OUGD405: Group Research Brief - Communication

by Roxxie Blackham on Thursday, 29 November 2012


GROUP 4

➟ COMMUNICATION SKILLS
↳symbolism
↳social networking
↳struggling with social situations (disabilities, autism, etc)
↳mute, deaf, blind
    ↪will affect communication skills
↳languages
↳expressions and gestures
↳body language
↳signage
    ↪universal language
↳info-graphics
↳branding

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My Theme Within Communication:
Expressions, Gestures & Body Language


Initial Ideas:
↳research into body language as it will tie into the expressions and gestures
↳psychology side of the theme
↳different expressions and how they vary between people
↳look into photography
    ↪how do they communicate feelings/emotions through expressions and eye contact
↳expression in the eyes
↳hand gestures that help to communicate/emphasize points

Dictionary Definition of Expression:
1. The process of making known one's thoughts or feelings.
2. The conveying of opinions publicly without interference by the government: "freedom of expression".

Dictionary Definition of Gesture:
noun: A movement of part of the body, especially a hand or the head, to express an idea or meaning: "so much is conveyed by gesture".
verb: make a gesture: "she gestured meaningfully with the pistol".

Dictionary Definition of Body Language:
noun: The process of communicating non-verbally through conscious or unconscious gestures and movements.

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Different Body Language Can Be Perceived As:
- confidence
- awkwardness
- shyness
- comfortability
- relationships
- confrontational
- joyfulness
- embarrassed
- knackered/tired
- stressed
- superiority
- intoxication
- boredom
- attentiveness
- pleasure
- relaxed state
- guilt
- relief

Body Language Consists Of:
- body posture
- gestures
- facial expressions
- eye movements


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What Defines An Expression:
- mouth
- eyes
- forehead
- voice
- nose
- creases/wrinkles
- eyebrows
- cheeks
- eye contact

Forms Of (Facial) Expressions:
- happy
- sad
- angry
- confused
- worried
- shy
- gormless
- scared
- overjoyed
- embarrassed
- tired
- arrogance
- confidence
- relaxed


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Forms Of Gestures:
- friendly (handshakes, greetings, smiling, etc)
- loving (hugs, kisses, embracing, etc)
- caring (hugs, gifts, holding, mothering, etc)
- mean/uncaring (shoving, hurting, ignoring, etc)
- angry (shouting, grabbing, biting, etc)
- hand/body gestures
- movement
- eye contact

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James Borg states that human communication consists of 93% body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of the words themselves.

Ray Birdwhistell (anthropologist) pioneered the original study of non-verbal communication - what he called kinesics. He estimated that we can make and recognise around 250,000 facial expressions.

Paralanguage
Paralanguage refers to the non-verbal elements of communication used to modify meaning and convey emotion. Paralanguage may be expressed consciously or unconsciously, and it includes the pitch, volume, and, in some cases, intonation (the variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words) of speech. Sometimes the definition is restricted to vocally-produced sounds. The study is known as paralinguistics.

Kinesics
Kinesics is the interpretation of body language, such as facial expressions and gestures - or more formally, non-verbal behaviour related to movement, either of any part of the body or the body as a whole.

Non-verbal communication strengthens a first impression in common situations, like attracting a partner or in a business interview. "You have less than 10 seconds and realistically close to 4 seconds to make a good first impression on those whom you come in contact" - Hogan, K & Stubbs, R (2003) 'Can't Get Through 8 Barriers to Communication'.

The first scientific study of non-verbal communication was Charles Darwin's book 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'. He argued that all mammals reliably show emotion in their faces.

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I created a questionnaire and gave it out amongst fellow students to gain some results on how easily people distinguish the difference between various emotions, through the use of the whole face, and then I concentrated just on the eyes to see if people found this more difficult or not.

