Communication & Mass media Lecture

Communication & Mass media Lecture 

Has an insightful lecture today geared towards my practice of graphic design based on the communication of Mass media. The context is based on public communication to a large audience. The method in which it does so is through use of television, newspapers, magazines and radio.

There are subcategories off Broadcast media which consists of radio, film, music and television transmissions. 

Print based media which will be the main focus through physical examples of newspapers, books, magazines etc. 

Outdoor media is mass media in the format off billboards and signs seen on buildings, commercial buildings, shops, buses and sports stadiums as an example. 

My personal interests come under the subcategory of Graphic Designs through:

Typography

Adverts

Print medias

Social commentaries

Signage 

Packaging

Propoganda campaigns

Branding

"Introduction of the term ‘Graphic Design’:
1922, William Addison Dwiggins (successful designer):
‘In the matter of layout forget art at the start and use horse-sense. The printing- designer’s whole duty is to make a clear presentation of the message - to get the important statements forward and the minor parts placed so that they will not be overlooked. This calls for an exercise of common sense and a faculty for analysis rather than for art’." 

Graphic design was seen to be within the post modernism and modernism movements using the principles off form follows function to communicate a message. And national identity is portrayed through the style of that said designer based on his origins off living. 

The start off communication to an audience is said to originate from the painting of the Bison & Horses in 15000-10000BC. Although the audience would be limited to a settlement off people. 

Further communication to religious viewers was seen in churches in Italy presenting the story of jesus. There was no need for the use of type, even illiterate people could understand the message been communicated due to there familiarity off religion. 

The first form of advertising using fine art with additions of photography originated in 1886. 

Presented bellow are some off the most iconic designers to dates opinion on the term graphic design.

"Herbert Spencer: ‘Mechanized art’

Max Bill and Josef Muller-Brockman: ‘Visual Communication’

Richard Hollis: ‘Graphic Design is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea’

Paul Rand: ‘... graphic design, in the end, deals with the spectator, and because it is the goal of the designer to be persuasive or at least informative, it follows that the designer’s problems are twofold: to anticipate the spectator’s reactions and to meet his own aesthetic needs’.

‘Whatever the information transmitted, it must, ethically and culturally, reflect its responsibility to society’.

Josef Muller-Brockman "

Through the writings off Steven Hellier common cultural acceptance off Graphic Design is attempted. 

‘Although graphic design as we know it originated in the late nineteenth century as a tool of advertising, any association today with marketing, advertising, or capitalism deeply undermines the graphic designer’s self-image. Graphic design history is an integral part of advertising history, yet in most accounts of graphic design’s origins advertising is virtually denied, or hidden behind more benign words such as “publicity” and “promotion”. This omission not only limits the discourse, but also misrepresents the facts. It is time for graphic design historians, and designers generally, to remove the elitist prejudices that have perpetuated a biased history’. 

Monet presents the birth off a modern society through his modernism movement paintings, he shows the presentation of a new working class going out enjoying there hard earned money on drinking them selves senseless because they have nothing better to do with there lives.

The birth of concept driven work derives from this cigarette advert that isn't your usual literal presentation of a product, its more off an abstract representation with vague links to cigarettes the viewer is made to look deeper into the composition. 

Format, type, layout and image began to be considered to communicate certain messages.

Peter Behrens work for german electrical company but Europe on the map for design, dominating concept driven and aesthetic relevant design throughout world war one and two paving way for abstract representations of concepts in design. 

Example of a propaganda poster playing on the traditional english class middle-class man. Very fine art based in its imagery. 

Compare this with the introduction to minimalist high impact european design that paved a way for national identity within design. The identity of Germany coming from the gothic use off type. 

Wassily Kandinsky inspired huge movements through the Bauhaus through his use off angular shapes and bold colors he inspired the likes off El Lissitzky to create high impact posters with these set house styles. This gave reason to believe that Graphic Design was the use of fine art imagery with the addition off type to communicate and explain the presented message that would not usually be understood by some cultures and people. 

Example off well informed and presented communication would be through the progression of the London Underground map that was first created by F.H. Stingemore and progressed onto the system that we see today and take for granted so much that is communicated to thousands off people everyday through the use off a highly legible and easy to understand system off maps and type design.

