week 3 blog post


In this week's reading, I enjoyed learning about ‘Blast’ magazine published in London in 1914 and 1915. The DIY nature of the Vorticist group's journal ‘Blast’ brings to mind the culture of fanzines that were popular in the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s. Both made by hand and deeply independent these two forms of design were not held back by any real design principles. Whereas ‘Blast’ was intentionally avant-garde and against the status quo of modern design this isn't necessarily always the case with fan-zines. Where Blast worked to challenge what was established through design elements this aversion to the mainstream shows itself in the content of many of the zines. With heavy adopters of this format in the punk and hardcore scenes, the emphasis of the content that filled these homemade magazines was often directly against the status quo. Early punk zines like Gerard Cosloys ‘Conflict’ embody this independent voice.
    These ideas both design-wise and philosophical I think showcase nicely in a more mainstream way in Ray Gun Magazine. Founded by Marvin Scott Jarrett and art directed by David Carson the magazine focused largely on alternative music, featuring a visual style that was in my opinion largely derived from the look and feel of fanzines. Utilizing experimental typography work and less than conventional photography all through the magazine David Carson created a look and feel that maintained DIY roots. The Experimental typography work also often abstracts itself into a point of being pretty in line with the Vorticists' cubist leanings.

Figure 1.Wyndham Lewis' Manifesto. Blast 1.1914. retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_(magazine) January 28th, 2020

Figure 2. Gerard Cosloy's Conflict no.51. 1990. retrieved from https://www.boo-hooray.com/pages/books/4292/gerard-cosloy/conflict-number-51. January 28th, 2020

Figure 3. Raygun Magazine Issue #1. 1992. retrieved from https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ray-gun-raygun-magazine-first-issue-1815176179. January 28th, 2020


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