Final Thoughts

For twelve weeks, I reflected on my thoughts, observations, researches, and questions in the form of field journals and submitted them onto my blog. Throughout the quarter, the textbook, Megg’s History of Graphic Design by Phillip B. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis, has guided me through prehistoric visual communications to the Gutenberg press to the philosophy of the Bauhaus group up until the latest technological advances, all of which have affected early and contemporary graphic designers.

The course “GID 01- History of Graphic Design” for the 2014 fall quarter required me to post my findings weekly for others to read and for me to explore my fellow classmates’ reflections. Besides absorbing a great amount of information every week, I investigated and questioned topics that the book briefly mentioned or topics that sparked my own curiosity. Often times, I was left impressed and inspired after reading my classmates’ field journals and that motivated me to improve week after week.

Here are all ten of my field journals, from the beginning to the end of my journey of graphic design from around the world.  

meggiele.blogger.com

I've always known I wanted to pursue a career within the arts but I didn't know what specifically. It wasn't until high school in which I was set in graphic design and later on package design. People were impressed that I had a major set in mind, but when they asked, “Well, what is graphic design?” 

I was set aback and muttered, “Graphic design? Um… everything??” 

Little did I know, I was right! Reading the online lectures and the textbook solidified my answer; design is everywhere in our daily lives and affects everything produced by humans. Every week I was astounded on how much material the textbook packed in each chapter and I continuously made connections to the modern world. By taking this course, I have developed an appreciation for the simplest items in life: books, printers, posters, icons, maps, and magazines. All of these items have come a long way since early humans used stone tablets to track records and to see how far the world has evolved made me realize the significance of graphic design. I wouldn't say I am more sensitive to design (not yet anyways), but I do admit that I appreciate the craftsmanship into the creation of work made by graphic designers and spend more time and effort analyzing the choice of fonts, color, sizing, space, symbolism, and logos.

Taking this course has also given me more assurance and confidence about my decision to become a graphic designer. Before, I wasn't sure what jobs I would be able to find once I am out of school, but now I have learned about the endless possibilities and opportunities for graphic designers. Nowadays, I don’t worry as much about my future and I am even more determined and optimistic to get into Cal Poly SLO’s graphic design program. As history repeats itself, there will always be a demand of good design and good design can ultimately change the way people perceive certain products and events, evoke emotions, help organizations and businesses attract attention. I can also think of graphic design as a reflection of our society and that graphic designers capture the unique traits of their time. Or I could become a designer who infuses elements of expressionism to contribute to grow awareness of social issues I am deeply passionate about like the lack human rights in North Korea or the skewed perception of beauty in South Korea. Or I could continue with my interest in package design and work with marketers and advertisers to make a product “pop” from its competition. If anything, I know I’m on the right path and I will continue to study graphic design wherever it takes me.

Though I have learned a lot about the world of graphic design and I will undoubtedly take my knowledge to other graphic design courses with me, I also learned to value my own capabilities. I remember on my second field journal, I didn't earn full credit and Mr. Manske commented how insightful my research was but it lacked my own opinions and thoughts. I remember staring at my computer screen at the middle of the night and re-read the comment over and over. I have always been terribly shy since middle school and I struggle to participate and to raise my hand in class because I have always assumed 1) my thoughts and opinions weren't important enough to share and 2) my comments wouldn't change anything. Being in an online environment has helped me to slowly gain confidence in sharing my opinions and expressing myself to my own classmates, something I wouldn't have ever done in a regular classroom setting. Each week I worked diligently to show my best work to my professor and classmates and became eager to read responses and comments. Reading some of my past field journals, I was surprised to find out how much I have contributed to the class. I am proud that I am in a learning environment in which everyone’s opinions matters and is heard and now I know to apply this thinking into the real world and to give input in group projects, class discussions, and in everyday problems.      

