ESSAY. 2 designers - 2 different eras.

David Carson and Paul Rand.

David Carson is one of the most influential figures in graphic design. He's iconic in the design industry, partly due to his use of grunge typography. A graphic designer and a surfer - a hobby which leaves great impact upon his works. He has designed from posters to commercials, having served clients ranging from Disney to Toyota.

He has influenced people to look at typography as an expressive medium. He has urged many young designers to break the norm and go against tradition and its origins. His works do not follow the basic rules a graphic designer should follow, and this is why his work got noticed and criticised in the 90's. Through his work he promotes the minimalist approach where less is more. He feels that a design is more effective if it is simple and to the point. His technique is to evaluate who his audience is, what the emotion and message is, which the client is trying to express. He works straight onto his computer as he feels that elements of your design are lost from the sketchbook to the computer. He thinks you should follow your gut and do what you feel is appropriate to make your design work, reason why he himself doesn't follow the basis of graphic design. One does not need to learn the rules in order to break them. He has thought designers that the type chosen should reflect the emotion you want to portray in your work.

Between 1995-1998 Carson did design work for many companies including Pepsi, Nike and Emporio Armani.

'Ray Gun was an American alternative rock-and-roll magazine, first published in 1992 in Santa Monica, California. Led by founding art director David Carson''

Paul Rand also left great influence and inspiration to graphic designers. He is known for integrating modern art into the corporate industry. It was his corporate logo designs which made him famous, those including the logo of IBM, UPS and Next. He was considered to be a master of modern design, applying to his work what he learnt through modernism. Paul Rand made use of minimal typography, using only the best designed serif and sans serif fonts. It was the way he approached colour, shapes and contrast that got his work noticed. His designs started a whole new trend for corporate America and his influence in designers works can still be seen today. In his designs you come across balance and harmony, form and function... a sense of clarity. These elements gave corporate identity and Logos a whole new perspective.

His use of collages, photography and unique use of fonts is what kept his viewers interested. Rands influence on graphic design is clearly visible through his time as he was not only a designer but also a professor at Pratt Institute and Yale. He also wrote books expressing his thoughts on design. It was his instinctive passion and beliefs which made him so influential. One could say that he set new standards for graphic design.

Three of the most influential logos ever designed by Paul Rand are that of UPS, IBM and Next. Their simplicity and minimalism made them very effective and made people know these companies by their famous trademarks.

History Paper - Paul Rand. 2014. History Paper - Paul Rand. [ONLINE] Available at: http://public.csusm.edu/Zorne002/history_paper.html. [Accessed 19 January 2014].

Paul Rand - iconofgraphics.com. 2014. Paul Rand - iconofgraphics.com. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Paul-Rand/.> [Accessed 19 January 2014].

Paul Rand Profile - Profile of Graphic Designer Paul Rand. 2014. Paul Rand Profile - Profile of Graphic Designer Paul Rand. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/designerprofiles/a/paul_rand.htm.> [Accessed 19 January 2014].

An Interview with David Carson « Layers Magazine. 2014. An Interview with David Carson « Layers Magazine. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://layersmagazine.com/an-interview-with-david-carson.html.> [Accessed 19 January 2014].

Magazine Design Inspiration - MagSpreads: Interview - David Carson. 2014. Magazine Design Inspiration - MagSpreads: Interview - David Carson. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.magspreads.net/p/interview-david-carson.html.> [Accessed 19 January 2014].

David Carson - Techniques in Design - YouTube. 2014. David Carson - Techniques in Design - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1pQTuJfUi8.> [Accessed 19 January 2014].

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].

behrens

Peter Behrens, Born 14th April 1868, passing away 27th February 1940. He was the founder of Industrial design. He was the founded or Industrial Architecture and modern design and he also founded Corporate Identity. He was a known painter as well as as architect. When he was just a teenager, a big inheritance fell into his laps with the passing away of his father and therefore was able to afford a good education. He chose the arts. In 1890 he was not practicing as an architect but as a painter and graphic designer. He is also the founder of the Munich Secession, apart from the founder of industrial Architecture and modern design. 

His first works were sketches consisting of ornament drawings. 

In this piece above you can see the evident inspiration from Japanese art. 

In 1901, Behrens built his own house including all the furniture that came with it. One could refer to him as an industrial designer because he designed household appliances such as teapots and lamps. He obtained his results with a combination of ethics and an eye of an artist. 

In his book ''Feste des Lebens and der kunst'' (Celebration of Life and Art; A consideration of the theatre as the highest symbol of a Culture), Behrens makes use of Sans Serif type and later and later explored formal geometric design motifs and included sans serif characters of which he got the inspiration from a square. He took great interest in the sans serif typeface and was not alone. Ten sans serif fonts were created by the Berthold Foundry at the time. A number of other founders of different fonts at the time such as Akzidenz Grotesque were able to achieve harmony and clarity in their typeface, providing inspiration to designers designing other Sans Serif typefaces. 

Peter Behrens Schrift first typeface

Behrens combined (above) heavy and condensed feeling of black letter, the letter dimensions from the roman inscriptions and also made use of his standardised letterform construction. He makes emphasis with vertical and horizontal lines and he replaces diagonals with curved strokes in letters like 'w' and 'v'. This approach was new and made it successfully to book and job printing typography. 

In his book ''Feste des Lebens and der kunst'' he describes typography as:
“watching a bird’s flight or the gallop of a horse. Both seem graceful and pleasing, but the viewer does not observe details of their form or movement. Only the rhythm of the lines is seen by the viewer, and the same is true of a typeface”. 

The Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft Logo designed by Peter Behrens.

(major Electric Appliance company)

Household appliances designed by Peter Behrens.

Peter Behrens Biography - Infos - Art Market. 2013. Peter Behrens Biography - Infos - Art Market. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.behrens-peter.com/. [Accessed 20 November 2013].

Peter Behrens | Design History Research. 2013. Peter Behrens | Design History Research. [ONLINE] Available at:http://designhistoryresearch.wordpress.com/category/peter-behrens/. [Accessed 20 November 2013].

AEG | - History . 2013. AEG | - History . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.aeg.com/en/About-AEG/History/. [Accessed 20 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].