Woody Pirtle - Milton Glaser

This is a poster by the artist Woody Pirtle (one of my favorite graphic designers). I was attracted for two reasons, as I said, Woody Pirtle is one of my favorite designers and I have fond childhood memories of the original poster.  The poster is entitled After Dylan and was done for the Dallas Society of Visual Communication announcing a lecture by Milton Glaser on the subject of plagiarism.  This poster is a "copy" of Glaser's famous poster from Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Album 1967.   Glaser designed the poster with Dylan's face in black silhouette, the famous rainbow swirled psychedelic hair, and the iconic Glaser font (Baby Teeth) at the base of the poster.  I grew up in the '60s and had older siblings in high school and college during the flower child era.  We had the Bob Dylan poster and album in the bedroom I shared with my sisters from the time I was seven until I was about ten when my sister who owned them went off to college.  Sigh...  I think the poster was pretty trashed ever before she took it to college.

For After Dylan, Pirtle used Glaser's aging silhouette  -  glasses, receding hairline, and all to illustrate the concept of plagiarism.  The audience for the piece would be people attending the interested in attending the lecture by Milton Glaser, the Dallas Society of Visual Communication and its followers, Milton Glaser fans, Woody Pirtle fans, and lovers of great graphic design.

The design style is psychedelic - Milton Glaser is one of the most famous designer of this underground graphic design style, along with Peter Max, Seymour Chwast, and Victor Moscoso.  This poster is typical of Glaser's style - telling a story using simple but strong illustrations. The design uses many of the principles that we discussed in class - unity, emphasis, visual rhythm, and balance.  Unity is created through the use of repetition of shape and color in the hair, the strength of the black silhouette, and the closure created by the edges of the poster and the silhouette.  Emphasis is created through by the black/white silhouette and the rainbow hair.  The thin, white glasses also stand out on the black.  A flowing visual rhythm is created by the hair - very smooth yet the colors are very vibrant.  The poster is highly balance through color in the silhouette, hair color, and placement & color of the title.  The typography is Glaser's own representational font he entitled Baby Teeth.  The rounded letters are almost circular - like the G but also angular with a wedge cut to create the center.  The E is created by a series of stair-steps.  Very interesting - a little bit Art Deco-ish. 

Check out Pirtle's website.  I love his sense of humor, application of his art to social causes, ability to engage his audience, and the broad scope of his work.  Amazing artist.

Source: http://www.pirtledesign.com/

fourty eight posters josef muller-brockman

This is the program guide for an exhibition of 48 posters by pioneer in the Swiss style of graphic design Josef Müller-Brockmann.  The audience for the work would likely be people who attended the installation and purchased the program.  And who wouldn't given the opportunity?!?  The showing opened May 27, 2004 which was after his death and I don't know who designed the cover of the program but it is definitely done in the Swiss style with a modern twist.  Some typical features of the Swiss style used in this piece include: asymmetric design;  mathematically constructed grid; use of tilted axes; visual & verbal information presented clearly; san serif typography flush left  leaving a ragged right margin; after Helvetica was designed  the Swiss used it almost exclusively; often use only lower case font; use of geometric shapes; repetition of shapes to create unity.

The modern twist?  It appears that the circles are actually cut out of the program.  I wish I could see the treatment of the inside.  The website (http://www.imagenow.ie/work/expression/fortyeight-posters-josef-mullerbrockmann.php) shows four of the inside pages but I want more.  And, oh, how I wish I could have seen this exhibit!

This is a highly unified and well-balanced piece.  Unity is created through the use of repetition of the colors of typeface (no doubt helvetica), the typeface itself, the three column grid, and the circular shapes. Emphasis is created in the title by size of the text and change in color of words Josef Müller-Brockmann, and the ever increasing circular pattern from the bottom right to upper left. The photography of the work is well done also with the lighting from the left illuminating the text and the reflection of on the surface of the table.