My results are as follows:

Sadness 12/12
Happiness 10/12
Confusion 2/12
Anger 12/12
Confidence 3/12
Shyness 4/12
Happiness 6/12
Worried 2/12
Anger 12/12
Sadness 11/12
Confusion 4/12
Awkwardness 0/12
Scared 2/12

The easiest emotions to distinguish were:
- sadness (average score of: 11.5/12)
- happiness (average score of: 8/12)
- anger (average score of: 12/12)

I think that these are the most recognisable emotions, because the way the faces are used to form each emotion is extremely expressive and you tend to look at the way the eyebrows change, the nose creases, and the mouth moves.

The most difficult emotions to distinguish were:
- awkwardness (average score of: 0/12)
- confusion (average score of: 3/12)
- worried (average score of: 1/12)
- scared (average score of: 1/12)
- confidence (average score of: 1.5/12)
- shyness (average score of: 2/12)

I think that it's harder to distinguish the other emotions, because faces and expressions that aren't as frequently used as happiness, sadness and anger are less recognisable to read into as everyone would have had different personal experiences with each expression.
It is quite hard to determine someone's feelings just by how they use the muscles in their face, especially if they don't tend to show a stereotypical form of the emotion.

I think to make the results fairer and more reliable, I would need to gather more results from males rather than only gathering 3/10 males to take part (in comparison the the 9/10 females that engaged in the questionnaire), as males and females tend to judge expressions and body language differently.

With the information that I gathered, I produced a bar chart to help convey it easily for in my crit...



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After the group crit on Friday, we were given a new brief to work on in a group or on our own. Our topic was: How to get people to communicate via talking.

OUGD405: Research Sheets

by Roxxie Blackham


PRIMARY RESEARCH:



























SECONDARY RESEARCH:




















HOW I'M GOING TO CARRY MY RESEARCH FORWARD:

OUGD404: Legibility & Readability Part 2

by Roxxie Blackham on Tuesday, 27 November 2012

- When considering readability, distance comes into consideration.

- Block fonts are design for headlines.

- Script fonts are designed to work at a certain font size. If they are used too small, they merge together and when too large, they merge apart.
   - Too decorative.
   - Counters are not easily defined.

- Italicising gothic fonts can often control the dynamics of how things move and makes it easier and quicker to read.

- The most unreadable way of working with type is using only uppercase letters.
   - Known fact that lowercase is much more readable.
   - Comes back to the fact that what we're reading are the negative spaces and shapes around the letters.

- Gothic fonts work best at small scales as that is what they were designed for. As soon as you want to make the point size bigger, you will turn it into a block font as it will need to be bolder.

Readability & Legibility Task Can Be Found Here:
http://r-blackham1215-dp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/ougd404-what-is-visual-literacy-task.html

OUGD401: Beauty, Style & Taste - Studio Task 2

by Roxxie Blackham on Friday, 16 November 2012

My 3 Rules of Aesthetics are:

  1. The resolution of the image must be high quality, ie not pixelated/executed badly.
  2. The colour choice should complement the design choice.
  3. Typography must be appropriate to it's use.
RULE 1: RESOLUTION.


Fashion magazines tend to have extremely high quality resolution to their photographs, as it would completely defeat the point if they didn't. I find that I often favour the way Vogue front covers look over other fashion magazines, as, even though there is a lot going on, they still manage to keep their brand looking classy and chic.


Vector images are a really good example of high quality images/illustrations, as they hold their resolution no matter how big you blow them up (which is why illustrator is reliable software to use when creating logos or something of a similar nature). The image on this poster itself wouldn't work if it was low quality, as you wouldn't be able to see the fine detail within the man's beard or colourful hair, and I feel that this fine detail really makes the image stand out and work.


If the designer had photographed this piece of work using a polaroid or disposable camera, you really wouldn't achieve the same effect. The viewer wouldn't be able to see just how fine the detail is within the hand-crafted typography, and the texture in the metal itself would look flat and non-existent.

RULE 2: COLOUR.


