I went back and looked at key points made within my essay regarding the principles of modernism and how I can incorporate them into my design process...
Avant-Garde & Anti-Historicism -
"This desire to work towards something completely new or avant-garde proves a key core principle of modernism, as many visual artists of the time felt the traditions of past work no longer represented the advancing times they were living in."
Consideration of Negative Space -
"But this focus on balance between solid and empty spaces can also be known as ‘figure’ and ‘ground’ today, in-which Vignelli and Mueller-Brockman consider to be so essential to consider in the structure of design. As it relates to the arrangement of single words in an article, to whole groups of images and the negative space which surrounds it. The negative space of the canvas is just as important as the positive elements that we place on as design is an arrangement of both shapes and space. As Jan Tschichold is known for saying “White space is to be regarded as an active element, not a passive background” (Bradley, 2014) thus displaying to us how concepts that have been developed from these initial modernist movements, have now developed into something that is still ‘vital’ in the consistencies of todays designs."
I will reflect this within my editorial design, choosing a suitable grid format which will allow me to experiment with the negative space around the page and allow it to enhance the content within.
The Bauhaus (concept ideas & type) -
"the school encouraged simplified forms, rationality, functionality and the idea that mass production could live in harmony with artistic individuality."
"It was Herbet Beyer's universal typeface (1926) which is a perfect example of Bauhaus ideas: simple, economical of form, legible and clean, and international — no umlauts or capital letters to declare its German-ness! These all being popular characteristics of the typography used nowadays."
My editorial design will be greatly influenced by Bauhaus ideas of modernism - "simplified forms, rationality and functionality". I plan to do abit more research into these Bauhaus influences on contemporary graphic design and it is clear that their influence on type will definetely be reflecting through my use of simple and consistent sans-serif typefaces!
Grids -
"In graphic design today it is a guideline that helps the designer align elements in relation to each other, with consistent margins and columns it creates an underlying structure that unifies the pages of a document and makes the layout process more efficient. The grid offers a rationale and a starting point for each composition, converting a blank area into a structured field (from GD The New Basics). The design principles of the constructivists is still borrowed, and stolen, from in much of graphic design today, even if their use of the grid system varied slightly in comparison to how its used today!"
Supports my point on negative space above, this communicates exactly how I plan to make use of a grid within my lookbook to keep pages consistent and clear.
Form Follows Function -
"Form follows function is a phrase that modernists have been throwing round since the beginning. It suggests how the intended function (purpose) of the design should always come first and it is what inspired the minimal design styles, through stripping designs back to the essence. Modernists do not want over-complications within their design and do not want to crowd the message, so these simplistic principles which the likes of the Bauhaus and De Stijl share have stemmed from this idea in order to communicate their ideas to the audience as the most appropriate designs of highest visual and practical quality. Design should never appear as it does to just ‘look nice’, it must appear as it does with regards to what it is meant to do, so it becomes a more natural design which has been moulded and adapted to be the best."
I will push this point to ensure the information and context is communicated in the most appropriate manor for viewing, whilst still appearing aesthetically pleasing through its simplicity.
Internationalism -
"The Modern Movement was said to have achieved Internationalism, meaning it had achieved to provide the world with design for all, acting as a universal ‘language’. This was done by breaking down international barriers between disciplines and classes of consumers, all being part of the ‘quest for a universal human consciousness’."
Just reinforces the idea of ensuring it can be interpreted clearly by all.
Truth to Materials -
"Truth to materials is another principle that signifies the Modernist Movement. It is the celebration of the material that has been selected for use and the reliance on its properties to provide the required level of quality and functionality for the product/piece of design...
... At the present time this principle has been lost in the design process, as materials and their properties are forever being enhanced and adjusted so the above the line characteristics ensure quality for consumers, disregarding the concept as some designers can often view aesthetics and function separately and not celebrate both as the Modern Movement does."
I can satisfy this principle simply through the use of appropriate stock for the lookbook and through consideration of how it will be packaged.
