blog 5

Paul Rand was an American graphic designer who is said to be possibly one of the most influential of his time. He was one of the founders of Swiss Style design, which emphasized cleanliness and readability. He grew up as an Orthodox Jew originally named Peretz Rosenbaum. Although he later changed his name to move away from his heritage and used the name as a symbol for himself. He worked early on creating stock images for a syndicate. Later he taught at Yale University.

He is most famous for his branding logos for some of the most prominent corporations for even today.  What is told of most of his branding designs was his ability to meet the needs and desires of the companies’ goals through his logos. On his bibliography on http://www.paul-rand.com Mark Favermann states about his IBM branding identity “was not just an identity but a basic design philosophy that permeated corporate consciousness and public awareness.”

Much of his philosophy of design was based around idea of keeping with “utmost simplicity and restraint”.  Along with this Rand based much of his branding identities with the idea of keeping the brand recognizable even after the image had been “blurred or mutilated”. Much of his own influence though had been from other artists/designers from the same time such as Jan Tschichold and Paul Cezanne. Which most of Rand’s works had similar qualities such as Tschicholds legible yet wildly interesting typography. Obviously much of his work is based on modernist ideas which he saw as “it means integrity; it means honesty; … it means simplicity; it means clarity.” These ideas carry over in the sense in which his work consisted of a simple shape and typography such a great example of which is the abc logo which incorporates a simple circle, with nice typographic abc overlaid in white above it. Much of this came from his need to “defamiliarizing the ordinary”.

Later when he began producing books about his design theory he drew from John Dewey (an American philosopher who helped found functional psychology) whose philosophy for “functional-aesthetic perfection” obviously drew from modernist ideals.

            

Blog #5 : Saul Bass

"Design is thinking made visual."-Saul Bass

Saul Bass is a huge part of design, he’s always one designer I like to look at when I have no idea’s, I choose this designer because I find no matter how much I already know about him, I always am learning more every time I study him.

One of the most influential places he has affected would be motion title sequence, his sequences have spurred a line of titles that are still being used today. Works from such movies as Catch me if you can (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLDyrun_Cc) Duplicate Saul Bass style opening credits.

The idea Saul Bass lived by was “symbolize and summarize” since he used very simple graphics, he chose not to clutter the stage with things that didn’t matter. Instead focusing on drawing the users attention by using pictures that people would associate with certain elements that conveyed the story quickly, such as The Man with the Golden Arm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGnpJ_KdqZE) where he draws the focus of the viewers to the crooked arm to convey the drug addict’s arm who the movie is focused on.

Along with the motion titles and movie posters he was also well known for graphic design long before these, designing such famous logo’s as AT&T, United Airlines and Girls scouts of USA (http://cineleet.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/bass-logos.jpg).

After all of this he also is said to have helped Alfred Hitchcock with the famous shower scene in Psycho, though there are some that dispute this claim, I think there’s no doubt there is a touch of Saul Bass in this scene when we are catapulted through the drain of the shower in the movie, just like his vertigo poster, the same type of imagery is used in my opinion. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH5r_Kenaes)

Content, The next big thing

We are interdependent, from our city block and parks to the world wide web in a Facebook group, our actions affect the community at large. With the emergence of new media and our dependence on the screen in mainly graphical user interface systems we are spending more time in front of a single sensory medium. We are limited in digital design in the most part by the screen and its low resolution. The lack of interactivity is a major detractor to emerging technologies there is no texture, smell and most of us aren’t expecting sound, so basically this interacyive platform is a glorified piece of moving paper. You see nice beautiful pictures of the desert or the rainforest without the experience of having sand everywhere, taking a bite of a sandwich and getting a mouth full of sand, or being in the rainforest drenched freezing from a typhoon rainstorm that last for months. The screen environment takes the world boxes it up, throws a cup of bleach on it and makes the world seem sterile. The increasingly global community has the ability to open the flood gates and access to things we could never dream of, but somehow make the world fit into 2 square feet of pixels. the PC needs to be an ancillary tool to the greater word of design rather than the entire focus.

New media has boundless potential, the ability to create anything digital or motion graphic related from your laptop in the comfort of your own bed or on a bench in a third world country, access to creation has never been more instantaneous and available to the creative mind. The access and immersive ability provided is the direction of the future. Instead of having to shoot a film and travel around the world and edit in a world that has none of the qualities experienced during production, you can hunker down and do your postproduction on location. New media is enabling a Swiss army approach to design, the designers who stretch the limits of the possibilities, will possess the qualities necessary to apply design to all fields of study enabling a proactive approach to the worlds needs.

I think designers should be outgoing people and work with the community at large. I think it is essential to good design to be immersed in your community and interact with everyone, service workers, business leaders, locals visitors and children. It is one thing to have the technical expertise but it is another to know how the same expertise aid in your community. I think working with materials will also help immensely the feel of clay or a paintbrush ingrain the theories much better than clicking a mouse. I think getting back to the basics of mastery and mastering your craft is the key to bringing design to new heights. The technology is now here with dual core processors and software that we only scratch the surface of its potential, to create anything we can dream of.

The future is now, the next big thing in according to Rudy Vanderlans is content, the ability to convey the most applicable content and have it absorbable. I believe this is half the battle, this needs to happen with an increasingly educated population we need to focus on our future and allow people the skills to interpolate the content being thrown at us and have the ability make an educated decision. I agree whole heartedly with Vanderlans, we need to get back to our roots, become, a society that strives on quality content something that is positive and community educating. Content is not how many people were shot, content is how many people are making a positive influence in their community. I think the key to this essay is where he says “ this combined knowledge must be able to generate a visual language capable of being both legible and engaging”. The audience needs to be able to read, absorb and act on content to retain the message.

