Chapter 20-21

The mid 1900s were a time when logos were created that were used for companies as well as universal signage. One of the biggest logos that were created, CBS, was designed by William Golden. Golden really emphasized the fact that design is a verb in the sense that we create designs to communicate to someone else. I think he did a good job at summing up what a graphic designer does. One other important designer was Rand, who created the IBM logo. After learning the long process of what it takes to design a simple logo, you realize how much thought goes into it, even if the outcome is a very simplistic logo. You can see by looking at the ABC, neXT and IP logo, they are very simplistic in nature, but took a lot of thought to get to that step. When it comes to the universal signage created by AIGA, they did a good job at keeping everything simplistic and easy to understand. Logos for the Olympics succeeded in the fact that the audience is able to look at any of those pictures with a person in it and be able to figure out what sport they are doing.

One observation I had during this reading is the fact that the thought process of a logo takes a lot of time. If you look on page 415 at the first aid symbols that were created, you can see how complex some of them were. The creator of these symbols created 20 samples and some of them were too complex. It took a lot of thought, time and energy to be able to create such a simple logo.

I feel as though as things got simpler, the LA Olympics went against everything and made things more complex. They stayed with these basic shapes of triangles and squares that were used on their posters, but the design guide that was created looks very complex. The image that is in the Olympic poster on page 420 is also complex. I am just curious to see why the author of this book would include this in this chapter dealing with logos and simplicity, when in reality, it isn't.


Chapter 21
The Polish posters were brought back to life by a few designers such as Trepkowski and Tomaszewski close to the mid 1900s. Bright colors, shapes and different collage approaches were brought into their pieces. Some of these posters showed symbolism and abstractness of humans and other elements. During the same time period, one Push Pin Graphic began an important tool to developing major artists. These artists used a set of visual techniques and imagery, an open mind, and the ability to integrate words and images to create their designs. Another poster being created at the time was the third-world posters. These posters worked to push their audience to one side of a political party and/or create designs to give to people who feel strongly about international issues.

One observation is that Polish designers created a lot of different abstract forms of art. Looking through the posters and designs in the book, I realized how much they focus on facial features and using abstractness to change a lot of it. Their designs are unique in the fact that they were created to look scary and intense. There are multiply pieces that display human heads but using symbolism to change the appearance.

How many of these designs were computer generated? I know they began to enter the time period where computers were invented and motion graphics were available. When did people begin switching over to computer generated designs?