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I can use what I've communicated in my essay to reinforce the principles into my design.
I read another interest article on the influence of the Bauhaus on modern day graphic design..
Wassily Kandinsky wrote extensively about composition – how objects relate to one another on the page, and how to guide the viewer’s eye. Paul Klee’s entire career was virtually an exploration in colour theory – how the use of a colour can provoke an instant, desired reaction in a viewer’s mind, and how that can change their perception of what is presented to them. Herbert Bayer broke down typography into as few geometric shapes as possible, paving the way for ‘Grotesk’ fonts to become accepted as the more standardised Sans-Serifs that we all know and overuse.
These are the principal visual building blocks for our industry, people! The Bauhaus had an incredible knack for taking new and creative ideas and distilling them into a system of principles. Their work helped put down the foundations for the modern grid system and create rhythm throughout design, a rhythm that’s still being tapped out on designers’ desks the world over."
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I next wanted to look at the points Vignelli made regarding his portrayal of the Modernist design principles in his Canon.. (http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/massimo-vignelli-61411897)
Methodology - Vignelli's design methodology is well documented in many interviews, articles, books and videos, but is summarised with particular clarity in The Vignelli Canon, a short book he wrote towards the end of his career which with typical generosity he made available as a free PDF download.
The first half of the book, with sets out Vignelli's fundamental design principles in no more than 40 pages, is one of the clearest guides to the modernist design aesthetic available anywhere.
The designer's first objective when beginning a new project, says Vignelli, is to attain a clear understanding of the 'semantics' of the task before her: the designer must take time to understand the nature of the client and their audience, and how the subject of the design will relate to sender and receiver in such as way as to make sense to both.
"The consistency of a design is provided by the appropriate relationship of the various syntactical elements of the project: how type relates to grids and images from page to page throughout the whole project. Or, how type sizes relate to each other. Or, how pictures relate to each other and how the parts relate to the whole. There are ways to achieve all this that are correct, as there are others that are incorrect, and should be avoided."
Correct definition of the project's semantics and syntax creates a framework within which the designer can exercise his imagination to develop an 'appropriate' design. For the professional designer creativity can only come into play within the grid of possibilities established through completion of the first two stages in the design process.
Design is one - Vignelli believed these principles - semantics, syntax and appropriateness - should be applied to all projects across every field of design, whether the subject be the layout of a business card or the architecture of a skyscraper. As he put it, 'Design is one':
"The discipline of Design is one and can be applied to many different subjects, regardless of style. Design discipline is above and beyond any style. All style requires discipline in order to be expressed. Very often people think that Design is a particular style.
Nothing could be more wrong! Design is a discipline, a creative process with its own rules, controlling the consistency of its output toward its objective in the most direct and expressive way."
Timeless Quality - The pursuit of intellectual elegance invests design with a timeless quality:
"We are for a Design that lasts, that responds to people’s needs and to people's wants. We are for a Design that is committed to a society that demands long lasting values. A society that earns the benefit of commodities and deserves respect and integrity."
"We are for a Design that lasts, that responds to people’s needs and to people's wants. We are for a Design that is committed to a society that demands long lasting values. A society that earns the benefit of commodities and deserves respect and integrity."
Typographic principles - Vignelli's work is characterised by great simplicity. His graphic design is of particular interest to digital designers, exhibiting a particularly pure expression of the modernist typographic principles that inform professional online design.
All of his designs make disciplined use of the grid, organising content into modules created by the interplay of rows and columns. He makes careful use of asymmetry and whitespace to invest his designs with tension and dynamism.
Horizontal Rules - The use of horizontal rules to further demarcate the ordering of content was a particular characteristic of his work. His canon overflows with characteristic enthusiasm for the creative possibilities afforded by the grid: for Vignelli, whitespace evokes the great open spaces of the American landscape, and gridlines are redolent of musical notation:
"It is just like in music, where five lines and seven notes allow one to make infinite compositions. That is the magic of the grid."
