FUTUREISSUE 1 MAY 2011

INTRODUCTION

ARTICLES

*London Underground*

* Typography in the 1920s*

* Charles and Ray Eames*

* Animation*

* Visual Perception and memory*

*Computer*

*Postmodernism*

***

REFERENCES

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map

http://gamswen.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/lon-don-underground-and-corporate-identity.pdf

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-visual-percep-tion.htm

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/bio.html

http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/memory.htm

LONDON UNDERGROUNDLondon UndergroundIn today’s lecture with Alan Powers, we were taught about the history of the London Underground. ‘The Tube’ as it’s known by Londoner’s was opened in 1863, with the Metropolitan railway being the first underground railway in the world. Advances in the use of tunnelling shields meant that railways were being built further underground with more lines constantly being added. The first successful tunnelling shield was developed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, and patented by him and Lord Thomas Cochrane in Janu-ary 1818. Brunel’s original design was substantially improved by Peter W. Barlow in the course of the construc-tion of the Tower Subway under the River Thames in central London in 1870.

Probably the most crucial innovation of Barlow’s design was that it had a circular cross-section (unlike Brunel’s, which was of rectangular cross-sec-tion), which at once made it simpler in construction and better able to sup-port the weight of the surrounding soil. The London underground map as we know it today has been developed many times since it was first cre-ated in 1863. Harry Beck (4 June 1902-18 September 1974) played a big role in how the underground map looks today. Beck was an engineer-ing draftsman who came up with the diagram for the underground in his spare time. “London Underground was initially sceptical of Beck’s radical proposal — it was an uncommissioned spare-time project, and it was tentatively intro-duced to the public in a small pam-phlet in 1933. It immediately became popular, and the Underground has used topological maps to illustrate the network ever since.” – Wikipedia

Today, the map bears the legend “This diagram is an evolution of the original design conceived in 1931 by Harry Beck” in the lower right-hand corner.Edward Johnston (1872-1944) was the creator most famous for designing the sans serif Johnston font used in the London underground system. He also created the roundel symbol, which is still being used.

TYPOGRAPHY

Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) was a typographer, book designer, teacher and writer. Tschichold’s father was a sign writer by trade; he introduced his son to lettering and calligraphy. At the age of 17, he began his typographic studies; he studied engraving, woodcutting and book binding simply by teaching himself. Tschichold was greatly influenced by a Bauhaus exhibition he saw in 1924 where he turned to modernist design.

“Between 1947-1949 Tschichold lived in England where he oversaw the redesign of 500 paperbacks published by Pen-guin Books, leaving them with a standardized set of typograph-ic rules, the Penguin Composi-tion Rules.[2] Although he gave Penguin’s books (particu-larly the Pelican range) a uni-fied look and enforced many of the typographic practices that are taken for granted today, he allowed the nature of each work to dictate its look, with varied covers and title pages. In working for a firm that made cheap mass-market paper-backs, he was following a line of work - in cheap popular culture forms (e.g. film posters) - that he had always pursued during his career” – Wikipedia

According to the exhibition ‘The New Typography’ at the Museum of Modern Art, “In the 1920s and 1930s, the so-called New Typography movement brought graphics and information design to the forefront of the artistic avant-garde in Central Eu-rope. Rejecting traditional arrangement of type in sym-metrical columns, modernist designers organized the printed page or poster as a blank field in which blocks of type and illustration (frequently photomontage) could be arranged in harmonious, strikingly asymmetrical com-positions. Taking his lead from currents in Soviet Russia and at the Weimar Bauhaus, the designer Jan Tschichold codified the movement with accessible guidelines in his landmark book Die Neue Typographie (1928). Almost overnight, typographers and printers adapted this way of working for a huge range of printed matter, from business cards and brochures to magazines, books, and advertisements.”Jan Tschichold. Die Frau ohne Namen 1927.

CHARLES

RAY EAMES

Their evolution from furniture designers to cultural ambassadors demonstrated their boundless talents and the overlap of their interests with those of their coun-try. In a rare era of shared objec-tives, the Eameses partnered with the federal government and the country’s top businesses to lead the charge to modernize postwar America.Early in their careers together, Charles and Ray identified the need for affordable, yet high-quality furniture for the average consumer -- furniture that could serve a variety of uses. For forty years the Eameses experimented with ways to meet this challenge, designing flexibility into their com-pact storage units and collapsible sofas for the home; seating for stadiums, airports, and schools; and chairs for virtually anywhere.

