Reflection: Graphic Design So Far

Visual Identity

“A visual identity is the visual aspect of branding that businesses create in order to evoke certain feelings and experiences with the brand.”

A company’s visual identity includes anything visual that their brand produces such as logo design, fonts, photos, and any other visuals that were used to communicate with the brand.  A company’s visual identity is part of the branding that communicates the overall message, values, and promise of the brand through anything that is visual.

Throughout the history of graphic design, graphic design was used as a way to communicate a message, or evoke a certain feeling, whether it is for political, or commercial purposes (e.g. advertisements). Building a visual identity for a company helps to differentiate itself from its competitors and easier for its customers to identify them. 

Paul Rand was an eminent twentieth-century American graphic designer and art director. He was the pioneer of iconic corporate logo designs for major firms, including IBM, ABC, Morningstar, Inc., NeXT Computer, Yale University, and Enron.

Paul Rand believed in good design to be the way of life that he changed his name from Peretz Rosenbaum to Paul Rand. One reason is to do away with his prominent Jewish identity to sound more American, the other to simplify his first and last name to four letters each.

He was dedicated to treating design as a function of businesses. By the 1950s, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) had established itself as one of the leading data processing companies in the world. Its president, Thomas Watson Jr, believed that Good Design is Good Business, and hired Paul Rand to do a complete overhaul of IBM’s graphic communications system. Over the next decade, Rand created what was perhaps the first design system for a corporate identity. From the company’s logo to letterheads, to product packaging, he made sure that every corporate asset had the company’s visual identity incorporated into it.

This then paved the way for businesses to see the importance of corporate visual identity as a function of their businesses, which continues even today.

Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, a graphic design firm specialising in the development of trademarks and identity programs. Following Paul Rand’s approach to corporate identity,  they designed the visual identity of the companies that aligned to its values and products they are selling. 

Reflection

I think corporate identity is often overlooked or taken for granted nowadays as it is so common. Even small businesses like neighbourhood bubble tea shops (e.g. Sweet Talk – logo, colour, etc.) have their own branding and visual identity. Nowadays, it just comes naturally to us that a business should have its own corporate identity. I think that by knowing its history and the reason why it was created helps designers to understand the importance of their jobs and that it is not easy to do the job that they do.

Course Reflection

I think it has been a fulfilling 4 weeks, and I have definitely learned a lot about the history of graphic design. I have also grown an appreciation for the design practices and not take our learnings for granted as what we learn today is a result of what the people of the past have explored for many years! I think it is also hard to condense so many years of graphic design history (since the cave paintings) into a 1-hour lecture every week so I would like to thank Desmond for that. I also appreciate the weekly reflections as I get to understand deeper on topics that I am more interested in.

One thing that I think can enhance the learning of students is to not conduct the quizzes of the same lecture content on the same day. I think it will be better and fairer if we have more time (instead of a few minutes) to study for something that is graded.  

 

References

https://blog.jcimarketing.com/business-marketing/the-difference-between-visual-identity-and-branding

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/paul-rand-5053.php

https://www.ceros.com/originals/paul-rand/

Reflection: To Bauhaus & Beyond

Calligram

A calligram is a word or piece of text or poetry in which the design and layout of the letters create a visual image related to the meaning of the words themselves.  The typeface, calligraphy or handwriting is arranged to visually express the meaning or theme of the text. A calligram is thus a combination of poetry and visual art.

One of the more well-known artists known for producing poetry using the calligram is Guillaume Apollinaire. He created a volume of calligrams which was titled “calligrammes”.

Horse calligram
Eiffel tower calligram

Some examples that appeared in his collection.

Calligrams today

Calligrams are still being produced until this today, but instead of using poetry for the words component, creators use different themes to make calligrams, for e.g. using pop culture – the iron man calligram, as shown above, is made of words that describe the character’s personality and the lines he said in the movie to form his iconic iron man mask.