I love the colors used in the piece the burgundy, white, and light blue/gray engraved into the cover make a beautiful statement - soft, warm, peaceful.  My initial attraction to the composition was the idea of the cut-out circular pattern in the thick cardstock (cardboard?).   I also love the rhythm of the piece created by the circles - the off-center feel of the piece,  As I said earlier I love the Swiss Style and I feel that this is an excellent tribute to Müller-Brockmann. 

Subway Posters Score - Constructing Meaning

This chapter in the text was entitled Constructing Meaning and it included sections on Modernism and Postmodernism.  While taking Graphic Design History last fall, I discovered that I love the American Modernist Movement.  So, why not?

This is a poster designed by Paul Rand, an iconic American graphic designer in the modern style.  I found this poster on the MoMA website www.moma.com.  He has an amazing body of work from posters to corporate branding to packaging to books.  His website is www.paul-rand.com. This particular piece was commissioned in 1947 to advertise the NY subway system.  It attracted me because of the use of simple shapes, bright colors, asymmetric balance, and its overall happy effect.  Since the composition was designed in 1947 to advertise the NY subway system, I would guess it was designed to appeal to a broad audience to entice them to use the subway.

The artwork in this poster is made from overlapping circular and rectangular brush strokes in primary red, blue, and yellow, with green of a similar value (brightness) and black (smile and nose).  The shapes create a stick figure of a human.  The angled text is serif, all lower case in black.  The axis of the poster is tilted from lower left to upper right.  The logo is placed beneath the text 24 hours a day they never miss.   This piece is unified and balanced by color, shape, texture, and repetition.  The angles, colors, and sizes of the text boxes, and head also provide balance. 

The style of the piece is typical of Paul Rand who was the pioneer of the New York School.  His style was unique and distinctive portraying humor and straightforwardness.  He made use of many of the modernist techniques such as collage, tilted axes, typesetting, print setting, and other techniques that changed the look of graphic design.  He strongly believed that the audience should be an active participant in advertising - not just a passive onlooker - that the audience should make an intellectual connection between the artwork and the ideas being presented.  Intelligence should be awakened; the audience should invest, think. 

To quote Rand, "To design is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps to amuse.  To design is to transform prose into poetry."

The Red Shoes - Color

This is the cover art for Kate Bush's seventh CD which was released in 1993.  In addition to the CD, she created a short film entitled The Line, The Cross, and The Curve.  The film was inspired by the 1948 full-length film of the same title. Both Kate Bush's and the 1948 film were based on a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale (same title).  The fairy tale is about a dancer who is possessed by her art and then her red shoes take on their own life.  The shoes will not allow her to stop dancing.  Eventually, it drives her insane.  The CD had an amazing variety of high-profile cameos - Prince, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Gary Brooker (Procol Harum) to name a few.  The title track The Red Shoes tells the story of desire, obsession, and mania. 

I have always been a Kate Bush fan - even though some of her music is odd - so, I purchased this CD as soon as it was released.  I immediately loved the artwork, storytelling, and the music.  The photo of the red shoes is really appealing to me: the shape of the foot, the strength, the satiny, red shoes.   Recently, my daughter and I were listening to my iPod in the car and The Red Shoes shuffled on.  She liked the music and especially the artwork.  To her, the artwork represented a dancer's commitment.  Worn shoes, big holes, and runs in tights are a "badge of honor" at the studio - it means you've worked hard and have been dancing a long time.  After listening to the song, she understood the real idea behind the picture.  Obsession.  Desire.  Insanity.  Many dancers feel these emotions especially when trying to make it professionally. Obsession with body weight.  Obsession with practice.  Obsession with auditions.  Obsession with performance.