This is exactly the type of Graphic Design that I hate. The use of colour is vulgar - they have decided to use far too many colour is one overcrowded area, none of which are that complementary to one another. I think it's probably the design as a whole that I really hate, but the colour choice definitely helps me in this decision.


Whereas this choice of a variety of colours works for me, because the designer has chosen the colours wisely and accounted for the fact that there are a lot of colours by using the colour white as well, just to break it up a little bit. I think that this use of colour probably also works, because of the geometric feel to the designs.


This very particular choice of colour actually adds to the design in a clever and well thought out manner. The designer has obviously paid close attention to the colour of the macaroons that they will be selling within their food company, and chosen a colour scheme based on this, which I find both adorable, yet classy and elegant. I also like this use of colour as it is a pastel colour scheme - I often find that bright and bold colour schemes don't really tend to work for me.

RULE 3: TYPOGRAPHY.


The typography used for wayfinding and signage needs to be clear, concise and easily readable from a good distance so that it performs it's goal - informing you on where to go. If a script or extremely condensed font was used instead of something clear like the gothic font on the signage above, it would be hard to read quickly, therefore misleading and you could end up with some very confused drivers on the road, constantly getting lost and never finding their way home!


The Tiffany & Co logo is a good example of typography that is used appropriately, as the font that they used helps to give Tiffany a classy, elegant, expensive and professional look, just by the clarity and elegance of the typeface chosen to spell out their name. This really would not work if it were to be written in something more playful and messy like brush script.



The Chanel logo does exactly the same thing. With the original design of the logo and the usual typeface, you instantly recognise the brand and think of them as classy, womenly and slightly French. However, if you were to recreate the logo, let's say in Comic Sans (like the 2nd image), you really wouldn't get the same impression. The Comic Sans version gives off a less trustworthy brand, that is slightly tacky, and even the word Chanel reads more as Channel.

Examples of Non-Graphic Design Based Creative Practices That Follow Each Rule...

RULE 1: RESOLUTION.


This unique landscape photography could never be achieved, if it weren't for cameras and software that can create high resolution images of natural beauties around the world - creating an even more beautiful landscape than how you would see it with the naked eye.


This incredibly inventive drawing of a dog, possibly created on Microsoft Paint, is obviously not high resolution at all! The image becomes pixelated when enlarged (in fact the originally sourced image was pixelated itself...), which really doesn't do the drawing any justice. Okay, the drawing isn't that great itself, but the fact that the illustrator didn't even think about the final resolution makes it worse.



This extremely poor quality scene from Back To The Future (top image), in comparison to the better quality version (bottom image) shows just how much difference it will make to the viewer at home when watching the film. It makes it really hard to absorb yourself in the story line if the film is constantly dark and pixelated or the sound is muffled or crackly. Film footage is definitely better when viewed on a HD screen at the highest resolution possible, as it will make the experience more engaging.




The recreation of films in 3D, as well as films that have been created completely for the 3 dimensional experience, are a great example of high resolution filming. The films have to be created at such a high resolution, that it adds depth and you actually feel as though you're sitting in the film set when watching the movie. Obviously, it is a lot harder to experience the resolution of the 3D films through screenshots on a computer screen, however if you have seen one, you will understand where I am coming from.


An obvious resolution outbreak within product design would be Retina Display featured in the latest Apple computers. People constantly want a higher resolution screen, and Apple constantly design their products to suit the needs of their customers (mainly consisting of designers and photographers, so it suits them perfectly).

RULE 2: COLOUR


Limiting colour within photography can make a huge impact. Black and white photographs help to create drama and depth within the photographs. They can also create confusion, and the viewer will often admire photographs in high quality black and white, as it's up to you to decide the exact colours of the original object that is being photographed.


On the contrary to the previous colour decision, the ultimate use of colour can also absorb the viewer. Capturing the alluring purplish pink colour of this sunset is particularly beautiful and completes this image, as it really would not be quite so impactive if it were in black and white - as it wouldn't capture the beauty of the natural colours themselves.


