en.qoob.tv

en.qoob.tv is a website full wierd and wonderful videos. Heres a few i liked which have relevence to my research project.http://en.qoob.tv/video/

Archigraphia (geometric forms used in the enviroment)

found some amazing books in the library. I came across this book called archigraphia it documents examples of geometric designs used in the enviroment. From looking at this work ive become more interested in the work of Dan Reisinger. I will show examples of his work later on..for now heres some geo in the enviroment.

Wolfgang Weingart

Weingart was born in 1941 and trained as a typesetter in Basel, Switzerland.[2] According to a 1991 interview in Eye magazine: "since 1968 he has been a tutor at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel, Switzerland, where he concentrates on experimental typography. Since 1972, Weingart has lectured widely on his teaching methods in Europe, the US, Canada and Mexico. He is a contributor to the Journal Typographische Monatsblätter, for which he designed a series of covers, and is founder of the periodicals Typographic Process and TM/Communication."[3]
According to Weingart, "I took 'Swiss Typography' as my starting point, but then I blew it apart, never forcing any style upon my students. I never intended to create a 'style'. It just happened that the students picked up — and misinterpreted — a so called 'Weingart style' and spread it around.

Breakmould

I think this video is done by Breakmould (Rich Lyons). A nice use of geometric shapes and neon colour.

superscript 2

Gundam Wing

Ive always liked the angular geometric shapes used in gundam wing..

Connect four and Hofmann

Armin Hofmann teached lessens on composition using simple dots and lines...

wooden blocks toy

Ken Garland

I posted Ken Garlands connect toy on my previous blog, i think it has some relevence to what i am researching now. I think its a great toy simular to the buro destruct designer it alows the user to experiment with shapes and pattern. I love the simplicity to this toy and the possiblity of type and logo design.

Ben Bos

Ben Bos was part of the Dutch design studio called total design. He worked alongside Wim Crouwel, Benno Wissing, Frisso Kramer and the Schwarz Brothers. I realy like Ben Bos's work his style is in the the vien as Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruders work. I think his work falls into the International Style but with a more playfull use of colour.

60's70's

The Sixties and Seventies [View Posters]





Hofmann, Armin
Tell, 1963



Monguzzi, Bruno
Stadttheater Basel, 1960



Muller-Brockmann, Josef
Musica Viva March 26, 1957 - Rosbaud, Messiaen, 1957

The International Typographic Style
Based on the design advances of the ‘30s, a new graphic design style emerged in the ‘50s that would have an impact far beyond Switzerland’s borders. Because of its strong reliance on typographic elements, the new style came to be known as the International Typographic Style. It became the predominant graphic design style in the world in the ‘70s, and continues to exert its influence today.

Its hallmarks were: the use of a mathematical grid to provide an overall orderly and unified structure; sans serif typefaces (especially Helvetica, introduced in 1961) in a flush left and ragged right format; and black and white photography in place of drawn illustration. The overall impression is simple and rational, tightly structured and serious, clear and objective, and harmonious. The style was refined at two design schools in Switzerland, one in Basel led by Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder, and the other in Zurich under the leadership of Joseph Muller-Brockmann. All had studied with Keller at the Zurich school of design before WWII.

The new style became widely synonymous with the "look" of many Swiss cultural institutions which used posters as advertising vehicles. Hofmann’s series for the Basel State Theater and Muller-Brockmann’s for Zurich’s Tonhalle are two of the most famous. Hofmann’s accentuation of contrasts between various design elements and Muller-Brockmann’s exploration of rhythm and tempo in visual form are high notes in the evolution of the style.

In addition, the new style was perfectly suited to the increasingly global postwar marketplace. The Swiss language problem became a world-wide problem, and there was a strong need for clarity in word and symbol. Corporations needed international identification, and global events such as the Olympics called for universal solutions which the Typographic Style could provide. With such good teachers and proselytizers, the use of the International Typographic Style spread rapidly throughout the world. In the US, Hofmann’s Basel design school established a link with the Yale School of Design, which became the leading American center for the new style.

Pelican Book covers

a lot of these book covers show reference to the swiss style, simple geometric forms and layouts. The use of Akzidenze and later helvetica

Catch me if you can

Elements of Swiss design.

Nice Typographic Video

A nice little animation using typography, grid systems reminiscent of constructivism and Bauhaus

Wim Crouwel - Buro Destruct

Idea Magazine 323 –– Wim Crouwel

need to get this issue at some point

Max Bill

De stijl style is interesting, part of me likes the way artists involved in this movement were so strick in terms of using the grid and colour scemes and another part of me says little experimentation. I think designers such as Armin Hofmann tooks the ideas of the De Stijl movement and progressed them.

