Final

Final

          The following is a final summation of my class, GID 01, “History of Graphic Design” for the Fall Quarter at Foothill College. As a brief background: each week following my readings of lectures and the book, “Meggs’ History of Graphic Design,” I published a field journal demonstrating critical thinking and divulging what struck my interest in my assigned readings. There were 10 field journals that I published. My fellow classmates submitted field journals about their reflections and I was able to read, learn and comment on them as well. Here is my final field journal for the class. Hope you enjoy my prior field journals and something strikes your interest as well.

            My reflections about the “History of Graphic Design” take me to a funny analogy on how a human develops. We crawl, using pictures to communicate on cave dwellings and we develop alphabets.  We cruise, by developing paper and ways to make print. We walk, using better paper and using graphic artists to create beautiful manuscripts. We are finding ways to reach larger audiences. Alas, we are still slow. We run, using movable print and artists feel like their jobs are becoming not so desired, obsolete. We sprint, using faster methods of mass printing, the world is communicating more and more, typography innovations and photography are becoming increasingly advanced.  We fly, with technology; we are no longer on the ground. We are air-bound and in cyberspace, using every invented medium, computer age/digital age is boundless. We find excitement about new developments, yet we can fear change and fear that we might be obsolete with our skills set. Yet, we want more and more inventions. We want attention from certain people and find ways to get the most attention. We fight for audiences. With so much different ways to communicate, how do we find and keep our audiences? How do we get our messages across and be understood when there is so much competition? Does the one with the most money get the audiences (probably and unfortunately)? We want to make an impact and to be remembered and graphic design is the way.

After really analyzing and thinking about the gestalt of this course, which I have a difficult time doing generally anyways. I’ve discovered that I’ve learned a tremendous amount, but barely scratched the surface. There is so much more to know that I do not know. I think that if we just had a course on the subject of Peter Max that it would have taken the entire quarter or year.

My future aspiration is to be involved in animation. I would like to eventually animate in the field of Japanese Anime with my high shooting goals as to be in the animation house of Studio Gainax (see link below) or somewhere similar.

An example of poster art from Studio Gainax

http://axolotlburg.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/evangelion.jpg

 This class helped me to gain insights as to various methods to visually communicate by using everything from simple symbolic representations, abstract depictions, to very detailed pictorial artistic pieces. This will be of great help to my future in animation by being exposed to this valuable overview. Graphic design enabled history to be recorded and had a huge impact on history as people or groups relayed information to the masses (global communication) for example, as in wartime communications depiciting how our troups needed food, the tragedy of the holocaust, or the other extreme, as in the joy of the recent news of Prince William and Dutchess Kate expecting their first baby. By knowing the past, I may understand the future better in knowing how the world interacts with each other.

The future of Graphic Design will be consumed digitally, more and more digital and less and less paper. It is a shame. I love books. I love rendering things on paper. In my future field, I may be rendering less and less on paper and eventually drawing solely on a tablet. Just thinking of the art of handwriting, I know that people in general do not write very much in cursive anymore. My mom told me that in a “back-in-her-day” type of story that in third grade they were painstakingly drilled and drilled in cursive letter writing. It had to be neat and well executed. I know today, at times, I can barely read someone’s cursive writing and barely write quickly using cursive. It seems to be a dying art. Though, maybe one day it will come full circle and people will greatly admire a person that has impeccable, stylish penmanship. Fine art will at be spared as it is rendered on canvas, and paper. Graphic Design will continue to flourish and record our history. It will always be our way to communicate and be understood.

Hope you enjoyed my summation for the course.

 Here are some of my favorite anime posters.

http://otakustreamers.com

http://www.iphonewallpaperhi.com/10774-christmas-gainax-iphone-4-    wallpaper.html

Merry Christmas to all……

Take good care,

                       Kevin Young

Field Journal 10

Field Journal 10

          I love anime and manga (Japanese Comics). The stories, the visuals, they're wonderful. Which is what attracted me to the works of Tadanori Yokoo. Influenced by Dada, popular art and comic books, his style again, kind of reminds me of Peter max's work as I mentioned in my journal entry from last week. His style, with all the bright colors and hard lines shown in picture 23-25 in Megs History of Graphic Design really inspired me to learn more about him as an artist. He often collaged photographs within his designs. 

http://superfuture.com/sf/image/asset/00021617/image/502914af1c32b.jpg

Born in Nishiwaki, Japan in 1936, Tadanori Yokoo started out replicating paintings, drawing posters and designing store wrapping paper for the Chamber of Commerce. His first notable work was produced around  1965 when he depicted a self-titled poster featuring a hanged man with the Japanese rising sun's red rays and blue sky in the background. His name was at the top and at the bottom he had some childhood photos with a statement, "having reached a climax at the age of 29, I was dead." The rising sun appears in many of his pieces and became his (kind of) trademark or "Yokoo style" and an international symbol of Japanese pop art. Peter Max used this often as well. 

