Experimental Jetset on Modernism

Watching Experimental Jetset's talk on scavenging the ruins of Modernism provided insight into their design practice and how much external influences from both past and present can help shape the works identity. 

Their unique presentation style of explaining an 'alphabet of influences' was much like the presentation style of Studio Laucke Siebein at Offset. 

Experimental Jetset are synonymous with using only Helvetica in their work. With this they raised an interesting point of the relationship between iso 216 and Helvetica itself. As explained they are both standard units, available to everyone, have some egalitarian qualities, possess interesting political and ideological backgrounds and is often relied upon much like their use of Helvetica. This relationship only highlights the modernistic qualities of Helvetica. Its ubiquitous use in design, neutral personality and utilitarian qualities has made Helvetica as useful as the iso 216. 

In creating the graphic identity for the Whitney Museum, Jetset took an atypical approach that I have not considered or exposed to when designing. They created set of instructions that dictated the identity of the museum prior to designing. This due to their role of only laying the foundations for the Museum's design team to apply the graphic language. Therefore the brand identity was communicated through a set of instructions for the Whitney design team to apply. This a hard task as the instructions have to be laid out clearly to avoid confusion and misinterpretation. Jetset's set of instruction are straightforward enough that anyone can recreate the Whitney's identity just from these instructions.

After going through the alphabet it was clear that their work is influenced by the late remnants of Modernism. Through this process they have created a new form of modernism that relates to their belief that Modernism itself does not have one fixed meaning.  

Matt Willey

https://vimeo.com/134707253

Viewing Matt Willey's talk at OFFSET 2015 provided some insight into his background and most interestingly his process for redesigning the Independent newspaper.

It was interesting to note how Willey did not intend to become a graphic design, it was merely a series of accidents that led him to being on the course. Furthermore it is weird to think that after these accidents, he would become one of the more celebrated artistic directors of editorial design. 

Watching Matt Willey's design process of Zembla's magazine cover is encouraging in that even as a graduated and professional designers, that the design process takes many different approaches which often don't make the final composition. On the other hand it does tell me how much more effort I should be taking in forming the design solution.

Wim Crouwel and 8vo

Reading Wim Crouwel's A Graphic Design Odyssey was interesting in getting a view of Wim Crouwel's graphic design history and practice and philosophy of Total Design. Being that he worked on predominantly commercial briefs, objectivity was favoured over subjectivity, as should Modernist design of that time. Total Design then put communication of the message as a paramount aim, along with legible typography and a layout that was clear and succinct.

Design studios were something of a rarity in Holland, Wim Crouwel was inspired by the studios in England such as Mark Holt, Simon Johnston and Hamish Muir's 8vo. Studios were present in England because of how institutions preferred to work with other institutions as opposed to freelancers. 

Looking into 8vo, it came as a surprise to how their work aligns with the interests of mine in graphic design. 

Their heavy use of typography as a branding and creative tool is something I want to incorporate and develop in my graphic design practice. The overall effect is work that looks explicitly like it was graphic designed which is a visual that is lacking in my own. 

Interestingly enough whilst reading further about 8vo on eye magazine, Johnston's time at Basel's School of Design reflected that of Kenya Hara's point on how the Japanese preferred preservation over newness. Johnston said that 'Learning through doing, through repetition, doesn’t sound sexy but it works' and that 'You can have the best concept in the world, but without sophisticated formal skills to express that concept, it will fall flat on its face. It was deep long-term training that stays with you, rather than shallow quick results-oriented projects.' 

Another technique Johnston used that will help me in better understanding type and how to use it, is through his way of using "the language analogy, of learning design and typography in the manner of learning another language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary". In this way, you are better able to make design and typography say what you want to say because you understand the roles and purpose of each element. 

Kenya Hara - White

Reading Kenya Hara's White gave me an better understanding of the colour. Through his detailed explanations, white is a colour that has extreme depth and unique qualities that set it apart from all the other colours. White is an important colour in Japanese culture and with it comes the varied connotations from perfection to the cycle of life and death. Understanding more about the colour white will hopefully help in my practice. Not only how to use the colour but how to work with the negative space or choosing the right shade of white for stock.

Whilst reading through Hara's explanations, the reader slowly becomes aware of the design elements of the publication. From the minimal stark white cover to the simple and straightforward layout which allows the content to speak clearly within restraint. 

