Tuesday, 24 April 2018

OUGD401 - Project Statement

OUGD401 - Project Statement 

The research and understanding of the effect of the internet and digital medias on editorial design gained in both essays has most definitely allowed for a more informed and thought out project when it came to designing the 2 NME issues. Firstly, the first essay, which summarises a brief history of editorial design, gave context to the design process and where different influences came from and the most important source for this was Joihn Cliffords - Graphic Icons: Visionaries Who Shaped Modern Graphic Design. For example looking at the work of editorial designers from the 20th century such as Herbert Matter or Alexey Brodovitch who contributed massively to editorial design; whether its Matter’s integration of large scale bold photography, or Brodovitch’s avant-garde use of body text, it’s one thing to use these elements in a design, but its another to know who conceived these design ideas and to use them as inspiration to carry out these ideas more effectively. In a more contemporary context, this couldn’t be more true when looking at the work of David Carson as well; although inspiration can be taken from his grunge type or irrational distorted layouts, it’s more so how he broke the rules which is so admirable, however effectively it was carried out. As a result of this, when to came to designing and laying out the NME magazines, Carson inspired a certain level of design instinct and freedom, striving towards a design that looked good despite possibly breaking conventions. 


The second essay provided a context to modern day magazine design and publishing, and some of Carson’s notions were carried across to here as well. Researching interviews with him in where he talks about his music magazine Raygun imparted a lot of wisdom about expressing the feel, mood and/or style of an interview purely from its aesthetic. In his interview with Medium (2016), he expressed how he wants readers to be able to gauge this purely from opening the magazine and looking at the spread for a few seconds. This is an important principle, which, if referring back to the first essay, can be seen early in the 20th century such as El Lizzitsky’s work on Mayakovsky’s Dlya Golosa. However in a contemporary setting, this principle directly related to the NME redesign because the 2 magazines needed 2 distinct styles to appeal to 2 different readerships. Another valuable source of research was Dazed Art Director Jamie Reid’s Interview with It’s Nice That about his new approach with Dazed Magazine. He talked about increasing the value of the magazine effectively, making it a separate entity than the digital platform by adding in more fun depth interviews and exclusive contents. With the use of appropriate paper stock and bold design, he aimed to make the magazines a covetable collectable object and not simply a source of information - This was invaluable when designing and producing the 2 NME magazines.

OUGD401 - What impact has the internet and digital media had on editorial design and publications?

OUGD401 - What impact has the internet and digital media had on editorial design and publications?

For as long as the internet and digital media have been integrated into design, it has been a subject of controversy. Of course one of the main areas of Graphic Design this effects is editorial design and publications; with the introduction of digital reading platforms, the sales of newspapers, magazines and physical publications have been decreasing over the years, and are projected to continue doing so. The question is not only whether digital media will completely replace physical publications, its whether it should. 

Clifford (2014) gives a good overview of this integration; he summarises 2 fundamental things that the internet and digital media gave design, the first of them being digital software as a medium - ‘While some saw the computer as simply another tool for creating work, like a drawing pen, others saw it’s potential as a medium itself’. It goes without saying that digital platforms and design software provided infinite new possibilities in graphic design; from the tools available to edit and layer images to the range of typefaces available to designers - ‘Emerging digital technology also changed typography, exploding the number of typefaces available and giving designers the tools to create and distribute their own fonts’ - and with postmodernism having succeeded modernism in the 20th century and almost every avenue explored, it’s entirely possible that without this new technology, the evolution of design would have been stunted. 

The other thing that Clifford (2014) states the introduction of the internet gave design is communication and ‘social, political and cultural’ awareness - ‘Finally the computer offered something brand new: interactivity’. The internet is undoubtedly the largest tool for communication ever created, and what is graphic design without communication? Suddenly designers had the world at their finger tips and could not to only use it to enhance the range of clients and projects they could take on, but to learn - ‘Design education programs expanded and became more rigorous’. Graphic Design from all over the world could be accessed and utilised to learn from and inform ones own practise. For editorial design, this meant the most influential collaboration of design practises since European designers such as Alexey Brodovitch and Ladislav Sutnar came to America subject to the Nazi regime in the Second World War - ‘Designers and artists needed to either conform to Hitler’s policies or move elsewhere. Many came to the United States, bringing their European modern sensibilities with them’ - Clifford (2014).

