Cubism

Cubism has been regarded as one of modern art‘s most famous and fascinating art movements. It was the first style of abstract art which evolved at the beginning of the 20th century in response to a world that was changing with unimaginable speed.

What is Cubism?

Cubism was one of the most influential visual art styles of the early twentieth century. It was created by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in Paris between 1907 and 1914. Cubism is seen as a revolutionary movement that rejected the concept that art should copy nature, or that artists should adopt the traditional techniques of perspective, modeling, and foreshortening, which had been used since the Renaissance. Cubist artists instead wanted to emphasize the two-dimensional flatness of the canvas by reducing and fracturing objects into geometric forms, and then reassembling them to evoke the same figures and show the subjects from multiple views. Cubist painters were not bound to copying form, texture, color, and space; instead, they presented a new reality in paintings that depicted radically fragmented objects, whose several sides were seen simultaneously.

The term Cubism was first used by French critic Louis Vauxcelles after seeing the landscapes Braque had painted in 1908 at L’Estaque in emulation of Cézanne. Vauxcelles called the geometric forms in the highly abstracted works “cubes.” The term wasn’t widely used until the press adopted it to describe the style in 1911.

Left:Georges Braque     Right: Pablo Picasso

History of Cubism

At the turn of the century, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism movements inspired by the Impressionists experimental approach to painting dominated European art. French painter, sculptor, printmaker, and draughtsman Georges Braque contributed to the Fauvist movement with his polychromatic paintings of stylized landscapes and seascapes.

In 1907, Braque met Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, and designer Pablo Picasso. At this time, Picasso was in his “African Period,” producing primitive works influenced by African sculpture and masks. Just like Braque’s Post-Impressionist paintings, these pieces also played with form and sometimes color but remained figurative.

Phases of Cubism

The various phases in the development of the Cubist style which are based on the work of Picasso and Braque.

PROTO-CUBISM

Before the movement was underway, both Picasso and Braque applied elements of the
soon-to-be style to their respective genres. This fascinating transition into Cubism is especially seen in these two pieces:

Pablo Picasso, ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ (1907)

Georges Braque, ‘Viaduct at L’Estaque’ (1908)

ANALYTIC CUBISM

The first official phase of the movement is known as Analytic Cubism. This period lasted from 1908 through 1912, and is characterized by chaotic paintings of fragmented subjects rendered in neutral tones. The fractured forms often overlap with one another, displaying the subject from multiple perspectives at once.

Pablo Picasso, ‘Still Life with a Bottle of Rum’ (1911)

Georges Braque, ‘Still Life with Metronome’ (1909)

SYNTHETIC CUBISM

Synthetic Cubism is the movement’s second phase, emerging in 1912 and lasting until 1914. During this time, Picasso, Braque, Gris, and other artists simplified their compositions and brightened their color palettes. Synthetic Cubism showcases an interest in still-life depictions, rendered as either paintings or collage art.

Pablo Picasso, ‘Still-Life With Chair Caning’ (1912)

Georges Braque, ‘Rum and Guitar’ (1918)

The ideas of the cubism movement fed into more popular phenomena, like Art Deco design and architecture. Later movements such as Minimalism were influenced by the Cubist use of the grid. It is difficult to imagine the development of non-representational art without the experiments of the Cubists. Cubism shook the foundations of traditional art making by turning the Renaissance tradition on its head and changing the course of art history with reverberations that continue into the postmodern era.

Advertisements

Infographics

Infographics have evolved in recent years to become a means of mass communication; they are designed to reach a wider audience by simplifying complex subjects and arranging it in an easy to digest format, unlike other types of visualizations. Because of its simplicity and a compelling storytelling, it has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, and we can see infographics being shared all over the internet and social media.

What is an Infographic?

An infographic is a visual representation of information and data. It takes a large amount of information in text or numerical form and then condenses it by combining elements of text, images, charts, and diagrams. It is an effective tool to present data and explain complex issues in a way that can quickly lead to insight and better understanding.