Thoughts

I think that using words to create images brings more meaning and depth to the visual itself, as illustrations and visuals often have to convey the meaning of a certain word or phrase visually (without showing the words). By using words as a medium to create the visuals, viewers will be able to understand two things – the object in focus and the message of words that tells the story behind the visuals. I think it’s a combination of liberal and visual arts that conveys the message beautifully.

References

https://www.artrepublic.com/art_terms/47-calligram-html/

https://blog.postofficeshop.co.uk/picture-paints-thousand-words-calligram/

Reflection: Industrial Revolution & Graphic Reactions

 

Fat Face Typeface 

Fat Face typefaces were first invented in the 1800s during the period of invention and discovery when more enterprising new trades started to flourish. Businesses turn to print advertising to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Its bold and extreme contrast of thick and thin were used in advertisements to grab the attention of the viewers.

Then in the 20th century when people were starting to rebel against mass culture and industrialisation, many other sans serif typefaces like Gill sans and Futura were founded to move towards modernism. Despite that, fat face typefaces like Sphinx and Ultra Bodoni is still as popular to become body copies or small, readable design elements instead of being attention-grabbing headlines.

Digital fat face typefaces like Abril Fat Face are still used today on websites and posters. It is offered on Google Fonts and is featured in more than 780,000 websites, and served 166 million times last week according to Google API. This shows that it is still popular as a typeface even today due to its versatility to be a headline or a body copy.

I like the fat face typeface a lot as it conveys the feeling of both friendly and jovial and it also has a lot of variations when it comes to the contrasts of thick and thin, and also the rounded serifs which look really cute! It also pairs well with non-serif fonts like Aktiv Grotesk (as shown above). According to Jennifer Kennard on Fonts In Use, which I think sums up my thoughts about the fat face typeface, “By their very nature, they could be loud, flamboyant and conspicuous, or speak softly with restrained elegance. Like the addition of spice to a bland dish, the fat face added character and flavour to an otherwise simple design.” 

 

References 

https://fontsinuse.com/uses/5578/the-story-of-our-friend-the-fat-face

https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Abril+Fatface

Reflection: Writing to Typography

Gutenberg’s punch and matrix

Movable Type 

Of the many methods of writing and printing that were introduced in class, I was most interested in Gutenberg’s movable type which used the punch and matrix method that revolutionized the way of printing. Previously, printers had to carve letter by letter into woodblocks and then using a press to create printings for books which were tedious and very time-consuming. By using the movable metal type, the printing time was significantly cut and took less effort, which meant that more books can be published to educate the public as information is more accessible to all compared to the past when only the higher class were able to have books. 

Gutenberg Bible

Image result for Printing Through the Ages - 1950

The type used in the Gutenberg Bible was modeled after handwritten letters, which then led to printers creating their own type for printing (as explained in the video). 

Linotype Machine

Linotype Machine 

After using the movable type for three centuries, the Linotype Machine was invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler between 1883 to 1885 to further improve the printing methods. Instead of placing the matrixes by hand, the machine automated the process and made printing much faster by producing and composing complete lines of type, or slugs. Linotype was first used in newspaper print production, where speed in producing frequent daily editions was required. 

Printing methods today 

Today, there are many different printing methods catered to different purposes or different aesthetics. For example, letterpress printing, digital printing like laser printing, inkjet or toner printing, and also 3D printing! 

Reflection 

The invention of different printing methods has enabled typographers and graphic designers to focus on their craft as printing time has significantly been reduced since the invention of printmaking. It has also helped society as a whole as books and prints have since been more accessible to the public which helps in their education. New types are also invented because of better printing methods. As we have moved into a digital age, I do hope that the printing methods we have today do not become obsolete as we rely more on our screens than prints to obtain information. 

 

References

http://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=634#targetText=Invention%20of%20the%20Linotype%20(1883,lines%20of%20type%2C%20or%20slugs.