Last weeks context of practice tutorial with Simon Jones was really useful. It really helped crystallise what I wanted to say in the most effective and streamlined way possible taking into account the research I've undertook and the research and want to look further into. With themes of the Swiss International Style, Cultural Diffusion, Diffusion of Style, Todays technology and Globalisation/Emerging first world merging into one to create what I feel is a relevant debate.
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The debate I want to look into is whether there's a growing need, or opportunity for a New Post-Modernist International Style. Or whether it's already taking place, what will it look like?
This is most interesting for me, as last year too the thing I enjoyed most was just to analyse and study, be inspired from designs around the world and compile a list of characteristics. To create a more progressive style, which is relevant to my own practice. Taking into account a developing first world, cultures being closer than ever, designers like me talking to designers all across the world and there seems to be this kind of underlying current of agreement when it comes to objectives to design.
We have inspiration everywhere around the world, it's debatable whether this is a good or bad thing. Someone like Kata Moross, the London based designer/ilustrator definitely doesn't agree with this. Saying her design team aren't even allowed to engage with design blogs, tumblr's and Pinterest in the hope of finding their own voice. She said it's a daily challenge to maintain your own style. It's this which is also interesting, if it's harder than ever to maintain your own style, and design in a style you've seen on the internet, or for social media in order to gain accceptance and assured likes. Then surely when everyone's doing the same style of design an International Style of Design is developing?
Also I want to look into and debate the idea of globalisation, and it's effects on culture, design and trade. With countries starting to look more and more alike each other, more and more countries speaking English, I feel there's a need, opportunity or perhaps already taking place an international design style and need for objectivity. In fact the idea of accounting for different languages is what drove the Swiss design scene to design objectively with photography and semiotics to account for 3 different languages that were around in Switzerland. it's these logical links which I want to make and am interested by.
As Vignelli said, he sees himself as a doctor curing the world of this visual disease. He's a classical Swiss design icon, and these designers in the 50's and 60's were combatting decorative, and style without substance design and the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. Again, i think design has moved in a cycle and we've had the era of post-modernism and again we have this kind of movement of anti-art and design which is combatting design and technology and objectivity, almost as a rebellion AGAIN. So I feel again, there's this opportunity and perhaps build up of this International Style of Design MK. II.
I know myself as a designer, I've become increasingly engaged with and swayed by this minimalist, crystal clear and objective form of design. There's beauty in the simplicity, and in my own kind of way I feel positively affected by it because in a small way it feels like I'm rejecting all the clutter and noise around me. Like Vignelli said, curing the visual disease around us. So I feel the two design scenes of the International Style prominence and perhaps now are definitely linked. I feel the Swiss and International Style of design's legacy is perhaps stronger now than ever.
Fonts like helvetica, are still the driving force behind branding and corporations striving to create a positive, all-encompassing image, and these in themselves are influencing globalisation and trade/communication between countries. Helvetica is everywhere now, and will be for the foreseeable future.
Research + Further action
I feel I already have a decent grasp of the development of Swiss and International Design, I know a lot about the visual style and the legacy they had across Europe with the visual style, objectivity and fonts like Helvetica and Futura basically changing the world in a way. I need to look deeper into globalisation in terms of cultures merging together and research deeper into visual styles from around the world which adhere to these design sensibilities of the International Style.
I need to look deeper into the visual styles which were around in Europe which the Swiss design scene were adamant to combat and whether these align with design movements and styles people adhere too now and whether there's synthesis there to reinforce the idea of design working in cycles. But each time being a progression of the previous cycles.
I also need to research into prominent design countries and schools of thought in the 50s when the International Style developed and whether that style of design basically spread to the well-off' or developed countries, and then compare to the rise of the developed countries now with a merging first world with countries such as India and China, and the Far East being predicted to be even stronger in GDP than the US soon.
---
Peter Saville mentioned at the Manchester Design Conference - what would a typeface look like which was universal? The whole world could read and understand it. It's ambitious but would it be possible to merge a typeface which can be read as english but also as chinese letterforms? Would this be a sign of things to come? This is really interesting and could be the culmination of the written part into the physical work.
I'm sure there's already a lot of debate and material into the 'future of graphic design style' which is my really early idea about the end product and conclusion of the project so it's good to see I've come full circle but with more material to back it!
Practical:
In terms of the practical representation of my project I feel especially if I'm discussing an international style, collaboration and a diffusion of culture and styles happening just through technology primarily. It would be cool to literally put this to the test, so it will be a sizable publication of some sort and will be designed in collaboration with a designer who I have synthesis with creatively - across the world. So the content will be relevant and the visual style will literally be a representation of the content - a natural diffusion of style and an example of this International Style Mk. II.
It's still early yet and the direction and progress I make with the written will hopefully naturally dictate the direction and tone for the end-product.
