may 15

Being a title sequence creator, Kyle Cooper was part of creating clips for many famous movies like spiderman, braveheart and Tropic Thunder. One thing I noticed about his style is he creates interesting movement from scene to scene. He likes to focus on one thing, then create a camera movement that turns the object into something else. He creates clips that flow together as well as plays around with typography to capture a feeling and emotion. One title sequence clip that I really enjoy looking at is Spider-Man. His computer graphics are put together extremely well and the type plays off of that feeling.

Shepard Fairey is a unique designer who has created many memorial pieces that are still seen today. One of his most famous posters, being the Obama poster, is designed in red and blue and was used during his campaign during the election. His style is very unique in the way that he incorporates sunbursts, bold colors and fonts, art deco-like, and incorporates hidden messages. Throughout his posters, you can see how he uses extreme colors and contrasting colors. I find it interesting that he is being sued for plagiarism of an image he used in the Obama posters. This sets an example of how important it is that you do not steal images off the internet or from other people.

May 13

Stefan Sagmeister is a famous designer who was well-known for his ability to create designs using hand written elements. I find it very interesting how he approached new concepts of creating visually interesting pieces. He doesn’t work on computers and he creates all of his designs through hand generation and photographic images. I was inspired by the different ways he plays around with typeface and using different mediums to display the type.

Leo Burnett was an influential designer who created simplistic logos and designs that grabbed the attention of his audience. He designed the frosted flakes symbol as well as Pillsbury logo that are still used today and are well known throughout the world. I really enjoy his idea of apples and how he came so far in his business and continues to use an apple as a reminder of where he was. I enjoy looking at his website and the creative aspect that was designed through the technology.

I presented on Clement Mok

May 11

Tibor Kalman, being a social activist, created interesting pieces of design that incorporated his beliefs and views into his work. At his first design firm, he would incorporate things like women’s right and ‘going green’ to create designs for activists. He created magazine covers that feel very bold and heavy. Some of the images on the cover were daring images such as middle fingers and naked people. He even went as far as to recreate a black Queen Elizabeth and a black Arnold Schwarzenegger. His designs are very radical and he opened up people’s minds to new and different ideas.

David Carson is one artist I enjoy discovering more about. Carson doesn’t follow any of the typography rules when it comes to layouts. He enjoys creating unstructured designs that don’t follow grid rules and legibility systems. His idea is to create a visually compelling image through the use of typography. He wants to use the type in design as much as any other imagery. I really enjoy looking at his layouts because you really need to study them to understand what is going on. I am not sure if his creative ideas would be useful in magazine spreads that involve a great amount of text.

Matthew Carter was a type designer who mainly designed typefaces for digital use. One major achievement he completed was created a typeface that would be used for phone books. The font that was used, Bell Centennial, was created with what they call ink traps which were angled corners so that when you print quickly on newsprint, the ink would bleed into the areas and create a perfect letter form. It was an interesting technique that really worked when the ink would spread together when printed. He also created Verdana which is one typeface that is used for computer screens because of the legibility.

May 8

Neville Brody had an unusual style of design that was originally rejected by his peers. You can see his abstract use of imagery and text that gives him this ‘punk’ style of work. Throughout his designs, you can see that he doesn’t use a solid grid system throughout, reflecting that of constructivism. One design that I really enjoyed looking at was his cover for Fuse Magazine. He does a very good job at playing around with blurring images and text throughout many of his designs. His style is also unique because of the contrasting colors throughout.


Growing up with a tough childhood, Art Chantry became a very unique designer who used his past time to inspire him throughout his work. Some influences to his style include psychedelic, rock and roll, and French symbolism. One thing that I find interesting about him as an artist would be that he didn’t use a computer for some of his work. You can see a grunge feeling through his work as he plays a lot with the color black and illustrations.


Storm Thorgerson is a graphic designer, an artist, and a photographer. You can see through his work how he is successful in playing around with layers and photos. His work is creative and playful as he designs work that invites people to ask questions about. He is a renown album cover artist creating work for famous musicians. One thing that I like about his work is you can see the creativity behind each design. He plays with abnormality of placing photos in certain positions and does a good job at getting the viewers to look deeper into his designs for meaning.

Wednesday

The first designer we looked at was April Greiman. Born in 1948, she was raised to work hard in what she does. I really enjoy the way she works with typography. She played around with weight, space, size and angles to create visually stimulating designs. Her designs are very innovative with colors and creative imagery. One piece that I really like the architectural design on a building of a bowl of rice. It is interesting to look at since it takes studying to understand what the objects in the picture are.

Milton Glaser was a designer who really focused on simplicity and bold colors. Some of his work, including a Bob Dillon poster and the "I LOVE NY" logo are all examples of his simplistic nature. I think that his work really stands out because it is stuff that we still see today. The "I LOVE NY" logo is found anywhere and is applied to so many different types of medium (I even have a shirt). He is a very outstanding designer who brought back the whole idea of simplicity.

Seymour Chwast created illustrations that were inventive and interesting. They are very bold and filled with color and the geometric lines stood out. There were not that many examples of his work so it makes it hard to describe his graphic design pieces directly. The presenter did a good job of mimicking the designer and creating a first slide that stood out.

Thesis

Clement Mok, being a well-rounded graphic designer, is one of the most influential designers of the modern era who has accomplished more throughout his career than any other contemporary designer.

Psychedelic Posters pp 438-440

The "poster mania", or what we like to refer to as the psychedelic period, took off in the 1960s as many factors such as the civil rights movement, women's liberation movement, and protest against the Vietnam war came into play. These posters changed overtime from a commercial message to social viewpoints and began being hung in homes rather than outdoors in the public. As you can see in many of these posters, some characteristics include swirls and curvy lines, intense vibrant color, and imagery that was altered in some way, shape or form. The colors used together were often complimentary colors and rainbows began showing up throughout this time period. Legibility of the type on these posters were often hard to read.

One designer that stood out was Peter Max. Max created a series of posters using soft colors and famous imagery. After looking up other poster designs he had created online, he often uses the "rainbow" colors in his posters. He plays around with reds, oranges, and yellows in much of his work and imagery is simple.

One question I have is what caused this "movement" to die? How did people react to the first psychedelic posters that were created?