Colourful architecture can often be quite interesting, as it is a very unique and unusual style of architecture to come across. Even though there are a lot of different colours used within this building, the use of creating said colours from lights shining through windows really adds to the design and makes the building stand out. Even though i tend to prefer less colour, I find this example of architecture quite beautiful to say the least.




The idea of creating an installation with absolutely no colour in it at all (apart from white), and then asking the audience to add colour to the room with the use of many different coloured spots, like the above installation 'The Obliteration Room' by Yayoi Kusama is really bizarre. Not only does the room look extremely weird when just in white, when you add colour to it in such an unorganised and crazy manner, the room starts to become even harder to see and recognise. It's a lot harder to distinguish exactly what furniture has been placed in there, and removes the sense of depth.


With the 'Everything Under The Sun' installation by Olafur Eliason at the Tate, it is really important for the artist to use his choice of colour wisely as this particular installation definitely wouldn't work if the sun had been created from green or purple lights.

RULE 3: TYPOGRAPHY.



Barbara Kruger's typographic installations are a fine example of typography being used in an appropriate way, as it communicates a message without it having to be image based or painted etc. It's interesting to see a fine artist to choose type for an installation, as it is unusual and hardly ever produced, however I think it works really well and personally prefer it to a lot of other installations that I have viewed.


Anamorphic typography really interests me, as it looks like the words are floating infront of you when you look at it from the right angle, however as you walk towards the text you notice that really it has been painted onto walls and objects around the room in a particular way to create some typography that really stands out. I think that this is a really clever form of installation work that follows the rule adherently.


The large letters creating the Hollywood sign are used really well as they help give clear indication as to where you are, and you also gain that immediate recognition to fame and wealth when you see the sign as the large letters spelling out the name of the city make it seem of great importance and culturally significant. This would also be a good example of typography used well in a photograph.



Typography that I never really find necessary, is that which is written over a beautiful photo. You see these types of images a lot - where a quote, saying or something completely irrelevant and stupid has been written in a pretty typeface, then plopped straight onto a photo to try and make it look edgy, like something you would find on Tumblr.



Signage photography can often create a huge impact, as it can draw the reader in with the beautiful images accompanied by the words that are actually there within the photographed scene. I also often find that there is some kind of 'deeper meaning' behind photographs that have had words taken amongst the rest of the photo, and being a fan of typography find this style of photography extremely intriguing.

OUGD404: Legibility & Readability

by Roxxie Blackham on Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Both legibility and readability hinge on the idea of the anatomy and spacial elements of Typography.

Leading: The amount of lead they put between each letterform to create space.

- The spaces around the letterforms is the one thing that will affect the ability of what we're trying to read (the counter).
   - Strong way of allowing us to identify certain letterforms.

- Idea of fonts themselves being used for certain functions: some being more legible than others.
   - Be aware that some people find Roman body copy easier to read
   - Where as others find Gothic body copy easier to read.
   - Dyslexics often find Roman easier to read.

- When you increase the size of Block, Gothic and Script fonts, it becomes easier to read. However, when you increase the size of Roman body copy, it becomes harder to read.

- Block/bold type needs spacing to increase the legibility.
   - Never play with body copy spacing as it has been set to a certain scale for ultimate legibility.

Legibility
Legibility is the degree to which glyphs (individual characters) in text are understandable or recognisable based on appearance. This is based very much on the anatomical elements.

Readability
Readability is the ease in which text can be read and understood. It is influenced by line length, primary and secondary leading, justification, typestyle, kerning, tracking, point size, etc.

Tracking
Tracking starts to pull the letters along their base line and create more space, for example:


Kerning
Kerning starts to pull the letters together along their base line and creates less space, for example:



You can use a lot of fonts within one typeface and keep some cohesion and legibility. However, DON'T USE MORE THAN 3 FONTS.

OUGD404: The Anatomy of Type: Type & Character

by Roxxie Blackham

- Each typeface on a root level is based on character and drawing.

