week 1

Illustrated Tutorial: on the History of Printing.
Tutorial: on Victoriana and the Industrial Revolution.

Design History Lesson One:

Technological advances drive the development of Design History.
Before printing technology came to Europe books were copied by hand one page at a time. Scribes in monasteries did all the time consuming job of book copying. Because of the time and effort involved very few existed. Books that were copied were of a religious nature.

Although book printing had not arrived in the 15th century the woodblock print was quite popular. It is essentially the same as today’s rubber stamp technology, except the art was carved out of wood instead of rubber with a chisel and hammer. There no detail or tones and the lines are coarse.

The first major technological innovation in printing was the “punch and mould” system.
Individual letters were carved out of steel to make a punch and a brass matrix (mould) was made from the punch. The molten lead was poured into the matrix and when the lead hardened an exact duplicate of the punch design was created. This process allowed for the creation of many copies of each letter in the alphabet. The result was “movable metal type”. This was Guttenberg’s’ contribution.

Casting type by hand was laborious but because the type was reusable the process was more efficient than copying books by hand.

Once the metal type is cast, lines of type can be composed, one letter at a time. This is called typesetting. A line of type would be composed on a “composing stick”. Individual lines of type are then put together to form a page. Once the page is printed, the form is taken apart and the type is then cleaned and sorted in preparation for composing the next page.

Guttenberg’s invention spread like wildfire throughout Europe. Soon every town had a print shop. In the early years a printer was not just a printer, he needed to be a metal smith, typographer, designer, editor, proof reader and publisher as well.
As books became affordable, literacy levels in Europe rose dramatically.

Papermaking:
In the beginning parchment (sheepskin) and vellum (calfskin) were the preferred material for printing books, since they lasted longer. Sometimes one book required the skins of 300 sheep.

As demand for printed books increased, so did the demand for cheaper material, so paper became popular. Up until 1860, paper was made of rags, other material, like grass was used until wood pulp became the preferred material.

The next major invention was called intaglio or gravure printing. Artwork was carved into copper plate. Ink was pushed into the indentations and then squeezed out onto paper. This process was used mostly for illustrations and was often combined with movable type by sending a sheet of paper through two different presses.

Lithography
In the beginning lithography artists drew on porous stone using a grease pencil. Because ink and water don’t mix, the printer was able to apply ink only to the greasy area of stone. The inked area is then transferred to a sheet of paper. Sometimes lithographic posters, like those of Tolouse Lautrec, were made life sized in 8 or more colours. Each colour had to be drawn on a separate stone in perfect registration with the other stones.

The job cases in a printers workshop contained individual pieces of metal type. These cases had an upper portion and a lower portion. The capital letters were kept in the uppercase and the others in the lowercase.

week 2

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on the Industrial Revolution.
Tutorial: on the Arrival of Commercial Art. The arts and crafts movement.
Studio: Assessment requirements discussed and list of designers allocated. Slide show to acquaint students with the style and work of each designer.


The list of designers and movements for your assignment.
Please note; The late modern and Swiss modern  designers often straddle both movements

Arts & Crafts                   
William Morris & William Mackintosh
Art Deco                                   
Cassandre  or Frederico Seneca
Art Nouveau                              
Alphonse Mucha or Victor Horta
Constructivism                          
Kasimir Malevich or Rodchenko John Heartfeild  or  El Lissitzky
Early Modern
Mondrian, Le Corbussier, Doesberg, Rietveld, Lucien Bernhard, Marinetti, Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters, Frank Lloyd Wright,
Late Modern
Raymond Loewy, Paul Rand, Bill Bernbach, Saul Bass, Lester Beall, Bradbury Thompson, Alexey Brodovich, Alexander Ross, Max Huber, Joseph Binder, Jan Tschichold, Joseph Muller Brockman, Gene Frederico
Swiss International
Joseph Muller Brockman, Massimo Vignelli, Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Adrian Frutiger
Styling in the US
Norman Bel-Geddes
David Carson
The digital age



Make sure you get a hard copy of the timeline this week.

week3

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on design ideologies. Design processes and education. The late 1930s and the War. Ideology and historical context.
Studio: Students research their designers.

The Wesley library has about 5 copies of a book called "Design in Context " by Penny Sparke.
This is a reference book for Design history students to get information on the background and context of all the design movements. It is divided into 9 chapters and a quick look at the contents page is even illuminating. It describes in snapshots the important issues we need to look at at each point in our history timeline


1830-1914
Design Reform 
Design and taste
The Great exhibition of 1851
William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement
Aestheticism and Symbolism
Art Nouveau
Proto-modernism at the turn of the century.


1915- 1939
Politics  society and design
Avant-garde design in Russia
De Stijl
Politics and design in the 1930s
Society and Design

Industry, Technology and Design
American Industry and Design
European industry and design
Craft and design in Scandinavia
New Materials in Modern design
Technology and  design


Theory and Design
The influemnce on Cubism
Modernism: ideology and style
Elementarism and Constructivism
Le Corbusier and the Purist Aesthetic
The Bauhaus
The international style

Popular Style in the 1930s
The decorative arts in in France in the 1920s
Streamform
The American Industrial Designer
New York Worl'ds Fair
Swedish Modern

1940- 1985
Reconstruction and Design
Scandinavia and the craft ideal
Styling and the US
Great Britain and the design establishment
Italy: Style and individualism
Germany: technique and analysis


Design after Modernism
Towards Pluralism
The Crisis of functionalism Pop design
Nostalgia and bad taste
Craft and Individualism
Design for need 
Post-Modernism


Which student is researching which designer:

1. ............................Bradbury Thompson.
2. .....................Mucha
3. ...........................................Rodchenko
4. .....................................Frank Lloyd Wright
5. ....................................Courbersier
6. .........................................Art Deco (Victor Horta)
7. ..........................................Max Huber (Late Modern)
8. .........................................David Carson
9. .....................................Mondrian
10. ........................................Paul Rand
11. ...........................................William Morris
12. ....................................Phsychadelic (Moscoso)

The first group of posters are Russian Contructivist works. Their purpose was to encourage the workers of Russia to to unite in Revolution: To work for the common good and and the communist cause
Homework:
Collect at least one image by John Heartfeild and come prepared to explain it to the class. You should cover the technique he pioneered and the purpose of his work.

The image below is by John Heartfield. He was the first Artist/designer to use photomontage as visual communication. (FYI He didn't have Photoshop)

week4

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on the late 40s and early 50s - A time of optimism and expos. Politics.
Studio: Research on designers and their works continues.

Styling and the US
The Industrial Designer was a figure of American origin, whose role developed during the expansion of the 1920s and who then 'styled goods' in the 1930s to increase profit margins during the economic depression. The position of this artistic figure within the hierarchy of industry remained problematic throughout the post war period. There were recurrent debates about the importance or otherwise about style and the rapidity of obsolescence in objects which were the products of an advanced capitalist economic system.
Before the second world war, the new alliance between art and industry gave rise to a neo-futurist attitude towards the machine and by extension towards the the objects of machine production. Idealised views of the newly electrified home with it's accompanying gadgets, and of modern, speedy transport and the ensuring road and rail systems, resulted in a fresh, symbolic 'style for the age'
The pioneering industrial designer Norman Bel-Geddes, described the optimism of the era: "In the midst of worldwide melancholy, owing to an economic depression, a new age dawned with invigorating conceptions and the horizons lifted."
from :Design in Context" Penny Sparkes. p 189

After the second world war (1945- 1960):
America enjoyed their position of leaders of the world. Europe had been devasted by aerial bombing while the US remained relatively unscathed. The United States led the world in modern manufacturing methods and sent teams of time and motion experts to England and Europe to help rebuild factories and improve processes. Mass production increased and the new optimism and love affair with the idea of space travel and the future led to some pretty funny product styling (as opposed to Design) We sometimes call this "Kitsch" Subgroups began to emerge ( a sign of a healthy democracy some say) and aerodynamic is a word to describe the look of many things from trains to salt shakers.