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3969/operafromtheworks6fq7.jpg

During the 1970's he was injured in a car accident and his close friend Yukio Mishima committed suicide by hara kiri. He quit work for a while to reflect on the the events that occurred. Soon he became very fearful of death and increasingly interested in Buddhism, Indian culture, extraterrestrial civilizations and UFOs. He became friends with rock and roll musicians and was asked to do their album covers and poster. He became friends with Carlos Santana and his cover for the album "Lotus" was awarded a prize.

http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/2667/cover_1518161632010.jpg

In the early 1990s, Yokoo introduced computer design to his repertoire and his style changed again. He reassembled some of his old works digitally and once again he had an exhibition of his posters in 1998. He was able to expose a new generation to his works.

His work combines so many different things that I find dear to my own heart as in Ukiyo-e influences, comic art, spiritualism, and Japanese cultural themes. I will refer to his work again and again for motivation and to get my creative mind flowing.

http://www.jazjaz.net/2008/09/the-mesmerizing-music-film-posters-of-tadanori-yokoo.html

I end with one of my mom's favorite R & B groups of all time, Earth Wind and Fire. Tadamori made a spectacular poster.

http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2000/?id=205

Field Journal 9

Field Journal 9

While reading in Megg's History of Graphic Design about the Psychedelic poster art era of the wild 60's, I marveled at seeing various poster art from the various artist of the time. Peter Max really made a huge impression on me. His composition, his choice of colors, his clean lines, his clear ability to communicate are apparent reasons why he became so popular to so many people through the years. I had casually seen his art before, but never really paid attention to the artist (though very appealing)...till now.  Seeing his art makes me want to run out and buy a black light, but no, I don't want to do any hallucinogenic drugs.  I'll pass on that. It must have been quite a "trip" to experiment with those chemicals and look at psychedelic poster art composed by the master, Peter Max. 

Peter Max Finkelstein was born, October 19, 1937. He is a German-born Jewish American who grew up during much turmoil. HIs family had to flee Nazi Germany in 1938 to escape the Holocaust and traveled to Shanghai under the control of the Imperial Japanese army. His mom was a fashion designer in Berlin before they fled to Shanghai. His family was surely supportive with his interest in art.  He was also really interested in astronomy which is apparent in many of his works. I also cannot help to think that the "Imperial Flag" of Japan may have been an appealing design influence as it appears in many of his poster art. It was a symbol that he had been surrounded with as a child in occupied Shanghai. 

Imperial Flag of Japan

I looked over many of his works and noticed that there was many Buddhist mandala looking symbols in his work. While researching further, I found out that he spent his early years in Japanese occupied Shanghai. His home overlooked a Buddhist temple where he could see monks painting and his very own Chinese nanny taught him how to hold a paintbrush. The young Max departed China in 1948 and traveled to many places from China to Tibet to Africa to Israel to Europe then finally to New York. This influence was probably the reason for the mandala - like art style. As a young child, he was surrounded by war and moving from place to place that is is no surprise to me that his art reflected peace, love and trying to get along. 

I have a love for Japanese anime and thought to search  if I could find some pieces that appeared to be Peter Max-like.  There is a poster from the Anime, "Summer Wars"that had clean lines and beautiful color palates and thought this may look like a Peter Max like piece. What do you think?

Japanese Anime poster for "Summer Wars"

These two posters below by Tadanori Yokoo look like Peter Max was an inspiration to this artist. Notice the rising sun themes, clean lines and vivid colors.

Tadanori Yokoo

Thanks to this class. I am now, very much, a fan of Peter Max. I join the crowd in following this living legend as he has contributed so much to the world with his creativity and very positive imagery. He has brought goodness to the world in times of great turmoil. I look forward to learn more about his work and his life as a great inspiration to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Max

http://www.petermax.com

http://mikeathartan.skyrock.com/tags/1Fo80t2o95l-peter-max-artwork.html

http://pinterest.com/mariekazalia/peter-max/

Field Journal 9

Field Journal 9

          

Field Journal 8

Field Journal 8

          Visual marks were usually used for trade and money, If you had a good design on your product people are bound to remember it, and think of it fondly, like the ever changing Google logo, or the Ebay logo. Come to think of it, rancher brand markings are logos, poor horses and cattle behinds.

http://themyndset.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/google-images-logo.jpeg

http://startronics.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/800px-EBay_Logo_svg.60171113_std.png

