more than just grids
visual unity achieved by asymmetrical organization - traced back to new typography of Bahaus
objective photography
sans serif type
flush left, rag right
mathematical grids - traced back to Behrens
socially useful
Everything from swiss design we've seen before, they're just coming together in one form
swiss design = the international typographic style
more important than the appearance than the attitude
design a socially useful and important activity
Being a designer is about the way you live your life. Would you be a designer if you weren't getting paid? If you weren't benefitting somehow? Swiss design is about the spirit behind the design. Roots come from:
the new typography
De Stijl
Bahaus
Max Bill + Theo Balmer
died in 1965 and 1994
both students of the Bahaus
link from Bahaus to post WWII swiss design
Balmer student in Dessau
grid as art, it isn't just a set of rules but it informs or becomes the art itself
Ulm
school notable for inclusion of symbiotic and a major
Semiotics
"the philosophical theory of signs and symbols"
what things mean in relationship to other things
syntactics - order
semantics - meaning or referred to
pragmatics - how it is used
The human brain is a lazy muscle and will always go to the easiest possible solution
as soon as you get other information your brain will lock in on that information
sometimes you get meaning from casual juxtaposition
dyslexic people see thing that aren't necessarily there
Adrian Frutiger
apparently still alive
born in 1928
Univers
1954 completes Univers alphabet after 3 years
deals away with traditional nomenclature and has a numbering system instead
this a logically system of articulation
Arman Hoffman
still alive also
develops system of relationships and contrasting elements
gave us the one truth that if you design the negative space the rest will work
the negative space is an active component
Joseph Muller Brockman
died in 1996
good for creating semiotic relationships
dynamic imagery
film poster from 1960 "deFilm"
you can see the units and grid
you can see dominant horizon/vertical
negative space doesn't feel like it's been leftover
a good grid is libertating
Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Ivan Chermayeff - The Big Idea
Paul Rand
does a lot with the simplest imagery
frequently will sign his own work
you see a lot with cut paper and things that are hand done
designed UPS original logo
a lot of work that was just immediate, casual, a collage
MOVIE TIME - Paul Rand
Saul Bass
title sequences
Conclusion
The Vagina Monologues poster was great, that's the classic case of a good idea. For me, I can tell when something is really good when I get pissed off. You ever get that way when you see something and you're like, dammit I could have thought of that! I don't literally get pissed off but it really gets to me. The best ideas aren't "hard" to think of. It's just hard getting to them or recognizing them.
"You know what looks like a vagina? Lips." That's not an earth shattering discovery. You don't need a doctor or some genius to figure that out. Some middle school kid could probably point that out. So what makes it good? The fact that it has double meaning and both of those meaning relevant. You use your mouth to talk about monologues and that's why the lips are relevant. What are we talking about? Vagina's, and oh hey . . . those lips kind of look like — ohhh I get it.
Boom. That's a good idea. When you get a reaction. When you're drawn in because you see something ordinary and it turns into something that is extraordinary. That is the key to good advertising.
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