BLOG 7 GÖDEL, ESCHER, BACH

Before you take on reading this blog post, I am giving you fair warning! It is long and I am passionate about the subject because changed the way I look at the world. It gave me HOPE. I truly believed that I had no artistic ability at all. After reading this book, as a sophomore in college (oh so many years ago), I had a new understanding of the interconnectedness of art, math, science, literature and music. Was it possible that I did have some artistic talent somewhere deep inside my being?  Maybe I could harness some of the my mathematical skills and apply them to art? Read on...

Okay, I am a total math geek. I have always loved math and after working in civil engineering for a number of years, I decided to go back to school and work on a PhD. in Statistics. How does that relate to graphic design, you ask? Well, it really does more than you can imagine. As I said when I was a sophomore in college, I read a book that rocked my world. It was entitled Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter. In it, he 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 mathematical findings - are interconnected in our world, through art, pattern, music, and ideas. Again, the relationship of the drawings of Escher and the mathematical idea of tessellations (that I was studying) made me look for patterns all around me. I was totally oblivious to these beautiful patterns before reading this book and studying mathematics.

Knowledge is doubling at an astounding rate - nearly every 18 months now according to many experts. Since the book was written in 1979, many of the ideas in the book have been expanded to the nth degree - chaos theory, fractals, fuzzy set theory, 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.  The connection between that makes it possible for everyone to find artistic, mathematical, and musical ability within themselves no matter how deeply they believe it to be buried.

Okay, now onto the book cover... The title of the book is definitely the first thing that catches the eye. The cream colored, slightly rounded, all-cap letters on the black background are striking because of the high contrast. I looked for a typeface but I couldn't find anything like it.  Does anyone know of anything similar?   The author's name is written in the same typeface and color but has a thin black stroke.  The rest of the text is in Helvetica of varying weights and sizes. I love the wood block that is carved such that projections show the letters G, E, and B.  It is in the style of the engineering orthographic projection.  The color scheme is black, cream, and gold (which doesn't scan well). Very clever. Very clean.

Source: Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Basic Books, Inc., New York, NY 1979

BLOG 6 eye Magazine Cover

This is from the cover of the of eye magazine which launched in 1991 by Rick Poyner as a forum for graphic designers and typography.  This cover appeared in 1993 and was designed by Poyner himself.  I was really attracted to the overlapping of the outlined letters in primary colors on the black background.  It is interesting that if you really look you can find a bit of a letter - like the serif of a lower case, small point-size "p" in red and trace the letter through the jumble of "p's."  The composition also has a three-dimensional quality to it because of all of the overlapping within each of the letters and even across the letterforms.  Also adding to the three-dimensional quality is the white "t" that looks like it has been spun about its vertical axis.  Very cool effect.  I can't imagine how many typefaces are used to create this piece and I really can only indentify one - the large, white blocky "y".  I think it is something like hodge 06_65. 

The composition of the piece is very chaotic yet it is well balance  - the random swirl of letters are balances by the strong, bright-white eye (title) in the upper right-hand corner.  The typeface for the title is Helvetica.  The cover is also strangely unified by proximity and color.  The letters creating the word "type" are literally right on top of one another and overlapping one another.

I generally prefer a clean, simple design but somehow this caught my eye.  Sorry about the quality of the scan but this was a rather small picture in the center binding of a very large book!

Source: Feiedl, Friedrich, Ott, Nicolaus, Stein, Bernard, Typography:
           An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques
           Throughout History, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers,
           Inc., New York, NY.

BLOG 5 Metropolis

This is the poster for the famous German Expressionist film by Fritz Lang entitled Metropolis.  The poster was created by Heinz Schulz-Neudamm, Germany.  The landscape that Lang created amazed critics and since then the film has been seen as the forerunner to modern science fiction.  The female robot has been the model for many other robots including C-3PO.  The buildings in the film and the poster were inspired by New York City in the 1920's and reflect the Art Deco style of the city's skyscrapers.  

Anyway, Schulz-Neudamm created the poster as a lithograph and created the font specifically for the film.  It fits the angular, angst-ridden world created by Lang in the movie.  I went searching to see if anyone created a font similar to font used in this poster.  I found one on DaFont.com.  It was a free font so I downloaded it and started to play around with it.  It didn't have the qualities that I would have liked...  The tracking and kerning were way off and the letters weren't in the same proportions as the poster.  This what I came up with.  It's a free font but you can get the look of the poster although it requires a fair amount of manipulation.  I guess you get what you pay for!

Sources: King, Emily, A Century of Movie Posters From Silent to Art

             House, Octpus Publishing Group, Ltd. 2003

             www.dafont.com

BLOG 4 Anni Kuan

I found this advertisement for a clothing line so clever and unique.  I love the way the thread and pins create tension and the words are loosely written between a set of tightly held thread.  I was immediately attracted to the easy style of it.  As I said there are some areas an tension and density in the advertisement there is really no contrast at all - except for the designers name ANNI KURN which is all caps, bold, boxed and in a different font. More on the fonts later...  Almost all of the negative space is created by the back-and-forth motion of the thread lines which are similar in size, shape, and presence.  Almost all of the elements are the same distance from the edge.  Also, all of the elements are linear with only slight changes in weight and size.  The result is a very quiet casual, laid-back expression, that is unpretentious, comfortable, and utterly charming.

