem but its not when it comes to the Orlando park as this is what you expect when you go there.

 

The Production and Critique of Institutions

Task 2 - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

The work of Andy Warhol when he created the Campbell soup was something that was amazing to people and really captured the imagination, however when this piece of work was reproduced so many times it can be changed to whatever the reproducer wants. With the technology so people can This can perfectly reproduce graphic design every time it leaves what is higher in value completely down to the public, as its hard to tell what is the real thing and what is fake

The traces of the first can be revealed only by chemical or physical analyses which it is impossible to perform on a reproduction

With the work that someone has spent time and effort to be replaced by a replica it changes the values of many of today's amazing pieces of artwork as you now even see some of the most amazing piece of artwork and design created into kitsch objects sold cheaply in marketplaces. Walter Benjamin claimed that when copying an image, the copy becomes art in its own right. 

Its now also hard to tell who is copying who, if a copy is made from a copy, it can only happen so many times before the core basics of the image start to change so much that you cant tell which is which anymore.

There are claims that if the work is not the original then you are lacking the 4th elements of the work these being the time and space which it is in, as i previously said, something that is kitsch, for example a tea coaster with the Campbell soup print onto it will not have the same presence and effect to the public as the actual artwork in the London gallery would.  

Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space

Deleuze and Guattari, and Creativity

Censorship and Truth

Completed Essay - Album Covers

Open publication - Free publishing - More album covers

Essay Draft 1

Open publication - Free publishing - More albums

Jean Baudrillard and Postmodernism

Identity

Task 3 - Essay Proposal

Concept:

Title   -   Does the 'form, format and function' of an Album Cover effect how it communicates to the audience


In my essay i want to discuss how the way in which a album cover is put together can effect the way in which it can communicate with the audience. I will use Denotation and Connotation techniques to aid my findings, there will also be the critical analysis of four album covers to then see how they have used similar techniques in the creation of there LP covers to advertise there work. 

Sources:

'Sleeves of Desire'   -   ECM   -    Lars Muller Publishing 


'Nothing you can see that isn't shown'   -   Ian Inglis   -   Cambridge University Press


'Album Covers, Stories behind the sleeves'   -   Storm Thorgerson & Aubery Powell   -   Dorling Kindersley Book


'Album, Style and image in sleeve design'   -   Nick de Ville   -   Octopus Publishing

The Music Library    -   Graphic Art and Sound   -   FUEL Publishing 


Album Cover Album   -   Dominy Hamilton   -   ILEX


Taken By Storm   -   Storm Thorgerson   -   Omnibus Press


The Basic of Semitics   -   Daniel Chandler   -   Routledge

Cities and Film... Lecture 6.

Herbets Bayer's Lonely Metropolitan image optimises the idea of being surrounded by people but being simultaneously alone. 

In lewis Hines famour image the city is engulfing as he hangs above. 

The large buildings that you can see in any imagery of the big cities in america show them that they are these great creaetions that are soaring up into the sku, these then give the impression that this is the land of oppertunity and this shows how they are reaching for the sky.

Fordism, is coined by Gramsci, the idea is that the human body is part of the machine. The worker is employed in menial repetitive work and paid just enough to then buy the kinds of items that there making. It is self perpetuating - the worker is also the consumer.

Fordism was brought to an end by the stock market crash which led to the great depression. Immigrant communities and factory laborers are usually the first affected by depression!

'Man with a movie Camera' is a silent documentary from 1929 showing modern soviet life. There would have been live musical accompaniment to this film.

Susan Sontag talks about the photographer as a flaneur.

'Flaneur' comes from the french noun meaning 'stroller' or 'lounger'. The flaneur is a man of leisure,

What does it mean for a female to be a flaneur (flaneuse) ?

Shermans "Untitled Film Stills' use the typical low angles of film noir 

Task 1 - Panopticism Task...

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.  






Modern society has been under constant change and will always continue to change as long as we permit it too. The main way that this has been in effect is due to Panopticism. Panopticism is a apart of every day life, a simple way of describing Panopticism would be 'a power which is constantly visible but never verifiable'. This is something which showed the change over from physical control over its patients to then a mental control which proved alot stronger and allowed a much greater return in progress of time that was needed to change the behaviour to what was needed.


A modern day Panoptic technique in which we are all judged upon (especially in the younger generation) would be online social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, everything that you post and all the actions that you perform on these sites are judged people judge you upon these actions. Every time that you post anything or upload a picture you are being monitored and this then makes you self consciously act in the way that you think is expected and is also acceptable for society. 


You can try to prevent the Panopticism from happening however this deems near impossible in our modern world due to the way in which things have been put in placed now, On Facebook and Twitter you are able to prevent people who are not your friends to see what you are up to, this is a way in which we can monitor our own privacy yet this can only allow us to do so much. Normally aswell people do not consider these settings to even be there and presume that they have been already put into action. they would be wrong.

The Gaze... Lecture Notes 5.

What makes us want to hurt others and what makes us want to watch others suffer through others seeing?

when playing a computer game it gives you a chance to do something that you cant do in real life without getting hurt or badly injured, thats a reason why people enjoy these games.

Richard focussed on institutional structures of power in the last lecture, this lecture will focus more on interpersonal, psychical and power sexual relations

some common misconceptions about physchical, power and sexual relations...

- It’s mish-mash of psychology (behaviour) and psychiatry (mental illness).

- Although it is linked to the two – it’s also a ‘way of thinking’ that can be applied to all aspects of society, including art and design.

- It’s all about sex.

- Whilst psychoanalysis does position the role of sexuality, especially in our infancy, as a foundation of our adult lives – it is also about how we treat and examine other objects.

scopophilia – sexual stimulation by sight….(objectifying the actors on screen) 

   ‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact  [. . .] they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.’