I also want to still create a body of work through visual experiments in terms of process and visual style, they will be a nice break from college extended practice projects and as I found last year. Working through filters of visual styles, analysing and basicaly engaging with styles really helped me to understand them, which is key here. Maybe even experiment with an 'international' typeface to coincide with a typeface production brief I'm working on at the moment.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
Immediate Action Plan
I've been writing an essay plan so I can crack on with writing it and Basically answering each chapter, or sub-section as a question in itself and answer as articulately and deeply as possible with relevant quotes and cross-analysis, so by the time I've gone through the plan I have an early draft of a cohesive piece of critical writing.
Essay Plan
Preliminaries
Chapter 1 - Cultural Influence and Development of Swiss Style of Design
Chapter 2 - Becoming the 'International' Style of Design. Individual nuances.
Chapter 3 - Globalisation and it's impact on design style and culture.
Chapter 4 - Contemporary Design Practice in a Globalised post-post-modernist world.
I'll come back to this later and discuss with Simon and get some feedback and fine-tuning but now I have a plan, It gives me confidence to start writing and working my way through these discussions and see where I get to in the aim of having a draft in by Christmas break.
---
The debate I want to look into is whether there's a growing need, or opportunity for a New Post-Modernist International Style. Or whether it's already taking place, what will it look like?
This is most interesting for me, as last year too the thing I enjoyed most was just to analyse and study, be inspired from designs around the world and compile a list of characteristics. To create a more progressive style, which is relevant to my own practice. Taking into account a developing first world, cultures being closer than ever, designers like me talking to designers all across the world and there seems to be this kind of underlying current of agreement when it comes to objectives to design.
We have inspiration everywhere around the world, it's debatable whether this is a good or bad thing. Someone like Kata Moross, the London based designer/ilustrator definitely doesn't agree with this. Saying her design team aren't even allowed to engage with design blogs, tumblr's and Pinterest in the hope of finding their own voice. She said it's a daily challenge to maintain your own style. It's this which is also interesting, if it's harder than ever to maintain your own style, and design in a style you've seen on the internet, or for social media in order to gain accceptance and assured likes. Then surely when everyone's doing the same style of design an International Style of Design is developing?
Also I want to look into and debate the idea of globalisation, and it's effects on culture, design and trade. With countries starting to look more and more alike each other, more and more countries speaking English, I feel there's a need, opportunity or perhaps already taking place an international design style and need for objectivity. In fact the idea of accounting for different languages is what drove the Swiss design scene to design objectively with photography and semiotics to account for 3 different languages that were around in Switzerland. it's these logical links which I want to make and am interested by.
As Vignelli said, he sees himself as a doctor curing the world of this visual disease. He's a classical Swiss design icon, and these designers in the 50's and 60's were combatting decorative, and style without substance design and the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. Again, i think design has moved in a cycle and we've had the era of post-modernism and again we have this kind of movement of anti-art and design which is combatting design and technology and objectivity, almost as a rebellion AGAIN. So I feel again, there's this opportunity and perhaps build up of this International Style of Design MK. II.
I know myself as a designer, I've become increasingly engaged with and swayed by this minimalist, crystal clear and objective form of design. There's beauty in the simplicity, and in my own kind of way I feel positively affected by it because in a small way it feels like I'm rejecting all the clutter and noise around me. Like Vignelli said, curing the visual disease around us. So I feel the two design scenes of the International Style prominence and perhaps now are definitely linked. I feel the Swiss and International Style of design's legacy is perhaps stronger now than ever.
Fonts like helvetica, are still the driving force behind branding and corporations striving to create a positive, all-encompassing image, and these in themselves are influencing globalisation and trade/communication between countries. Helvetica is everywhere now, and will be for the foreseeable future.
Research + Further action
I feel I already have a decent grasp of the development of Swiss and International Design, I know a lot about the visual style and the legacy they had across Europe with the visual style, objectivity and fonts like Helvetica and Futura basically changing the world in a way. I need to look deeper into globalisation in terms of cultures merging together and research deeper into visual styles from around the world which adhere to these design sensibilities of the International Style.
I need to look deeper into the visual styles which were around in Europe which the Swiss design scene were adamant to combat and whether these align with design movements and styles people adhere too now and whether there's synthesis there to reinforce the idea of design working in cycles. But each time being a progression of the previous cycles.
I also need to research into prominent design countries and schools of thought in the 50s when the International Style developed and whether that style of design basically spread to the well-off' or developed countries, and then compare to the rise of the developed countries now with a merging first world with countries such as India and China, and the Far East being predicted to be even stronger in GDP than the US soon.
---
Peter Saville mentioned at the Manchester Design Conference - what would a typeface look like which was universal? The whole world could read and understand it. It's ambitious but would it be possible to merge a typeface which can be read as english but also as chinese letterforms? Would this be a sign of things to come? This is really interesting and could be the culmination of the written part into the physical work.
I'm sure there's already a lot of debate and material into the 'future of graphic design style' which is my really early idea about the end product and conclusion of the project so it's good to see I've come full circle but with more material to back it!
