New Visual Language – Final Magazine

http://issuu.com/jackbrook1/docs/final

Magazine Development

I have chosen to adopt the modernist approach when designing the layout of my magazine as I prefer the look of it over that of a postmodern design. In keeping with this choice, I decided to limited the colour used in my magazine to black and white, excluding the included project work that may feature other colours. After sketching some thumbnails for my cover and the masthead, I experimented with creating what I thought were the best designs digitally.

This masthead design uses the typeface “Helvetica”, a product of modernism and an extremely popular type today. Helvetica is also the typeface I am going to use for all the text in my magazine, so I felt that it made sense to also use it for the masthead. This idea incorporates the ink bloom from my Streetgraphic project, the random explosive lines of ink in direct contrast with the simple and neat letters of the masthead. I chose to use only the initials of “New Visual Language” as I wanted to keep the design simple and balanced. I have chosen the bottom right design as my final masthead as I feel it works the best.

This cover design uses one of the final outcomes for my Streetgraphic project, placed right in the centre, with the masthead and subheading placed along the sides

This idea uses part of the final outcome of my Earth Artifact project placed upside-down below the masthead with the subheadings to the left of it.

This design simply places the masthead in the centre of the page with the subheadings written along the top and bottom. Structurally, I feel this is the most “modernist” of my ideas and it is by far my favorite cover design, so I’ve chosen to use it as my final cover design. I am going to attempt to form some cohesion throughout my magazine in terms of the layout, keeping the clean, simple structure for every page.

 

Modern & Postmodern Magazines

Modern

The Modernist movement encompasses a wide range of ideas and art movements that came about in the late 19^th Century and the first half of the 20^th Century. Modernists felt that traditional forms of art were becoming more and more irrelevant in a world of constant technological, political, and economic development. Beyond the philosophical ideas of Modernist art, it is generally thought of as simplistic, clean and structured, the famous modernist mantra being “form follows function”. Much of Modernist design is filled with geometric shapes and sharp, clean cut edges, and the use of white space being just as vital to the a design as the placement of its content.

These modernist examples are all quite structured and grid-like giving a “clean” look to them. The postmodern examples are an obvious contrast. Postmodernism was a reaction to certain prominent trends in modernism, and these trends are present in the modernist examples above.

 

Postmodern

Postmodernism is a reaction to Modernism that came about in the latter half of the 20^th Century. Where Modernism rejected the unknown, Postmodernism embraces it. The contrasts don’t end in ideals, however, so where a modernist would neatly structure their design, adhering to principles and ideas that came before, a postmodernist would do the opposite, or “what they wanted”. Postmodernism would combat the Modernist view of perfection with the fact that perfection is subjective and completely down to the individual. Postmodernists favoured variety and personal preference, criticising Modernism as “totalitarian”.

 

Modernism

Modernism is a term used for the vast number of art movements and ideas that emerged in the first half of the 20th Century. This era continues to greatly influence the art we see today. It arose as a rejection of realism among other factors, which was very much about accurately portraying real life in art. A notable factor that shaped Modernism was the advent of industrial growth and technological development, and also World War 1. Postmodernism was a reaction to modernism that came about in the latter half of the 20th Century. It was a criticism of the rules that modernist artists adhere to. Below is my research into a selection of different modernist and postmodernist art movements. I am hoping this research can help shape my ideas for this magazine.

Futurism

What is Futurism?

– It began in 1909 as a literary movement but soon encompassed all the visual arts, cinema, theatre, music and architecture.

– It was against everything old, dull, “feminine” and safe, instead obesessed with the masculine experience of warfare and reckless speed.

– Speed, energy and power of modern technology and modern urban life.

– Futurism is all about depicting movement, something that hadn’t really been tried before. E.g. the piece pictured above (Giacommo Balla’s abstract painting of a speeding motorcycle). Balla use repetitive strokes and shapes to show the blur of movement, the direction, the wind being scattered behind the car and the spin of the wheels.

What influenced Futurism?

– Just before WW1 Italy was going through a cultural crisis. It was an old country with a rich cultural history, this clashed with the modern present.

– Futurism embraced the modern and celebrated the machine, getting rid of the past.

– Championed war, they saw it as cleansing, that it would wash away the boring past and assure a glorious future.

 

Dada

What is Dada?

– Dada is revolt, interested in subversion and parody.

– Created after WW1 (1916)

– Revolted by the events of WW1, Dada was created to “kill art”.

– To start from a clean slate.

– To shake the aesthetic foundations of the period and set off a revolution which would upset our vision of the world.

– Against good taste, art, the establishment, seriousness, history, machine, technology, etc…

– For anarchy, shock values, disruption, destruction of existing rules, humour, the absurd, etc…

– Duchamp’s fountain (above) is a prime example of parody and the absurd.

What influenced Dada?

– “Revolted by the butchery of the 1916 world war… we had lost our confidence in our culture… we would begin again after the tabula rasa (blank slate)” Marcel Janco

– The polar opposite of futurism and expressionism, Dada was a reaction to those movements.

 

Bauhaus

What was the Bauhaus?

– A collective school of artists and designers involved in teaching, formed in the 1920s.

– Embraced machine production as it was the only economically viable way to manufacture and mass-market goods.

– The main ideal of Bauhaus was that form always follows function.

– Because of this many of the creations were fairly contemporary and wouldn’t look out of place today.

– Dieter Rams was inspired by the Bauhaus, evidenced in his work being very functional and geometric.

What influenced Bauhaus?

– Cubism

– Futurism

– Industrialisation

– Post WW1 economic needs in Germany (cheap housing, furniture, etc…)

 

Art Deco 

What is Art Deco?

– A post WW1 phenomenon that blossomed in the 1920s.

– Art Deco was an opulent style, this can be attributed to a reaction to the forced austerity imposed by WW1.

– Various french artists formed a collective, these artists heavily influenced the principle of Art Deco.

– Geometric shapes

– Used modern materials – steel, alluminium, inlaid wood, etc…

– Stepped forms, sweeping curves and rhythmic forms. Evidence of this can been seen in the piece above, by Tamara de Lempicka.

What influenced Art Deco?

– Ancient Egyptians, exotic “new” cultures.

– Streamlining.

– Cubism, Futurism, Bauhaus.

– Art Deco was similar to Bauhaus in that it was heavily mass produced and made for the consumer.

 

Pop Art

What is Pop Art?

– Popular

– Transient

– Expendable

– Low-cost

– mass-produced

– Young

– Witty

– Sexy

– Glamorous

– All of the above is encapsulated in Andy Warhol’s work, a famous example of which is pictured above.

– A reaction against Abstract Expressionism.

– Pop artists thought AE was elitist, due to it’s academic nature.

New Visual Language Mind Map