Constructivism

Constructivism was an art movement which started in Russia back in 1990. At the time Russia consisted of a communist society, and constructivism helped industrialise Russia, converting it from an agricultural society. The constructivists used art as a medium to communicate with their people for political reasons and rejected the idea of art for arts' sake. Soviet Graphic design consisted mainly of political propaganda and it was aimed at social change.

When Lenin died, constructivism died with him. The Stalinists believed that conservative neoclassical style of socialist realism was the way forward.

Graphic constructivism consisted of straight lines, geometrical shapes, flat colours and order and included billboards, logos packaging and other forms of advertisement. Inspiring artists from the time which still have an influence on today's graphic design are Jan Tschichold and Alexander Rodchenko.

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, El Lissitzky, 1919, repurposes abstract Suprematist motifs as war propaganda

Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova's famous Books! poster (1924) employs a stark grammar of simple geometry and flat colour to promote a campaign for worker education.

The Russian Constructivists | Blog | Analogue76 | Web design, copywriting, blogging - Edinburgh, Scotland. 2013. The Russian Constructivists | Blog | Analogue76 | Web design, copywriting, blogging - Edinburgh, Scotland. [ONLINE] Available at:<http://www.analogue76.com/blog/entry/the_russian_constructivists.

>. [Accessed 01 December 2013].

The easy guide to design movements: Constructivism | Graphic design | Creative Bloq. 2013. The easy guide to design movements: Constructivism | Graphic design | Creative Bloq. [ONLINE] Available at:<http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/easy-guide-design-movements-constructivism-10134843>.[Accessed 02 December 2013].

Propaganda and Modern art

Propaganda is biased information used to promote politics or a point of view. Italian in origin, from modern Latin congregatio de propaganda fide (congregation for propagation of the faith). The first noted use of propaganda was back in 1622, by a catholic church, when Pope Gregory XV appointed Rome the congregation for the propagation of faith.

Propaganda posters date back to 1914, when governments not only used them to promote political causes but also to recruit men to obtain enough money to support military campaigns. Germany, Italy and the Uk used posters for the recruitment of soldiers, with slogans such as ''Join your country's army''.
A very popular poster, very much known to graphic design is the uncle Sam poster, pointing his finger and telling his audience of young men ''I want YOU for US army''. During the war millions were spent on advertising and it is said that many of the graphic designers believed true, the messages they were putting forward.

Uncle Sam propaganda poster for soldier recruitment

The working class used the poster as a form of rebellion against the rich. From the early 20th century, modern art started to take its toll on posters. They were using poster as a means of channeling their inspiration.



Guity Novin, (may 1st 2012) A history of Graphic Design. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://guity-novin.blogspot.com/2010/05/chapter-29-propaganda-posters.html.> [Accessed 25 November 2013].

Jan Tschichold

In the first years of his life Jan Tschichold set out to be a illustration teacher, something his parents approved of because of its good income at the time. He was more interested in calligraphy himself and realise teaching wasn't his thing, moving on to studying typography. Lecturers noticed that his grasp on the subject was of a natural. He started script writing lecturers in 1921, when lecturers realised his ability and natural understanding. His works were influenced by the Bauhaus and he became known for his new typography. He changed his style completely making use of white space, simplified layouts, straight lines and Bauhaus typography (Sans Serif typeface). All his work was set in Sans, anything else to him was considered 'hurtful'. He saw it as a crime to ones work if done otherwise. He experimented with shape and size. He became very well known; some took a great liking to him whereas others hated him, to put it bluntly. After a while he started teaching typography in Frankfurt.  in 1928 he got a book published which left a great impact on graphic design; "The New Typography". When the war hit, the Nazi's did not like his work and held him captive for a period of time. They did not like this change, therefore holding all his works and books seized. He luckily managed to get out of Germany and back to Switzerland with his family and later on London. In 1949 he joined Penguin Books who were very unsuccessful at the time due to their lack of design. The rest all happened over 3 years. He needed to design brilliant covers for Penguin and was given a set of fixed rules and guidelines to follow. He broke through after a years work, and his work was later revised over 3 years adding few slight changed here and there. This included change of the Penguin Logo, fonts made smaller and even the size of the book was made more compact. This then became standard customs for Penguin books.

Die neue Typographie 1928                                        

This is one of his books which the Nazi's seized during the War.  