History of Infographics

Although infographics have only recently gained widespread popularity online, they have actually existed since the 17th century.

The Commercial and Political Atlas, published in 1786 by William Playfair, was the first example of modern infographics.

In 1983, a data visualization expert named Edward Tufte wrote a series of books about infographics. He also offered lectures and hands-on workshops on the subject.

At the dawn of the 21st century, infographics transitioned into a digital format. With so many historic examples, Tufte’s teachings, and the emergence of the Internet, infographics seamlessly transitioned online.

It was around 2010 that they became what we know today – digital graphics designed to present complex information, usually posted on blogs or within articles on websites,  sometimes spreading virally.

Types of Infographics

Infographics come in various forms. They are categorized based on purpose, types of objects used and the flow of information. Not all infographics will strictly fall into a specific category. Most infographics will have elements of multiple types. The type of infographic that will be most appropriate in a given situation will depend on the objective of the data visualization.

Statistical infographic 

A statistical infographic puts the focus on your data. The layout and visuals will help you tell the story behind your data.

Informational infographic

A informational infographic template is ideal for if you want to clearly communicate a new or specialized concept, or to give an overview of a topic.

Timeline infographic 

A timeline infographic is an effective way to visualize the history of something, or to highlight important dates, or to give an overview of events.

Process infographic

A process infographic is ideal for providing a summary or overview of the steps in a process.

Comparison infographic

A comparison infographic is for when you want to compare options in an unbiased way, or you want to make one option seem better.

When to use an Infographic

• Illustrating data: You can take data from surveys and make it more interesting than your average chart.
• Simplifying a complex subject: If you’ve got a rather complex concept, and need a way to break it down quickly and easily, infographics are the way to go.
• Making comparisons: Infographics are great at showing when two things are incredibly similar or different.
• Awareness: Whether it’s related to business, politics or any other area, you can quickly raise awareness of a brand or cause with an infographic.

Infographics will continue to be used frequently by businesses, educators and the media, but there’s a good chance they’ll evolve like our technology does. Possibly in the future we may start seeing more interactive, as well as 3D immersive ones incorporated into virtual reality experiences.

Paul Rand

Peretz Rosenbaum (born August 15, 1914, in Brooklyn, NY) would later change his name to Paul Rand and become one of the most famous and influential graphic designers in history. He is best known for his logo design and corporate branding, creating timeless icons such as the IBM and ABC television logos. He was one of the first American commercial artists to embrace and practice the Swiss Style of graphic design.

Early Life

On August 15, 1914, in Brooklyn, New York, Rand was born as Peretz Rosenbaum and was raised in a strict Orthodox Jewish home. Orthodox Jewish law forbids the creation of images that can be worshiped as idols, but already at a young age, Rand copied pictures of the models shown on advertising displays in his father’s grocery store, and violated the rules. His father frequently warned him that art was no way to make a living, so he decided to enroll him at Manhattan’s Harren High School. While Paul was studying there, his father agreed to let his son attend night classes at the Pratt Institute. Paul attended several art schools, such as The New School for Design, the Art Students League, and Yale University in Connecticut. Even with his rich academic career in arts, Rand developed his graphic sense through self-education.

Career

Rand began his career as a part-time stock image creator for a syndicate. Soon his class assignments and part-time job rendered him to assemble a distinguished portfolio. His work was highly influenced by Sachplakat, the German advertising style and Gustav Jensen’s works. During this time he also decided to camouflage his Jewish origin by shortening and modernizing his name Peretz Rosenbaum as Paul Rand.

Rand went and made a name for himself as an editorial designer, doing work for magazines such as Esquire and Direction. He even worked for free in some cases in turn for creative freedom, and as a result, his style became known in the design community.

Rand’s popularity really grew as an art director for the William H. Weintraub          agency in New York, where he worked from 1941 through 1954. There, he partnered  with copywriter Bill Bernbach and together they created a model for the writer-  designer relationship.