I will take everything I have learned here and take these lessons with my wherever I go. I have spent long Tuesday nights typing up mini-essays, weeks of synthesizing and storing information from reading in my head, days brainstorming what topic to cover in my field journal, nights proofreading my work before submitting them, and hours flipping back to the book and lectures while taking the online quizzes. Nevertheless, the experience was worthwhile and I will miss the weekly routines once I submit this into my journal.  So I thank Mr. Manske for pushing us to prioritize our opinions and to share them and I thank the students who have read my journals, offered thoughtful feedback,  helped me view the world in a different perspective.

Field Journal 10: Wild Plakken

Dutch graphic design cannot be easily defined. Like yin and yang, opposites can be found in Dutch graphic design; "typography and image, institutions and individuality, rules and anarchy, and art and application" (Typotheque). Due to looser regulations, graphic designers in the Netherlands were free to print material compared to their neighbors. And with less boundaries, Dutch designers were able to control what they printed and how they printed.

One of the collaborative groups that emerged from in the second half of the 20th century was Wild Plakken. Formed by three designers, Wild Plakken's main objective was to create posters that would elicit social or political change. Though the textbook didn't explicitly state this, I believe that Wild Plakken's art direction, as experimental as it was, was more on the lines of expressionism. Demonstrating a strong sense of emotion like previous expressionists, this group didn't rely on depicting the horrors and tragedies of their causes like abortion, racism, or gay rights but instead chose to use open texts and everyday images and collage them in a way for people to give their own interpretations. By doing so, Wild Plakken's posters were able to stand out in a sea of conventional print advertising with processed pictures and captured the rawness of the subject to seem more relatable and realistic.  

1984, Wild Plakken, Europe Free of Nuclear Arms,
Progressive Green Coalition

Besides the group's methods for creating posters, I was a bit shocked to learn that Wild Plakken accepted or rejected commissions based on the designer's and client's stance on issues and views. And it makes sense. How can a designer handle a commission that went against his or her's ideas and morals? Some might call it unprofessional and unrealistic for a group or company to survive constantly accepting and rejecting clients, but I admire how passionate designers at Wild Plakken were; it's either all or nothing. You can't fake passion or emotion, so what's the point? Though I don't do work regarding social issues (yet!), when I find myself making projects for any subject, I either give in my all or nothing at all. I realize how detrimental it is, but I hate the idea of forcing myself to do a "good job" on something I don't have any emotions or concrete stances on. But then I feel an adrenaline rush when I do find projects interesting or assignments that agree with my ideas and I can hit a home run. 

 

And here's another thing that strikes me about Wild Plakken; by choosing which commissions to work on, there's a sense of power shifted to graphic designers. Designers have the ability to effectively communicate to people through typography, images, collages, technology, drawings, packaging, and billboards and clients realized that. The content or the messages can be delivered, but graphic designers should be selective and consider which messages to be sent. By this time, graphic design was taken seriously and more institutions taught aspiring designers how to incorporate their studies into the real world and ultimately how to make significant contributions to the world of art and society itself. 

Sources:

https://www.typotheque.com/articles/official_anarchy_dutch_graphic_design

http://www.moma.org/collection//browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7632&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1

Field Journal 9: Japanese Modern

Astro-Boy by Osamu Tezuka

After immediately surrendering to the Axis Powers in 1945, Japan was left in devastation. Michio Hayashi, author of Tracing the Graphic in Postwar Japanese Art, notes that, "the city [of Tokyo] was undergoing rapid transformations" as General Douglas A. MacArthur led the country to military, political, social, and economic reforms between 1945 to 1952. The Japanese economy revived thanks to "increases in capital and labor, reallocation of labor from agriculture, improved technology, and economies of the scale" (Edward F. Denison and William K. Chung). As the country demobilized, companies that produced weapons and materials towards the war began to produce more technology that would be better suited for the new Japan, the Japan that was rising out from its ashes. 