This is one of the Penguin layouts thats Jan Tschichold designed. It isn't overwhelming with different colours. He makes use of a lot of blank space to make it more neat. When it comes to Typography you can see that he makes use of serifless typeface and different angles when placing text.

Penguin book, poster, and boos designs by Jan Tschichold himself. 

He left great influence and long lasting impressions on typography an this influence will be passed on to designers for many years to come.

Jan Tschichold « MyFonts. 2013. Jan Tschichold « MyFonts. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.myfonts.com/person/Jan_Tschichold/.> [Accessed 18 November 2013].

Richard Hollis: the brilliance of typographer Jan Tschichold | Art and design | theguardian.com . 2013. Richard Hollis: the brilliance of typographer Jan Tschichold | Art and design | theguardian.com . [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/dec/05/jan-tschichold-typography >[Accessed 18 November 2013].

Jan Tschichold: Master Typographer | Book Review | Typographica . 2013.Jan Tschichold: Master Typographer | Book Review | Typographica . [ONLINE] Available at: <http://typographica.org/typography-books/jan-tschichold-master-typographer/.>[Accessed 18 November 2013].

Jan Tschichold Biography - Infos - Art Market. 2013. Jan Tschichold Biography - Infos - Art Market. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.jan-tschichold.com/.> [Accessed 18 November 2013].

De Stijl

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De Stijl was originated in 1917 when artists were over the decorative pre-war design and wanted back order in art. All excess colour and decoration was to be removed and artists were to make use of only primary colours and black and white space. Unfortunately not many of their designs were build but nonetheless their influence on design was extreme. Van Doesburg was greatly influenced by the Dada movement and his works had a great influence on the Bauhaus. Their style was innovative, asymmetrical, disciplined and it made use of Sans Serif typeface. Rectangular blocks and straight lines were also a custom.  All modern designers embrace the grid, empty space and minimal simplicity. I personally think that creating designs with minimal aspects is wonderful in a world overwhelmed with visual language

Rietveld, Red and Blue Chair, 1918

The De Stijl elements were applied to this chair sometime after it was actually built. It shows the  use of primary colour and the interaction of vertical and horizontal aspects. 

Over the years the De stijl elements have been applied to several different objects ranging from cars to houses and architecture, paintings and even shoes. 

People also used inspiration from De Stijl in a graphical context. People used the design in Posters, not only as a cool approach to their ad but also as an advertisement for De Stijl itself. This Poster promoting an even about De Stijl is portrayed brilliantly as they used De Stijl elements throughout. We can see lots of blank space, silence so to speak. The use of primary colours and horizontal and vertical intersecting lines. The inspiration within this poster design is particularly taken from the axonometric architectural drawings of Theo Van doesburg. 

Know your design history: the utopian De Stijl movement. 2013. Know your design history: the utopian De Stijl movement. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2012/12/18/know-your-design-history-the-utopian-de-stijl-movement/.> [Accessed 20 November 2013].

De Stijl. 2013. De Stijl. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm.> [Accessed 20 November 2013].

Art Nouveau

During this era, people focused mostly on fine arts. During this time people believed that art should be appreciated for what it is. Art nouveau artists moved away from the classical art and were more daring, more explorative. They wanted and got better working space and worked on applying different kinds of art into one. [Ceramics Today].

 Art Nouveau fashion was distinguished by graceful lines elongated strokes ending in curlicue with flower and leaf motifs. Art nouveau also had a great influence on architecture at the time. Such art was displayed better in larger form, so the bigger your 'piece' the better it was. This era of art started of in France but quickly spread around the world. It was very popular until Art Deco and Modernism started gaining on it and finally replaced it.

I also took some points during my lesson which summed up characteristics of Art Nouveau:

• In Art Nouveau style was taken to a whole new level and everything went OTT (over the top).
• Nature imagery were heavily distorted and stylised with curves and shapes that resulted in a better understanding of the underlying geometric form. 
• Art Nouveau was all about the 'modern'. They wanted to scrap old way and come up with something new and innovative. Lots of their work had to with what nature set before them.
• Mackintosh had a way of drawing from nature. style of line precision, texture and pattern

http://www.parisperfect.com/blog/2011/03/art-nouveau-7th-arrondissement/
Art Nouveau building in Paris, France.