Blog 6

• In an interconnected world, what are the limitations of design when cultural, political, economic biological and environmental systems are increasingly open?

A designer's job becomes increasingly harder as different systems become increasingly open. It is hard to try and address one issue without referring to or making a connection to something else which you may not want to. All these systems are beginning to overlap and being able to target specific audiences becomes harder.

• Does new media present the “new” direction for design? Describe how new media does or does not present “new “ directions in design and provide an examples (links or screen grabs) to support your assertion.

The "new" direction for design, as it states in the reading, "might have less to do with anything visual than with how design is produced and who it is produced by." It seems as if we are running out of ideas for good design, and so instead of design being based on what it looks like, it is now more about who made it, how famous they are and how the reader/viewer is supposed to experience it. For example, take Yugo Nakamura (yugop) his work is far from the epitome of beautiful and modern design. It has become popular because of him and because of the way that the user interacts with his designs.

• Is it time for designers to reintegrate disparate fields in order to consider new directions in design? Give examples (with links or screen grabs) of some new ways that design might be considered. These do not have to be existing ways, just ways that might yield some new and interesting results.

I think the comic book field of design is one that's going to be around for a long time. It is reusable over and over, because you can't change the style much and keep the original feel. Take the new Watchmen movie (watchmen), it is reusing the old 50's comic book style but using it in a new modern 2009 way. It seems that as long you change it a little and give it a slightly new meaning, you can have a whole new design.

• What is the next “big thing in design”? Why do you think so and based on what criteria? Provide examples to support your assertion.

I am going to agree with the reading which states that "The world wide web is often hailed as the next big thing in graphic design." The world wide web has been a huge success and opened up a whole new world of design. The next step appears to be touch screens and with the unveiling of new touch screen computers this will lead way to the need for new computer designs that work the best with the touch screen capabilities. (HP touchsmart PC)

Cool posters!

I found this website, http://www.typographicposters.com/ where you can find all kinds of typographic posters, whether historical or inspirational. Thought I'd share!

Blog 6

In an interconnected world, what are the limitations of design when cultural, political, economical, biological, and environmental systems are increasingly open?
Being able to remain competitive at a global level is one of the challenges designers have to face in an increasingly interconnected world. Now more than ever, designers are expected to wear many hats and step into the shoes of different disciplines. Being technically savvy or having some knowledge of marketing always helps. We have to do our best and try to keep up to speed with the always evolving art/design world and the job market.

Does new media present the “new” direction for design? Describe how new media does or does not present “new” directions in design and provide examples (links or screen grabs) to support your assertion.
If the “new” directions for design are interconnectedness, interactivity, and mobility, then absolutely. One example of this new direction in design is the iPhone. Besides offering all the interactive features, the iPhone also provides designers with the opportunity to combine and apply their motion graphics, interactive, and programming skills by making use of its graphic and audio capabilities for gaming (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn83wizEMAw).

Is it time for designers to reintegrate disparate fields in order to consider new directions in design? Give examples (with links or screen grabs) of some new ways that design might be considered . These do not have to be existing ways, just ways that might yield some new and interesting results.
It would be easier to say that everything has already been done, and that “we reached the saturation point quite some time ago.” But thanks to the random effects of digital tools, the creative process becomes more interesting and even unpredictable, making room for new ideas. Scott Draves’ Electric Sheep is a good example of how different fields such as computer science, biology, and digital art can converge and provide new directions in design (http://electricsheep.org/).

What is the next big thing in design? Why do you think so and based on what criteria? Provide examples to support your assertion.
Mobile technology has changed the way we communicate, interact, and consume information/products. It also has provided a new venue for artistic expression and advertisement. The next generation of mobile devices will offer higher speeds for quicker and easier browsing. The future of graphic/digital design couldn’t look better since “in the coming years mobile advertising is poised to be the next major digital media platform for brands to reach customers” (http://www.adl.com/128.html?&no_cache=1&page=1).

Erin Lee Blog 6

In this interconnected world of today the limitations are immense, but “if designers enjoy giving form to ideas” then there is always a solution to those barriers. So many possibilities add to the creative thought process of designers that they begin to serve the audience more. “If designers were made of ideas, they’d be their own clients. Creativity is difficult to obtain when a client has no idea what they want. We not only have to be creative on the spot but designers have to educate clients on quality and all the details to better serve their needs.
New media does present the “new” direction. Pleasing readers and the new generation suffering from attention deficiency order may be annoying and difficult for older people to grasp, but younger people will always risk it. The youth of today will be the first to jump on the wave of experiences of experimentation and discovery. But with any good idea comes history. A variation of a pre-existing idea, for example I just did a simple Google search on the Mona Lisa. The result was 155,000 different variations of the same painting, the same idea. Many designers and creator have taken this 16th century painting by da Vinci and re-created it to be amusing, or to fit the popular look for women today.
Absolutely designers need to reintegrate disparate fields to push ideas and results to the next level. People want to be visually entertained. It is a daunting task but someone has to do it. The New Media Reader contains a chapter titled The End of Books. The internet has taken on such a large part society. I’m struggling to recall he last time I cracked open a dictionary. This computer technology has amazing possibilities. The “incredible diversity of information available gives great credit to the creativity and ingenuity providers, and points to a very exciting future.” Damn straight! But where are we going to draw the line on technology? How much is too much? All these possibilities bring out a whole new issue with media.

The next big thing is unknown. Who knows where designers and the creative world will be in ten years, even in a matter of days it’s out with the old and in with the new. As an artist and designer I could care less about the next big thing. It is too exhausting to try and keep up all the time. Staying educated on the issues and possibilities at hand is important because we have to keep an open mind. I stop and think what is right for me to do and I stick by my choices.