Theo Bullmer

After World War I, the Swiss came to the fore in graphic design, a new discipline required to meet the needs of the machine age. The Swiss readily absorbed its principles from the Russian Constructivists, the Dutch De Stijl movement, and the experiments at the Bauhaus.

The key figure in Switzerland was Ernst Keller, who began teaching at the Design School in Zurich in 1918, and mentored the generation of artists who would create the world leading International Typographic Style after World War II. Other key figures were Jan Tschichold, formulator of The New Typography, who emigrated to Basel in 1933 and began teaching at the Design School there; and Theo Ballmer, a pupil of Keller’s who studied briefly at the Bauhaus and taught at the Basel Design School beginning in 1931.

Theo Ballmer alongside Max Bill studied at Bauhaus and later moved to Zurich Switzerland. Both Bullmer and Bill ingrained the grid in generations of designers.

This poster designed by Theo Bullmer is an excellent example of simple constructavist design, this style of layout and grid is simular to the work of armin Hofmann, its interesting to see how the swiss changed and moulded thier own style later known as Neue Grafik taking bits from de stijl, bauhaus teachings, constructivism etc.

Elements of Concrete style; simple block colours and geometric forms.

Micheal Place (build) interviews Wim Crowel

Micheal Place (build) interviews Wim Crowel

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/striking-the-eye-an-interview-with-wim-crouwel/

Concrete art and design

Concrete art and design or concretism is an abstractionist movement evolving in the 1930's out of the work of De Stijl, the futurists and Kandinsky around the Swiss painter Max Bill. The term "concrete art" was first introduced by Theo van Doesburg in his "Manifesto of Concrete Art" (1930). In his understanding, this form of abstractionism must be free of any symbolical association with reality, arguing that lines and colors are concrete by themselves.

Painters who were also progressive designers and typographers practised Concrete art: abstract, geometrical, computational, flat- coloured. They carried their mathematical methods of spatial organization directly into their graphic work.

Piet Mondrian - De Stijl movement

He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. Despite being well-known, often-parodied and even trivialized, Mondrian's paintings exhibit a complexity that belies their apparent simplicity. He is best known for his non-representational paintings that he called "compositions", consisting of rectangular forms of red, yellow, blue, white or black, separated by black rectilinear lines. They are the result of a stylistic evolution that occurred over the course of nearly 30 years and continued beyond that point to the end of his life.

Many modernist graphic designers took inspiration from Mondrians paintings. The simple geometric and systematic style of his paintings inspired designers involved in constructivism, fascination with structure, grid systems, simple geometric forms ie; circle and square.

Buro Destruct Designer

The Buro Destuct Designer is an interactive programme which gives the user a selection of colours and shapes to arrange. It’s a simple programme with a simple idea it’s a fun and quick to play around with shapes and colour combinations. I think this programm is amazing, its fun to just mess about with the differnt combinations and see what you come up with, its highly relevent to what im researching into all the shapes snap to a basic grid. Its a great tool for creating logos and colour combos you might not of thought of.

Buro Destruct

a lot of buro destructs fonts are inspired by bauhaus


Design studio Buro Destruct create some of the most experimental typography around. Most of thier typefaces are created using grids, i especially like the more rounded faces you cant help but see the influence of bauhaus and swiss design in their work. Heres a few examples of thier fonts, im going to check out thier book from the library somtime. i think they are a great example of the use of the grid in design.

Experimental Jetset 104 event

design studio experimental jetset. i like the type used for the 104 exhibiton, it has a certian sharpness and simplicty that i find appealing. Sort of reminds a bit of avant guard and futura.

Wim Crouwel

Dutch graphic designer Wim Crouwel belives in form and function working together to increase the possibilities of typographic communication. An experimental designer, he has been quoted as saying: " Typography must be visually orderly for the purpose of good readability." A fan of modernism and minimalsim he is inspired by many artists and belives in a systematic approach to design using grid systems to create type. I find his typography interesting i like the simplicity and structured approach he takes. He is inspired by architecture. I want to find more examples of this sort of systematic and grid based approach to design.

geogrid

i love the absract semi optical illusion designs being created during the 60's and 70's, the structure of some of the designs is mesmerising. Grid systems have be used to create compositions repeating patterns are used to build interesting forms.
I have way to many examples i could use, i will only show a few for now. I will post more examples of geometric patterns and such later on

Helvetica 50th

2007 sees the fiftieth anniversary of helvetica. This poster designed by build is excellent, its double sided semi transparent with the type setting equipment printed on the back of the poster.

Graphis Posters 79

The Graphis Annuals and poster books have great examples of post modernism styles throughout europe. I really like the work in the early annuals from 1960 to 1970. Here a few examples of geometric and systematic forms used in poster design from a variety of european designers.