Their chairs were de-signed for Herman Miller in four materi-als molded plywood, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, bent and welded wire mesh, and cast aluminum. The con-ceptual backbone of this diverse work was the search for seat and back forms that comfortably support the human body, us-ing three dimension-ally shaped surfaces or flexible materials instead of cushioned upholstery.charles & ray eames 1956

Charles and Ray Eames were American designers most famous for their work in modern architecture and furniture. Their lives and work represented the nation’s defining movements: the West Coast’s coming-of-age, the economy’s shift from making goods to producing information, and the global ex-pansion of American culture. The Eameses embraced the era’s visionary concept of modern design as an agent of social change, elevating it to a national agenda.

ANIMATIONMy earliest memory of watch-ing cartoons takes me back to Pokémon and the adventures of Ash and Pikachu. Pokemon is owned by Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. The concept of the game was to catch as many Pokemon monsters as possible to become a renowned Pokemon trainer. Pokemon made a big impact in the 90’s as many kids in the playgrounds enjoyed trad-ing cards and collecting as many pokemon as they could. As an avid fan of Pokemon, I enjoyed watching this animation because of the adventures of it’s main characters, Ash, Brock and Misty. as well as the anime series, the Pokemon franchise has also come out with a number of mov-ies which have been a success. The franchise is in fact so successful that it is still generating a lot of profit from its games, cards, mov-ies and so on.

It seems as time goes on, animation will constantly be in great demand. I feel as though society needs figures in the media which represent heroism and bravery.cartoons and animation also help teach kids right versus wrong, how to overcome your fears and that honesty is the best policy; so therefore the moral values taught in animation are a great thing for society and the younger generations.

VISUAL PERCEPTION

MEMORY

Visual perception is one of the senses of the body which allows the brain to intercept and in-terpret visible light, creating the ability to see. Sight is regarded as a critical sense by many people, as the world contains a great deal of important visual information. Visual perception is provided to us by our organ known as the ‘eyes’. The rods and cones which are situated at the back of eyes are crucial as they aid us being able to see. As the rods and cones respond to light, they send signals along the optic nerve to the brain so that the brain can interpret them. Another important structure is the pupil; which dilates and contracts to control the amount of light which enters the eye.

Visual processing: Several different processes are involved in visual perception. Some are physiological, caused by the reaction of the eye to light, which converts light into signals which can be understood. Others are psychological, allowing the brain to make sense of the images it sees. The Gestalt theory in psychology explains how the brain deals with visual input, and the ways in which the brain smooths out and normalizes images to make sense of them.

In a classic example of Gestalt theory, when someone opens the newspaper and sees a photograph, the brain interprets the photograph as a smooth, clear image. Yet, when inspected closely, the photograph is actually a series of tiny dots of ink. The brain blends these dots together to create the appearance of a crisp image, and it is also capable of blending dots of different colors to create new ones, allowing a newspaper to use relatively crude printing techniques to produce images which will be recognizable to readers. The same process is allowed in the perception of images on a computer screen, which are presented in the form of pixels of information.Memory: Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain and later retrieve infor-mation. - (http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/memory.htm)Sensory memory is the earliest stage of memory. During this stage, sensory information from the en-vironment is stored for a very brief period of time, generally for no longer than a half-second for visual information and 3 or 4 seconds for auditory informa-tion. We attend to only certain aspects of this sensory memory, allowing some of this information to pass into the next stage - short-term memory. The ability to access and retrieve information from long-term memory allows us to actually use these mem-ories to make decisions, interact with others, and solve problems. But how is information organized in memory? The specific way information is organized in long-term memory is not well understood, but researchers do know that these memories are arranged in groups.

COMPUTERS

What would i do without my MAC?!

Computers. Can you imagine life without them?

my first computer at home was the biggest black box I can remember, and the only thing it was good for was playing endless games on it as the internet was far too pricey back then. I was taught in school about the internet and had a few lessons where we were allowed to browse on it and com-pared to the internet speeds today, it was painfully slow. Still, i loved going on a computer and typing away to my hearts content.

As technology progressed and became more advanced, it seems every household now owns a computer or laptop and the internet is logged into by millions of peo-ple around the world everyday.

I, for one, cannot imagine a day without logging onto my laptop and browsing the web. There have been many instances where the internet at home has cut off and i’ve been left with no internet access for a few days; those instances can be insanely frustrating especially when i have uni work to do or need to log onto Facebook.