"Type is speech made visible"

- Through the process of the Industrial Revolution, there became a need for people to read.
   - Less story tellers and town criers.
   - Oral tradition had accents and emphasis. Lots of different oral dynamics.
   - There was still a need for these verbal dynamics to be brought through into Typography.
   - Different characteristics of typefaces helped to do this.

- Everyone can read into different fonts int he same context, but find their characteristics either more/less suitable.

- Certain dynamic to italic fonts that lean you forwards and you start to assign movement to it even though the text is still static.

- The images used can often help you to understand the typeface and what they're communicating as it gives more context and reinforces what you're thinking.

VOCABULARY:

 - font
- typeface
- font family
- weight
- stroke
- uppercase
- lower case
- tracking
- kerning
- serif
- sans serif
- script
- blackletter
- display
- monotype
- symbol

Typeface
A collection of characters, letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation, etc which have the same distinct design.

Font
The physical means used to create a typeface, be it computer code, lithographic form, metal or woodcut.
A full font allows you to work with the entire glyphs, accents, punctuation etc of the western language.
A font isn't just about letterforms, it's about all the alphanumerics and glyphs.

BLOCK        Garamond Block
GOTHIC      Garamond Gothic            PUT THESE ALL TOGETHER AND YOU
ROMAN       Garamond Roman           HAVE A TYPEFACE.
SCRIPT       Garamond Script

Some type families have the full range of these categories within it, where as some type families just fit within one visual category.

- Multipe weight of fonts together make a TYPEFACE.

- Starts to become important in a financial way (buying one font will cost less than an entire typeface).

- Bold fonts start to condense.

- The type family is the broader collection of type elements.
   - Font family isn't as broad, much smaller collection.

ROMAN: Serif Fonts

GOTHIC: Stripped down, sans serif

BLOCK: Bold, used for headlines. Heavy, black stroke.

SCRIPT: Fluid, handwritten style. Curlesk terminals.

Arial has a round full stop, Helvetica has a square full stop : easiest way of distinguishing between the two.

OUGD404: The Anatomy of Type

by Roxxie Blackham on Tuesday, 6 November 2012

- Type written into stone gave certain features in letterforms, e.g. serifs.

Sable
Oriental way of working with type.
Completely new characters and line.

Bone
Working with quills and ink.
Middle East script creating new characters because of the materials.

Wood
Significant move forward.
Fairly soft but rigid, so could create new weights and curves.
1450 The Guttenburg Bible.

Metal & Lead
Pourable, mouldable and castable.
Can play with scale and fine lines.

Silicone
First computers had silicone chips.
Digital age created new possibilities for typefaces.
Created a drive to create new fonts that look handmade but are digital (to create fonts that aren't just Helvetica etc)

Definitions of Typography:
   - the art and technique of printing with movable type.
   - the composition of printed material from movable type.
   - the arrangement and appearance of printed matter.

- Claude Garamond creates Garamond 1500-1520.

1700-1800: Transitional period of type development.
   - sudden development, because of industrial revolution
       - creates the sudden ability to mass produce and for mass industry.
   - enlightenment: people were wanting to communicate their knowledge on a mass scale.
   - sudden publications of newspapers and books etc.
   - people learnt to read on a mass scale so books etc were produced for people to access.

- Gill Sans designed in 1928 (Bauhaus period).

- Type driven by digital age (2000-now).

- Edward Fella: letters in America
   - photographer and typographer.

CATEGORIES OF TYPE:

 - serif
- sans serif
- black letter
- script
- italic
- multiple weights
- calligraphy
- handwritten
- bold
- thin
- thick
- decorative
- hand rendered


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Method of Production                 Character of Letterform                                     Anatomy of the Glyph
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CLASSIC PRE INDUSTRIAL

 STONE                                    established, sophisticated, traditional,            BOLD
                                             commercial

SABEL                                     rough, fast, fluid, gothic                              SERIF


BONE                                      elegant, feminine, posh                               LIGHT

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MODERN POST INDUSTRIAL

WOOD                                     simple, formal, curved, modern                    REGULAR


LEAD                                       fragile, rounded, bold, minimal                     WEIGHT


SILICONE                                 geometric, dense, textured, simplistic            STROKE


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- All type has a special context.

