Welcome to Dracula Vs. Eisenstein.
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Typographic art seems to be constantly evolving; It’s genetic matter made up of new styles as well as old, with the established as its skeleton. With the printing of the Gutenberg Bible in 1456, traditional letter forms gave way to new cuts of type faces which were previously unheard of. Letterpress allowed the use of a combination of size, space and type face that opened the minds of printers and designers to all new possibilities. Contemporary graphic designers can sometimes neglect the history and the styles that were born of letterpress with the emergence of digital typography in the design world. The styles, techniques and rules that have stood the test of time are what graphic designers need to absorb, rather than replace with the generic simply because its easier.
The above design by Il’ia Zdanevich, for his and Tristan Tzara’s Dadaist announcement, Soirée du Coeur à Barbe, is an example of a typographical design previously unseen and made possible by letterpress. It’s use of contrast in type font, type size and white space, as well as its asymmetrical layout, was considered avant-garde at the time. These are now core design principals whose maker is often under-appreciated by the modern designer. Read the rest of this entry »
I was lucky enough to have been invited to a party celebrating Creativity Magazine’s annual Creativity 50 last night in New York and had hoped to bump into a few of the honored guests. Creativity’s list “represents the biggest innovators of the year, who—through repeated demonstration of sheer brilliance or even just one spectacular feat—brought new spark to their respective fields of advertising, entertainment, marketing, technology, design and beyond” and included such names as Radiohead, the Coen brothers and Yugo Nakamura.
With that in mind, I had conjured up a brilliant conversation between myself and the Coen brothers about their use of postmodern visual art and techniques in Miller’s Crossing. Of course not all of the honorees could make it, including my new best pals, Ethan and Joel, but nonetheless it was a great party and led me to discover (and re-discover) a lot of amazing design in the work of the Creativity 50.
So, as you may have guessed, I did not actually find Yugo Nakamura at the party, but I did revisit his work. Yugo P, as he is also known, is a brilliant web designer who has researched and developed both experimental and consumer projects dealing mainly with interactivity. Read the rest of this entry »
Graphic design seems to finally be getting some deserved attention from businesses these days and design-related salaries are steadily rising, however I can’t help but wonder what the overall perception of graphic design is from the general public. Good design can sell a product by consumers recognizing it as so. Products are more about style and what they say about their owner these days, rather than solely about the job it performs or the service it offers. This has led consumers to place certain products/companies on a cultural pedestal (people NEED their iPods). In the same way, consumers influence design by setting the bar on how it’s quality is measured.
There is an abundance of bad design in the professional world that is widely accepted and it is leading consumers to lower their design standards. This is one of the reasons the iPod absolutely exploded and became a cultural phenomenon. No other mp3 player at the time offered such ease of use AND looked amazing doing it. I’m getting a little sidetracked, but the point is that I decided to do a little experiment to see where most people are being exposed to graphic design and what quality of design is readily available to their eyes. Read the rest of this entry »
Now that everyone is back from Austin and has returned to their normal sleeping patterns, we can take a closer look at all of the web award winners this year. One of the cooler sites, which I’ve already found useful, did not win but it was a finalist in the Experimental category. After first seeing Issuu on the web-resource-heavy Go2Web20.net, I decided to spend a little more time with it. Issuu allows anyone to upload a publication to their site in the .pdf format and create an online library of other publications, including magazine, portfolios and articles on just about anything. I discovered it to be another great place for design inspiration and networking, as well as a great current events resource.
Now for the winners (definitely check out the Passive-Agressive Notes blog for a laugh)…
One of the things I wish I could do more of is travel. Where to? One of my number one desired destinations to visit is Amsterdam. It has sneakily become the design capital of the world and if I could get a work permit there (which seems to be next to impossible for a non-citizen), my existence would be a much more enjoyable one. Even the giant lego man would be much happier in The Netherlands. Well if I can’t live and work there, I’m going to have to do the next best thing and stay a week in The Winston. Budget Travel recently had an article on The Winston and several other hotels across the world that have hired artists to give their rooms a makeover. These hotels are certainly not hanging up the same old framed sailboats on their walls.
The Winston - Amsterdam
Playnation by Adriaan Koster and Menno Schenk
I was browsing GigPosters the other day when I stumbled upon a stunning screenprint poster by illustrator and designer Sam Chivers that was commissioned by the UK band Turin Brakes for their most recent tour.
The poster borrows strong elements from multiple art styles, some of which I identified as Art Nouveau, Art Deco and even a hint of Psychedelia. However, Chivers does so in manner in which these differing styles complement each other very well and as a result his poster looks extremely fresh and new. Read the rest of this entry »
That which we call a rose blog.
By any other name would smell as sweet make more sense.
So what is Dracula Vs. Eisenstein? It’s not a 1969, ‘71, or even ‘72 horror picture. DvsE is a discussion about design and the graphic arts. The tools of graphic design have changed so much in the last few decades, but the process of design should never change. We may see more computer-generated designs today than hand-crafted designs simply because it’s easier and quicker, but the computer is still just a tool that needs a mind, eyes and hand to guide it. A lot of graphic art today ignores the techniques and process of the past. Some work may be inspired by previous art, but many times does not represent or embody its true spirit.
Each day I make decisions that will determine a successful design from a flawed design. I certainly do not make the right decisions all of the time. Whether it be in print, web or interactive design, motion graphics or even film, I learn a great deal by studying art of the past as well as discovering the art of today. Just as in politics, we need to learn from history and act upon that which we have learned. I will share what I have learned from art history as well as the designs, techniques, literature and film that I am still discovering. I hope to learn the same from you.
If you are interested in film history (nice segue!), I recommend researching Eisenstein and reading his essays. Eisenstein was a Soviet film director whose innovative use of montage and subversive messages in his films has influenced me greatly, and not just in my video/film work. A few other artists that I’m fond of are Wassily Kandinsky, Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, Saul Bass, Bill Viola and Charles and Ray Eames.
