Job No:01077 Title:The fundamentals og Graphic Design
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Job No:01077 Title:The fundamentals og Graphic Design
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Cosmopolitan
Having an exciting and glamorous character associated with travel and a mixture of cultures.
58 The Fundamentals of Graphic Design Influences and creative elements
Modernism
Modernism through the cubist, surrealist and Dadaist
movements was shaped by the industrialisation and
urbanisation of western society. Modernists,
including the De Stijl, Constructivism and Bauhaus
movements, departed from the rural and provincial
zeitgeist prevalent in the Victorian era, rejecting its
values and styles in favour of c
osmopolitanism.
Functionality and progress, expressed through the
maxim of ‘form follows function’, became key
concerns in the attempt to move beyond the external
physical representation of reality through
experimentation in a struggle to define what should
be considered ‘modern’.
In graphic design, modernism embraced an
asymmetrical approach to layout with strict
adherence to the grid, an emphasis on white space
and sans serif typography, and the absence of
decoration and embellishment.
Postmodernism
Postmodernism (1960–present) is a creative
movement that emerged following the Second World
War and questioned the very notion that there is a
reliable reality. Postmodernists deconstructed
authority and the established order by engaging in
the ideas of fragmentation, incoherence and the
plain ridiculous.
A reaction to the sometimes bleak and
impersonal Modernist movement, postmodernism
returned to earlier ideas of adornment and
decoration, celebrating expression and personal
intuition rather than formula and structure.
Postmodernism continues to be the dominant force
in creative thinking where the preference is for
complexity, contradiction, diversity and ambiguity
rather than the rational order and simplicity that
characterised modernism.
Modernism and postmodernism
Modernism and postmodernism refer to two
different views of the world that developed and
guided creative activity at different points in the
twentieth century. Modernist and postmodernist
thinking still have relevance today and their influences
can be seen in contemporary designs as people seek
to make sense of the world around them.
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Univers 39 Univers 49 Univers 59
Univers 48 Univers 58
Univers 68
Univers 47 Univers 57 Univers 67
Univers 46 Univers 56 Univers 66 Univers 76 Univers 86
Univers 45 Univers 55 Univers 65 Univers 75 Univers 85
Univers 54
Univers 64 Univers 74
Univers 84
Univers 53
Univers 63
Univers 73 Univers 83
Modernist fonts
The quintessential philosophical differences
between modernism and postmodernism are never
more apparent than in font and typeface design.
Modernism saw the rise of cleaner, simpler sans serif
fonts, which turned their back on elaborate serif fonts
and brought a sense of order to typography. This saw
the use of consistent stroke weights and rounded
forms to give evenly weighted characters, such as
Helevetica Neue.
A new sense of order was brought to
typography by the modernist numbering system
developed by Adrian Frutiger to easily express the
relationship between the different weights and
widths of his Univers typeface. In this system (shown
above), the first digit in the font’s name represents
the weight of the font from three (light) to eight
(heavy), while the second digit relates to the width
from three (extended) to nine (condensed). Frutiger’s
grid gives designers an easy-to-use matrix of
fonts that allows for rapid selection of type styles for
different aspects of a design, which helps to
ensure compatibility.
Social responsibility < Modernism and postmodernism > Nostalgia and rhetoric 59
Postmodernism and typeface design
Postmodern fonts have moved away from the
clean-cut and well-organised forms of modernist
fonts and have returned to embrace more elaborate
and decorative forms, which include the return of the
serif and uneven stroke weights. Postmodernist fonts
celebrate ornamentation and personal expression,
and also look to include the randomness that is
present in handwritten and letterpress printed texts.
Handwriting
The Olicana font is an example of a font that mimics
handwriting (see above). In order to more closely
provide a facsimile of handwritten text, this font has
multiple glyphs available, which means that repeated
characters are not always the same. It also includes
an occasional ink blot, thumbprint or smudge to add
to the impression that the text was written with a
fountain pen. Obviously, there is no need for a font to
mimic handwriting when type is set on a computer,
but this font works well and is a very convincing
approximation of handwriting.