I think the artwork is appealing to all audiences.  It is well-unified, balanced, and has a strong focal point.  The circular picture focuses on the shoes.  The shoes are surrounded by a yellow, highly-shadowed, nondescript background - maybe a drop cloth of some kind.   The background color makes the red, satin shoes stand out even more.  The circular picture is enclosed in a black square.  I feel like I am looking through a telescope - focusing solely on the shoes - nothing else to distract.  The white text is a funky (hand-drawn?), all upper-case typeface which curves to the picture at the top and bottom of the photo. This adds to the balance and unity.   

Color...  Red is an emotional, high energy color.  It has been known to increase heart rate, pulse, and respiration rate.  Red is the color of fire and blood.  It is associated with danger, power, determination, passion, desire, and love.  The red shoes in this artwork represent all of these emotional responses: the blood, sweat, and determination that go into dancing; the fiery, passionate emotions that possess dancer; the desire for fame; and finally, the power and danger of the obsession.  The Red Shoes - initially an object of desire - turned into obsession - and eventually into demise.

Jimi Hendrix - Color

This is a poster of Jimi Hendrix that was created by Waldemar Swierzy in 1974.  Swierzy was initially a fine artist and approached graphic design from the point of view of a painter.  He often incorporated crayon, chalk, acrylics, and watercolor into his design.   This is one of his many (and possibly most famous) works.  I initially saw an image of this poster in Megg's History of Graphic Design by Philip Meggs and Alston Purvis.  This image is taken from http://www.polishposter.com/.   The image is still sold today through numerous websites to Hendrix fans and art lovers alike.  The price for a 26.5" x 38" poster is around $400 and is waitlisted on many sites.

I was initially attracted to the representation of Hendix because of the dynamic - almost electric - feel of the poster.  It is animated with nervous, vivid, bright lines which vibrate around his hair and clothing. This represents his cutting-edge music.  Jimi Hendrix's work was raw, harsh, but always soulful with a strong blues influence.  The emotional eyes of the artist are so expressive and sad - blues personified.  Swierzy created outlined shapes in the hair and clothing. Then he filled them with flat and graduated values of color - he used different brightness values of purple (and a bit of green) for the fill and gradation.  He shaded the face, eyes, and background using various value (brightness) of the purple hue.  This is basically a monochromatic purple color scheme (with a touch of green in the clothing).  Although the we image may not reflect it, the background is a purple-gray color. The purple/green colors are warm and the electricity created from the bright lines create a dynamic contrast.

The piece reflects the design principles of unity, emphasis, balance, and rhythm.  The monochromatic color scheme, repetition of the lines and grouping promote unity and balance.  As stated in the text, the human face draws our attention thus creating emphasis.  There is a rhythm to the piece - the soft flowing lines create a smooth, legato feel while the brightness of some of the lines creates accent and energy.

The Economist - Problem Solving/Seeking

Problem Seeking/Solving

I found this photo on the London International Awards LIA website (http://www.liaawards.com).  The LIA awards were established to honor creativity and new ideas in advertising, design, and digital media.  It was established in 1986 in London and quickly grew to a global award.  This was one of the finalist in the billboard category in 2005. 

This billboard is an advertisement for The Economist,  a weekly news magazine which is published in London.  The audience for billboard is prospective readers/subscribers to The Economist.  The typography is a serif style font characteristic of a newspaper or weekly (perhaps Times Roman?).  It is placed in the lower left-hand corner in white  The background color is red which immediately catches the eye.  The 3D light bulb is initially off until someone walks under it and then it lights up.  The implementation and cleverness of the advertisement initially attracted me to the piece.  I really like the idea but what happens if no one is passing beneath the bulb OR if a large crowd is walking past and the text is covered?  I guess it would still attract attention because of the color and 3D bulb.

How does this relate to the topic of the week?  Problem solving/seeking.  A glowing light bulb, above a head, is an iconic image representing creative thinking and problem solving.  The advertisement is counting on the public connecting the bright idea with The Economist magazine.  Read The Economist and be well-informed, be filled with good ideas, be brilliant...  As mentioned in the text, ideas come from many places - some of the strategies idea generation include:

·         Transforming a common object,

·         Studying nature,

·         Observation,

·         Brainstorming,

·         Making connections between ideas

·         Journaling,

·         Collaborative brainstorming,

·         Sketching, and

·         Model making.

