Innovators in Graphic Design: Armin Hofmann and Paula Scher
Graphic design is a type of art that has been around almost since the beginning of time. Its main purpose has always been to communicate something to the viewer, and this communication is being done through visuals and in some cases typography as well. An era of graphic design that revolutionized design into what we now know it as today is the Swiss design era. Specifically, work done by Armin Hofmann. His work is what kick started modern graphic design. His designs have a clean, minimal feel, which is popular even in today’s graphic design. Hofmann as well as other Swiss graphic designers in the modern art movement really set the bar for designers who came after them. The post-modern
…show more content…
There were two main art schools in Switzerland that produced artist who would establish Swiss design style. These two schools were he Zurich School of Arts and Krafts and the Basel School of Design. Armin Hofmann taught at the Basel School of Design in 1947. As a designer, Hofmann liked visuals that were simple and structured. A lot of his work can fit into grids and his typography of choice is almost any sans-serif font. Hofmann’s main forms of print work are posters as visual communication. Colors used in his posters are monochromatic meaning, black, white, or gray. Geometric shapes and abstract visual forms are two other stylistic techniques that Hofmann used. Typography is a huge part of graphic design and Hofmann can be largely credited with the creation of new typography styles. The International Typography style is what Hofmann’s work is considered to be part of; Sans-serif fonts were his choice typography style and specifically the Helvetica font style came out of the Swiss art movement. Hofmann’s Basel Theatre Poster created in 1959 is a piece of work that really captures the Swiss or International Typography style. It is black and white in color and only uses san serif fonts. All elements are laid out organized in a grid form. There is a photograph used in this poster and it is designed to be abstract to the viewer, lacking visual detail and only simple forms and shapes. Another famous poster of Hofmann’s …show more content…
who is now based in NYC. She received her bachelor of fine arts in 1970 from Tyler School of Art in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Her first official job was in New York City as a layout artist for Random Houses children’s book division. Paula’s design work is considered to be post-modern in form. She came after Hofmann’s modern design era, which used limited colors, limited fonts and was mostly set up in grid format. Her work uses some grid format, but mostly is free in form. As far as color, Paula’s work differs from Hofmann’s because it uses a lot more than just monochromatic color. Geometric shapes and clean lines, also elements of modern design, can be seen the in post-modern work of Paula. The majority of her designs use san serif fonts that came from the International Typography movement. Photographic images that she uses are typically not in abstract form, but are clear images that the viewer can easily interpret to be what it actually is. This is different from Hofmann’s work with imagery where he abstracted the image into geometric forms that were left to the viewer to best interpret what the image may be. A collection of design pieces that really helped establish Paula as the designer she is know today to be is her collection of maps, which were created in the 1990s. Her maps are colorful typographic maps that span from a very detailed map of a specific city to a more broad map of the entire globe. There
Collette Dinnigan’s designs possess an elegant, soft and ethereal sensation reflecting her individual style and ultimately resulting in her worldwide success. Her are designs for all ages from infant through to bridal wear and established her self-titled label, Collette Dinnigan in 1990. She is well known for her lingerie and bridal wear which has featured in Vogue magazine. Dinnigan’s garments are carefully hand-made in Sydney, Australia; according to Dinnigan “The product itself is not necessarily about a new shape each season; it’s much more about the detail to me. It’s all about the intricacy of the work, the quality of the workmanship. Every piece, beaded or lace is hand cut one by one.” Dinnigan’s clothing is characterised by the delicate, feminine and finely tailored designs which are draped with her signature luxurious fabrics of lace, tulle, chiffon and satin and exquisitely embellished with embroidery and beads. Her products are intended to be indicative of the female form, rather than exposing; hence achieving the sense of individuality, sensuality and most importantly confidence.
Mr. Schnabel chose to engage in the Neo Expressionism method of art, that style of art dominated the art market from the 1970’s to the mid 1980’s. The fascination with this type of art satisfied a hunger for something different, and touched the public in several ways (Brenson).
In Rauschenberg’s art piece, the visual elements include, it’s a painting, the two thin lines within the fabrics and the whole painting right down the middle, small vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines between the fabrics the colors used just as much as the fabrics. The painting I think is abit light from the yellow, white and red colors that blend with fabrics that are the same color. There’s no design in the piece, it’s a chaotic and random composition work since the artist has all the materials blended together including the wooden frame. The elements like the colors pink, blue, orange and yellow plus the random choice and random visuals also have the viewer’s attention, maybe forcing the viewer to look deeper into the art piece.
April Grieman was born in New York City in 1948. She studied art in Switzerland at Basel School of Design. She then studied at the Kansas City Art Institute. After graduating, she moved back to New York City to work as a freelance artist until 1976. This same year, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she opened “Made in Space, Inc.” This became a well-known graphic design studio. In 1980, April Greiman was among the very first graphic designers to fully realize the design potential in the Macintosh Apple computer. She also picked up on Quantel Painbox digital technology. She is one of the most influential graphic designers using the digital media. In 1982, Greiman became the head of the design department at the California Institute of the Arts. In the 1990’s, she wrote and published a book called “Hybrid Imagery: The Fusion of Technology and Graphic Design.” April Greiman has worked as a designer for the MAK Center for Arts and Architecture in Los Angeles. Since then, April continues to work today for companies such as Espirit, Benetton, Sears, and AOL/ Time- Warner, Microsoft, the US Postal Services, and the architects Frank O. Gehry, RoTo Architects, and others. April Greiman has received numerous awards and distinctions for her work.
