answer any or all of the following questions, or start your own thread!
which of these movements or people resonated with you most and why?
were there activities that you were not aware of before reading this?
for those of you doing the visual history report, which movement do you plan on reporting on and why?
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19 comments:
After taken the History of Graphic Design I became familiar with majority of these movements and graphics. The range of the movements as times have change, has evolved with the society, government forms of propaganda to citizens voices. Modern posters used as persuasive commercial advertising tools and pop art, such as the Suffrage Movement or WW1 poster open up the poster to everyone, these poster engage people to think or choose a side, I believe the previous propaganda graphics served as a story to let the public no of problems existence. The poster engage the audience by using icons like, Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty and imagery that related to the people, like family scenes. This movement allowed the governments, to persuade the people like they were selling them goods, without seem so harsh or demand but leave them feeling guilt or sadness.
The one thing that real surprise me is the incredible design strategy of Hitler, the use of stereotypes, strategies and and targeting your audience not only using print but film and other media. Hitler and his strategist create a colors, slogans, emblems, and uniforms. THEY CREATED AN IDENTITY, they designed a evil but credible campaigns which led to them becoming so power.......hmmmm.......reminds me of a recent sugar coated, American campaign.
I feel the most effective campaigns are the most constructive campaigns -- messages of solidarity, as opposed to adversarial tirades. Certainly attention and awareness must be given to social and political ills, but it's incumbent upon the opposition to propose an alternative solution.
I commend the Constructivist movement for its particular noble aims to promote inclusivity and social cohesion. Crafting a message of unity entails that everybody has equal footing to get on board. The lengths the campaign took to proliferate their message and make it accessible to even illiterate citizens in the most geographically remote areas of the USSR is commendable. Our elected officials scarcely bother to communicate with residents in their own municipalities -- a decidedly simpler task than facilitating communications between moscow and vladivostok.
I would challenge the author's contention that moveable type afforded "peasantry" much opportunity for expression. Writing, illustrating, and reading were privileged competencies rarely conferred to peasants, and even with the advent of moveable type, mass production was still a considerably laborious endeavor that required much technical expertise. Though many writers/illustrators/graphic agitators did express concerns for the conditions of the lower classes, they were speaking on the behalf of a constituency to which they themselves did not belong. We didn't just go from scribes to blogs and the author really underplays that important distinction.
I was really engaged in reading the story of "Boss" Tweed and his publicized response to the political cartoons that were being drawn of him. Tweed fostered some pretty controversial commentary regarding Nast's cartoons. Not only had Tweed demanded the halt of his inky ridicule, he reportedly stated "I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures!". In this case we find that propaganda graphics had fostered some secondary social unrest in eventually informing Tweed's constituents of his manipulation and disrespect to their intelligence.
Never had I fully realized just how far governing bodies had pursued the prosecution those who had designed a strong, educating message. From Philipon being forced to appear in court for his depiction of the "pear-headed king" and Stalin's action of outlawing abstract art in benefit of socialist realism, it becomes true that visually driven propaganda will always be under consideration in politics. It's no wonder that carefully edited film reels and photographs became primary modes of controlled thought distribution once they became technically developed. I love how the author concludes the role of the modern advertising poster in WWII and how it "became the main vehicle for sustaining one of the most devastating wars in history".
I think Sir Quince makes a great comparison in drawing a parallel to our recent presidential campaign. Such an overabundance of polished promotional material and "trustworthy" typography left me staggered; the dramatic campaign treatment played an undoubtable role in the poll results.
I think the part of this reading that resonated with me the most was when it started talking about the implications of art on the revitalization of america after the great depression. Roosevelt used art and creation as a means to lift the economy as well as the spirits of this depressed nation. The similarities between those times and the ones we are currently enduring is painful. Although the economy isnt 'quite' in dire straits as it was during the great depression, it's familiar enough to be scared. I can already think of some of the ionic imagery that came out of the election alone. Fairey's rendition of obama rings a bell.
one thing i was not aware of before this reading, was the harsh restrictions that stalin put on russian art prior to WWII. He completely eliminated the use of abstract art and design in Russia, inviting constructivism to become more prominent through that time period. The implications of that ban, on modern design, is pretty interesting.
