Closing Thoughts...

This week brings an end to our class GID 01: History of Graphic Design for the fall quarter 2012 at Foothill College.  This blog has served as a field journal capturing my weekly reflections and personal research for the duration of this course.  I am glad this journal was a requirement of the course as it pushed me to think more deeply than simply reading a weekly text assignment and regurgitating the information during a test or essay.

I have learned a lot this quarter and the course has been both more difficult and more rewarding than I expected.  Our textbook, Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Fifth Edition was packed with information on graphic design and visual communications dating as far back as prehistoric cave drawings and the origins of writing.  In hindsight, now that I stop and think about how many brilliant creative minds have lived since the beginning of human history, it's really not surprising that cramming so much information into one textbook digested over the duration of one school quarter would result in a pretty hefty amount of reading and thinking each week!

In addition to learning the basics, along the way I found special interest in several artists, designers and time periods.  Some of those which most captured my interest or spoke to my personal aesthetics include: Art Nouveau, especially Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Alphonse Mucha (not to mention my fixation on Le Chat Noir); the Plakatstil style, and Lucian Bernhard in particular; Peter Behrens' work in corporate identity; El Lissitzky, H. N. Werkman (I stumbled across this excellent book about Werkman at a clearance price on Amazon), David Lance Goines and David Carson.  Also, I feel I must one day satisfy my new itch to own an original copy of Herbert Bayer's World Geo-Graphic Atlas.

Prior to taking this course I always felt that I had a good "eye for design" and aesthetic intuition but my knowledge was limited and I didn't have much in the way of vocabulary to discuss design in any technical way.  This course has certainly greatly expanded my vocabulary of design and I now have a much more structured understanding of important art and design movements and influences.  I feel like I can hold a more intelligent conversation regarding works of design and I can critique and understand important works more deeply.

Taking this course early in my path towards a Graphic Design degree at Foothill was wise as I now know much more about the importance of graphic design through history and feel even more confident in my chosen career path.  I think what I have learned in this course will help me in the rest of the courses in the Graphic Design program and that Meggs' textbook will be a great resource in other courses too.  I think the future holds great things for the world of design and I look forward to seeing where human creativity combined with exponentially progressing technology will take us, and I'm eager to find my own visual voice and have some impact on the direction of that future.

Resources:
H. N. Werkman (Monographics Series), by Alston W. Purvis
Book - Meggs' History of Graphic Design, 5th Edition - Wiley

Designer of the decade, self-taught?

 
I found it incredibly fascinating that one of the most influential designers alive today was predominantly self taught.   David Carson, who has a degree in Sociology and previously worked as a teacher and professional surfer, revolutionized print layout.  It seems fitting that he got his start with about a decade art directing at a series of Surf, Skate and Music oriented magazines followed by his tenure at Ray Gun.  He had no fear of breaking convention, and perhaps his lack of formal training was a large part of this mindset, or at least avoided breaking him of it.

In 2003 David gave this enjoyable TED talk which gives a glimpse into his way of thinking and sense of humor and random musings on some of his life experiences.  He also discusses some of his more interesting projects, including printing an entire article in the font Dingbats because he felt it was boring, his book The End of Print, and others.  

Carson began to get quite a bit of publicity during the 1990s, and increasing controversy surrounded his work.  He threw the idea of prioritizing legibility out the window and emphasized personal expression, tossing the grid format in favor of a more kinetic and spatial arrangement.  Type frequently overlapped, was cut off, upside down or backwards.  His layouts were almost always inspired by the subject matter.  My favorite quote from Carson is captured in the following page spread which he featured in his TED talk, "Don't mistake legibility for communication".  And I think this motto really summarizes his impact on the world of Graphic Design.

Resources:
http://www.davidcarsondesign.com
"David Carson on design + discovery". TED
Book - Meggs' History of Graphic Design, 5th Edition - Wiley