In 1922 a logo was created for the Bauhaus that solidified the categorization of graphic design as a means off communicating and opened up the subcategory of Branding as a form of communication through functionalist, and minimalist movements through type & image. The Bauhaus also created recognizable styles through the use of strong high impact sans serif typesetting, use of bold red colors and the horizontal angled positioning of type. They also proved that not all space needs to be used to create a nice composition, the use off negative space is important too to alter the balance and feel off the design. 

This same use of bold typesetting and angled bodies off type was synonymous with swiss style of design back in the 1930's. 

Decisions within composition were considered with the use of leading lines concept used in photography used in design to add depth and a feeling off distance in flat design pieces. 

Another example of the nationally accepted gothic type used by german designers. These were iconic pieces of design created when Hitler was in power. 

Propoganda posters proving that with a strong enough image type is not necessary this links back to the church painting back in the 1800's. 

Festivals began to spring up after the end of the war to celebrate the freedom off artistic movements that Hitler tried to put a stop too after shutting down the Bauhaus back when he was in power. 

Designers were becoming more culturally "Famous" through production off promotional materials for films. 

Iconic branding from legend Paul rand again showing simple use of type and the use of negative space communicates a strong enough message.

Ken Garland talks about our want/need for things through the pushing off products making us think that we need things that rant very important too us.

"We have been bombarded with publications devoted to this belief, applauding the work of those who have flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as: cat food, stomach powders, detergent, hair restorer, striped toothpaste, aftershave lotion, beforeshave lotion, slimming diets, fattening diets, deodorants, fizzy water, cigarettes, roll-ons, pull-ons and slip-ons ...

Ken Garland, First Things First Manifesto, 1964" 

Ken Garland is a huge political figure using politics as a main driving point within his design with his strong use of the peace symbol back in the 1960's. He also paved a way for designers to use war as a method of creating emotional and high impact concepts within there designs be it tongue in cheek or down right disturbing and upsetting.  Both emulating a political dig on war in different ways. 

Communication began through the music industry with Peter Saville and Jamie Reid giving birth to a new style of design based on and inspired by the music scene arising in Manchester club nights. This style of design benefits from clean cut lines and simple clean layouts and became Factory Records house style from then on.

Neville Brody and David Carson played huge influence on the styles off design within the post modernism movement of Graphic Design. Both re-inventing huge magazine brands within there layout styles. With Carson's work appearing much more abstract in a sense that it communicates the actual subject through a more visual representation and he breathes life and energy into composition and use of image. A famous quote from him is that legibility should never be mistaken for communication "Don't mistake legibility for communication". I agree with this, just because a design looks nice and reads easy doesn't mean it communicates the given subject or concept. 

Skipping on a few years and the element of collectibles begins to arise, with people beginning to collect iconic designs off record labels from there hero designers Mick Farrow of Farrow design created the limited edition CD packaging for "Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space". Through its unique packaging methods it was seen more of a collectable than an actual CD, with many people not opening the CD due to the value dropping once the seals are broken. 

The idea of politics and war is cropping back up again now with magazines using high impact images on there front covers to play with emotions. And a very unpopular rap group creating a mock up of the twin tower disaster before it even happened, sales of this went through the roof when the disaster happened. 

The final subject I want to look into is the element of consumerism. Barbara Kruger subconsciously critiqued and mocked shoppers over there shopping habits and need for sales through the use of branding to draw them in. The idea of the buyer thinking they need something when really they don't is something she played highly with through here concepts. 

This element of consumerism links with a more political side, with this poster mocking Nike and there production methods in a means to put people off there product. But designed in such a way in which it looks like a promotion although the tone of voice is completely different and very sincere. 

Final thoughts after this lecture are that I enjoyed the information I received i found it interesting how Graphic Designers and advertisers use so many subcategories of cultural events and outsource influences to help promote and pass on a message. It has made me think to look into lots of outsources to communicate a message in a less literal way and start thinking more outside the box producing abstract concepts that really make people stop and think. 

On the subject of Graphic design as a discipline I feel its birth derived from early communications has developed into the communication off capitalist interests with social issues becoming increasing promotion points ad campaigns and design worlds.