On Sunday, February 7th, I went to McNay Art Museum that is located right outside San Antonio. The museum was founded in 1954 and is known for their collection of American and European art during the 19th and 20th century but also displays various art out of the time frame and from many other places across the world. Although the sculptures near the entrance really caught my eye structurally, while inside the museum I came across Still Life with Apples and Vessel painted by American artist David Ligare that really struck me visually.
Andy Warhol was one of the most famous and successful graphic artists in the last century. His iconic paintings and prints are still remembered and noted today. If you see a brightly colored illustration of a celebrity, who do you think of? Andy Warhol, who was known for his portraits and product-based art work. Even looking at something as simple as a Campbell’s Soup can can trigger the thought of the 60’s artist.
Technology and social change have long been vital in the evolution of graphic design and its importance in the society. In particular was the Industrial Revolution between 1760 and 1840, which brought about the transformation from agrarian to industrialized societies across Europe and America. Mass production was made possible by new technologies; availability and variety of goods increased and cost of manufacturing decreased, accompanied by the higher standard of living for many people. A consequence of mass production on graphic design was that it led to the demise of the unity between design and production. Craftsmen were replaced by modern technologies, sacrificing artistry for speed and cheaper production.
Many do not consider where images they see daily come from. A person can see thousands of different designs in their daily lives; these designs vary on where they are placed. A design on a shirt, an image on a billboard, or even the cover of a magazine all share something in common with one another. These items all had once been on the computer screen or on a piece of paper, designed by an artist known as a graphic designer. Graphic design is a steadily growing occupation in this day as the media has a need for original and creative designs on things like packaging or the covers of magazines. This occupation has grown over the years but still shares the basic components it once started with. Despite these tremendous amounts of growth,
Those visual art styles were created by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Cubism has a great role about the understanding of modernism and that plays a role in the 20th century art till this day. In the article it says: “…Cubism was the cornerstone of twentieth-century art because it broke with past tradition definitively; established “modernist” flatness, opticality, and involvement with the medium of art; and thus sanctioned a new tradition that would lead to nonobjective art as well as to assemblage and to other “modernist” principles and practices.” By reading this it shows that Cubism had a huge impact in the 20th century and that it had something special about it that made it really important. Cubism is all about art and it’s also art, Picasso is really popular because of his work and that was all in the period of Cubism which is still to this day. Cubism is one of the first to be most developed in the modern era, especially in the visual
The Bauhaus was known as the most influential modernist art and design school of the 20th century and had a vast impact on art, architecture and graphic design. They affected everything from the steel-framing through to fonts. With their motto form follows function, and a new wave of mass production, they sought and successfully brought aspects of this philosophy into the 21st century, for design to be led by the function rather than let the embellishments determine the shape (Wick, R. K.). This paper will approach the characteristics and the style of the Bauhaus movement alongside the design outcomes of that era. It analyses a range of contextual issues relevant to the Bauhaus ideology and outcomes.
One of the key ideas of the modern era was to forge the designs of the future on the corpses of the past, disregarding everything from the last era and moving forward with new ideals and styles. Refining and discarding they shaped, molded and constricted the ideas of design until reaching the pinnacle of minimalism. Creating design with pure aesthetics and reducing an object down to its core fundamental elements. Using the ideas of “less is more” or even “using less for more”, the designs ended up simple and elegant with a focus not in quantit...
Graphic design is a visual means of expressing ones view or opinion. It is used globally in many different aspects such as advertising, media and artistic freedom. It has taken a global turn as it is a method that is used almost everyday and appears in everyday life such as store merchandising and branding. A main area where graphic design is most overused is in politics where propaganda is used as a subject at its finest. There are many ways it is used to either pursue or detach itself from a political agenda. Many take more on an illustrative role when it comes to expressing how they feel about a certain topic, however it is very common for existing pieces to be used and manipulated to influencing the public to believe in the politicians
Postmodernism is a style of art that first became popular in the late 20th century. When seeing the word postmodernism, it might have to do with any one medium of art-- literature, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. Lyotard, a founder of postmodernism in philosophy, is quoted as saying, “Simplifying to the extreme, I define the postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.” By saying this, Lyotard simply meant that, as a postmodernist, he was against the ways of thinking of modernists and wanted to see something new philosophically and artistically. Postmodernity demonstrates a departure from the art style modernism.
‘You cannot hold a design in your hand. It is not a thing. It is a process. A system. A way of thinking.’ Bob Gill, Graphic Design as a Second Language.
In the art community there is a lot of controversy in distinguishing what the difference between an artist and a designer. Designers are told they are not artist and they need to stop thinking they are artist. When dealing with art and design specific demographics and viewers interpret the messages of each subject in different ways. Art is said to be elucidated and design is said to be understood. Artists usually develop a work of art with the intention of bringing an emotion viewpoint, instinctive feeling, and or state of mind. When you look at an artist work it cannot be limited to just exhibiting one individual thought or just one individual meaning. That is a big difference when it comes to graphic design. Graphic design usually has a very specific goal and point to make. When dealing with graphic design there should not be any room or space for any mixed messages or multiple meanings. The audience of the design should immediately understand the design that the designer created. Art connects to people differently in so many ways. The only reason it connects to people in different ways is only because it is interpreted differently.