I would guess that all of these strategies went into creating this solution (maybe not studying nature).  The thought of creating a connection between a common object (light bulb) or idea (light bulb over a head = great idea) and the magazine is most obvious to me - the notion of  creating a relationship between the light bulb, being brilliant, and reading The Economist. 

Through the Eyes of a Child - Cultivating Creativity

I found this picture on a website about talented and gifted children called http://www.exquisite-minds.com/.  It is a source of information for parents of gifted children.  The website presents resources, a forum, and offers products for sale (games, books, and movies) to enhance the world of the gifted child.  I was attracted to this photo for two simple reasons.  I like close-up photography and I am a math geek.  Upon closer inspection, I was attracted to the green eye, the linear pattern shown as a reflection in the glasses, and the rectilinear shadow cast across the eye.  I think this is a well-composed piece.  It has a strong focal point - the green eye of a child.  It is well unified in that it uses grouping, proximity, & repetition (the math formulae) and containment (glasses frames).  I like the continuity created by the math formulae flowing seamlessly through the glasses and the tilt of the face (eyes).

In my opinion, this represents the opening of a young mind - the attentiveness, the focus, the shadow being lifted to reveal more about the world that surrounds us.  So, what does this have to do with cultivating creativity?  According to the text, there are seven characteristics of creative thinking:

·         Receptivity - openness to new ideas and experiences;

·         Curiosity - eagerness to understand the world around us;

·         Wide range of interests - art, math, science, literature, music, language, culture,...

·         Attentiveness - realization that every experience is valuable;

·         Connection Seeking - finding similarities in seemingly different disciplines;

·         Conviction - passionately and openly looking for knowledge; and

·         Complexity - ability to combine the rational with the intuitive.

In a child, all of these can be fostered and developed without any of the preconceived notions of adulthood. Who better represents each of these characteristics than a child?  To quote Picasso, "All children are artists.  The problem is how to remain artists once we grow up."  I think this applies to every field of study.  Many people believe math and science are not creative - nothing could be further from the truth. While it is true the 2+2 will always equal 4, real math is so much more!  Creativity is essential.   I have so often heard the questions "When am I going to use algebra in my life?" or "I am not going to be a scientist, so why do I have to study chemistry?" or " Why do I have to read Shakespeare?  It doesn't have anything to do with my life now."  When did we lose our childlike need to learn for the sake seeking knowledge?  For unearthing connections between the past and present?  For inspiration?

When I was an undergrad, studying math and engineering, I read a book that opened my world.  It was entitled "Gödel, Escher, Bach The Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas R. Hofstadter(1979).  It discussed the connection between math, art and music - specifically the mathematician Kurt Gödel, artist M.C Escher, and musician J.S. Bach.  It also tied in literary and historical findings. It borrows from author Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland) in that each chapter has a dialogue between historic characters like Achilles and the Tortoise.  This book made me see how everything - even the most obscure scientific findings - are interconnected in our world, through pattern and music and ideas.  Knowledge is doubling at an astounding rate - nearly every 18 months now according to many experts.  Since the book was written, many of the ideas in the book have been expanded to the n^th degree - chaos theory, fractals, number theory - yet the connection remains unending - the connection between math, art, literature, and music. To me, this represents the connection between creativity and the quest for knowledge.

Which brings me back to the photograph and the topic...  Retaining a child's sense of receptivity to knowledge is so important to each one of us on a daily basis.  Our creativity can be sparked in so many ways that we can never predict.  This photo represents all of the possibilities, all of the focus, all of the complexity, curiosity, and conviction that is required to ignite creativity - though the eyes of a child.