To most people not everything is right. But whats wrong to you may be totally different to the person next to you. It's the same story when it comes to looking at art. What looks good and right to one, may look wrong and confusing to the next. My blog is set up to explore princples of Visual Communication with critical commentary. But like my title, I'm not always right.
Design information is something that most people take for granted. From the moment we get up in the morning, all through out the day, till the moment we go to bed we constantly use design information in our lives. Some examples of design information are:
Nutritional Tables on food packaging
Bus Timetables
Map
Road Signs
Menu
Recipe
leaflets
Brochures
Instruction Manuals
A Bill
All these things and more have had many hours spent being designed so that we can understand and use the information. The design is almost invisible to the viewer however if it was designed badly and they can't understand the information or struggle to, the viewer may begin to notice that someone hasn't doesn't a good job. The key principles of good design information are:
Visual Hierarchy- type/colour/line/space
Grouping Information- line/space/type
Consistency - language/layout
Typography- audience/message/legibility
Grid structure clear/consistence/navigable
Graphic elements- bullet points/icon/lines/rules
Attention to detail- spacing between letter/ lines/alignment/consistency
Check out this short video from Milton Glaser about his I love New York logo, http://www.logodesignlove.com/i-love-new-york-logo
Glaser answers questions like are you ever annoyed by the prevalence of the “I Love New York” logo? and are you upset you don’t have the trademark to the image?
Sometimes designer are heroes to people for more reasons than there designs, sometimes it is the person themselves, their beliefs, bravery or revolutionary ideas. For this reason I have chosen to look at Milton Glaser not only for his designs but for his ethics. Milton Glaser is probably most famous for designing the I NY logo. Seen almost everywhere today: I NY is not only recognizable but been re-mixed into many different versions. Back in the Seventies, New York had a bad reputation, crime was at it’s highest level recored, there was a drugs epidemic, neighbourhoods had become delapitated and deteriorated and in 1977 a blackout caused rioting and looting that resulted in 4,500 arrests. , So to combat the terrible publicity William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Commerce hired advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to develop a marketing campaign for New York State that would generate tourism. Doyle also recruited Milton Glaser to work on a campaignthat would regenerate the fortunes of New York State.
In the back of a New York taxi Glaser pulled a red crayon from his pocket and began to sketch on the back of an envelope: first an “I”, then the simple outline of a heart, followed by two letters, “N” and “Y”. Developing the idea so that the letters were stacked, (Similar to the steel sculpture Love by American Pop artist Robert Indiana) set in a rounded slab serif typeface called American Typewriter and using the symbol of a heart Glaser created the iconic logo we all know and love today.
“That little scrap of paper is probably worth as much as a small Picasso,” he says with a smile.Interview with Alastair Sooke for the Telegraph
Today Glaser’s I NY design generates more than $30 million a year and now at 81 Glaser doesn’t see a cent of the money his design creates
‘I agreed to do it as a pro bono job because it was of benefit to the state.”
This is the reason why have chosen to look at Milton Glaser as a hero, not only because of his iconic designs but also his beliefs. Glaser chose to do the iconic I NY logo voluntarily because it would helped the state that he loved. Glaser has strong beliefs that what you design can change the world if you want them too which is something I would like to believe that my work could do anfter looking at Glaser.
‘No, that’s what it should be. You want to do things like that, where you feel you can actually change things.’
Chipp Kidd's Interview with Milton Glaser
After 9/11 Glaser’s I NY logo became even more prominent. Creating a sense of unity among the people Glaser recreated the iconic logo reading ‘I love New York More Than Ever’ with a small black spot on the heart which symbolizes the world trade centre site and is also the approximate location of Manhattan island.
‘I woke up one day, a few days after 9/11. I thought, you know, “I love New York” isn’t the story anymore. Something happened. And I realized that what had happened was an injury, like when a friend of yours, somebody you love, gets terribly sick. You suddenly become conscious of how much you care for them. That’s the inevitable consequence of somebody you have affection for. And I realized that my feeling about the city had deepened.’
"The creative process is not preformed by the skilled hand alone but must be a unified process in which the head, heart and hand play a simultaneous role"
Hebert Bayer
This quote says that a skilled hand cannot create a piece of work but like a recipe that will create amazing food it needs more than one ingredients. A brain, for thinking and ideas, the hands for technique, skill and production, and the heart to add emotion and engagement. With this recipe designer will create clever, engaging work with beautiful craftsmanship.
Design can be for many and almost any reason, it can
persuade
invite
engage
educate
inform
express
debate
And how these are do can be done in many ways, media platforms allow endless possibilities for the designer. Advertising is an example of a design that persuades, invites and engages.
This advert for McCain's chips invites the viewer to buy thier chips. It is aimed at mums and young families promoting that McCain chips are made from British chips, are a healthly thing to thing to eat and give to your family, they also promote that they are one of your five a day. This advert is promoted on the media platform of television back up buy internet and website advertisment. However advertisments can also be launched the other way through viral advertisments.
The Samsung Tv advert that uses sheep to advertise its product is a viral advertisement that became massivly popular online. This advert has the same great ideas, visual language and persion as an advert that is shown on tv however virals are usually cheaper to produce and rely upon word of mouth to advertise the product.