During the 1950s and ’60s, as American corporations were turning to graphic designers to create contemporary trademarks and consistent graphic standards, Rand became a prominent advocate of such visual-identity systems.

Rand’s career spanned seven decades, and in that time his graphic designs, teaching, and ideas broadly influenced several generations of American designers.

Rand’s Signature Style

Rand was part of a movement in the 1940’s and 50’s, in which American designers were coming up with original styles. He was a major figure in this change that had a focus on freeform layouts that were much less structured than prominent European design.

Rand used collage, photography, artwork and unique use of type to engage his audience. When viewing a Rand ad, a viewer is challenged to think, interact, and interpret it. Using clever, fun, unconventional, and risky approaches to the use of shapes, space, and contrast, Rand created a unique user experience.

It was perhaps put most simply and accurately when Rand was featured in one of Apple’s classic ads that stated, “Think Different,” and that’s exactly what he did. Today,  he is known as one of the founding members of the ‘Swiss Style’ of graphic design.

Rand’s Work

Though best known for the corporate logos he designed in the ’50s and ’60s, it was his earlier work in magazine design and layout that first earned him international acclaim. The reputation Rand so quickly established for himself continued to grow over the years. He produced many extraordinary designs in the ’80s and ’90s. Here are a few of the most well known designs:

In the late 1930s he created covers for a series of design magazines, including Apparel Arts, Direction and AD.

In the mid-1950s, Rand revolutionized book-cover design using abstraction, dramatic color combinations and his own distinct, thread-thin script.

He designed many logos, among them the ones for Westinghouse, ABC and United Parcel Services in the 1960s, IMB in 1972, Cummins Engine in 1979 and for Steve Jobs’ Next      in 1986.

Paul Rand died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 82. At this time, he was living and working in Norwalk, Connecticut. Much of his later years were spent writing his memoirs. Paul Rand will remain one of the most famous graphic designers in the world and his work and advice for approaching graphic design will live on to inspire designers.

Why is Type Important?

Type is everywhere, whether you notice it or not. Type is 95% of design and It’s the driving force of all visual communication. Selecting the right type can influence the effectiveness of communication and how it is perceived. Choosing an appropriate type is fundamental for helping set the tone of a piece you are creating.

Why is Type Important

Type has the potential to emit targeted emotions towards an audience that reinforces the entire piece you are working on. Many times type can be looked over because the initial thing that might pop out is the colors used or any illustration treatment, there must be a harmonious balance of all the elements.

Things to consider when choosing a typeface

1. Does it come in a variety of weights?
2. How readable is it?
3. Does it pair well with other typefaces?
4. Is there a clear hierarchy between typefaces (if you are using more than one)?
5. Does it set the right tone and mood for the piece?

Type Classification

A typeface can fall under two general classifications; serif or sans serif.

Serif typefaces are most often used for body copy in print documents, as well as for both body text and headlines. Serif fonts are known to be more traditional and classical.

Sans serif typefaces are called such because they lack serif details on characters. Sans-serif typefaces are known to be modern and clean.

Type Manipulation

After you have chosen a typeface, there are a number of ways to manipulate it even further to create a desired mood. One of the simplest of ways is through the tracking (the space between letters). You could put a significant amount of tracking between each letter to make it easier to read and visually appealing to the eye or you could also eliminate the tracking between letters so that they are close to one another to cause tension. Some other ways to manipulate the typeface include various distortion techniques, such as arching the type so it’s not on a straight plane, but arched over an illustration or using distortion as a squeezing mechanism to help draw the audience’s attention to a certain aspect of an illustration that you find most appealing and important.

There are many ways to evoke mood with type. The key is to explore and discover what that mood or perception is for you, and keep it in mind while choosing what typeface to use for your designs. When you look at your design focus on ALL of the elements that make it unique and weigh-in on them all, not just the illustrations or colors. A strong typeface is an incredibly crucial part to your design.

