Craft and Industrialisation

The Art and Crafts movement is generally agreed to have started in 1860 with the work of William Morris in England where it expanded throughout Britain and into North America and Europe enjoying a long eminence as a movement until 1930.

 The lifespan of the movement persisted for such a period because it a genuine reaction to a change and persisting deficiency in culture. The idea of craft, which was viewed by some as a revival of medieval guilds and the notion of the artisan, was developed very much in parallel to the recent industrialisation of means of production.  Some understood craft as an overwhelming cultural force where design and its resultant environment are directly responsible for the harmony of its inhabitants. Importantly much of the movement centres around culture and the changing relationship between man and his work.

Morris a revivalist preoccupied with socialism, viewed craft as ennobling the people. Industrial culture was viewed as a subjugation of the people to the design and aesthetic to industrial methods. The craftsman would have the requisite skills to build a piece, whether a table, wallpaper, printing or a house from beginning to end. Subsequent craft societies that sprung up over the world appear to be centred around the independence of the craftsman and the emancipation from the industrial method where labour is divided according to process. This is consistent with socialist literature where the worker loses connection to his product. He is a contributor rather than a creator.

The dichotomy between man and machine is very much at the heart of the movement whereas initially it was a reaction against industrialisation later on many recognized the utility of industry for the purposes of craft.

In terms of design the movement although renowned for its ornamentation gives precedence to function while ornamentation is secondary. It rejected the excessive decoration of industrial products, the compromising of an objects function, the removal of man from his product and manufacturing’s claim to originality.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_Movement

designmuseum.org/design/art-and-craft–movement

www.artyfactory.com/art…/graphic…/william_morris.html

www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/artsandcrafts/

www.designhistory.org/ArtsCrafts.html

Continental Movements 1900 – ?

The above movements represent various forms of avant garde dissatisfaction with the status quo, the need for cultural change and an emphasis on the future rather than the past. The movements are deeply intertwined and only differ in respects such as the coinage of a name originating from a particular country, an aesthetic style, or slight philosophical differences between the groups. As the movements encompass a broad range of ideas and arts within the period there are as many contradictions as there are similarities.

Dada

Dada was an aggressive rejection of the past and preoccupied with destroying the status quo in a time of moral, spiritual, economic and political turmoil presumably to make way for a healthier culture to flourish in its absence. It originated in Switzerland and was primarily a philosophical and ideological movement that  was represented in the arts. Over time as european artists moved overseas Dada soon broke its continental levees and was synthesised into various international art groups. Famous examples include Duchamp’s readymade urinal and Schwitter’s poems and collage.

Expressionism

Expressionism is an academic term used primarily for grouping painting from this period but can be expanded to include any medium within the arts that champions free expression. The expressionist whether in film, painting or poetry was concerned with expressing himself and rather than being confined to traditional objective methods of expression. An expressionist’s work is subjective. Members from the other groups could be said to be expressionist or use expressionist methods .

Constructivism

Constructivism originated in Russia and like Dada was an active rejection of the past. Particular to Russia, having recently reintroduced a limited capitalist policy, this included promoting capitalism through new forms of graphic and commercial art. This movement while ideologically runs parallel and was associated with other continental groups was largely preoccupied with issues of national politics.

Futurism

Futurism came from Italy and was associated with its leader Filippo Marinetti. The movement spread all over Europe and it manifestations in painting, design and architecture became indistinguishable from  Dada, Constructivism and Expressionism. Futurism could be said to represent a more positive emphasis of the future rather than an aggressive rejection of the past in the case of Dada.

Art Deco

Art Deco is the aesthetic synthesis of the above ideas primarily into architecture and design while some artists have been said to be described as Art Deco. Art Deco survived well into the sixties. The idea evolved into the modern idea of functionality.

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

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

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

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

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

Cradle to Cradle in Practice: USPS

The United States Postal Service was interested in the Cradle to Cradle philosophy and a movement towards more sustainable business practice. This first stage of the ongoing effort was completed in September 2010. Areas of the USPS business that CBDC looked at include alternative fuels for transportation, greener production facilities, recycling or ‘upcycling’ processes for waste but the predominate focus was on the USPS range of envelopes and packages.

2 years of design research and work on the USPS product range where MBDC established 350 component materials which a further comprise 1800 individual ingredients. An important aspect of the MBDC approach is the recognition that a business is an economical and financial unit and much of its work is the practical integration of sustainable design into the business.