The following is background and economic context:
From: http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-114.htm
As the Cold War unfolded in the decade and a half after World War II, the United States experienced phenomenal economic growth. The war brought the return of prosperity, and in the postwar period the United States consolidated its position as the world's richest country. Gross national product, a measure of all goods and services produced in the United States, jumped from about $200 thousand-million in 1940 to $300 thousand-million in 1950 to more than $500 thousand-million in 1960. More and more Americans now considered themselves part of the middle class.
The growth had different sources. The automobile industry was partially responsible, as the number of automobiles produced annually quadrupled between 1946 and 1955. A housing boom, stimulated in part by easily affordable mortgages for returning servicemen, fueled the expansion. The rise in defense spending as the Cold War escalated also played a part.
After 1945 the major corporations in America grew even larger. There had been earlier waves of mergers in the 1890s and in the 1920s; in the 1950s another wave occurred. New conglomerates -- firms with holdings in a variety of industries -- led the way. International Telephone and Telegraph, for example, bought Sheraton Hotels, Continental Baking, Hartford Fire Insurance, and Avis Rent-a-Car, among other companies. Smaller franchise operations like McDonald's fast-food restaurants provided still another pattern. Large corporations also developed holdings overseas, where labor costs were often lower.
Workers found their own lives changing as industrial America changed. Fewer workers produced goods; more provided services. By 1956 a majority held white-collar jobs, working as corporate managers, teachers, salespersons and office employees. Some firms granted a guaranteed annual wage, long-term employment contracts and other benefits. With such changes, labor militancy was undermined and some class distinctions began to fade.
Farmers, on the other hand, faced tough times. Gains in productivity led to agricultural consolidation, as farming became a big business. Family farms, in turn, found it difficult to compete, and more and more farmers left the land.
Other Americans moved too. In the postwar period the West and the Southwest continued to grow -- a trend that would continue through the end of the century. Sun Belt cities like Houston, Texas; Miami, Florida; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, expanded rapidly. Los Angeles, California, moved ahead of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the third largest U.S. city. By 1963 California had more people than New York.
An even more important form of movement led Americans out of inner cities into new suburbs, where they hoped to find affordable housing for the larger families spawned by the postwar baby boom. Developers like William J. Levitt built new communities -- with homes that all looked alike -- using the techniques of mass production. Levitt's houses were prefabricated, or partly assembled in a factory rather than on the final location. The homes were modest, but Levitt's methods cut costs and allowed new owners to possess at least a part of the American dream.
As suburbs grew, businesses moved into the new areas. Large shopping centers containing a great variety of stores changed consumer patterns. The number of these centers rose from eight at the end of World War II to 3,840 in 1960. With easy parking and convenient evening hours, customers could avoid city shopping entirely.
New highways created better access to the suburbs and its shops. The Highway Act of 1956 provided $26 thousand-million, the largest public works expenditure in U.S. history, to build more than 64,000 kilometers of federal roads to link together all parts of the country.
Television, too, had a powerful impact on social and economic patterns. Developed in the 1930s, it was not widely marketed until after the war. In 1946 the country had fewer than 17,000 television sets. Three years later consumers were buying 250,000 sets a month, and by 1960 three-quarters of all families owned at least one set. In the middle of the decade, the average family watched television four to five hours a day. Popular shows for children included Howdy Doody Time and The Mickey Mouse Club; older viewers preferred situation comedies like I Love Lucy and Father Knows Best. Americans of all ages became exposed to increasingly sophisticated advertisements for products said to be necessary for the good life.

http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-114.htm

week 5

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on typography and changing technology.
Studio: Students work on their assessments with Lecturer supervision.

Slide shows on Late Modern and Swiss International Graphic Design


The International Style
While Bauhaus-inspired ideas about form and the shaping of consumer goods for the mass market did not find their way into the public arena until the years after the Second World War, the architectural Modern Movement became a fully fledged reality in the 1930s. This was primarily a result of its transference to American soil with the closure of the Bauhaus by the Nazis in 1933 and the emigration of leading architectural figures accross the Atlanitic. It was in the US that the idea of the 'International Style' first crystallised and was seen at an exhibition of the same name held in New York in 1932

 Tribune Tower Chicago 1925 was in a revivalist Gothic style and designed by John Mead Howells
".............but just as much American Architecture in the first decade of this centurey was revivalist in tendancy and lacked the new spirit totally."

The leaders of the international style in America were Henry Richardson, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan.














Background:
Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) of Münchenstein, Switzerland. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss market. Originally called Die Neue Haas Grotesk, it was created based on Schelter-Grotesk. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, had no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage.