In many ways, it is still the case that new technology constantly expands the possibilities of graphic design, in regards to digital platforms competing against physical publications, editorial designers and publishers can either use this as an opportunity to develop their publications even further, alongside a digital platform, or go entirely digital. In the case of the former, this can be done with great success, as Jamie Reid, who was appointed Art Director of Dazed Magazine for this very reason in 2015, told It’s Nice That (2015) -  'Because Dazed has such a strong digital platform the structure of the mag had to change... You have to be clever now with print, and make sure what you’re producing is worth producing’. The reason this complete redesign of Dazed worked so effectively in boosting the popularity of the publication was because it aimed to deliver something not on the digital platforms - ‘With the new team naturally came a new editorial direction, which focused on using the printed version of Dazed as a very separate entity to its digital counterpart’. Alternatively sometimes magazines can fail to compete with digital platforms; in 2015, after a big decline in sales, NME decided to relaunch their magazine as a free weekly publication - ‘The 62-year-old magazine … had an average weekly print sale of just 18,184 in the second half of 2013. One industry source described the figures as a death knell’ - Plunkett (2014) wrote in The Guardian. While this free publication was met with success at first, in March 2018, NME announced they would retire their magazine and focus on their digital platform as O’Connor (2018) reported in the Independent - ‘Unfortunately we have now reached a point where the free weekly magazine is no longer financially viable. It is the digital space where effort and investment will focus to secure a strong future for this famous brand’.

When it comes to physical publications, Dazed’s success was in creating not just a magazine, but a covetable and collectable object. A large factor in this is often the paper stock; the reason so many people will never fully make the change to reading digitally is the experience of holding a publication in your hand. This has been commented on by many designers. In the very same It’s Nice That interview with Jamie Reid, Gosling (2015) commented on Dazed’s new approach to paper stock -‘For a start, it uses a shift in paper stock to represent a shift in content: the fashion pages are glossy, while the more editorially-led are in matte’. Renowned designer David Carson echoed these sentiments in 2016 during an interview with Medium (2016) - ‘No, I agree, when I get a new magazine the first thing I would do, just an unconscious ritual really, the first thing I would do is the weight, does it feel like a thick issue or a thin, did that cardboard insert help, and number two would be the smell, and then you start looking at it, how does the paper feel?’. While both these statements hold a lot of validity, one must consider the environmental impacts of the quantity of paper used in publishing, In an article about the sustainability of printed magazines, Siegle (2009) wrote for The Observer - ‘less than half the paper consumed in the world is recycled after disposal, and in the UK 5m tonnes of paper goes to landfill every year’. Ultimately, digital magazines or ‘e-zines’ are not only a much more sustainable option as they use no paper, but a more economical one too, as they cost nothing to produce. When facing facts like these, a greater shift towards digital publishing sounds like a good idea. 

There is no denying that the internet and digital media has allowed editorial design to grow to new levels. This is true for both digital and physical platforms; physical magazines display more sophisticated and refined design than ever, subject to the constantly improving software which facilitates designers to do so with ease and the interactivity and awareness of graphic design that has been promoted and influenced on the internet. Digital magazines provide an easy, cost effective and sustainable way of sharing information and design, with the added technological benefits of using a digital platform. Graphic Design is constantly evolving, and it’s impossible to predict the next technology which will forever change it. In his seminal publication Counterblast (1954), media theorist and philosopher Marshall McLuhan supposedly predicted the internet in the 50’s with the theories he put forward. He wrote - ‘It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the picture within the frame.’ - effectively, with each technological breakthrough in graphic design, it is not only what is produced that is new, but how it is done and how it is considered. This is the natural evolution of graphic design; awaiting the next breakthrough which will change how we do it, and the internet and digital media have been a rung on that ever ascending ladder. 


Bibliography

Clifford, J (2014). Graphic Icons: Visionaries Who Shaped Modern Graphic Design. United States: Peachpit Press. p.184 - 185, 68 -69.

Gosling, E. (2015). “Everything has changed”: new Dazed art director Jamie Reid talks us through the mag’s redesign. Available: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/dazed-magazine-redesign-jamie-reid. Last accessed 5th December 2017.
Plunkett, J. (13 Feb 2014). NME Sales Falling of the Charts. The Guardian.

O'Connor, R. (7 Mar 2018). NME to close print edition magazine and expand digital platforms. The Independent.

Banks, A. (2016). An Interview with David Carson. Available: https://medium.com/@adambanksdotcom/an-interview-with-david-carson-b4daa3df624c. Last accessed 23rd April 2018.

Siegle, L. (20 Sep 2009). How sustainable are printed magazines?. The Observer


McLuhan, M (1970). Counterblast. London: Rapp & Whiting Ltd..

