1.
Influences on the Post-Modern Graphic Design Era
a. Pop Art, a movement that blurred the lines between art and commerce was a contributing factor in the era that rejected the bland International Style.
b. Blurring of lines between art and popular culture
c. The Macintosh Computer, an explosion of technology and information.
2.
Post Modern Architecture
The term Postmodernism designates an international architectural movement that emerged in the 1960s. The movement largely has been a reaction to the orthodoxy, austerity, and formal absolutism of the International Style.
Practitioners of postmodern architecture have tended to reemphasize elements of metaphor, symbol, and content in their credos and their work. They share an interest in mass, surface colors, and textures and frequently use unorthodox building materials.
Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown
Using vernacular imagery such as using
a chimney, window arrangement or door way to
signify a traditional home environments but
with done in a new form.
3.
Punk
London, c. 1976
The punk phenomenon expressed a rejection of prevailing values in ways that extended beyond the music. British punk fashion deliberately outraged propriety with the highly theatrical use of cosmetics and hairstyles, clothing typically adapted or mutilated existing objects for artistic effect: pants and shirts were cut, torn, or wrapped with tape, and written on with marker or defaced with paint; safety pins and razor blades were used as jewelry.
Punk included elements of irony, absurdist humor and genuine suspicion of mainstream culture and values.The DIY (Do it Yourself) aesthetic of punk created a thriving underground press.
In March 13, 2001, an English panel of judges composed of editors and artists gave their highest honor to the (right) controversial artwork of Jamie Reid, calling it the "best record cover ever produced." More...
Jamie Reid created the cover art for the Pistol's first single God Save The Queen. Released in 1977 to coincide with the Queen's Silver Jubilee Celebrations.
4.
Dan Friedman
(1945-1995)
New Wave/Radical Modernism
Friedman felt that modernism had devolved into a bland, soulless surface treatment. Here is his philosophy quoted from Eye shortly before his death in 1995.
In the 1960s I saw graphic design as a noble endeavor, integral to larger planning, architectural and social issues. What I realized in the 1970s, when I was doing major corporate identity projects, is that design had become a preoccupation with what things look like rather than with what they mean. What designers were doing was creating visual identities for other people - not unlike the work of fashion stylists, political image consultants or plastic surgeons. We had become experts who suggest how other people can project a visual impression that reflects who they think they are. And we have deceived ourselves into thinking that the modernization service we supply has the same integrity as service to the public good. Modernism forfeited its claim to a moral authority when designers sold it away as corporate style.To read more... 
Wine bottles, Massimo Vignelli. Modernism watered down to the last drop.
'Radical modernism is my reaffirmation of the idealistic roots of our modernity, adjusted to include more of our diverse cultures'
Citibank Logo by Friedman. A "sell-out" of style over substance.
5.
April Greiman
Pioneer of Digital Design
New Wave Style
With a background in International Style, April studied under Weingart in Switzerland as the start of the break from the Modern Style
Moving to California, she was inspired to use the computer as a means of artistic expression and exploration of new image generation. "It's not just Graphic Design anymore. We don't have a new name for it yet."
(above) US Postage Stamp
(right) Greiman's self-portrait for the Walker Art Center , Minneapolis, 1987. It seems that she may have seen Rauschenberg's Booster while there!
Robert Rauschenberg, 1967
Booster from the 'Booster and Seven Studies'
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, (1970)
"The human-machine interaction that is so important in Rauschenberg's art as a whole is crucial here. The symbiosis of of the human and the technological"
The Print in the Western World, Linda Hults,1996.
6.
Ed Fella, P. Scott Makela
Cranbrook
The Cranbrook Academy of Art (Michigan), under the direction of Professors Michael and Katherine McCoy, became a center of Post-Modernist discussion from the mid 1970s. What emerged became know as the 'Cranbrook Discourse'. Here there was recognition of popular culture, French philosophy and advertising. The potential of layering of imagery and multiple readings was explored and old ways of looking at things were "deconstructed". Design was approached without ties to history and past theories.
Graduate student Ed Fella, came to Cranbrook after over 20 years as a commercial artist. His hand-crafted aesthetic is in contrast to immaculately finished computer-aided graphic design.
7.
Tibor Kalman (mid 1980's)
M & Co.
Design for Social Conscience
Tibor believed that award-winning design was not separate from the entire corporate ethic and argued that “many bad companies have great design.” Tibor saw himself as a social activist for whom graphic design was a means of achieving two ends: good design and social responsibility. He is most known for his work with Benetton Colors Magazine.
7.
David Carson
Beach and Surf Culture Design
David Carson did not go to art school but he does have a degree in Philosophy. "A few years after his experiments with Ray Gun magazine, he transferred the subcultural cachet of his work to the field of advertising, creating distinctive campaigns for Nike and other manufacturers who sought to appeal to the youth markets addressed by his magazines.(Quote from Mixed Messages Essay)
8. Jacques Derrida
French Proponent of Deconconstruction in Literature
"Deconstruction shows the multiple layers of meaning at work in language. By deconstructing the works of previous scholars, Derrida attempts to show that language is constantly shifting. Although Derrida's thought is sometimes portrayed by critics as destructive of philosophy, deconstruction can be better understood as showing the unavoidable tensions between the ideals of clarity and coherence that govern philosophy and the inevitable shortcomings that accompany its production." More...
Architect
"Fred and Ginger" Building in Prague
9. Muller + Hess
1996
Having met at art school, Müller and Hess started working together in 1993. They began with low budget, experimental projects for galleries, theatres and other cultural institutions and have sustained that area of work, while taking on more mainstream commercial clients including the weekend supplement Das Magazin, the weekly newspaper Die Weltwoche and Art Basel, the international art fair.
We are not artists. All the same, we question established ways of seeing and rules of perception through our role in the service industry. Our first questions to a client are always: ‘Why are you doing that? Do you need to do it’ To break with the usual way of doing things and the usual rules but to stay functional, in our eyes this generates exciting new work. Read more
10.
Stephan Sagmeister
1996
"My goal for the rest of my life is to touch someone's heart with design"
Sagmeister' work can make viewers feel a bit uneasy, chickens with their heads cut off, words scratched into his own skin and giant cow's tongues. Sagmeitser "defines how to get attention in a way that creates an idea."
11. Elliot Earls
Cranbrook
"In the essay I discuss the idea that Paul Rand is still the archetype for the vast majority of graphic/info/interactive designers, and that he was a pygmy raised by giants. I postulate that he fundamentally misunderstood the work of men like Kurt Schwitters, and that the institutions of design (schools, museums and magazines) are bastions of neo-conservatism that seek to define design solely in terms of a designer/client relationship and a traditional problem solving methodology...There was a period after World War I where some of the greatest artists of the time (the giants of which I speak) were as important to the history of architecture, painting or photography as they were to the history of design. I hear all of the time that what I do is not design. Well, frankly, I see that as a damning indictment of our times, not of my work." More...