For UPS to achieve the certification on its product range involved working with 20 primary and 250 additional suppliers across the world in assessing and changing the materials that make up the product. Today there are 700 million certified envelopes and packages produced annually. USPS as a business and MBDC as consultants recognize the significanceof an ongoing process and a long term approach. A corporation can’t change its process overnight and would never undertake environmental practice if it were uneconomical. USPS currently has a sustainability department with key areas of focus and an implementation strategy that was developed with and will continue to work on with MBDC. http://www.mbdc.com

www.mcdonough.com/product.htm www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm www.usps.com/green/welcome.htm www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007

AdBusters: Graphic Design for Social Change

Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian based alternative media group centred around a monthly magazine devoted to socio cultural change and awareness. It describes itself as a ‘CultureJammer’. It doesn’t feature advertisements and relies solely on sales.

 The magazine has a strong visual emphasis on design, photography and art. A large part of this visual content is devoted to culture jamming where an internal contradiction of contemporary culture is made visible for example by subvertising. It also features articles and short passages from writers both published and unpublished. Public submissions of art and text are welcomed.

The group has no definitive political stance but does feature recurring ideas and positions. Among these are an opposition to corporate power, consumer lifestyle, commercial saturation, digital saturation, environmental neglect and globalisation to name a few. Because of its ambiguous position which is decidedly left some have hypothesized that it is an anarchist publication. The non-adoption of a specific position gives it a broader audience where the public can pick and choose ideas with which they agree. Importantly the magazine is an alternative to corporate industrial media. Rather than being consumers the  readership become active participants in organised and underground methods of subversion.

Some of the Adbusters campaigns include ‘Buy Nothing Day’, ‘Blackspot’ an experiment in independent, ethical capitalism, ‘Kick it Over’ a guerrilla protest against economic rationalism, ‘Media Carta’ an organised retaliation against the corporatisation of the Huffington Post and ‘Digital Detox Week’.

http://www.adbusters.org/

http://www.adbusters.org/cultureshop/mediakit

http://transitionculture.org/

http://www.rawstory.com/

 http://www.adbusters.org/blogs

Jan Tschichold – New Typography

German-born typographer Jan Tschichold revolutionized the field of graphic design with his bold, asymmetrical compositions, use of sanserif type, and exacting attention to detail.

Tschichold was the son of a provincial signwriter, and he was trained in calligraphy. This artisan background and calligraphic training set him apart from almost all other noted typographers of the time, since they had inevitably trained in architecture or the fine arts. Tschichold, perhaps the most visible proponent of modern graphic design prior to World War II, eventually embraced a more classical sensibility, raising that to a new level of refinement. Today, Tschichold remains one of the most important figures in the history of graphic design. Through his many books andarticles, showing that he was as much an explainer as a designer.

* Born April, 1902 in Leipzig, Germany.

* Tschichold attended the “Akademie for Grafische Künste and Buchgewerbe “in Leipzig from 1919 until 1921.

* 1923 freelanced as a commercial graphic artist.

* From 1926 until 1933, taught typography at Paul Renners Master Classes for Book Printers in Munich.

* 1928 saw the publication of perhaps his most influential work, The New Typography.

* 1933 Tschichold emigrated to Switzerland, where he worked for several publishers in

  Basel and taught at the School for the Applied Arts.

* In 1946 Tschichold went to London, where he was art director at Penguin Books until 1949.

* Between 1955 and 1967 he worked as a design consultant for the Basel pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche before retiring.

– 1928 saw the publication of perhaps his most influential work,

The New Typography.

Materials the Nazis deemed improper during World War Two

all copies of Tschichold’s  books, most likely ended up in the

mountains of burning books .

http://www.jan-tschichold.com/

http://www.identifont.com

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

Accueil

Design Can Change . Org ~ Will

Design Can Change is a website based initiative that focuses on Graphic Design and how it can be used for good. The site itself is an example on how graphic design can make a difference, providing interactive and informative articles on world issues such as climate change and sustainability, to help get the message across why it is important to design for change. Design Can Change is filled with info, ideas and articles on how as designers we can produce work that influences the public to think differently about the things we buy and they way we live.

“This site is focused around you, the designer, and why you have to become sustainable. By now, you know that embracing sustainable practices is simply necessary for any designer that wishes to stay competitive. But isn’t there more to it than that?

     Remember the first time one of your designs reached the public? If you are like us, you felt a wave of amazement, inspired by the fact that you could do something substantial with your craft. Suppose you were given the opportunity to regain that sense of accomplishment and delight?

     Perhaps this is the moment we have been waiting for, when we show the world that designers do impact positive change. This is our time to come together, engage in a global challenge, and present real solutions. You may feel differently, but for many of us, that’s the most exciting possibility we’ve ever been presented with.”

http://www.designcanchange.org/

For a change Zimbabwean Chaz Maviyane-Davies. Justine Barratt

When controversial Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe announced in May 2000 that elections would be held in June, giving the opposition party little time to launch a campaign, Zibegan a month of “graphic activism.” Each day, he created one or two politically charged posters to counter ensuing voter intimidation by Mugabe’s government.