A movie: "Helvetica"

Project week

29th March to 2nd April no classes

Easter Break

5th April - 9th April

week 6

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on lettering - Words as images.
Studio: Students work on their assessments with Lecturer supervision.

week 7

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on visual identity. Postmodernism.
The rise of the house style. The House Style of Alessi and the style of certain Graphic Design Companies that rely on a house style rather than a unique solution to every brief.
Vince Frost
Pentagram
Alessi

Studio: Students work on their assessments with Lecturer supervision.

Stefan_Sagmeister on Ted.com

Stefan Sagmiester on YouTube

Paula_Scher from Pentagram on Ted

David Carson on YouTube

Post Modernism

postmodernism 2

Post Modernism 3

Frank Gehry

contemporary design

week 8

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on imagery, changing technology, photography and illustration.
Studio: Students work on their assignments with Lecturer supervision.

week 9

Please bring your visual diary

Illustrated Tutorial: Case study – Milton Glaser.
Studio: Students work on their assessments with Lecturer supervision.


From 1954 to 1974 Glaser was the founder and president
of the ‘push pin’ studio (with Semour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins
and Edward Sorel) in New York and from 1955 to 1974 the editor
and co-art director of the ‘push pin graphic’ magazine.
in an era dominated by swiss rationalism, the push pin style
celebrated the eclectic and eccentric design of the passé past
while it introduced a distinctly contemporary design vocabulary,
with a wide range of work that included record sleeves, books,
posters, logos, font design and magazine formats.
 From: http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/glaser.html on the 5th May 2010

http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/glaser.html

week 10

Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on constructivism.
Studio: Students work on their assessments with Lecturer supervision.

week 11

"How Art Made the world"
Please bring your visual diary
Illustrated Tutorial: on Futurism, Dada, Surrealism.
Presentation/Submission: First group of students each present Research Assessment in class. Lecturer marks presentation and report.
Studio: Students work on their assessments with Lecturer supervision.

Week 12

Please bring your visual diary
Presentation/Submission: Second group of students each present Research Assessment in class. Lecturer marks presentation and report.
Studio: Students work on their assessments with Lecturer supervision.

week 13

Presentation Techniques Review and feedback.
The presentation over the past couple of weeks a have been in the most part quite professional. However a few have stood out as lacking in composure and serious attitude. Reading the text is not a good way to deliver the information. A far better approach is to use small cards with reminders on them. with a short paragraph that is easy to read and triggers a stream of well rehearsed knowledge that goes with each slide.
Which brings me to the slides. They should not contain a lot of text. a short paragraph or heading with subheadings or points. Generally speaking it is a visual subject and you are in the business in this class of learning to critique or critically analyse a work of art or design.
You should look at your audience as much as possible and be aware of which slide you have on the screen for them to look at as you are speaking. It is perfectly acceptable to have an assistant changing the slides for you. Pronunciation needs a lot of thought for most of you. Names from European countries have been a stumbling block and it would be much more professional for find out how to pronounce them and PRACTISE.
Costumes and props are not required. If you do decide they are relevant that's OK. But irrelevant costumes for the sake of it distracts everyone from your message and downgrades your work.
Learn to compose yourself a little beforehand to be in the right frame of mind, smile and be confident. Your classmates want you to succeed and we are all friends in these small classes.

Try to find a way for your presentation to stand out. Have a point of difference (without resorting to gimmickry)

Improve your design vocabulary
Read more books! Even reading critical theory websites will help you improve your vocabulary. A lot of books have a glossary for this purpose.

Creative Thinking workshop
First we need a definition of creativity: 
In your visual diary
Which creative thinkers have you always admired and why?
Find a definition of creative thinking

Today you are going to work in groups brainstorming and using other methods to generate ideas for a major project. This design proposal will be for a brand new, completely original concept that results in a product, process, service or business model. Like the Superhero Supply store in Brooklyn. (It does not have to be funny)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simmermon/sets/72157594462555832/