- The x-height defines the form of the lower case.
- Anything that descends below the baseline defines the lower case.
- Very rare to find upper case letters descending below the base line.

POINT SIZE
1 point = 1/72 inches = 25.4/72mm = 0.3527mm
12 points = 1pica

TYPE ANATOMY

Stem
The sygnificant vertical or oblique stroke.

Serif
The right angled/oblique stroke at the end of any stroke.

Sans Serif
Without a serif (French).

Bowl
The rounded form that describes a counter. The bowl may be open or closed.

Counter
Negative space between the letterforms.

Terminal
Point where the letter/serif ends.

Descender
Anything below the base line.

Ascender
Anything above the x-height.

OUGD401: Tutorial Feedback

by Roxxie Blackham


OUGD401: Modernism & Postmodernism

by Roxxie Blackham on Thursday, 1 November 2012

Find 5x examples of modernist work and 5x examples of postmodernist work - why does it fall under that category? is it successful/unsuccessful and why? what's your opinion on the examples, and justify.

Modernist Graphic Design Work


Source For Image
This piece of design work falls under the Modernist category, because of the obvious structure that follows rules created by the Bauhaus and Modernism Movement. "Modernism was a commitment against greed, commercialization, exploitation, vulgarization, cheapness" - Massimo Vingelli. You can see that the entire image has been designed to line up to invisible guides, giving it a clean and easily legible structure. I think it's a really successful example of Modernist Graphic Design work, especially for the period, as you can easily follow and understand the image created by the designer and it has been created with function in mind before form. I really like the poster design, because of how well it has stuck to the design rules set in the period of time, and in my opinion the aesthetics of the piece compliment the function.


Source For Image
This poster design is quite obviously an example of Modernist Design work. Firstly, it quite obviously follows the principle proclaimed by Adolf Loos "Form Follows Function', because of the lines that have been added into the design to prove the use of guides and rulers - the weight of the lines are the same as the typeface weight, so they line up really nicely with the letter U in FUTURA, which makes it legible. I think that this poster is extremely successful as it is really easy to read and understand. I'm not quite sure what the random geometric shapes are used for, however they compliment the design and make it more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I like this poster, however I don't really like how the A seems to have fallen onto it's side, as I think this might have been a bit too experimental for the design era.






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I would say that this poster design suits the modernist period, mainly because of the simple and legible type used for the information in the poster. The large decorative design itself isn't very legible, and I wouldn't associate this with Modernism straight off, however after looking at the poster for quite some time, you can see particular similarities between this and the work of the Bauhaus. For instance, the constantly joined typeface looks like it has derived from the curved Bauhaus font and the colours are all quite recognisable and similar to that of the poster at the top of my research. I think that it's a really successful poster design and attracts the audience's attention with the decorative, bold colours on the cream background.




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This design by Josef Muller-Brockmann is quite obviously a modernist example of design work. due to the simplicity of the layout and colours within the design, as well as the use of sans serif typeface. I like how the poster has been stripped down so much that it is literally just a small bit of important information to read and the title of the exhibition, yet Muller-Brockmann has decided to play with legibility of the the title Der Film so that you can still fully understand the poster, yet it is still attractive to the eye and not just simply some type on a blank canvas. The design differs from the other designs above a lot - the use of the colours are the same, but have been used to make the colour black more prominent than the cream, red or green unlike the Bauhaus design at the top where the background is cream.