Importance of Color in Branding

Color is very important in branding and marketing because it’s where first impressions of customers are based. Also, color is the secret in producing a good identity for a company. Colors are more than just a visual aid because colors convey emotions, feelings and experiences. There are meanings behind various colors and for companies choosing a color scheme it can affect their business, it may either make or break them.

Why is Color Important?

A brand’s aesthetics are a very essential part of its story, heightened by the fact that the brain processes visual stimuli faster than text. The design and color combination of a brand’s logo, website, product packaging, etc. form a visual representation of its identity. These elements should give insight into a brand’s personality, story, and values.

Even though consumers might not always be aware of this, many marketers use color psychology to invoke different emotions and responses. New brands should embrace hues that distinguish them from their competitors, so they have a better chance of standing out and making an impact.

For example: Facebook, Samsung, and American Express have all channeled the color blue to promote reliability and responsibility to their clientele. Despite having completely different services and products, they share a common goal of providing a sense of security to it’s customers by their use of serene color.

Colors and Their Meaning

RED – Creates a sense of urgency, which is good for clearance sales. Encourages appetite, thus is frequently used by fast-food chains.

BLUE – Provides a sense of security, curbs appetite, and stimulates productivity. The most common color used by conservative brands looking to promote trust in their products.

GREEN – Used in stores to relax customers and for promoting environmental issues. Green stimulates harmony in your brain and encourages a balance leading to decisiveness.

PURPLE – Stimulates problem-solving as well as creativity. Frequently used to promote beauty and anti-aging products.

YELLOW – Yellow is the color for vibrancy and optimism. It can also be motivating and captivating, that’s why some tag prices are in this color because it helps get the attention of customers.

ORANGE – This color can be effective for children because of its cheerful, friendly and fun feeling.

BROWN – This shade elicits simplicity and stability. It also looks very down to earth.

BLACK – Black promotes a serious or classic campaign. There is also sophistication and exclusivity in this color which works well with expensive products.

WHITE – This color looks very plain but when used, it shows purity, cleanliness and is very enticing to the human eye.

Factors to Consider When Selecting the Right Color For your Brand

Aside from the meaning of different colors, business owners should also be aware of the other factors that they should consider in choosing a color scheme, here are some:

Appropriateness

Business owners should know what message they want to convey to the public given the kind of business they have, in that case, the message could be matched to an appropriate color shade.

Target market

It is also important for business owners to know their target market and to whom they offer their services or products so that the color will also be appropriate to the kind of encouragement needed for the target customers.

Consistency

Consistency in the color scheme of a brand strengthens its identity in the market. It also helps the brand to stand out and rise against the tight competition in the industry. Further, consistency also gains the trust, loyalty, and familiarity of customers.

Properly choosing colors will define your brand’s value, strengthen and support your brand positioning, enable greater awareness and customer recall, and distinguish your brand among its alternatives. Color should not be underestimated because studies have already proved that this element has a connection to human behavior and in the long run this color will represent the company in the coming years.

History of Vehicle Graphics

In the last decade, vehicle graphics have transformed from an activity normally utilized by businesses with fleet trucks to a popular option for consumers and their cars, trucks, and SUVs. Companies have been using graphics to advertise on their vehicles for more than a century, and the first known examples of automotive advertising occurred around the turn of the last century.

How it All Started

In February of 1900, Milton Hershey became the first to use an automobile to advertise by painting his Lancaster, PA Hershey brand on a vehicle. Later, more embellished designs like Kolb’s Red Label Bread came to surface, incorporating different type faces and imagery. Originally, the only choice was to use paint, but soon something more durable, flexible, and with more design options hit the scene. Paint reigned supreme in the graphics world, and kept its exclusive place for over 50 years. But by the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s a new material began to emerge on the scene and changed the world of graphics forever: vinyl chloride.

Vinyl for Advertising

At first, only large clients like the U.S. Air Force could afford to use self-adhesive vinyl graphics, but by the 1980’s vinyl production costs and die-cutting technology became affordable enough for small businesses to be able to letter their vehicles without paint.