The slightly off white stock used for the inside pages creates better readability as the softer contrast makes it easier on the eyes. And the little detail of having the inside cover page as a slightly more textured stock was overlooked on first glances but appreciated after understanding Hara's views. Overall the book demonstrates tactility and visual depth despite only using one predominant colour.

An interesting point in the book was how the Japanese prefer preservation over newness. New designers are always striving to create something new. He believes that innovation comes from the consciousness of continuing to maintain things as they are, which in turn can achieve perfection. This was explained through papers limitations in showing the mistakes we made whilst writing. Its by showing these mistakes that we force ourselves to repeat the process again in effort to create an example that is "perfect".

Wolfgang Weingart

Reading through Wolfgang Weingart's Typography - Wege zur Typografie: My Way to Typography provided insight into the rationales behind experimental design. 

A large inspiration for his work was his travels in the middle and far east. He was seeking the creative connection between the "intense emotions" experienced on his trips and passion for his profession.

Weingarts most memorable experience in the Middle East was visiting the ruins of Palmrya. These ancient ruins inspired him to think of type more as a surface rather than a sole communicator, manipulating letterforms to create the patterns he'd seen abroad. 

Visiting indian cities such as Pushkar and Nathdwara gave him large incentives to try large-format linocuts. The immense murals were celebratory and showed off the beauty of colours to Weingart.
As a result his travels has influenced a new direction for him, experimenting with unusual letter spacing and repeating the same word over and over again on the same page. This can be applied to my own practice, taking time off and forgetting about graphic design for a while before entering third year. Using my experiences and observations back at home and applying it in the course. 

The reasonings behind Weingart's approach to design became evident once he started to outline what Tschichold's rules of typography were. In a previous passage prior to the image above, he states how Tschichold was "a master in setting forth standards for classical typography." Tschichold argues that typography should be about readability and not about creating a frivolous style to demonstrate the designers skill. Weingart was curious to question the established typographic practice, change the rules, and to reevaluate its potential. He wanted to prove typography was an art. An example of this rebel against the rules is evident in the image above. The use of underline would traditionally be omitted. This comes from his memory of questions from the test he received whilst he was a typesetting apprentice. The question and answer was "why should the typesetter avoid the use of underlining for emphasis? Because it destroys the beauty of a printed piece."

It is his explanation of traditional and established rules of typography that made me understand why his work is designed that way. Hence the quote "The only way to break typographic rules was to know them." By understanding the rules, the typographic experiments are then informed and not for a superficial purposes.

Another major impact on his work was the advancement in technology in graphic design which stems from his focus on the production process. What shifted his work from typographic to graphic was his personal discovery of superimposing and producing transparent films he could use for imagery, i.e. offset lithography. By learning the entire process itself, he got an understanding of being a lithographer as well as being a designer which was never practiced during his time. This could a point to take within my own practice. To learn to be more hands-on in the design process and to experiment with analog techniques to produce design that takes advantage of the processes it uses. 

Only studio visit

Having Only come and talk about their work proved useful as digital design is an unknown area for me. They are a strategy design company made up of just Matt and Greg. They started off by explaining the misconceptions to digital design which was an effective way to set the tone and to open myself up to on screen design. With such accessibility and the constant stream of new information that comes with having the internet, the saturation of websites made me regard UI and UX design as "temporary". The main aspects were that there are so many possibilities with digital design, you don't need to code and its here to stay. 

In digital design there's a slightly different process of progressing through the brief. Instead of going from Research - Design - Practical Experiements - Print, it goes from Research - Wireframing - Design - FrontEnd. With the advantage of being digital design being almost instant, experimentation can be done at every stage of the process and having actual users use their designs are the feedback they receive. 

This digital aspect is also taken into how they give their brand guidelines to the client. Instead of pdf, they opt for a website which is easier to navigate, quick to access and easy to update. Giving the client their guidelines also reduces the work needed to complete the entire website. When asked about how they design for large amounts of webpages, they replied by saying they create at most 7-8 templates for their digital solutions. From there the client can take over and have a form of creative control. Furthermore, digital design is becoming a growing desire from clients as brands and companies move to a more digital outlook. 

When asked about what they adhere to or aim towards to when creating their solutions, it was clear that for an positive user experience, legibility has to be communicated through the user interface. This means creating a standard experience across all the platforms they design for, seeing whether the webpages retain clarity on large and smaller scales. Extending on this when designing for multiple platforms, it is necessary to identify the main screen size the target audience uses. As an example they provided, Little Mix's website design had to be influenced by the way we use smartphones as it took 80% of the target users. Another aim is to create designs that are accessible to everyone because of how wide the internet's audience is. These aims will be useful to adhere to when design the on screen solution for OUGD504 Studio Brief 02.