OUGD401 - Editorial Design: A Brief History

OUGD401 - Editorial Design: A Brief History
While the earliest examples of graphic design can be traced all the way back to medieval illuminated manuscripts, one of the most significant events of graphic design was in 1450, when Johannes Gutenberg introduced the moveable type printing press to the world. Cramsie (2010) highlights how although Gutenberg did not invent printing nor moveable type, by employing the use of previously unrelated technologies, he refined printing type as a system and this increase in efficiency proved historic in the development of visual communication - 'With Gutenberg's inaugural pull of the press, newly printed texts cut right across this literacy hierarchy. The quantity and variety of newly printed material soon allowed readers to choose their own reading matter and then interpret it as they wished.'
Over time these technologies were refined and as graphic design developed as a profession, it was only until the late 19th century and the start of the 20th century that the next notable breakthroughs can be seen in editorial design. With the rise of industrialism, the requirement for mass communication was provoked and the most efficient response to this was poster design, as Clifford (2014) writes. Designers, artists, architects and creatives alike started visually pushing the boundaries of the pre-existing social and academic normalities seen in publication design. The arts and crafts movement and art nouveau prompted more expressive art and design movements such as da-daism and futurism while more minimal and geometric movements such as constructivism and de stijl would influence design that would later be known as early modernism.
An example of this is Russian designer El Lissitzky's 'masterpiece of modern typography' - Mayakovsky's 'Dlya Golosa' in 1923 - which responds to these movements by utilizing asymmetry, simple geometric shapes, negative space and a limited colour palette. This seminal publication by the two Russian creatives exemplified the idea that the visual expression of the poetry should appropriately represent but also enhance the reading experience, a sentiment shared by Meggs (2016) - ‘The title spread for each poem is constructed into a dynamic visual composition, with geometric elements having symbolic meaning.’  
Modernist movements, such as De-Stijl and Swiss Design started to flourish and while WWll saw the closure of the Bauhaus and the immigration of many European designers, by the 50’s modernism was bigger than ever, as Clifford (2014) writes - ‘In Europe during the 1950’s, the international typographic style, or Swiss style, advanced the philosophies of the Bauhaus and the De Stijl movement. This rational approach, based on a mathematical grid to structure layouts, was so clean and simple it took modernism to a new minimal level. The style became more common as corporations began adopting it.’
Swiss design saw designers such as Herbert Matter influence editorial design greatly, most notably with a more experimental application of photography. Matter combined photomontage, typography and photography to create dynamic and stylish posters and magazine spreads. Examples of this can be seen in his work for the Swiss Tourist Board. However American designers had adopted modernism with great success too. Bradbury Thompson pushed the boundaries of typography and layout; In his art, design and architecture publication - 'Westvaco Inspirations' - Thompson utilizes typographical letterforms as a key component in layouts, printing bold sans serif letterforms in vibrant 'CMYK' colours. Alexey Brodovitch also had a big impact on editorial design in this period of modernism; Brodovitch was a Russian émigré who moved to New York in 1930 and soon become the art director of Harper’s Bazaar - ‘Before Brodovitch became art director at Harper’s Bazaar, Most American magazines were crowded and fussy. Text and images were usually kept separate, and models were often posed like stiff mannequins. Brodovitch changed all that. He added white space to give the images and text some breathing room. He combined type and pictures seamlessly. And, he ushered in a more elegant, sophisticated and dynamic look in fashion photography’ - Clifford (2014) 
In the 60’s - 70’s, as with any creative trend, when a younger generation of designers came about they responded to the current modernist approach to design by subverting its rules, and the era of postmodernism was ushered in.  ‘Helvetica’ a documentary directed by Gary Hustwit in 2007 examines not only the Helvetica typeface and its use through the 20th century but also gives key insights into the design trends off the 20th century through interviews with some off the biggest designers of certain decades. Massimo Vignelli, a true modernism purist describes postmodernism as a ‘disease’ and states - ‘I don't think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word 'dog' with any typeface and it doesn't have to look like a dog. But there are people that think that when they write 'dog' it should bark.’. Alternatively, postmodernist designer Paula Scher says - ‘I realised that type had spirit and could convey mood’ and Stephen Sagmeister further backs postmodernism’s corner by stating - ‘I myself got fairly disappointed with modernism in general, its simply became boring’. 
Designers such as Milton Glaser, who founded the New York Magazine in 1968, spearheaded this new expressive and rule breaking approach which provoked editorial design unlike anything that had been seen before. Clifford (2014) effectively sums up Glaser’s approach - ‘Glaser had nothing against modernism; he just felt it has run its course for innovation and expression. Instead he embraced historical styles, ornaments and complexity’. As handmade and printing approaches were substituted for new technologies like rub-down type and photomechanical transfer, design became more free and experimental, a notion reflected in the conceptual approach to editorial design also. George Lois who worked in advertising at the time, was hired by Esquire magazine in 1962 to design covers as compelling as the content of the magazines. His bold controversial covers depicted subjects including the Vietnam War, one of which simply showed a quote from a US soldier - ‘Oh my God - we hit a little girl’ - in large type. By employing the use of his advertising savvy, Lois emphasised the importance of controversy and shock tactics as a way of selling magazines.
In the mid 1980’s, digital software become more advanced than ever and practical handicraft processes were substituted for graphics programs from companies like Apple and Adobe. This opened up an enormous range of possibilities for design and editorial design in relation to layout, typefaces and layering images. A lot of graphic designers experimented thoroughly with this new technology but the most noteworthy of them was David Carson. Directing publications such as 'Raygun' and 'Surfer', Carson created his signature 'grunge' design style; using typography and imagery in random and unpredictable layouts, bordering on abstraction, he created dynamic and incredibly expressive magazines and publications. While the illegibility and chaos of this style was questioned at first, it soon became incredibly sought after and admired, making Carson one of the biggest designers in the world, as he touches upon in his interview with Layers Magazine (2007) - 'It was a bit funny, maybe, that at Ray Gun some of the writers complained early that their articles were hard to read. But then by the 30th issue, the same writers would complain if they thought their articles were too easy to read!'
A number of authors have considered the transition of editorial design between printed and digital media. Foges, (1999), Randle, (2001) and Franchi & Rocca, (2016) have all commented upon the fact that editorial design is becoming increasingly more digital, however that doesn't make the production of printed media obsolete. For example; Foges imparts his opinion on this digital transition by saying - 'While it is true that the web is a unique medium, presenting problems that cannot be tackled in the same way as either print magazines or television, it is also demonstrably true that many of the lessons learnt in design for print, can, and should, make the transition to the digital interface'. Foges presents an insightful view on the topic here where he acknowledges the benefits of digital based media and fully accepts its increasing importance, however also states that everything up until that point in editorial design shouldn't be disregarded, more so applied to this new format. This is an important principle, because although the information is being presented on a screen and not paper, the same rules of design still apply.