The abacus is considered to be the first form of a computer, it was invented around 2700–2300 BC. the computer has come a long way since then as we can now access information from all around the world at the click of a button. i think thats one of the great things about the com-puter, the invention of the internet. there are so many resources and opportunities available from the internet thats is difficult to imagine not having access to all of it.

“Tim Berners-Lee was the man leading the development of the World Wide Web (with help of course), the defining of HTML (hypertext markup language) used to create web pages, HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) and URLs (Universal Resource Locators). All of those developments took place between 1989 and 1991.

Tim Berners-Lee was born in London, England and graduated in Physics from Oxford University in 1976. He is currently the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, the group that sets technical standards for the Web.” - http://inventors.about.com/od/istartinventions/a/internet.htm

POST MODERNISMPost modernism in short is any style in art, architec-ture, literature, philosophy, etc., that reacts against an earlier modernist movement.

“Postmodernism in graphic design for the most part has been a visual and decorative movement. Many de-signers and design critics contend that postmodernism, in the literary or architectural sense of the term, never really impacted graphic design as it did these other fields. Alternatively, some argue that it did but took on a different persona. This can be seen in the work pro-duced at Katherine McCoy’s program at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan during the late 1980s to late 1990s and at the MFA program at CalArts in Cali-fornia.

But when all was said and done, the various notions of the postmodern in the various design fields never re-ally stuck to graphic design as it did with architecture. Some argue that the “movement” (if it ever was one) had little to no impact on graphic design. More likely, it did, but more in the sense of a continuation or re-evaluation of the modern. Some would argue that this continuous re-evaluation is also just a component of the design process - happening for most of the second half of the 20th century in the profession. Since it was ultimately the work of graphic designers that inspired pop artists like Warhol and Liechtenstein, and architects like Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown, it could be argued that graphic design practice and designs may be the root of Postmodernism.

Graphic design saw a massive popular raising at the end of the seventies in form of Graffiti and Hip Hop culture’s rise. Graphic forms of expression became a vast everyday hobby among school kids all around the developed western countries. Alongside this ‘movement’, that took rebellious and even criminal cultural forms, was born the mass hobby of coding computer graphics. This phenomenon worked as a stepping stone towards the graphic infrastructure that is applied in the majority of computer interfaces today.” - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifestations_of_Postmodernism_Postmodernism_in_graphic_de-sign)

PHOTOGRAPHYGraphic design is the most pervasive art in our world today. It is spread throughout the branches of almost every entity of our lives. Taking a look around you, the poster, the can of coke etc have all been carefully and thoughtfully designed by a graphic designer.

Coca Cola - One very recognizable example of a graphic solution taking a step in the right direction is Coke Zero. Coke had the need to re-launch their Coca-Cola Classic as well as launch a new product which had “zero” sugar. This no-calorie drink was designed to appeal to men with a range in age of early 20’s and up. With it’s sleek masculine black and silver design and the concept of “it’s not a ‘diet’ drink, it’s the real thing with zero calories”, Coke Zero was a huge success slamming into the market and quickly becoming the 3rd biggest-selling cola product in it’s category. This success can be attributed to a gap in the market that was identified, targeted and effectively marketed to with well-done package design by Turner Duckworth and followed up by an extensive online campaign by Crispin Porter Bogusky. This was Coca-Cola’s largest product launch in 22 years. - (http://www.kelseyads.com/site.php/pulse/detail/how_does_graphic_design_impact_you)

Josef Muller Brockmann was known for his simple designs and his clean use of typography, notably Akzidenz-Grotesk, shapes and colours which inspires many graphic designers in the 21st century.

Serge Ivan Chermayeff was a Chechen born, British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of several architectural societies, including the American Society of Planners and Architects.

During the 1930s, Chermayeff designed a number of bakelite radio cabinets for the British company EKCO.In 1940, Chermayeff emigrated to the United States where he joined Clarence W. W. Mayhew as associate architect, helping Mayhew design his own residence. Between 1952 and 1970 he would continue to teach at several universities including Harvard, Yale, and MIT. He retired in 1970.He wrote several books, including Community and Privacy with Christopher Alexander in 1964 and The Shape of Community with Alexander Tzonis in 1971. Chermayeff’s architectural drawings, project re-cords, photographs, correspondence, teaching and writing papers, and research files are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.