Now about the fonts:  The designer ANNE KUAN is in all caps and boxed.  After a lot of comparing and contrasting various fonts, I am fairly certain that the font used is Colossus.  The other text font is Helvetica Neue Lt. Std. The dates and information for the fashion show are directly beneath Anni's name flush right.  To completely unify the advertisement, the locations of her storefronts are pinned beneath her show info flush right.  These are also in Helvetica Nueu Lt. Std. and they connect with a thread to her name to fully unify the design. 

Source: Top Creativity Gallery, CMYK Magazine Volume 45, November 2009, Aroune-Freigen Publishing Company.

BLOG 3 Wicked

I found this in a book entitled, Typography Workbook [Samara].  The design was done be Cato Purnell Partners of Richmond, Australia. I love the combination of typefaces used and placed so skillfully to attract the viewer to the wicked moon - the scoop of ice cream. 

The ice cream is photographed from behind giving it the look and feel of the moon. 

I'm not sure I have ever seen the typeface before used for the title.  But I was immediately attracted to it.  It is an light-weight san-serif font.  The width of the letterforms seem varied and the designer has given the letters each their own character -most notably the crescent moon to dot the "I" on wicked.  This little detail links the word to the photography of the moon-shaped ice cream.  Also, extending the descender on the "K" past the baseline helps differentiate the logo by breaking the horizontal baseline thus making the work stand out further.  It appears the all of the text is embossed in gold. This brings thought of richness, opulence, decadence.  Under the product line, The flavor is set in a decorative script which greatly contrasts the title font.  It has sumptuous curves distinctly different from the main product labeling and further communicate the luxurious nature of the product. The dark character if the image and the unusual quality of the text give the overall feeling of uneasiness, sinfulness, self-indulgence.

Wow!  This must be some amazing ice cream!

Source:   Samara, Timothy, Typography Workbook, Rockport Publishers, Beverly, MA 2004

BLOG 2 Oscar Wilde

 Last semester, I took GDS 120 and part of the class was to have a blog were we posted "award-winning" graphic design.  We were tasked to go to the library and look up periodicals, magazines, and books to find these works of graphic design.  It was intriguing.  I loved looking up gems of graphic design.  Anyway, I found an article in a CMYK magazine about this book.  It was so interesting I had to order for myself.  The book is entitled Men of Letters & People of Substance by designer/illustrator Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. I thought it would be a fun blog post since we just did our portrait.  The entire book consists of text images of important historical and literary figures.  I found this book captivating and the art that de Cumptich makes with text and a bit of color unbelievable!

This particular piece is an image of Oscar Wilde using the typeface Avalon.  The image that de Cumtich created of Oscar Wilde really capture the facial features of the man himself.  Of course, I've only seen pictures of him.  But the moody, dark, melancholy of Wilde as well as his softness and humanity can be seen in the text image as easily as a photograph.

This book is really amazing.  Definitely take a look at it if you get a chance.  

Source: De Vicq De Cumptich, Roberto, Men of Letters and People of Substance, David Godine Publisher, Boston, Massachusetts, 2008.

BLOG 1 Giselle (1959)

This poster was composed by Armin Hoffmann of the Basel School in Switzerland.  The Basel and Zurich Schools were involved in the development of the International Style of Graphic Design and Typography (commonly called the Swiss Style).  I first learned of the Swiss Style when I took Graphic Design History in Fall 2010.  I just fell in love with the style: the clean lines; lack of clutter; simple geometric shapes; use of photography; the "to the point" message.  This poster has always been one of my favorites.  My daughter is a dancer and it reminds me of how graceful, strong, athletic she looks when she does the perfect turn.  The poster is very subtle and soft in nature even though it is in such a stark color scheme - black and white.  It is a beautiful representation of dance.

This poster is an advertisement for the ballet Giselle.  As I said, the Swiss Style just gives the facts.  For example the location of the title. Giselle (probably Helvetica) is vertical, quite large, has very tight kerning, and is place on the very left and bottom margins of the page.  It is the first thing that one sees upon looking at the piece.  The location and dates are also in Helvetica in a tight block at the top left-hand corner of the page.  The block is flush-left.  The gorgeous picture of a ballerina caught in a turn: the movement of the dress can be seen clearly.  But the ballerina is treated much differently than one would expect.  It is in black & white and cast in shadow. Overall, this gives a beautiful, other-worldly effect for the poster.

Source:  Meggs, Philip B. and Purvis Alston W., Meggs' History of Graphic Design 4th Ed., Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2006.