Post 3 - Sam Weible
From the experimentation and norm-breaking designs of the avant garde movement came some of my favorite European designs predating 1940s. From this period, I particularly love the posters advertising the London Underground. I first saw some of these posters at the Art Institute over the summer and was immediately intrigued by their design, how they managed somehow be both artistically beautiful and utilitarian. The elements of each poster followed suit, text and imagery being generally separate from one another on the page yet communicating a since of uniformity.
While that was the case for most of the poster I got to see, it wasn't for every Underground poster. There are actually a great variance of design and style between these mass-produced posters. This poster, "Power", from the textbook, for example, hardly has any visual unity. What it's trying to communicate is unclear and the visual ties the artist tries to make between each element isn't as unifying as it could be. However, personally I like this design. I feel like the longer I study it the more I understand it (which isn't necessarily the goal of a poster, but something I still appreciate).
While that was the case for most of the poster I got to see, it wasn't for every Underground poster. There are actually a great variance of design and style between these mass-produced posters. This poster, "Power", from the textbook, for example, hardly has any visual unity. What it's trying to communicate is unclear and the visual ties the artist tries to make between each element isn't as unifying as it could be. However, personally I like this design. I feel like the longer I study it the more I understand it (which isn't necessarily the goal of a poster, but something I still appreciate).
Kauffer, E. M. (1930). [Power]. https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18448065/. 28 January 2020.
Contrarily, this poster from the same year successfully ties together its visual and textual elements to communicate both the information that it should as well as its intended feeling. The bow and arrow indicates speed and precision, guiding the viewer to feel secure with the Underground as a reliable means of transportation.
Rogers, A. (1930). [Speed]. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134967320063949498/?lp=true. 28 January 2020
This third poster most closely resembles those I saw at the Art Institute with its clear black borders separating the imagery from the text, and then the entire poster itself from whatever else may be pasted next to it. This design is uniform and clean and suggests a feeling of ease.
Koop, M. (1925). [Power]. https://www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/posters/events/summer-sales-quickly-reached-poster. 28 January 2020.
I agree the London Underground is one of the most impactful poster as it was both meaningful and beautiful at the same time. Each poster is very unique on it's own, the second one especially since it's both easily read with the visual and the typography.
ReplyDeleteI really like your description of the juxtaposition of things in the London Underground being both "beautiful and utilitarian." That is accurate as well as curious. For the time period, this concept seems very forward-thinking and contemporary. It resembles a lot of the missions of graphic design agencies today.
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