He favoured the use of strong imagery and bold colour schemes, often restricting himself to the use of the primary colours, blue, red and yellow. This helped give his designs clarity and directness:
"Visual strength is an expression of intellectual elegance and should never be confused with just visual impact - which, most of the time, is just an expression of visual vulgarity and obtrusiveness."
"It is just like in music, where five lines and seven notes allow one to make infinite compositions. That is the magic of the grid."
He favoured the use of strong imagery and bold colour schemes, often restricting himself to the use of the primary colours, blue, red and yellow. This helped give his designs clarity and directness:
"Visual strength is an expression of intellectual elegance and should never be confused with just visual impact - which, most of the time, is just an expression of visual vulgarity and obtrusiveness."
The Minimal Approach - His use of type was similarly severe. Vignelli often used just one typeface for each design, and often simplified matters even further by avoiding use of italics and bold, relying instead on gradations of scale to establish typographic hierarchy. And - famously - he used only a handful of typefaces through his entire career.
Vignelli welcolmed the design possibilities afforded by new technology, but lamented the proliferation of redundant typefaces made possible by the accessibility of type design software:
"The advent of the computer generated the phenomena called desktop publishing. This enabled anyone who could type the freedom of using any available typeface and do any kind of distortion. It was a disaster of mega proportions. A cultural pollution of incomparable dimension. As I said, at the time, if all people doing desktop publishing were doctors we would all be dead! Typefaces experienced an incredible explosion. The computer allowed anybody to design new typefaces and that became one of the biggest visual pollution of all times."
Vignelli went so far as to arrange an exhibition demonstrating the range of work his agency had been able to undertake using only four typefaces: Garamond, Bodoni, Century Expanded, and Helvetica.
Vignelli welcolmed the design possibilities afforded by new technology, but lamented the proliferation of redundant typefaces made possible by the accessibility of type design software:
"The advent of the computer generated the phenomena called desktop publishing. This enabled anyone who could type the freedom of using any available typeface and do any kind of distortion. It was a disaster of mega proportions. A cultural pollution of incomparable dimension. As I said, at the time, if all people doing desktop publishing were doctors we would all be dead! Typefaces experienced an incredible explosion. The computer allowed anybody to design new typefaces and that became one of the biggest visual pollution of all times."
Vignelli went so far as to arrange an exhibition demonstrating the range of work his agency had been able to undertake using only four typefaces: Garamond, Bodoni, Century Expanded, and Helvetica.
A Deceptive Simplicity - Vignelli's graphic design work has a deceptive simplicity. Simple grids. Simple use of whitespace. Simple photography. Simple typography. Any designer might think: "I could do that."
And they would be right. Vignelli's work is eminently accessible. There is nothing mysterious about it. Everything is transparent, out in the open. Every aspect of his designs have been created in the full light of well established design principles that anyone can learn and implement. That is the whole point of the modernist design process: to move design from the cloudy subjective realm of inspiration to the well-lit objective world of documented repeatable process.
But the example of Vignelli's life and work also serves to demonstrate that knowledge of sound design principles is not enough. Design is not merely an intellectual process, it is a moral discipline. The obsessive, exalted terms in which Vignelli refers to design demonstrates his acute understanding of the self-sacrifice that good design requires.
And they would be right. Vignelli's work is eminently accessible. There is nothing mysterious about it. Everything is transparent, out in the open. Every aspect of his designs have been created in the full light of well established design principles that anyone can learn and implement. That is the whole point of the modernist design process: to move design from the cloudy subjective realm of inspiration to the well-lit objective world of documented repeatable process.
But the example of Vignelli's life and work also serves to demonstrate that knowledge of sound design principles is not enough. Design is not merely an intellectual process, it is a moral discipline. The obsessive, exalted terms in which Vignelli refers to design demonstrates his acute understanding of the self-sacrifice that good design requires.
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