http://www.mycoted.com/Main_Page
Dan Pink
The Medici effect


"There is no one definition of creativity that everyone can agree with. Creativity researchers, mostly from the field of psychology, usually claim that being creative means being both novel (original) and appropriate (realistic). Subsumed under the appropriateness criterion are qualities of fit, utility, and value. Also, the mode
of activity a person is in when being creative differs. For example, there is a distinction between real-time creativity and multi-stage creativity. Real-time creativity is spur-of-the-moment, improvisational, and demands output in a short interval of time; whereas in multi-stage creativity, sufficient time is allowed for the generation and selection of ideas, often through a more organised, sequential series of steps. Creative thought can also be divided into divergent and convergent thinking processes:-
Divergent thinking is the intellectual ability to think of many original, diverse, and elaborate ideas- Convergent thinking is the intellectual ability to logically evaluate, critique and choose the best idea from a selection of ideas.
Both abilities are required for creative output. Divergent thinking is essential to the novelty of creative
products whereas convergent thinking is fundamental to the appropriateness or application of the selected
idea. (2) Thus, general definitions of creativity tend to account for the process of recognition or discovery of novel ideas and solutions. "
EMMA ROBERTSON COFA UNSW


The steps to creativity:
The Germinal Phase

Motivation

The desire to be creative generating ideas

Search

Information gathering, looking in other fields for ideas, looking at the big picture, being willing to go astray exploring other ideas

Manipulation

Transforming and manipulating the resources and ideas found, delaying judgement and eliminating  some old assumptions

Incubation

Walking away from the problem after a time of focused attention and turning it over to the subconscious. Letting go will put the problem into perspective, and the planted idea will grow in the subconscious. Delaying action will often improve ideas.

Illuminating

The Aha or Eureka experiences. Ideas can strike at any time, so always carry a means of recording an idea. Recognise your creative time of the day. Don't overwork, and put aside time for recreation.

The Practical Phase

Evaluation

Making a decision even if the ideas aren't perfect.

Action

Completing the creative process can be the most difficult step of all

The Medici effect is the title of a book on creative thinking. The title refers to the medici family in the renaissance era but the book is about combining elements or stepping into an an intersection of different disciplines and cultures and bringing the ideas you find there to life. Mick Pearce is a case study in this book. He is a South African architect who was asked to build an attractive, functioning office building that uses no air conditioning in Harare, Zimbabwe. Take at look at the inspiration and solution he came up with by combining his two main interests

From the Mycoted website

When you need a little extra boost for a group that have got a little stale during the Idea Generation phase, split up into teams, giving each a digital camera and access to a printer (you could use a polaroid, or provide a set of bizarre photgraphs you have, but it's best to get the teams to capture them).
Get the teams to spend about 5 minutes outside of the immediate area, taking pictures of either unusual objects, or objects from unusual angles. The more bizarre the better.
Bring the groups back together and distribute their pictures to the other groups. 
Each group should now use the pictures provided to create associations that occur to them and then use these associations for idea generation. At the end of the session you can either collect all of the ideas together by writing them onto flipcharts or you can ask the groups to have listed their own and have these displayed for general perusal.
This techniques uses Random Stimuli as an Excursion with the advantage of a challenge / competition thrown in. The humour generated from the unusual objects / angles also raises the energy levels of the group, along with the fact that they have been up and moving about.

Retrieved from www.mycoted.com/Talking_Pictures



Some books to read:
(1) Buzan, T & B (2001) The Mind Map Book: Millenium Edition BBC Worldwide Ltd: London
(2) Charles Cave: Creative Web: Website
(3) Gladwell, M (2000) The Tipping Point Little, Brown & Co: NY
(4) Greatest American: AOL, Biography
(5) Dr. Strong, Creativity Lab, Brigham Young University, USA
(6) Johansson, Frans (2004) The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts and
Cultures Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press
(7) Pink, Daniel (2005) A Whole New Mind, Penguin: NY
Pink states that we are entering the Conceptual Age and to prepare for it we need to improve six essential abilities. They are: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. These abilities are the headings for the final six chapters. At the end of each of the chapters, Pink has a Portfolio which is a combination of tools, exercises, and further reading culled from his research and travels that can help you sharpen each sense.


Creative thinking techniques:
Radiant thinking
Mind maps and idea hierarchies: drawing and writing information helps embed it in your mind/


More reading:

Gladwell, M (2000) The Tipping Point Abacus: London

Heath, C  D (2007) Made to Stick Random House: NY

Foster, J (1996) How to Get Ideas Berrett-Koehler Pub: CA

The Mind Gym (2005) The Mind Gym Time Warner: London

week 14

Submission: Students submit Visual Project for assessment.
STUDY AND MAKE-UP CLASS WEEK