V & A Post Modernism Exhibition

Sometime during 2012 I visited an exhibition at the victoria and albert museum, the exhibition featured pieces from the 1950s until the present, post-modernist pieces, I was inspired by the visit which gave me an insight into the how people see the world and the what the future may have held, such as in the early 50’s there was an obsession and style of the future and what science would be expected to produce, we see robots and designs based on the atom and scientific symbols. Postmodernism reached its height during the 80s, where this escalated and encouraged radical thinking and expressionistic styles. This movement was huge and like modernism changed the design and visuals of many art forms mainly including film, fashion and music. This movement has inspired some of my designs and looking back and exploring these designers and ideas have prompted me to change the way in which I view things.

Jonathan Ive

Jonathan Ive is an English designer, he is well known for his product designs for the company Apple, he designed the MacBook Pro, imac, macbook air, ipod, ipod touch, iphone, ipad and the ipad mini. At least one of these products are seen in nearly every household currently in the world, these sleek designs fit in with modern everyday lifestyle and it is seen as a fashion to own one. Not only the design but the way of life must have been considered when creating these models. Coming from a small town in London Ives has came a long way in the world of design , it is a big feat to be the designer of some of the most popular and well known projects in the world, he is a very successful man and is an inspiration to designers of the future.

Banksy

Banksy is a well know graffiti artist, he’s identity was a mystery for a long time before we see the artist behind the artwork, although now we know the man behind the work we are still unknown to a lot about him as he prefers to keep out of the public eye. He is believed to have been born in Yate near Bristol during 1974 to a photocopier engineer father, he became involved with graffiti during the late 1980’s where spray can art became popular. He uses art to communicate world issues and morales which creates shock and encourages deep thinking into the meaning of the work. Banksy is well known for he’s stencil art where he portrays surreal images of art that have often incorporated politics, culture and ethics. Combining these subjects with an urban art was a fresh way of communicating issues with the people. It was an odd mix, its what made him ‘unique’. The Works of Banksy have been seen in within Citys worldwide including america aswell as London, this is a great feat for someone who started out a career as an underground graffiti artist or ‘vandal’ to some. What I see in Banksy is that he is a very influential artist that has made impact on other artists and the people around him.

Otto Neurath

Otto Neurath was an intelligent individual who incorporated his knowledge of politics, sociology, urbanism and visual communication into his works, he became a very important figure in the field known best as ‘isotype’s . He was born in Vienna into a political life from his father, Neutath studied at his home city university of Vienna where he gained his knowledge of mathematics  and physics, later studying at the university of Berlin, where he achieved his doctorate in philosophy. Shortly after the war he opened what was known as the social and economic museum of Vienna at the very start of 1925 where he became completely engaged in the use of visual methods for explanation and education. He worked alongside Marie Reidemeister, and soon he became Inspired by ancient how hieroglyphics communicate without the use of words.. Thus during his practise he and Marie created ‘Isotype’ Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) it was a new visual way or communicating a copious amount of social and economic information into pictogram for the public, they appeared as charts or trees clearly displaying the information to the reader without the use of a written explanation. Neither of the two being artists they came to persuade Gerd Arntz to take the roll of portraying these, he worked with a small team of creative to develop and create these pictogram s. This creation was believed to have been the birth of info-graphics in print.  

Identity

Identity is something every individual is born with, you will find no one of the exact same identity. May it be of race, personality, looks or actions identity is a combined effort of all of those aspects and more and it takes all of those things to build up an individuals identity, identity is what makes you different to any other being on this planet, and it is individual identity that has created the charismatic individuals which have made a significant impact on the world as we know it.  It can be argued that our identity is morphed or influenced on a daily basis by the things that we regularly encounter or experience, for example the things that are more recognizable to us would be logos for corporate companies rather than historically important people or matters of our time and past. This boosts the relevance of design such as graphic designs including logos and advertisements as we are conditioned to associate ourselves with these things, as we see in the world today many follow trends and as it seems want to become like one-another  this is a loss of identity to some extent and it is believed that our identity's are becoming mildly suppressed to a by what we know  and see and thus it takes a certain individual to break the mould and express there real self s or show their ‘ identity's’ to there fullest to achieve great things to hopefully influence others to do so. 

Modernism

Modernism was a movement that occurred just after the first world war, during early 20^th century. it prompted the people to re-design everything in some aspect, infact it encouraged the idea that they were to start a fresh. Modernism created a huge impact on the world, especially in life today as within the movement changed the likes of all creative forms of expression including literature, fine art, architecture, film, music and so on and so forth. Modernists see the climax of the war as an opportunity to give the world a makeover in some sense  Artists began to see the world differently, there minds became more open and thus we see the birth of impressionists and surrealists. Following the movement lead to the age of the ‘ism’s’ this included modernism, cubism, symbolism, impressionism, futurism ect. They were all seen as new and ‘modern’ ways of looking at the world which was so much more different to what was already known. Modernists believed that they could potentially design a better society by changing the way of life and applying there creative ideas and techniques^th century, I mean it sparked the beginning of graphic design which stemmed 

  Creative and radical thinking became more celebrated. Not all designs were successful but it was inevitable that modernism was the most influential movement that occurred throughout the 20

Semiotics

Semiotics is a science or investigation that was proposed during the 1900’s and originated from the study of signs and gestures In which we associate with certain meanings, these signs include both linguistic and visual meanings. It originated from an academic investigation of the meaning behind certain words, this developed into a study examining peoples behaviour and actions – the study of anthropology and psychology it later evolved into the observing of the effects of culture and society and finally is still practised today as a tool for brand communications and analysing consumer behaviour. The idea behind semiotics is the acknowledgement of our surroundings and the importance of the way we are influenced by certain things subconsciously. Our personality's are affected by this as our subconscious actions reflect on what we see and interpret in everyday life, most of these actions have become instinct as its what we have been conditioned from a young age to react to, such as the reaction to the change of light in a traffic light or sound that it may emit, prompts us to start  moving which we have developed unknowingly. This applies to most aspects in everyday life which allows us to navigate the world that we occupy safely. Although this is a positive thing this ability to associate visual or linguistic signs can be of a negative outcome in society, an example being certain branding and social media.  Furthermore the ability to know exactly the meaning of the sign requires the right context to be acknowledged. Semiotics is the key to achieving a successful design.