Practical:
In terms of the practical representation of my project I feel especially if I'm discussing an international style, collaboration and a diffusion of culture and styles happening just through technology primarily. It would be cool to literally put this to the test, so it will be a sizable publication of some sort and will be designed in collaboration with a designer who I have synthesis with creatively - across the world. So the content will be relevant and the visual style will literally be a representation of the content - a natural diffusion of style and an example of this International Style Mk. II.
It's still early yet and the direction and progress I make with the written will hopefully naturally dictate the direction and tone for the end-product.
I also want to still create a body of work through visual experiments in terms of process and visual style, they will be a nice break from college extended practice projects and as I found last year. Working through filters of visual styles, analysing and basicaly engaging with styles really helped me to understand them, which is key here. Maybe even experiment with an 'international' typeface to coincide with a typeface production brief I'm working on at the moment.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
Immediate Action Plan
I've been writing an essay plan so I can crack on with writing it and Basically answering each chapter, or sub-section as a question in itself and answer as articulately and deeply as possible with relevant quotes and cross-analysis, so by the time I've gone through the plan I have an early draft of a cohesive piece of critical writing.
Essay Plan
Preliminaries
- Title
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
Introduction
- The abstract - aims and key themes
- Rationale for project
- Statement of the problem
- Methodological approach - Chapter breakdown
- Key texts + Theories in chapters
Chapter 1 - Cultural Influence and Development of Swiss Style of Design
- Intro to International Swiss Style, development, main proponents.
- World War II and Modernism
- Aims of Modernism + Idealism
- Cultural factors affecting Swiss design such as ...
- Against decoration and avant-garde
- Language factors - need for objectivity
- Jan Tschichold's New Typography
- Müller-Brockman "symmetrical design = fascism"
- Bauhaus and German influence - war and mass immigration directly affecting style. Links to current situation with international students and worldwide immigration.
- Swiss design schools, continuation of Bauhaus
- Braun product design, modernist and industrial. Minimalist objective movement also affecting more than just graphic design. Not too deep into this!
- Visual analysis of Swiss design - "Same language, but different accents" with cross-analysis and own opinion
Chapter 2 - Becoming the 'International' Style of Design. Individual nuances.
- Social Responsibility of designer according to modernism "curing visual disease"
- Neue Grafik - Development and influence to US
- Helvetica. Quotes and analysis, idealism and objectivity "the Swiss typeface"
- Helvetica + Swiss designs Influence in US and consumerism "glass of icy cold water"
- Different countries + designers adhering to style, comparing native cultural nuances. Is there noticable differences? e.g. Wim Crouwel vs Vignelli. if so, why?
Chapter 3 - Globalisation and it's impact on design style and culture.
- Globalisation and it's definition
- Focus of globalisation - technology and communication
- Globalisation and it's many facets - americanization, coca colanisation etc.
- Communication and influence - diffusion of style
- Kate Moross on design influence "daily challenge maintaining own style"
- English being dominant language around the world - similarities in situations now to Swiss
- Change in developing world and growing 'first world' - also developing visual language?
- Phillipe Legrain and triangulation of conflicting opinions on Globalisation. Own analysis
- Marshall McLuhan theory "Global Village" -
- Peter Saville - growth of China and "universal typeface"
- Previous importance of design in developed world i.e the West - changing developed world. Now design is purely 'International' from US to China?
- Cultural diffusion - idea of everywhere looking the same, so is/will design becoming the same too?
- Prediction / speculation + quotes/references on implications on design. in terms of language, cultures, good and cultural particularities in terms of globalisation and tourism
Chapter 4 - Contemporary Design Practice in a Globalised post-post-modernist world.
- Post-modernism and it's values/aims
- Rebellion against objectivity and todays anti-art and glitch movements. e.g. M.I.A and Catalogue studio - Leeds
- Using technology to combat technology
- Similarities between 50s and now in strive for objectivity amidst clutter of design and anti-design post-modern aesthetic
- Call-back to Massimo Vignelli "curing visual disease" against clutter.
- Rise and success of Apple, and their ethos - Legacy of Braun design. Point= Design cycles.
- Similarities in situations from 50s to now, in terms of immigration in Switzerland. Now immigration all across world, merging within our culture and affecting us. International Students.
- Is this positive or negative, what actually is, for example, "British?"
- The influence of Swiss design in todays world, is modernism and it's aims still relevant?
- Swiss design contradictions. Against advertising + consumerism, but fuelled it anyway with Helvetica etc.
- Contemporary design practitioners (using primary research responses) in terms of collaboration and influence. opinions on design style in face of globalisation
Conclusions
- Summary of conclusions such as ...
- My opinion on the need or opportunity for international style Mk.II
- Whether native regional particularities in design will remain in the face of mass globalisation?
- If there will be a New International Post-Modernist Style. What will it's characteristics be?
- The future of graphic design in terms of design style and catering to a changing society.
- Strong focus and justification/opinion
I'll come back to this later and discuss with Simon and get some feedback and fine-tuning but now I have a plan, It gives me confidence to start writing and working my way through these discussions and see where I get to in the aim of having a draft in by Christmas break.
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