Leaflets and posters are examples of design that informs and educates. Leaflets and posters can be for a wide range of products, places and information.
This example of an NHS poster for stopping smoking whilst pregnant is both informative as well as educational. The posters idea is creative using strong imagery and small type to almost shock the viewer into stopping smoking.
This leaflet for diving educates people about the diving company, it informs the reader who they are what they do and where to find them.
These are only a few examples of graphic design, there are many ways to produce graphic design in any media platform. The key principle is that every piece of design will consider its audience and context, the visual language and the design and composition. It will also include almost all of the point above and be engaging, expressive and will either inform, educate or persuade the viewer who is reading, watching or looking at it.
Adding words to an image can change the meaning that it has. Without words a picture on its own means that the viewer is left to decided for itself what the meaning or the message behind it could be. Adding word can display the message clearly, intensify the meaning behind the image or could change the meaning of the image altogether.
René Magritte's painting of the pipe is an example of how adding words to an image can change its meaning. Without the caption to Rene's painting the veiwer would simply be looking at a painting of a pipe. However Ceci n'est as une pipe alters the meaning to the painting. Ceci n'est as une pipe which translates to this is not a pipe seems like a contradiction to what the eye is viewing however after the initial thought it becomes obvious that this statement is actually true, this is not a pipe but actually a painting of a pipe.
This idea is also true in Rene's painting of an apple. Rene paints an apple and then captions it with Ceci n'est pas un pomme which translates as this is not an apple. As well as telling the viewer that they are looking at an image of an apple or a pipe, I think that Rene with this caption is trying to say that no matter how hard you try to depict an object accurately that you cannot and that you can only capture an essences of accuracy.
Sometimes a piece of work is seen as new and original but sometimes the idea and even the image has been seen and used before, sometimes even many times before. However how the piece looks, the design and perhaps even the message can and usually are very different. Many designers have recreated famous images through their own work. This may be because a development in technology or development in time or a different message that wants to be conveyed by the designer.
Hokusia's Wave is probably one of the most, if not the most, famous wood block prints and comes from a series of thirty six views of Mount Fuji it is probably one of the most re-used images.
'The graceful snow-clad mountain stands out unperturbed against the deep blue of the horizon. Yet it is reduced to a tiny hillock compared with the towering strength of the wave which threatens to engulf the struggling boats. Such clever, playful manipulation of the composition is a feature of many of Hokusai's works.' The British Museum
Over the years Hokusia's, The Great Wave has been interpreted many times for different purposes.
Levi recreates the wave for an advert for their jeans. Using the jeans to create the wave.
The Great San Francisco wave
The Street Wave
Jonathan Wakuda Fischer- The recreation of the great wave in spray paint
Bernard Pras recreates the wave from everyday objects around us
Chris Jordan's installation piece using 2.4 million pieces of organic waste to recreate Hokusia's wave
Within a film a hero will go through a journey. This is structured: The departure, The Initiation and then The return. I am going to look at the journey of a hero in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone.
Stage One; The Departure
·The Call To Adventure- Harry receives a letter telling him that he is invited to go to Hogwarts school of witch craft and wizardry
·Refusal To The Call- Harry’s uncle prevents him from receiving the letter and will not allow him to read. He also says Harry will no be going to Hogwarts
·Super Natural Aid- Harry is rescued by Rebeus Hagrid who works at Hogwarts and takes him away from his family.
·The First Threshold- I feel there are 2 thresholds crossed during the film. Harry’s first: crossing into the magical world into Diagon Alley and the second when Harry goes into Hogwarts.
Stage Two; The Initiation
·The Roads Of Trails- Harry tries to fit in at Hogwarts and cope with magic lessons
·The Meeting Of The Goddess- Harry doesn’t meet a goddess in this film, but later on in following films Harry falls for Cho Cheung and then ultimately Ginny Weasley
·Temptation Away From The True Path- Harry becomes distracted by a mirror that allows him to see his parents
·Apotheosis (God Like)- Harry already has this statues, ‘as the boy who lived’
·The Ultimate Boon- Harry defeats Voldemort from getting the stone
Stage Three; The Return
·Refusal Of Return- Harry doesn’t want to return home to his horrible aunt, uncle and cousin
·The Magical Flight- There are two points of this in the film.The first time Harry rides a broom and although not strickly a flight but equally magical, Harry’s journey on the train
·Rescue From Without- Harry is saved from evil by his mother’s love
·Crossing The Return Threshold- Harry leaves the magical world of Hogwarts behind to return to the non magical world
·Master Of The Two Worlds- Harry continues to be the boy who lived, again
·Freedom To Live- The magical world believes that Voldemort has been defeated
NY logo. Seen almost everywhere today: I 
‘I woke up one day, a few days after 9/11. I thought, you know, “I love New York” isn’t the story anymore. Something happened. And I realized that what had happened was an injury, like when a friend of yours, somebody you love, gets terribly sick. You suddenly become conscious of how much you care for them. That’s the inevitable consequence of somebody you have affection for. And I realized that my feeling about the city had deepened.’