 

 There is also a view point on tv these days.. there is a modern tv show known as peep show

 

this allows you too look through the eyes of the character so that you are able to see what they see and how they want to act! and what they look like whilst they do, making you feel more apart of the show.

There are two ways of gazing...

1.the spectator’s gaze – gaze of a viewer at an image

2.intra-diegetic gaze – a gaze of one depicted person at another within the image

The use of the extra-diegetic gaze is more affecting than the intra-diegetic gaze in this instance.

Intra-diegetic gazes defer our guilt – someone else is hurting that person 

Extra-diegetic gazes enhances our guilt – we are complicit

Different forms of ‘gaze’ evoke different structures of power;

Popular Culture... Lecture 4.

The aims of this Essay:

- Critically define 'popular culture'

- Define 'Ideology'

- Contrast ideas of culture with popular culture and mass culture.

What is culture:

- On of the most complicated words in the english language!

- A particular way of life

- Works of intellectual and especially artistic significance

The State

‘…but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie’ (Marx & Engels (1848) ‘Communisit Manifesto)

This is what was placed next to this image as it describes the way that they think this all links together to show how each of them all look at each other ... as you can see they say the order in which the world was working and what priority is in order to make sure each of them do what they have been told! 

What is Ideology 

- Inferior kinds of work

- Well liked by many people

- Work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people

- Culture actually made by the people themselves

these would show how you can then portray something as ideology, it says how you want things to look and be perfect in other peoples eyes and this will allow this to then be made out to be perfect and liked by everyone

Working Class

Bourgeois

Matthew Arnold (1867) ‘Culture & Anarchy’

matthew believed that culture was created from the best things that have happend in the world, the study of perfection., attained through disinterested reading, thinking and writing. This can all lead to the pursuit of culture.

'The working class… raw and half developed… long lain half hidden amidst it’s poverty and squalor… now issuing from it’s hiding place to assert an Englishmans heaven born privelige to do as he likes, and beginning to perplex us by marching where it likes, meeting where it likes, breaking what it likes' 

There are many things out there now which will show modern culture and how this is wanted to be placed and preformed in the best of lights, this can be a range off something from everyone is interested in when they get the most of things in the modern world. This could be anything from Facebook, big brother, hollyoaks. 

These all have a way of inviting the crowds into them and making them something which we see as 'cool' to watch ... thus making it Popular 

What else makes something popular:

The AURA of an object or the hype which surrounds something can make a massive impact on what you makes something popular. The best way to describe this would be with the Mona Lisa, this has such hype about the painting that its became famous for it, however there is much better paintings out there now and these do not has as much influence in the modern world. 

This can also edit what is 'cool' and 'popular' in the fashion industry and how you want these to then be made, the most influencial way of working with this is to look at what comes up in magazines and is broadcasted on the big screen, this then makes you think you want these and thus making it high demand and popular. 

Marxism and Design Activism... Lecture 3.

Marx suggests that there is no point in thinking without action... He calls the unification of thinking and action "praxis"

Marx wrote the communist manifesto, this outluined what he thought was a better way of organising society, Marxism led to the rise of the Soviet Union.

Capitalism is the society that we live in, Capitalism means that a few that are high in power are able to made the most profit, these are usually the people who are at the top of the ranks. This is a system which is based around individualism and so it makes us complete. We are taught to compete from school onwards

We are also taught to think that if your at the top of the jobs market it is because you deserve to be. We are lead to believe that competition is in human nature however back in primitive society we shared everything. this is now enforced in our modern culture to make us believe that competition is healthy so that we always better ourselves.

Marx argues  that society has two distinct sections, the base and the superstructure, The base is where all the workers with the mains skill and tools, mainly the people who set the ground work and then you have the superstructure who are the people who deal with legal, political and cultural proberlems ... and this is what the ideological world we see today

Religeon is sometimes classed as the trap for the working class!, the ultimate form of mental control, The working class are taught that theres an honour in being poor because if you are moral and that youll be then rewarded for your morality in heaven. 

Ideology usually emerges from the rulling class and there world view. The exploited class starts to think that this is also their world view. 

Art has always been Ideological

Another thing that has happend with modern culture is that education is now something that teachs us to act and behave in a way that society wants us too. This is now used as a state apparatus.

The media reflects ideology thats in the world already and effects us all without us even knowing.

Technology will liberate us Lecture 2

We will be looking into the overview of critical implication of techniology in art and design. What are the implications of technology on your design area!?

Technological conditions do not just have an effect on materialism. They affect how we think and operate as a society, this affects how we behave and how it will change us

Walter Benjamin claimed that when you copy an image that then becomes a copy of the oringinal work, however that is still  a copy of the main work but still the essence is there and its a piece of work in its own right,

Its hard to then tell whos work is the original once everyone starts to copy of each other, this becomes even more difficult when you start to look at artists work when they repliceate there own work and use them as repeat patterns...

Machine Age: Modernism.

Technology is parallel to new developments, the spirit of the age is dictated by technology and its use in art and design.

The only way to understand the idea of "original" is that only the art work created by technology and photography, sometimes these have been classed as the originals ... Benjamin Waleters calls these the "aura"

Freud explores the istinctual side of human behaviour . Marx brings about the understanding that techonolgy affects the value of the work of art as its no longer the only one out there. Marx foresore that labour and production through industrail revolution would naturally lead to a bigger consumption of art and design.

Photography destabilises in a similar way to postmodernism.

Frued explores technology in terms of how it can affect our subconscious - this is how we ended up with surrealism

One thing that came shortly afterwards with photography is Kineticism - the study of movement

Also with photography comes the dematerialisation of art and design. We dont necessarrily have to deal with an object at all!