Tasks Due Today

This Week’s Topics

At the end of this session, students should have an understanding of the following:

  • Expectations for Midterm Assessment Meetings
  • Evolution and adoption of the International Style and influence on the current design field.
  • Expectations and milestones for the Research Project Presentation
  • The prompt and due date for Reading Response 6

Check-In & Share

Do you have anything to share from your Research Journal? Add a comment to this post with something you’ve added to your Research Journal recently.

Or suggest a track for the playlist on the COMD3504 playlist post.

Suggest a track

Greenwashing in Advertising

For those of you who are focusing your Research Project around climate change, environmental justice or similar, this is an essay, published in 2008 in Orion Magazine by that author, Ginger Strand, might be of interest. The essay also highlights the use of sterotype in advertising, something we will revisit in the second half othe course.

The Crying Indian

The 1970’s ad she references is:

Ginger is also a brand strategist at Pentagram (same company as Paula Scher). If as part of your research you had any questions about the essay or greenwashing in advertising in general, I’m sure she’d be happy to respond. Just let me know.

Midterm Assessment Meetings / Post

As we approach the Midterm, please schedule a meeting next week to go over your Midterm Assessment and your Research Project Outline.

Prior to the meeting, create a post called Midterm Assessment – Your Initials. Include the following:

  • a brief evaluation of your progress so far (what you’ve accomplished and what you want to improve)
  • your Learning Plan (revised, if needed)
  • links to your completed classwork

Use the tags: Midterm Assessment, Your Name/Screenname

Feedback

Review feedback on your reading responses by viewing it in the browser to see the comments in the post and/or Hypothesis. Comments on your Research Paper 1 will be found in the Google Doc over the next week.

If you’ve made updates to past Reading Response posts, be sure to let me know in the post replies. If you have any questions or concerns, contact me.

Don’t forget to submit your Weekly Agenda Checklist, indicating the tasks you’ve completed.

Activities

Below find the information covered in this session. Complete all of the following activities, videos, and assignments.

1. Universal Typography and International Style Evolution (1.5 hours)

The early European avant-garde designers like the Futurists, Dadaists, and Constructivists changed the way we use typography. Today we may use typography, not just to communicate information or data, but as a compositional element to communicate a tone, feeling, or idea.

In the readings this week we were introduced to the ideas of two designers who shared a passion for typography and layout that was clean, efficient, and structured. Influenced by the Dutch De Stijl and Bauhaus movements their work aimed to achieve a universal method for visual communication.

This evolution of influences from the Constructivists, De Stijl, New Typography, and the Bauhaus led to the mainstream adoption of the modernist International Typographic Style or Swiss Style in the mid-20th Century and beyond.

New Typography

As we’ve studied, Swiss designer, Jan Tschichold was influenced by the Dutch De Stijl movement and the Bauhaus. In his book “The Principles of the New Typography” in 1928 Tschichold promoted dynamic asymmetry, san serif fonts, and many of the tenets of the Bauhaus. He believed that typography should never distract from the goal of relaying information as efficiently as possible. Layout was based on mathematical calculations to promote visual hierarchy, but he also valued beauty and spirituality.

With the volume of information and data shared today, clarity in typography and layout is as important, if not more important as it was when Tschichold formulated his ideas.

Rewatch the Graphic Design History section on De Stijl and New Typography on LinkedIn Learning or in the YouTube video below to refresh your knowledge of this movement. NOTE: In the following video, watch from 33:29 to 36:43 and 44:02 to 48:09.

New Typography – Graphic Design History (Watch from 33:29 to 36:43 and 44:02 to 48:09 )

Swiss Style / International Typographic Style

The next generation Swiss designers and pioneers of the Swiss Style, Karl Gerstner, and Joseph Muller-Brockman created and spread their systematic approach to design across Europe and America. The typographic tools for layout and typography that we use today in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. grow out of the structured grid and typographic methods of the Swiss Style. Web and interface design also rely on the grid for clear communication.

Watch the Graphic Design History section on Swiss Typography on LinkedIn Learning or in the YouTube video below to refresh your knowledge of this movement. NOTE: In the following video, watch from 1:21:57 to 1:25:45

Swiss Style / International Typographic Style – Graphic Design History (Watch from 1:21:57 to 1:25:45)

Confoederatio Helvetica  = Switzerland (in Latin)

Originating from the early Avant-Garde, the Swiss Style / International Typographic Style (and the modernist aesthetic in general) reaches its height in the 1950s and 1960s. In America, it transforms corporate advertising.

In preparation for our look at corporate identity design and advertising next week, let’s look at the ultimate Swiss Style typeface “Helvetica.” Designed in 1957 it became a hallmark of the International Typographic Style and one of the most popular typefaces of the mid-20th century.

Watch the documentary “Helvetica” from 2007. Sign in to City Tech Kanopy first and then navigate to the video link.

Questions/notes:

  • Note the mention of MySpace and other dated references.
  • Also note that the documentary, which focuses on a typeface that was intended to be a universal typeface, is lacking a diversity of voices.
  • Throughout the video, notice all the places Helvetica is used.
  • As a typeface, what feeling does Helvetica “express” or communicate to the reader/viewer?
  • Reflect back on the readings from Week 6 by Karl Gerstner, Joseph Muller-Brockman, and Margaret Rhodes
LINK: https://citytech.kanopy.com/video/helvetica-2

2. Discussion (15 min)

After watching the 2007 documentary “Helvetica” respond to the prompt:

  • Is Helvetica Invisible?

3. Research Project Outline Presentations (30 min)

After submitting your Research Project Outline yesterday, please present your Research Project Outline to the class.

Briefly summarize your Research Project Outline highlighting the following content:

1. Introduction
Explain in detail the topic you are examining and why it is significant.

2. Background/Review of the Literature

Include a summary of the basic background information on the topic gleaned from your literature and sources review (you can include information from the readings and class, but the bulk should be outside sources).

3. Rationale

A description of the questions you are examining and why you are exploring this topic.

4. Method and Design

A description of how you will go about collecting resources/data and how you plan to present the information in your presentation.

5. References

List the resources and references you have found so far. Include all references in MLA style.

After sharing your project ideas with the class, review feedback and refine/revise your outline. Your final/revised proposal is due Week 8.

4. Assignment: Reading Response 6 (2+ Hours)

Follow the assignment guidelines and prompts: Reading Response 6 – – DUE Wednesday before the next class.

You will be reading and annotating three essays written by Madeleine Morley, Silas Munro, and Alice Rawsthorn looking at the lack of diversity in the design field and design history. Refer to Assignment: Reading Response 6 for prompts.

Read and annotate Celebrating the African-American Practitioners Absent From Way Too Many Classroom Lectures by Madeleine Morley, Eye on Design, 2018, Typography as a Radical Act in an Industry Ever-dominated by White Men by Silas Munro, Eye on Design, 2019 and Design Gets More Diverse by Alice Rawsthorn, NYTimes, 2011 with your classmates in our Hypothesis group .

As before, after annotating the text, create a rough draft of your response in your Research Journal. Your response should be about 200 words and checked for spelling and grammar errors. Publish your finished response on the class site, using the guidelines provided.

Resources

Week 7 Agenda Checklist

Below are all of the tasks, big and small, for this week. The due date is Wednesday, 11:59 pm before our next Thursday class. Timely completion of these tasks will contribute to your success in this course.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Tasks from the Week 7 Agenda
Name

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