Bibliography
Cramsie, P (2010). The Story of Graphic Design. London: The British Library. p70-77.
Meggs, Philip B.. (2016). Graphic Design. Available: https://www.britannica.com/art/graphic-design. Last accessed 4th December 2017
Tafoya, R. (2012). Graphic Design History: Psychedelic 60's. Available: https://visualartsdepartment.wordpress.com/psychedelic-60s/. Last accessed 5th December 2017.
Westgate, A. (2007). An Interview with David Carson. Available: https://layersmagazine.com/an-interview-with-david-carson.html. Last accessed 5th December 2017.
Randle, Q. (2001). A Historical Overview of the Effects of New Mass Media Introductions on Magazine Publishing in the 20th Century. First Monday. 6
Foges, C (1999). Magazine Design. Sussex: Rotovision.
Franchi, F & Rocca, C (2016). Intelligent Lifestyle Magazine: smart editorial design, ideas and journalism. Berlin: Gestalten.
HUSTWIT, G., SIEGEL, S., & GEISSBUHLER, L. (2007). Helvetica: a documentary film. [Place of publication not identified], Plexifilm.

Clifford, J (2014). Graphic Icons: Visionaries Who Shaped Modern Graphic Design. United States: Peachpit Press.


Wednesday, 18 April 2018

OUGD401 - ‘Fucked up and Photocopied’ by Bryan Ray Turcotte and Christopher T. Miller

OUGD401 - ‘Fucked up and Photocopied’ by Bryan Ray Turcotte and Christopher T. Miller

This book catalogues and informs about a great number of D.I.Y punk promotional designs from the 70’s/80’s including flyers, posters and album artwork. 

The punk scene came about from a younger generation of working class men and women who wanted their voices to be heard and used music to do so. Their music was simple yet raw, often using 3 chords for songs and straightforward rhythms and melodies. The vocals were loud and boisterous, with the lyrics mostly covering social and political issues. These sentiments were echoed in the promotion and visual style of the punk scene; kids who wanted to be involved but couldn’t play instruments would lend their hand to creating posters and album covers using cheap methods such as cut up images and type from newspapers, hand drawn type and embossed labels, all photocopied together into noisy and convoluted yet expressive pieces of design - and the D.I.Y punk style was conceived.


For NME at the time, clearly they had a bigger budget and could afford more sophisticated design in their publications, however the D.I.Y aesthetic became an identity for the punk era and all its fans, so often companies like NME would emulate the D.I.Y style in a more bespoke and refined manner. This can be seen in a lot of their magazines from the 70’s and would be great style to adopt or certainly reference in the Rock and Roll redesigned magazine. 






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