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This poster is quite an experimental example of Modernist Graphic Design as the designer (Mike Kus) has created the poster mainly focused on the function and legibility of the design, but because of the experimentation of the orientation of the letters, it pulls the design away from modernism and slightly into postmodernism design rules. The designer has also combined serif fonts with sans serif fonts on the poster which is completely against the design rules of the era, which I think could be due to the fact the poster was created during the Postmodern period, but based on the designs from Modernist times. I quite like the combination of the two rules and the simplicity of the overall design structure, however it is hard to analyse this poster well when it has been created which such experimentation.





Postmodernist Graphic Design

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"Post-modernism should be regarded at best as a critical evaluation of the issues of Modernism" - as written by Massimo Vignelli, 'Long Live Modernism'. Barbara Kruger is a very well known Graphic Designer in the Postmodernist period. All of her work is extremely experimental, both with typography usage and the way the images and type often carry a collage characteristic, which differs extremely from work created in the Modernist era. This poster is typically post-modernistic, because the letterforms have been placed about in an almost sloppy manner, and there is no clear structure or guideline to the layout of the design. I think the composition is effective in the sense of the era's principle of there being absolutely no rules in Graphic Design work, and it is also extremely legible, however I'm not a huge fan of Kruger's work, as to me, they seem quite amateurishly produced and I like work that shows particular attention to detail and composure.




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The arrangement of David Carson's work is highly influenced by the Postmodernism Movement and you can notice this through the way in which he scatters his letters and information quite frantically across the page with no consistency or obvious use of structure. He often describes his work as "happy accidents', which ultimately shows that Carson enjoys to experiment a lot with his image and letter-forms, and his style of working proves his ability to play around and try new methods to create his final pieces. In the extras of the DVD of the Helvetica film, I recall Carson taking images that he found boring and randomly adding pieces of masking tape or acetate onto them to really push the boundaries of legibility, which I think in a way is extremely effective and makes him stand out from other designers quite dramatically. I actually quite like work produced by Carson, because it displays how 'gutsy' the designer is and that he really isn't afraid to mess about, which I think influences me a lot in the way that I work, as I take pleasure into trying out new methods and medias before creating my final pieces.



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I think this design example is a piece of postmodern design, because the designer has messed around with the letters and tried making it look as though the word is part of the metropolis scenery. The legibility is really clear like in modernist work, however you can tell that the designer wanted to make a poster that was aesthetically pleasing to the eye and grabs your attention from afar, rather than just conveying some information in a clear and coherent manner. I reckon this poster is a really effective example of postmodernist work as it is memorable but not too vibrant and in your face, and I really like the fact that the designer chose to stick to the recognisable colours of Bauhaus and propaganda poster designs.



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I really love the work ethic that Craig Ward follows and all of his designs show clear experimentation with typography and the way in which words are read and recognised. This poster is a really interesting example of Postmodernist design, because it's not overcrowded and is actually really well thought out. The poster follows structure and invisible guidelines and the attention to detail is significantly better than some other postmodern pieces. I think what makes this poster Postmodern, is the fact that Ward has played with the legibility of the words and given the reader a whole new way of thinking how designs could work by overlapping different sentences to create new thought provoking images. I love the way Ward has made the sentences visually representable by making "Good typography is invisible" actually seem invisible by blending it into the background with the use of similar colours, which makes "Bad typography is everywhere" really stand out as a sentence.




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I think that this is a really bold example of Postmodernist art, as it clearly doesn't really follow any structural guidelines unlike the Bauhaus posters, and the writing isn't really that legible. The letter-forms have been stretched and distorted throughout the image so that they fill the entire page, which shows that the designer was designing something to look nice rather than getting the viewer to completely understand the image. I have absolutely no idea what this poster is about, however it is interesting to look at and the colours really drew my attention to it when I was researching. The design looks like it has been collaged before messed around with on the computer and the letters could have possibly been hand-rendered before they were vectored, however it is hard to tell. I think the design is effective if the designer was creating it in a postmodernist way, however it doesn't convey the message correctly and is hard to follow. I don't like this design, however the complimentary colours are quite intriguing.