Thinnest
Most extended
Most condensed
Heaviest
Frutiger’s grid showing the relationship between type weights. Olicana – a font that mimics handwriting.
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The grid
The grid is a template or guide used for positioning
and organising the elements of a design in order to
facilitate and ease decision-making. Grids are the
bone structure of a layout and serve as a tool to help
a designer achieve balance while presenting a
potentially large degree of creative possibilities.
The use of grids, fields and matrices allows a
designer to take a considered approach to design,
which makes effective use of time and space. It also
ensures that different design elements work together
to provide consistency and coherency throughout a
body of related work.
Since humankind first began recording
information there has been a need to organise
content. The page structures that are commonly used
today can be traced back to Classical times. Theories
on proportions and the division of space developed
in Ancient Greece.
The grid, as a containment structure for
visual communication, has evolved in tandem
with developments in mark-making technology,
becoming increasingly sophisticated as handwritten
manuscripts were replaced by early printing, movable
type, linotype and computer-to-plate printing.
The grid serves to establish parameters to
guide the placement of text and elements, but strict
adherence to such guidelines can be restrictive.
Leading designers often challenge the structure and
confines that a grid provides in order to provide
the best possible solution to the design brief.
There are many types of grids, including those
with many columns, those with few, and those
comprising of fields or modules rather than vertical
columns. Two of the main grid types are shown on
the opposite page.
60 The Fundamentals of Graphic Design Influences and creative elements
Arts and Crafts
This spread from a book designed by
Webb & Webb features text and images
that were placed and organised on the
page according to a grid. Notice how
this creates clean sight lines as the
images and text align with each other
and the margins.
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The asymmetrical grid
An asymmetrical grid is one where both pages in
a spread use the same grid, which means one page
is a copy of the other. These grids may have a bias
towards one side of the page (usually the left),
created by having one column narrower than the
others. This provides an opportunity for the creative
treatment of certain page elements while retaining
overall design consistency. The narrower column may
be used for captions, notes, icons or other elements,
and in this way, it is often treated as a wide margin
for outsized marginalia.
An asymmetrical grid tends to create a sense of
movement from the left to the right due to the way the
eye first fixes on the large column before moving to
the thinner column for both pages of a spread.
Social responsibility < Modernism and postmodernism > Nostalgia and rhetoric 61
The symmetrical grid
With a symmetrical grid, the verso page is a mirror
image of the recto page. This gives equal inner
margins and two equal outer margins to a spread.
To accommodate marginalia, the outer margins are
proportionally larger than the inner margins. This is
a classic layout pioneered by typographer Jan
Tschichold (1902–1974) based on a page size with
proportions of 2:3. The simplicity of the layout and
pages creates spatial relationships that hold the text
block in harmonious proportions. This grid projects
harmony because it is created using relative
proportions rather than absolute measurements.
A symmetrical grid tends to be calmer to read
than an asymmetrical grid as both pages cause the
eye to look inward towards the spine, creating a calm
and balanced space for the reader rather than a
sense of movement.
An asymmetrical grid has pages on the spread that look exactly
the same.
A symmetrical grid has pages on a spread that mirror
each other.
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62 The Fundamentals of Graphic Design Influences and creative elements
Architecture and the ‘Special Relationship’ (above)
These spreads by Gavin Ambrose for Taylor and Francis/Routledge illustrate how a grid
needs to relate to the contents of a publication. Here, the use of a simple grid allows for
the effective placement of images and text. Tension is introduced in the design by
offsetting the images and having them cross the centrefold. However, the absence of
full bleeds results in the images being constantly framed, bringing an element of
consistency to the design.
Rationel (below)
Mark Design, London’s product guide for
Rationel Windows leaves the grid visible,
making it an obvious and integral part of
the design. The grid frames inset images
that alternate between detailed and
scenic shots. While the grid is rigid, pace
and variation are added through the use
of different image configurations.
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