Study Task

What I've learned on the course

1. Commercial print processes
2. Analog print methods
3. Critical thinking on graphic design
4. The design world outside of college
5.  Graphic design itself. I had little knowledge prior to enrolling.

What I want to learn more about

1. Type design
2. New Wave design that is grounded on modernist principles. "The only way to break typographic rules was to know them" - Wolfgang Weingart
3. The creative events happening near me
4. The intricacies of editorial design–to pay attention to more of the little details that create engaging layouts that are contextual to the content.
5. Modernism–to learn about the rules in creating "good design", but not to recreate International Style.

What I want to improve

1. Effective use of typography. What typeface to use for copy, for display, how to lay it out, etc. 
2. The quality of my final submissions. To be able to create a more professional looking pieces of design
3. Being multidisciplinary, focusing too much on one facet of graphic design may not be the best choice as design studios today are often multi disciplinary. 
4. Screenprinting technique. More often then not, I produce uneven registrations and am not proficient with the process.
5. Being more willing to reach out to creatives

 Practitioners that align with my interests

1. Theseus Chan
2. Matt Willey
3. Josef Muller-Brockmann
4. Neville Brody
5. Wolfgang Weingart
6. Mike Meire

Websites that are an inspiration to my interests

1. typetoken.net
2. creativereview.co.uk
3. eyeondesign.aiga.org
4. magculture.com
5. eyemagazine.com/blog

Emerging illustration scene in Singapore

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/state-meddling-government-funding-drawing-and-passion-singapores-new-illustration-scene/

It is always good to hear about the creative scene in Singapore advancing and gaining more exposure, especially getting support from the government. Reading an article on AIGA, the inaugural Illustration Arts Fest (IAF) marks a significant milestone in Singapore's creative scene. It highlights how far the creative scene has come in Singapore which during the mid-90s, festival director Michael Ng, recalls barely scraping together 15 names for a directory of Singapore-based illustrators, but today, Organisation of Illustrators Council (OIC) numbers some 100 illustrators. The governments new initiative to make Singapore a more global city that has created more art and design courses in Universities and to feature local artwork in all train stations. 

Even though illustration is not my discipline, this is promising and exciting news to hear about the art scene in general in Singapore. There is finally some recognition for the arts and culture that has always been overshadowed by finance, engineering and mathematics.

Visiting professional

Harrison Park of Studio DBD came to visit and shared some insight into his professional practice. 

The relationship between client and designer can be a strained one. Sometimes the client has a specific view on what the final outcome of the brief should be, which may go against the design treatment and rationale behind the original idea. Thats why as Harrison explained its always good to have multiple possibilities to the brief to fall back on.

A normal day in the studio isn't as creative as it seems. What slows it down are the hundreds of emails he receives everyday, dealing with clients, printers, etc and the process of after-branding, doing small design adjustments to projects already greenlighted by the client. This lead onto to his point of how design studios will often showcase the bigger more professional briefs in their portfolio but to keep them afloat, a lot of small briefs would have been done that they won't show you. 

Working for two studios, it was clear which one he enjoyed working for more. In Studio DBD, there's a more flexible atmosphere unlike the more corporate environment he works for during Mon to Wed. He explained that the briefs are more time focused and everything has to work to a certain schedule, which illustrates how that studio is money focused. This contrasts against his time at Studio DBD where the work he feels, is more creative and a friendlier atmosphere. 

Accepting the first job offer you receive after graduating may not be the best option. It is more beneficial to 'play the field' and to see which studio aligns with your design practice. Otherwise you'll be "doing it for the meal and not doing it for the reel" as Aaron Duffy explained at OFFSET. Being at a job that you align with will help develop your practice and passion for design. But sometimes if it means interning for a year, personal sacrifices have to be made.

Harrison explained that working freelance is a good stepping stone to starting a design studio. Even though working freelance isn't a personal aim, it will help build more personal relationships with clients, printers, etc. This will be useful once setting up the studio as the connections will help bring in work, and reduce the need to find resources. Working in the professional field as well, it is beneficial to produce your own work alongside the professional briefs. This will demonstrate your time management and creative outlet to potential employers.