Graphic Design: A Medium for the Masses

Lecture Notes

• There is evidence of visual communication right back to the time of cave paintings, where people were illiterate, so used image as a form of language
• In these images it seems as if fine art is being used to express someones religion, but in reality someone is being paid to do a job, this is to tell the story of Christianity throughout image, like a comic strip
• Does the use of text make this piece of fine art an advert?
• With fine art, it doesn't matter if the viewer doesn't understand the piece, where with graphic design, an image would be pointless if it wasn't understood
• Graphic design can be good for society, its not all about selling
• In the early stages it was difficult to see what was graphic design or what was fine art, as the disciplines were blurred
• With the 1st World War, propaganda came
• Art became more abstract and so elements of fine art appeared in graphic design. The geometric elements in Kandinsky's images are an example of this
• The London underground map was more a laying down of lines rather than an accurate map, which lead to some confusion with distances
• As with the spin-offs London underground map, pieces of graphic design have been taken and turned into fine art
• The Bauhaus school sets the precedent for design
• Switzerland becomes a key place early on for graphic design
• In Europe, design limits are pushed, such as the first railway poster, in comparison to the British alternative. British graphic design is not evolving as fast, the pieces are more just fine art images with text underneath
• Hitler thought modern art was too progressive and so held an exhibition called degenerate art, which was derogatory to the modern pieces, showing all that he believed to be bad about them. It is ironic as the poster used to advertise this 'degenerate art' features a modern style
• Graphic design was something 'underground', done on a budget
• Not all images need type, as some speak for themselves
• Volkswagen adverts became instantly recognisable because of the style used of a photograph with type underneath, and plenty of negative space
• Paul Rand created famous branding for abc and IBM
• Graphic design is linked to commercialism, industry, branding, corporation, capitalism, economy
• The first things first manifesto conveys that graphic design is more social conscience than advertising
• Graphic design can raise awareness of political issues, such as the logo with is now universally famous for the symbol of peace, which actually means end nuclear disarmament
• The artwork created for the punk movement contains a cut and paste aesthetic
• With some music covers it could be argues that the packaging becomes the product
• Graphics became graphics for graphics sake, (as in art for arts sake), with a re-writing of rules meaning that some pieces were losing sight of the idea of trying to communicate a message
• Public Image Limited were aware of consumerism, so tried to undermine the graphic design on the time with simple, obvious covers, that could be considered an aesthetic in their own right
• Designers republic was a break against rules
• 'Spiritualized' - The recording artist took a lot of drugs and was well known for this, so incorporated this into the packaging for his music. The cover looked like a pill packet, and special editions were made, where the CD's were in foil pill shaped packaging
• Benetton created controversial adverts which confused the audience, were they trying to make you think you were helping the issues of the world if you bought a Benetton item, or was this advert campaign just for cheap shock value
• Selfridges sale posters, spin-off of 'I think therefore I am' with 'I shop therefore I am' - are they mocking the customer?