Author: Sally Ruan (Page 1 of 2)

According to Steven Heller, the concept of mainstream vs underground is relevant in contemporary design because now, designers just follow current trends. For example, Steven Heller says “Today, designers for mainstream advertising companies, weaned on alternative approaches, have folded the underground into the mainstream and call it “cool.” This example shows many “underground” has been brought back and people thing its cool. People often just follow the trends that happen around the world, if others think its cool, then you’ll think its cool too. Designers is taking underground ideas and adding onto it and changing it up to become another idea.

My designer I chose was Jeff Koons, he fits into mainstream because most of his work is based of everyday objects. The artwork was called “Puppy”, it is created to be caught up with the current world events. Puppy is coated with flowers and changes according to the season. Ever since covid took over the world everyone had to wear a mask and to keep up with the things happening around the world, Puppy got a mask too!

Puppy was built based off a design of formal gardens of the 18th-century and items like Chia Pets. Although Chia Pets were seen in the 2000, Jeff Koons combined two ideas from the early years into one and created something that is kept up with the world. As time goes by, Puppy will move along with us. Just like a real dog, Puppy gets taken care of.

Saltz J. When the Low Went Very High. New York. 2009;42(42):62-64. Accessed December 2, 2020.

Smith R. A New Dog in Town, Steel and Sprouting. New York Times. June 8, 2000.
Accessed December 2, 2020.

Zulaika, Joseba. “In Love with Puppy: Flowers, Architecture, Art, and the Art of Irony.” International Journal of Iberian Studies, vol. 16, no. 3, Oct. 2003, pp. 145–158. EBSCOhost,

Roland Barthes analyzes an advertising image. He uses the panzani brand ad to analyze and find the different messages that are conveyed.

There are three messages,

Linguistic, Connoted and Denoted

“If our reading is satisfactory, the photograph analyzed offers us three
messages: a linguistic message, a coded iconic message, and a non-coded
iconic message”

“Hence in every society various techniques are developed intended to fix the floating chain of signifieds in such a way as to counter the terror of uncertain signs; the linguistic message is one of these techniques.”

“At the level of the literal message, the text replies-in a more or
less direct, more or less partial manner – to the question: what is lf ? The text
helps to identify purely and simply the elements of the scene and the scene
itself; it is a matter of a denoted description of the image (a description
which is often incomplete) or, in Hjelmslev’s terminology, of an operation (as
opposed to connotation)”

“Another difficulty in analyzing connotation is that there is no particular analytical language corresponding to the particularity of its signifieds-how are the signifieds of connotation to be named?”

“When it comes to the “symbolic message,” the linguistic message no longer
guides identification but interpretation, constituting a kind of vise which
holds the connoted meanings from proliferating, whether towards excessively individual regions (it limits, that is to say, the projective power of the
image) or towards dysphoric values”

L’Oréal’s ad “True Match” is to empower everyone to embrace their beauty and worth. Each individual in the ad below shares their own story. “L’Oréal beauty for all.”

Nike is known for female empowerment throughout their ads. This video was dedicated for International Women’s Day. “One day, we won’t need this day. We won’t need a day to celebrate how far we’ve come.”

Telfar is a brand that sells unisex clothing. The designer, Telfar is known for being the first to design unisex clothing before it even became a thing. “Telfar is a brand aspiring toward anonymity, accessibility, and affordability through basics.” The tagline for his collection is “Its not for you, Its for everybody.”

Technology is everywhere now in 2020, back in the day people did not have as advanced things as we did now but as times passed media is always part of our lives. Media extends humans, we use media everyday to keep us up to date with news that is happening around us. There are many types of media and many different content coming from each. For example, “The content or uses of such media are as diverse as they are ineffectual in shaping the form of human association.”  Media changes the way we see things, and the way we interact with others.  For Example, “It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of modern society and the stability of its inner life depend in large part on the maintenance of an equilibrium between the strength of the techniques of communication and the capacity of the individual’s own reaction.”

A hazard technological progress can bring for individuals and society is the loss of jobs and the change of people. For example,“ Thus, with automation, for example, the new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs, it is true.” McLuhan also describes that technology has shaped the way people worked. “The restructuring of human work and association was shaped by the technique of fragmentation that is the essence of machine technology.”

The medium is the message, The role artists and designers can play in “the medium is the message” is by showing the messages behind each of the artwork/designs. Instead of just straight up writing the information, artists can come up with ideas and show by using art. Throughout the years with technology evolving it has also impacted artists. For example, “The percussed victims of the new technology have invariably muttered clichés about the impracticality of artists and their fanciful preferences.” Artists must keep up with technology and work along with it.

According to Jan Tschichold, one should design with clarity and clearness. For example, “This utmost clarity is necessary today because of the manifold claims for our attention made by the extraordinary amount of print, which demands the greatest economy of expression. “ Jan Tschichold says the arrangement in old typography is on a central axis and as times passed it was overused and  we should not do that anymore. For example, “We believe it is wrong to arrange a text as if there were some focal point in the center of a line that would justify such an arrangement. “ Tschichold believes that designers should explore more and further beyond.

According to Karl Gerstner, combining art and science together is design. For example, he says “Designing means: to pick out determining elements and combine them.” He believes that one should design with what he calls the morphological box of the typogram.  “I have produced the diagram below in accordance with his instructions and, following his terminology, I have called it “the morphological box of the typogram.” In the short text it also showed images of his “box”.

Josef Müller-Brockmann says that design should be done with grids. For example, “The use of the grid as an ordering system is the expression of a certain mental attitude inasmuch as it shows that the designer conceives his work in terms that are constructive and oriented to the future.” He says working with the grid system will make it more organized and clear to work with.

According to Herbert Bayer, he believes that art is lacking typography back in his day.“it must, unfortunately, be remembered that we live in a time of great ignorance and lack of concern with the alphabet, writing, and typography.” Herbert Bayer created the Bauhaus typography, he believes that technology will replace the way we read. “the storage of books will be replaced by microfilms, which in turn will change the design of libraries.” The role that typography, photography and other media plays in art is that it conveys a message, photos of protests have a message by just looking at that photo. For example, “once more it became clear that typography is not self-expression within predetermined aesthetics, but that it is conditioned by the message it visualizes.” (Herbert Bayer).László Moholy-Nagy merges typography and photography into typophoto, and believes typography and photography is the same. “Typography is communication composed in type. Photography is the visual presentation of what can be optically apprehended. Typophoto is the visually most exact rendering of communication.” Walter Gropius believed that modern paintings and breaking old conventions and having training will lead to new art in the future. “But when, in the future, artists who sense new creative values have had practical training in the industrial world, they will themselves possess the means for realizing those values immediately. They will compel industry to serve their idea and industry will seek out and utilize their comprehensive training.” He also believes that ‘The Academy’ is not a good way to learn about art. “Schooling alone can never produce art! Whether the finished product is an exercise in ingenuity or a work of art depends on the talent of the individual who creates it. This quality cannot be taught and cannot be learned.“ He is saying art is creativity within one’s self, it cannot be taught.