History of GD Chapter 18 and 19

Chapter 18
The international typographic style emerged out of Switzerland and Germany creating a whole new style of design. This style mainly focused on mathematical grids and organization. The designs began changing from organic flowing posters to more developed, thought out designs. Designs were split into planes and grids to align type and imagery and type began coming alive on the pages. It is interesting to see how people used type throughout this time. They really began experimenting with type and the different trademarks they can create using aspects of type. They really began using type to aid to the picture instead of relying only on an image. When this new typographic style hit America, you can see that more color and abstractness was incorporated.

One artist that really stood out in this reading was Anton Stankowski. He used geometric shapes to create simple advertisements and posters. He really emphasized the simplicity throughout his work and is visible on page 359. Berlin really enjoyed his work and the way he incorporated rectangles and shapes to create visual stimulating designs. It is a huge achievement to be asked to design consistent street signs, architectural signage and publications in Berlin.

I am interested to know what the poster on page 366 (figure 18-31) was used for. It is a photo of a lady with her hands over her ears with text that says "less noise". It was used in the Swiss movement and I feel like this poster says a lot. I would just like to know what it is advertising.




Chapter 19

As modern design began taking over America, you can see how different the American style of design was compared to other countries. One artist in specific that I enjoyed reading about was Paul Rand. He created these posters and designs with great contrast by colors, texture, organic and geometric lines. His artwork was catching to the eye and his use of word play was different. This style of artwork really did a nice job of incorporating text with the design. Text was warped, stretched and made into imagery to give off a strong message. Magazines began expanding throughout America and new designs were created that focused on scale and imagery. The advertisements that was created in the 1960s used type and imagery together to send a clear message. One poster that stands out was from page 390 (figure 19-49) with the small car with small text that says "think small". They began using catchy slogans to grab your attention instead of just saying something like "Economy Car". Slogans really played an important roll in sending a message across and throughout the posters that were created, they succeeded.

I really enjoyed the posters that were created by George Lois. He designed many posters that had amazing imagery on it. On page 398 you can see how clear the imagery is and how simple his message is with it. If he used a simple image, he used even less text. He created a poster with just white text on a black background and worked only with typeface and placement to advertise medications. He did a really nice job using humor in his advertisements.

I am very surprised that the book cover on page 392 (figure 19-55) was created and liked. This style of text and layout dates back to the 19th Century. People in America were moving forward at this time and creating new designs with imagery and playful type and I feel this poster was outdated. So how did this poster make it throughout this time period? It is very interesting to see if grouped with other posters created with interesting typeface and imagery.