Class 4.14

Key points from tonight's lecture:

• Postmodernism is not a style, but a group of approaches motivated by some common understandings
• it is not a theory but a set of theoretical positions
• Roots of Postmodernism- The 60’s
• Individualism was the guiding theme of 1960’s consumerism
• Graphic design had never been a pure art or dominated by the international style the way architecture was
• Wolfgang Weingart- Rejected the right angle--intuitive design
• New Wave Typography - European approach to design updated for post-modernism
• Willi Kuntz- One of the first new wave spreads
• The inventory from New Wave
• Postmodernism: appropriation, to copying styles, was no longer naive nostalgia but calculated because the past itself was considered invented
• History of Art and Design become a vast archive to be quoted appropriated and reused
• Neville Brody and his knack for creating typefaces that resembled glyphs
• Ed Fella distinctly unsystematized... inspires “Grunge”
• David Carson Disruptive and disturbed... attacking the “grand narratives” of type and design
• 80’s “Émigré”- digital type foundry type explosion- through electronic means
• Deconstruction- Structures in the mass media can be reshuffled and re-inhabited

Tonight's lecture was mainly about the world of graphic design in the 60, 70's, 80's, and 90's. We talked about postmodernism and deconstruction and how these terms influenced the work of graphic designers during this time period. Some big names mentioned were David Carson, Neville Brody, Ed Fella, and others.

It was cool to learn about Neville Brody briefly because I had to do a project on him and his design style last semester. I also really enjoyed seeing more recent graphic design work, especially the poster and advertisement work and how it incorporated a deeper meaning.

Finally, we watched a video about Barbara Kreuger that discussed how she used rhetoric in design.