By the early 1990’s, colorful die-cut vinyl had become the primary method of marking vehicles with lettering and logos for big businesses, while paint remained the choice for customizers and enthusiasts.

In the late 1990’s, new technologies emerged that allowed printing vinyl with a wide format electrostatic printer, but like die-cut vinyl before it, only the largest companies could afford to use it and its capabilities were extremely limited in design, color and image quality.

As the 21st century arrived, an advance in technology happened that not only made it possible for startups to purchase the equipment necessary to print on large format vinyl, but also to make the designs more striking than ever. With piezoelectric inkjet printers, large format graphic design software and computers that could handle over a gigabyte of data, the vinyl wrap was invented.

Today, vehicle wrapping can be seen everywhere! The industry continues to innovate with better products, strategic printing and installation practices, and more sophisticated designs. If you’re interested in an advertising vehicle wrap for your business, contact Graphic Communications today!

 

Constructivism

Constructivism is an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1913 by Vladimir Tatlin. The movement was in favor of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th century, influencing major trends such as the Bauhaus and De Stijl movements. Its influence was widespread, with major effects upon architecture, sculpture, graphic design, industrial design, theatre, film, dance, fashion and music.

Main Ideas of Constructivism

– Constructivists replaced art’s traditional concern with composition with a focus on construction. Objects were to be created not to express beauty, or the artist’s outlook, or to represent the world, but to carry out a fundamental analysis of the materials and forms of art.

– Constructivist art often aimed to demonstrate how materials behaved, for instance, what different properties had materials such as wood, glass, and metal. The form of the artwork would be dictated by its materials .

– Constructivism art is a symbol of the modern era. The International movement influenced by the Russian avant-garde movement focused on the idea of art as an object and used new materials to highlight advances in technology and industry.

Vladimir Tatlin

Vladimir Tatlin is often hailed as the father of Constructivism. He had collaborated on the preceding Cubo-Futurist movement. His interests changed during a visit to Paris in 1913, where he saw a series of wooden reliefs by Picasso. Tatlin appreciated that the reliefs were not carved or modeled in a traditional manner but composed in an entirely different way, and put together from pre-formed elements. On his return to Russia, Tatlin began to experiment with the possibilities of three-dimensional relief, by using new types of material and exploring their potential.

Pablo Picasso Mandolin and Clarinet 1913

In 1919, Tatlin had achieved some prominence as a representative of different paths for the Russian avant-garde. At “0.10, the Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting”, Tatlin unveiled his Corner Counter-reliefs. The latter were suspended in air across a corner of the room, instead of being attached to the flat surface of a wall, and their abstract forms defied the traditional idea that relief should depict a figure or an event. Instead, the Reliefs allowed the viewer to focus on the types of materials used, and how forms were arranged in relation to each other.

Vladimir Tatlin Corner Counter-relief 

It wasn’t until Tatlin exhibited his model for the Monument for the Third International that Constructivism was truly born. More commonly known as Tatlin’s Tower, the unusual spiral-shaped building was designed as a government office building. It was planned to rise higher than the Eiffel Tower, this triumphant commemoration of the Russian Revolution was to be modern, functional and dynamic. The project proved an inspiration to the artist’s contemporaries, who quickly came together to debate its consequences, and hence Constructivism came to life.

Vladimir Tatlin – Model for the Monument to the Third International.

The Revolution of Constructivism

What stood at the root of the period was a desire to express the experience of modern life. Similarly to the Italian Futurism, the focus was on the demonstration of dynamism and the creativity was seen as a tool for re-invention. Developing after the World War I, Russian constructivism pushed towards the art that would serve social change and inspire people to rebuild the society in a Utopian model. Concerned with the use of ‘real materials in real space’, the movement used art as a tool for the common good, much in line with the Communist principles of the new Russian regime. The art in service of the revolution needed to be bold and stripped of any emotions. This way of thinking was greatly diffrent from the standpoint of the Suprematism, which was using abstraction to break free of the expectations and limitations of the physical world and to connect with something more pure or spiritual.