Increased labor allowed Japan to produce more goods to export to countries like the U.S. and graphic design was needed more than ever. Emerging as one of the world's major industrial powers, Japanese companies like Toyota and Mitsubishi hired professional designers to completely change its branding and image. Aside from industrial products, everything being produced from the country including traditional crafts and food depended on design as more people payed attention to it during the 50s due to materialism. While American and European graphic design was largely influenced by the International Typographic Style during this time, Japan graphic design turned to Constructivism while still retaining traditional Japanese Art Theory. Delicate, flat lines and silhouettes, simplification, abstraction, flat colors, symmetrical composition, and decorative patterns from ukiyo-e were still being used Japan as designers blended tradition with new art forms outside of Japan.

Yusaku Kamekura, 1955. Poster for a photo exhibition.

Yusaku Kamekura, one of the first graphic designers coming out of this century, is hailed as the "Father of Japanese graphic design". Having studied in New York, Kamekura's posters are influenced by the Bauhas and Constructivism while still maintaining simplicity and balance found in traditional Japanese prints.

Overtime Japanese graphic designers changed their styles from traditional to futuristic. With a booming economy and a rising tech industry, there was a lot of speculation and endless possibilities of what else could happen for the country next. Designers couldn't wait any longer and drew their own visions of the future. Instead of flatness, dimension was explored and dynamic colors were used to communicate excitement and energy. Reading a little about this in the lecture immediately made me think about Astro-Boy, the popular manga and anime series from 1952. And this makes sense and further supports that design was reaching to all aspects of life, from the automobile industry to food packaging to cartoons. Design was crucial to bring Japan back into power and eventually helped maintained Japan's strong and steady economy. But most importantly, design helped the world forget about the atrocities committed by and done to Japan and allowed everyone to move on.

Sources:

 Michio Hayashi, Tracing the Graphic in Postwar Japanese Art

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/japan-reconstruction

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/30974/donald-s-zagoria/how-japans-economy-grew-so-fast-the-sources-of-postwar-expansion

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1032864/graphic-design/242775/Postwar-graphic-design-in-Japan

http://pinktentacle.com/2010/03/yusaku-kamekura-posters/

http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/h207_2002/jecontakeoff.htm

Field Journal 8: The New Olympics

Some people are die-hard sports fans. Actually that's an understatement; expectations were shattered when 219 million people tuned in for the 2012 London Olympics, an increase from the 215 million views for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Social media was frequently updating which country won gold and which had the most handsome diver. Then there's people like me who didn't bother to check scores or who weren't interested in the whole spectacle. Though I didn't glue my eyes to my T.V. for 17 straight days, I'll confidently answer to people what I remembered; the logo and the graphics.

From left to right: Rio 2016, Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Seoul 1988, and Barcelona 1992

The Olympics didn't always start off with emphasis on branding and graphic design. Steps started off small, but overtime graphic designers rapidly worked together to achieve unity and diversity. The textbook nicely summed up how each game from each country worked towards building a graphic system that would later help create an identity program. As time passed, graphic designers learned from the mistakes and successes of others and they were all fighting for good design that would effectively communicate to the world of their home countries' traditions, values, and history.
But how did graphic design affect the 2012 London Games? And how did the 2012 London Games affect graphic design?

Pictograms

Logo

Well for starters, responses from critics and the public were mixed. Some newspapers in London praised Wolff Olins (company in charge of the branding) for their new and fresh take on the branding whereas many others attacked them for making something so sloppy and messy. Designers screamed in horror as soon as they saw this "logo disaster" and people were demanding the company for answers.
Far different from what we saw from Beijing, a simplistic logo that mimics brush strokes and worked together beautifully in harmony, the London logo has nothing that was related to London's iconic landmarks. The pictograms were understandable nevertheless, but how did these bright colors relate? Chairman and managing director from Wolff Olins clarified and knew what was coming at them. They broke the rules and people didn't like that. They drifted away from getting inspiration from London's most well-known places and tradition and embraced the new London. Social media was popular and it was obvious the branding company felt compelled to include that in the 2012 Olympics. So they embraced the creative, modern energy that was undergoing in London, the enthusiasm from the youth who were caught up with Youtube and Facebook, and invited graphic design students from Chapman University to help them with branding. The colors were lively and the logo consisted of sharp, unpredictable lines that reflected the new London society. Additionally, both teams decided to do the unexpected and for the first time in history, the Paralympic Games would use the same brand, only with different variations of colors.