Maviyane-Davies’ posters helped inspire an international community of support for fair elections in Zimbabwe. His works were posted daily to the website of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. They were also published in magazines and newspapers from South Africa to Sweden, made into screen savers, printed on T-shirts, and thrown out of vehicle windows in parts of rural Zimbabwe where the threat of state-sponsored preelection violence was high.

“I found it was the only way to keep my sanity in the center of an absurd and dangerous situation,” Maviyane-Davies says. So effective were the posters that Maviyane-Davies soon began to fear for his safety under the Mugabe regime, and in January 2001 he moved to the United States, where he is now a professor of graphic design at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston.

Aiming to reclaim the power of the poster from corporate advertisers through “creative defiance,” the 55-year-old designer creates posters that he believes will inspire hope for a more just future not only in Zimbabwe but wherever human rights violations occur.

“If design can be used to sell jeans and perfume, then I will use it to fight for democracy and against injustice,”

Motivated by a desire to portray Africa through a lens that sees more than just war and famine, Maviyane-Davies created a poster series that celebrates the essence of 12 articles in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights from an African perspective.

http://blogs.uit.tufts.edu/artistsaschangemakers/2007/11/chaz_maviyane_d.html

http://www.maviyane.com/

http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/?tag=chaz-maviyane-davies

http://www.anotherafrica.net/?p=1752

http://arh346.blogspot.com/2008/04/chaz.html

Who is Mr. Brainwash?!? – Madii

Los Angeles based filmmaker and most recently pop artist Thierry Guetta A.K.A (Mr Brainwash)is responsible for one of Los Angeles most successful solo exhibitions “life is beautiful” . He has spent the better part of the last decade attempting to make the ultimate street art documentary. Meanwhile, inspired by his subjects, and being encouraged by none other than the one and only Banksy he started hitting the streets, from Los Angeles to Paris, with spray painted stencils and posters of his pop art inspired images. Ironically ended up being the centre of Banksy’s 2010 documentary “Exit through the gift shop”.

He rapidly emerged as a renowned figure on the international street art scene n addition to his widely recognized images, Life is Beautiful featured larger than life installations which included a 20-foot robot made of old televisions, a life-size recreation of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks and a pyramid made from 20,000 books. Originally scheduled to open for only two weeks, the exhibit was extended for three months, attracting more than 30,000 visitors.The artwork attributed to Guetta strongly emulates the styles and artistic concepts of well-known street artists including Banksy and Shepard Fairy. Like Banksy, Guetta employs famous artistic and historic images, many of which are copyrighted, and amends the originals in slight or significant ways. Unlike Banksy, who is shown in the film creating his own work, Guetta states in the film that his work largely consists of “scanning and photoshopping,” acts which are carried out by hired assistants. Guetta further admits in Exit through the gift shop that most of the actual artistic process is carried out by hired graphic designers to whom he describes his ideas. In the film, he is not shown creating much artwork himself.

http://www.mrbrainwash.com/about/about.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Brainwash

http://www.urbanartcore.eu/mr-brainwash-terrible-artist-or-worst-artist-ever/

http://obeygiant.com/headlines/mr-brainwash-life-is-beautiful-exhibition

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/04/banksy_mr_brainwash.html

Project M – Michelle Davies

“We just want to change the world. Sure, we may not be known in the in circles… But, we do know how to save the rain forest with a waterproof book. We do know how to build a park with a postcard. And we know how to bring water to a community with a few pages of newsprint. We are part of a design movement. We believe that ability equals responsibility.”

Project M is an intensive summer  program designed to inspire young graphic designers, writers, photographers and other creative people that their work can have a positive and significant impact on the world.

John Bielenberg, pictured right, a Belfast, Maine, and San Francisco-based graphic designer, started Project M in 2003. This program was inspired by the work of Samuel Mockbee and Rural Studio. 

The Rural Studio brings architecture students to Hale County, Alabama, where they design, fund and build innovative housing and community projects.

The first group of Project M designers arrived in Maine for a month-long investigation into ‘Thinking Wrong’ in May of 2003. During that inaugural program, we produced a publication that pushed the traditional form and expectations of a book. The American Institute of Graphic Arts selected the book as one of the 50 best designed of the year.

Think Wrong Book

Other projects have included a communication project for the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica,  a project with The Womens Trust, which does micro-financing in Ghana, where Project M purchased a used ambulance and converted it into a rolling design studio. Their first expedition was to deliver donated equipment and supplies to Gulf Coast designers displaced by hurricane Katrina. Another project involved a trip in the ambulance to East Baltimore where they created the “This is not grass” book, designed to encourage donations to build parks on abandoned urban lots in East Baltimore, and a water meter funding scheme called the Buy-a-meter campaign.

The Buy-a-meter campaign

Project M

Magazine story

Design Ignites Change 

C2

Project Buy-a-meter

Project This is not Grass