Like Quince (and I'm sure numerous other classmates) I was also exposed to the majority of these propaganda techniques/movements in the history of graphic design course. However, there was one technique with which I was not familiar with and found to be really appealing. This technique was the use of placards, or rather signs carrying political comments that were hung on public monuments and statues during the Renaissance period. What a great way to repurpose an object that has such a single purpose and already such a dominating presence within an environment. Not only is it an effective way of communicating propaganda but its an easy method for citizens to get involved in. This method of propaganda seems very similar to the magazine stickers the student from last year made, in a sense that they were able to completely negate the imagery they were adhered to.
The one movement that most reside with me is the WWI recruitment tactic poster by James Montgomery Flagg because its the most famous poster in the world thats been seen over many generation. The " I Want You for the U.S. Army " was written in the history books and are educated through out america. However, the message that the poster made a strong delivery which lead many troops to fight for the war which change history.
The "Manic Raving" or the "little Boney" was perhaps the one that I recognized from the Nelson Alkin's museum. It's found in the 1800's section/area visual satire Caricature ; a political cause -anti-establishment.
I really enjoyed the reading, and reading the other comments it makes me excited about my history of graphic design class that i'm taking this semester. I think that the World War two Stuff really resonated with me the most. As a child I used to talk about that time with my grandfather who was in world war two and through his stories of the war and life during the war I was able to understand things about the time and the war. reading about how posters were used during the war was really interesting to me. and also quite suprising in some ways, like Quince I was unaware of how much hitler used design in his campaign creating his version of germany. it was dumbfondingly obvious to me that it happened but i just never really realized to what level it was happening till i read the article. Good find tyler thanks for sharing.
I appreciate the nature of the Constructivist's approach to visually conveying their message of political revolution and socialist propaganda. Simple formal choices of bold color and shape, a graphic vocabulary which defined the movement's style; the most common example being "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge". I feel it really embodied the movement's essence of energy and political revolt through a basic straight-forward visual language. Appealing to not only the socialist proletariat, but also renowned artists and designers within the Bauhaus. As well as taking on the role of verbal communication to the illiterate.
I was surprised to read of the influence designers have over the general public. Stalin banning abstract art simply because it inspired ideas toward revolution, and the Nazi party establishing a unified, malevolent regime under the pretense of strength and power. It's important as designers to be cautious and to never underestimate the the power of persuasion. Whether it's designing for Nike to sell child slave-labor shoes in America, or designing Barack Obama's streamlined campaign identity (as Quince rightly stated), subjectively speaking, all have different ethical standards and accepted commonplace within society. You decide whether it's relevant and something you want to be a part of, or just another phase of irreproachable history.
oh and to what curtis said. i agree, i also appreciated the pasquinades, contemporary political discourse through poetry of the common citizen scrawled and pasted to the ancient deteriorating statue, a figure which as stood centuries. almost as if it were their voice speaking your message. it's romantic in a way.
I found that the suffrage posters to stay with me after reading the required pages. I found that the women's suffrage campaign in America was interesting because they didn't personal attack anyone in a crude way. They had more of a subtle tone overall. I thought that it was interesting to see the different types of women's suffrage posters that played throughout because in the British movement they didn't hold back and it played more of a personal attack on individuals. It was interesting to see the difference between the two.
I guess I wasn't really aware or didn't really think about this but I found it really interesting during the Constructivist movement that the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) would create posters for the illiterate population. I found that to be interesting to create a powerful meaningful poster that all could understand through images. As graphic designers we all ready use images to help or persuade someone but I never really thought about those who are illiterate or in the past the designers that would create these posters for the illiterate.
I have always been drawn to the work of the Constructivist, maybe because I am jealous of them. They were living in a country were Lenin celebrated the arts and design. They were able to create anything they wanted as long as it benefitted the state. What an amazing experience that most have been! To work for a cause and a country that you truly believed in, to create and collaborate with other artists who were passionate about the same cause, and to not have to pay for a studio or supplies, not to mention the great love triangles that happened between these artist and designers. It sounds like great fun to me. I just really wished that I could have hooked up with Malevich. Sigh...