Paralympic Games Logo

Wolff Olins was surprised to hear such heated remarks about 2012 brand and logo, but it didn't backfire them either as this was the most watched Olympics and television event of 2012. So maybe this wasn't a complete disaster after all. Like past Olympic branding, the 2012 branding wanted set itself a part from others and wanted to be remembered. But unlike what the world has seen in the past, Wolff Olins encouraged their teams to break the rules and be different. And breaking the rules, as we've seen in our textbook over and over, will always pay off.

sources:
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/08/13/london-olympics-on-nbc-is-most-watched-television-event-in-u-s-history/144780/
http://www.designboom.com/design/london-olympics-2012-the-look-of-the-games/
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670429/the-surprisingly-smart-strategy-behind-london-s-infamous-olympic-branding#6
youthdesigner.com

Field Journal 7: Siren Song

Siren Song by Margaret Atwood

This is the one song everyone

would like to learn: the song

that is irresistible:

the song that forces men

to leap overboard in squadrons

even though they see the beached skulls

the song nobody knows

because anyone who has heard it

is dead, and the others can’t remember.

Shall I tell you the secret

and if I do, will you get me

out of this bird suit?

I don’t enjoy it here

squatting on this island

looking picturesque and mythical

with these two feathery maniacs,

I don’t enjoy singing

this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,

to you, only to you.

Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!

Only you, only you can,

you are unique

at last. Alas

it is a boring song

but it works every time.

This poem blows my mind every time I read it. To sum it up in the shortest way possible, after finishing the poem, the reader is left in a daze and realizes the trap has been set. The narrator is the siren, pleading for you, the reader, to rescue her. The reader can't help but to continue until the last line. Then it's too late, the reader is doomed for the siren has already lured you in. 

I read this in my literature class from high school last year and I was astounded how masterful Atwood utilizes meter, rhythm, and imagery to capture her readers.  I always appreciate artists who take the extra mile to make their work less exclusive and allow anyone to participate. Art has been, for the longest of time, accessible to  the upper and wealthy classes. The working middle class did not have the time or luxury to appreciate art. In the early to mid 1900s, however, art was trying to target as many people, from all backgrounds of life to take part in discussions and to be open to change. 

Piet Zwart, NFK catalog

From the Netherlands, Dutch designer Piet Zwart received no formal training in printing or typography. Zwart knew what appealed to him, Dadism and De Stijl, and he was determined to break some the rules that many professionals thought were unthinkable. Most importantly, however, he "had a strong sense of social responsibility and concern for the reader" and was determined to effectively communicate to large audiences (Meggs & Purvis, 342). He took into the consideration of their busy lives and knew well that fewer words would leave a bigger impact. No confusion, no trouble. Zwart knew how to successfully leave an imprint in the mind by introducing large, bold letters, diagonal lines, large center images, and eye-catching colors. He lured in readers in NFK catalogs and people under his spell were released as soon as he became interested in teaching and industrial interior design in 1933.       

Both Atwood and Zwart have effectively and successfully communicated to large audiences and remain to be relevant in their separate fields. Though art is a form of self-expression, both artists used art as a mean to break the fourth dimension to invite and entice readers. No longer a past time for the rich, art was expanding its borders. It takes someone talented to communicate through paper, but it takes someone great to lure in and trap people with a few words and images. This same concept is what marketing and advertising teams are doing to lure in potential customers every time we see ads on our Facebook walls. Now, artists and working alongside psychologists and sociologists to come up with the best plan to create a deep impression on consumers' minds. Nothing is simple as it used to be anymore; now everything from the background colors to the scenes are carefully executed to achieve the best results. Everyone in the art and advertising industry tries to grab attention, but only few are lucky enough to have a siren of their own.

Sources: 
http://www.iconofgraphics.com/piet-zwart/
http://poemelf.com/category/poems/siren-song/
Meggs & Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design, 5th ed.