First year essay

"Choosing a particular period from 1800 to the present, in what ways has art and design responded to the changing social and cultural forces of that period" is the question I have decided to use for my essay.

My initial idea is to look at the 80's and to look into the musical movement, but also to look at how politics and the economy were effecting society, and then to obviously look at the design. At the moment, i see design in the 80's as an attempt to be futuristic and edgy and represents the 'luxury' and 'glamour' of the 80's.

I'd like to look at how the 80's in design and music represented the backlash of the tory control, and maybe how we seem to be replicating this era now.

"Commentators on youth culture believe that deepening disenchantment with the government could result in a generation turning to illegal raves in an echo of the backlash against the Thatcher government in the mid-1980s"  return of underground raves the guardian 

“Prior to the 1980s, British design had been about traditional style – heraldic emblems, decorative typography and academic illustration. But graphic design caught up with pop music and fashion, and embraced radical, street and anti-establishment style,” says Shaughnessy. “But this obsession with style went hand in hand with the Thatcher ‘loadsa money’ culture, and today radical style and commercial style are nearly identical. What once seemed revolutionary in the pages of The Face now looks like standard commercial culture.”  computer arts quote 'iconic eras'

"A medium for the masses" Lecture

  

Gustav Klutis

'USSR: Udarnaya Brigada Proletariata Vsego Avant Garde' 

"http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?startat=/getposter.asp&APNum=395696&CID=3E507939AB2F44D6B1A32EE9A37EF02E&PPID=1&search=ussr&f=t&FindID=0&P=1&PP=2&sortby=PD&cname=&SearchID="

USSR: Udarnaya Brigada Proletariata Vsego Avant Garde 

http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?startat=/

"Trade Union is a defender of a female labour"
http://www.sundancechannel.com/sunfiltered/2010/01/moma-the-new-typography/ Jan Tschichold.

Alan Fletcher "I have nothing to say"

http://www.fadwebsite.com/2010/04/01/alan-fletcher-fifty-years-of-graphic-work-and-play-a-major-retrospective-of-britains-most-influencial-graphic-designer-at-cube-till-3-april-2010/

Nicola Starr "Catcher in the Rye" http://www.nicolastarr.com/Catcher%20collages.html

Task 1

Looking at the two images you quickly pick up on the strong statements coming across.
The first image being an “Uncle Sam Range” advertisement, shouting out to the audience to buy them. To buy this range you will be buying into the America ideal, and how great it is. You will be a true American for it.
The second image is a little subtler, but is similar in its patriarchy and patriotic to its country. The poster is saying to be a hero to your family you must go to war, and as a duty as a man you must fight for your country in the “Great” war.

The first image gives the impression of belittling other countries. The scroll rolling off the table is listing off many countries and their “national” dish such as “CHINA - bird nest rolls”. Mocking their food and even suggesting that the rest of the world is backwards, because they do not have the sophistication that America has. It is America showing off and saying, “Look how far we have come in just 100 years”.
On the other hand the second image doesn’t quite mock men who have chosen not to go war, but instead emphasises a sense of shame they will have. The father cannot even look his daughter in the eye when she asks a question.
The poster appears to be set in the future, after the war, where the British have supposedly won and that children know very well what has gone on, what went on in the “great” war. As the children have full understanding of the war they expect stories and for their father not to be able to perform this simple task brings great embarrassment and shame to him.

A lot of points can be made simply looking into the type of the second poster. The fact that the poster has the word “YOU” brings the audience further in. The poster is speaking directly to the viewer, telling him to go to war and to not be the man in this poster. This point is even more emphasised by the fact of the father looking away from his daughter and directly at the viewer.
The use of word ‘Daddy’ touches on the more personal side of the message, making it possibly a bit too close for comfort for some to see this. Then the word “great”. This is the word used for this war that it is the necessary war that men should happen, and that all men should be apart of.
Looking at the typography in the first image, “The Uncle Sam Range” is in a typeface replicating the typeface of the Wild West. Representing the ideal of prosperity and adventure, reminding the public that the Americans found gold and made land on a dessert. Again, the typeface enhances the message of buy this “Uncle Sam Range” and you’re buying into the greatness and sophistication of America.

Modernity and Modernism