What the author did explain to me, that I never ever thought about before, and I have know idea why, is that the Nazi's were branded. They had a brand and the swastika was their logo. All of this was created to "promote a 'Greater Germany'".
I am doing the visual history assignment and I decided to research Emory Douglas. Why? His art and design are raw. They hit you in the face and thump you over the head. The problem that is addressed within each piece is clear and immediate. When you look at the exploited figures within his work, you feel the exploitation that they feel, you feel their pain.
Although I'm familiar with the movements in the reading, I thought that it was a great reminder to us of how powerful design can be. It's quite amazing to think that design can influence wars to start, people to question their government and women to vote.
For the Visual History Essay project, I want to explore the Communist Revolution in China. This is one movement that I'm not very familiar with. I know that the propaganda art I will discover through my research will closely resemble the methods of persuasion from the other movements. I find it interesting that as different as the cultures from around the world may be, the same tactics of persuasion are used to influence the thoughts of the public.
which of these movements or people resonated with you most and why?
the thing that resonated most with me was toward the end of the reading that described hitler's design strategy for the third reich. i was unaware of his specific identity outlining and ideation. was hitler one of the first to use this tactic in forming such a powerful national identity, or did he learn this process elsewhere? if so, through historical research, have our processes of identity and branding stemmed from hitler's example? did this strict system of his have influence over people's perception of hitler himself and his views?
were there activities that you were not aware of before reading this?
i am embarrassed to say that there were many things in this reading that i was completely unaware of. sure, i knew that social conflict brought about design, however, combining design history with political history clears up and details the what, why, how. most notably, the very beginning of the document tells of how graffiti came about- while i was thinking that this art form was relatively new in comparison. what became most apparent to me was the intensity and amount of graphic design production due to of war, politics and social issues; the catalyst and the prohibition of art and design was dominated by "leaders".
I think the most fascinating part o this article was the description by the author of Hitler's design strategy for the Third Reich as one of the most powerful and threatening national identities the world has ever experienced and compared the thoroughness to any well thought out corporate identity. We all know what Hitler was able to "accomplish" through his use of propaganda. I find this particularly interesting in light of the recently well run campaign of Obama and his ability to use charisma and good design to gain national trust, enough to win the election. The idea of creating one identity that appeals and captures such a large varying nuanced demographic is amazing. It seems that these type of campaigns could serve as case studies in appealing to a wide audience.
I think what held the most relevance with me is the constructivist period with advancements in industry and technology the art had to change along with the times. Old traditions were rejected and new intellectually-based avant-garde art movements that embraced a new vision of an industrial world.
I have always enjoyed constructovist art and to a certain extent that is what has happened in recent years, morals and ethics are going out the window and the art seems to reflect that.
Also constructovism delt a lot with propoganda which would be good study material when starting my project.
With the economic crisis and the rise of fascism, i found it particularly interesting that the government started a federal arts project. If there is one impression the government has left on me is that it has no passion or understanding of the arts. With artists being happy with the government they did expressions of american identity. This is another thing i find interesting because in many cases cartoonists and artists were making negative social commentary on america and its politicians.
Like most of of my classmates I was exposed to a lot of this during the history of graphic design class. The part of this reading that resonated with me the most was the part about Hitler and the nazis having a corporate identity program. I had never thought about them having a graphic design strategy before. It was very interesting to find out that they had a target audience and used a lot of techniques that we use when creating a corporate identity.
I was shocked to read about Hitler's design strategy for the Third Reich. While in prison, he planned the most powerful and threatening national identity the world had seen. Hitler also praised the British on how they, "treated propaganda as a weapon in it's own right".
For the visual essay report, I choose WWI posters because the use of propaganda during that period fascinates me. When the government had a problem selling the war to the public, they called in the commercial artist for help. They used scare tactics, and pointing finders to make people feel guilty for not enlisting. Also, heroics and sacrifice were conveyed in posters and would sometimes be printed off by 100,000 to a million. World War One marked the height of the modern poster and I think creating an interactive flash piece will not only educate the public about WWI propaganda but could help people become more aware of modern day propaganda in advertisements.
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