          As time went on and technology started to change. People started to be more aware about how things were visually presented. Gradually the logo became the face of the company. This is why professional logos became a must for businesses. This is why there is a big business in graphic design. It takes a lot of research, color, shapes, textures and typesets to make a logo for a particular business. Some companies even have a sound logo like Intels chime or Kaiser Permanente's own Katey Sagal and when you hear her voice you think of someone taking care of you at Kaiser.

http://www.ecodesk.com/uploads/2012/01/Kaiser_Permanente_Logo.jpg

          The better the logo is compared to its competitor the more people will buy the product or service associated with the logo. A good logo is memorable, appropriate to the brand it represents, and simple so it can work everywhere and look the same in any situation, and timeless like the Coke cola logo.

http://www.vankannelsignrestoration.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/webassets/cocacola.gif

         

          The MTV logo was one of the first logo's to incorporate an ever changing logo, so that it can still be recognizable and represent the company accurately. In the Meg's exert: "Gorman observed that the MTV logo "changed the face, the idea, and the speed of graphic design"; played a major role in redefining visual identity in the electronic age." This log wiped out the idea that trademarks and visuals should be fixed and consistent. This reflects the more recent google logos which reflect whats happening in terms of seasons, holidays, politics and etc. It represents the company as well as being charming. People look forward to looking at it.

http://themyndset.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/google-images-logo.jpeg

        As the world entered into the visual age, visual identity became more important. With big multinational companies, multi-part international events, and large governmental entities all require graphic designers to develop complex design systems to manage visual identity and information flow. While accomplishing these goals, design systems also create resonance, and help define and express the nature of an event or a large organization.

Field Journal 7

Field Journal 7

Chapter 16 - 17 Review
Lester Beall

          After reading the chapters, I found the works of Lester Beall to be very interesting. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's just something about his style. I just like how his style is simple but conveys a clear message and how happy he makes me feel when I look at his work. I did some more research and found out that he had a technology oriented background as he played with ham radios and wireless sets. He had a Ph.D in the history of fine arts. He demonstrated clear use of typography and was highly regarded in the U.S and over seas. After looking at many of his pieces I began to recognize his works very easily.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/files.posterous.com/haus/jUlQegAX1Iyn8mPi7hok8bfWofbSxddqOc1VYaUWU6aAmKYd36v4bWoNR6Bh/beall_mailer-1.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJFZAE65UYRT34AOQ&Expires=1352872580&Signature=scBiuh8lf2dq2jJTeOdU1YXX5kE%3D

          Lester Beall's style is easily recognizable employing bright, bold primary colors with illustrative arrows and lines. He doesn't rely on a lot of words to state a his meaning. He uses great composition so even people who can't read can understand the meaning. I can see why this is one of his most famous and revered pieces. Have you ever heard of the word "jingoism"? Well, this wreaks of it.

http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/545005992375604168_JXfPkT3c_b.jpg

          Beall was interesting because he often incorporated a variety of media in his work like woodcuts and lithos. He would continually experimented with photographic effects and techniques. He was truly a great contributor to the modern movement in  America and made a great impression on me.

References:

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/lester_beall_american_graphic_design_pioneer__15809.asp

Field Journal 6

Field Journal 6

Chapters 13-15 Review

         Have you ever seen a bumper sticker that had a black line drawing of an Asian man with stereotypical slant eyes, buck teeth and a coolie hat sitting behind a steering wheel with the red circle around the drawing and the red slash through the circle? I've seen it and laughed at first but then it irked me a little since, hey, I'm Asian and I resemble that remark....I mean....I resent that remark..I think that is an example of contemporary dadaism. Someone must have had many encounters with bad driving Asian people in order to create this bumper sticker art.  I know I've witnessed many times of bad Asian driving. I also know that when I see someone making a dangerous driving move, I try to look at the driver to verify if they are Asian or not. Darn it, usually, they are Asian. As dadaism goes, it represents moods of the times. 

          Anyway, Dadaism was a movement that was born from the reaction to the horrors of World War I. Believing that the root of the problem stemmed from bourgeois nationalist and colonialist interests, Dadaism sought to reject the reason and logic of a society that led them to war, and instead embrace chaos and irrationality expressing it through art that rejected the many of the prevailing art standards at the time. Seeing it in Megs History of Graphic Design left a powerful impression on me, especially Heartfield's anti-Nazi photo montages.

http://imgs.abduzeedo.com/files/articles/heartfield/Adolf_the_Superman.jpg

          Dadaism is a vehicle in which people can express their opposition through art. Through this, they can reach people and communicate their views to others and perhaps gain followers, like the 2012 election for example.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SBn3ubxDHUg/0.jpg

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/anti-obama-cartoons-3.jpg