In this weeks class we looked at postmodernism and what it meant for the time period.
Postmodernism began in the 1970s and became the dominant look of the 1980s, also known as the 'designer decade'. Vivid colour and exaggeration made everything a style statement.
Anti-authoritarian by nature, postmodernism refused to recognise the authority of any single style or definition of what art should be. It collapsed the distinction between high culture and mass or popular culture, between art and everyday life. Because postmodernism broke the established rules about style, it introduced a new era of freedom and a sense that ‘anything goes’. Often funny, tongue-in-cheek or ludicrous; it can be confrontational and controversial, challenging the boundaries of taste; but most crucially, it reflects a self-awareness of style itself. Often mixing different artistic and popular styles and media, postmodernist art can also consciously and self-consciously borrow from or ironically comment on a range of styles from the past.
Wim Crouwel is a dutch designer born in the north of the Netherlands in a city called Groningen. He was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus art movement and connected it to his typography designs. Much of Wim Crouwels work feels experimental and futuristic even back with his early designs. He put in so much emotion into his work and used a bright modern colour pallet which is what drew me to him as a designer. As above the usage of yellow, red or black is very empowering.
David Carson is a contemporary designer and art director. His extremely experimental graphic style changed the graphic design world in America in the 90s. He is mostly known as the master of grunge typography. His work is chaotic and messy but it has its own purpose. Each brush stroke shows a feeling/emotion and you can feel it in his typography style. David Carsons work is inspiring as it shows disorganisation can have structure.
Below is a video from a series of artist and designer movies from Hillman Curtis:
