Critical Currents in Contemporary Graphic Design @cccgd-s14 - Tumblr Blog

E book critical design

rethinking modernism

both essays argue in favour of a modernism which is slightly uncomfortable, that is one which pushes boundaries because it is actively responding to the conditions of its time.

good history/bad history calls to account design which copies or echoes 'modern' graphic design, rather than being modern (embracing modernist principles). the authors argue that this is designing out of context because it assumes that what made sense in one period can be applied uncritically to another. they add that this comes from having a canon of graphic design which is largely composed of elite aesthetic rather than the true everyday design which was made by an unnamed designer and is not part of the canon. jive modernism is the uncritical borrowing of a successful past form.

owens' graphics incognito stresses similar issues but believes somehow in abstraction as the glue of modernism (honest modernism). i'm not sure if the authors of good history/bad history would agree with that because they seem to say that everything, despite how 'universal' it seems, has a context and should be questioned for applicability even if it seems to be a crystal goblet capable of relaying information in anarchic, radical, progressive continuity.

#nicole durocher #rethinking

metahaven vs. experimental jetset

i was really confused by this but after thinking it over...

the difference between their two viewpoints on modernism is that metahaven has a faith (informed by the context of their work [life]) in the difference allowed by the sameness of modernism and modernist platforms, and further that this is communitarian.

experimental jetset agrees but with the caveat that modernist language (rather than style, actually this was a correction offered by metahaven but i think it's appropriate) is egalitarian in print, in an environment beyond the web which is too tailored to the individuals preferences in what to view.

i would argue that both are correct and fit into a larger idea of modernism as a period of the individual's definition of himself being as a consumer, connected to other people more through the economy than through shared faith in something supernatural, or a regional culture untouched by globalism. experimental jetset is just more doubtful about the authenticity of shared culture in the digital age- or at least about the shared culture of the digital age being the only shared culture, and that what we experience beyond it isn't informing us just as much it is just more... base?

#nicole durocher #experimental jetset #metahaven #modernism

Design Against the Machine

:) this was fun

#nicole durocher #memes

e-book for critical currents in contemporary graphic design

#nicole durocher #ebook

From Wiki:

"Cooper Black is a heavily weighted, old style serif typeface designed byOswald Bruce Cooper in 1921 and released by the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in 1922. The typeface is drawn as an extra bold weight ofCooper Old Style. Though not based on a single historic model, Cooper Black exhibits influences of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and the Machine Age. Cooper Black was a predominant lettering style popularized by Oswald Bruce Cooper in Chicago and the Midwest of America in the 1920s, given typographic form. An earlier weight of Cooper's type designs, Cooper Old Style (later just "Cooper") was released first, though Cooper Black was what BB&S foundry was after. Cooper Black was advertised as being "for far-sighted printers with near-sighted customers", as well as "the Black Menace" by detractors."

I have such strong feelings about this typeface which actually softened when I read that description. I associate it with 'cheap' graphic design, like hiring someone who isn't a designer or just choosing yourself from desktop fonts because you've seen it before... In one of my courses this term we talked about this typeface, it came up, and everyone responded so harshly it's funny.

I would place it between embarrassment... and "it's over". However in the context of its creation, of its time... it's cute. I wonder if it could enjoy a real revival?

#nicole durocher #style

tool-list Rachel Bernstein May 2014 Critical Currents in Contemporary Grapic Design Parsons the New School for Design

Jessica's Ebook

wealthyapple

{Acconi Studio, City of Words, 2010} It doesn’t really matter if the reader understands the concepts of the author by reading the text. Once it is out of her hand the writer has no control over the way a reader will perceive the work. Different people will understand the same thing in a...

#uncreative #jessica

wealthyapple

After reading both Wild’s “Unraveling” and Sennett’s “The Troubled Craftsman” I conclude that both authors hold the same idea in terms of what defines craft and craftsman. To both, craftsmanship is about implementing purposeful design rather than just simply designing for the sake of designing. I believe the way I approach graphic design is a type of craftwork in that I do not just focus on making it look good. When I approach a project, I research the subject wholeheartedly, I look at typography and color and try to figure if it relates to the subject. Does the type choice make sense? Does the color give the feeling of what I am trying to convey in the design? It’s a craft because I am not just taking projects at face value but rather getting to the “gut” of it and trying to design a concept that is both aesthetically pleasing all the while serving its primary function.

#craftsmen #jessica