Upload
thea-stevens
View
221
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
1/21
Book Cover Design
1
Book CoverDESIGNThea Stevens
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
2/21
Book Cover Design
2
Critical Design
...This is misleading: reproach has nothing whatsoever to do with the intentions of this work.Theres a difference between not doing something, and thinking someone else shouldnt bedoing it either. The question this does raise, though, is: if neither selling doodads, what are
these so-called critical designers doing. Or: what do they think theyre doing? Whats thepoint? What are they after? etc.
And I think the answer is that they dont yet know what they want... Stuart Bailey
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
3/21
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
4/21
Book Cover Design
4
We believe that in order for conceptual design to be effective, it must provide pleasure, ormore specically, provide a type of experience that Martin Amis has called complicated plea-sure. One way this could happen in design is through the developement of value ctions.If in science ction, the technology is often futuristic while social values are conservative,
the opposite is true in value ction. In these scenarios, the technologies are realistic butthe social and cultural values are often ctional, or at least highly ambiguous. The aim is to
encourage the viewers to ask themselves why the values embodied in the proposal seemctional or unreal, and to question the social and cultural mechanisms that dene what isreal or ctional. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
5/21
Book Cover Design
5
The Designer as Producer
The concept of production, ac-
cording to Ellen Lutpton, com-
bines the idea and the object. Or
more likely, puts emphasis on the
latter over the former. Since the
rise of desktop publishing, the de-
signer has been given the reigns
to almost all the roles of produc-
tion. Roles that were formerly
divided into separate jobs such
as the artist, the letterer, and the
typesetter. Through combining
these jobs, the modern graphic
designer is forced to consider the
material end product of his or her
work.
Graphic designers are given the
freedom over almost all compo-
nents of their work. But this is a
double edged sword. The ability
to control also means more work
and the pressure of being compe-tent in multiple areas of design.
This is the rub of de-specializa-
tion for the designers of today.
What the modern design must
consider now, and what Walter
Benjamin urged, was what the
nal product is and how it will be
viewed. The life of an object such
as a book or poster was passed
from one specialist to another in
Benjamins time. He saw the act
of the designer becoming a pro-
ducer as revolutionary because art
and design were no longer held
hostage to those with a higherposition. The artist is no longer
only the supplier of images, but
the one to make other graphic de-
cisions that effect how their work
is viewed.
Recently I created a set of col-
lectible trading cards inspired by
the series, Downton Abbey. Since
the series takes place 1910s, I
researched and illustrated im-
agery and objects of the era that
would distinguish the characters
and their social status. For the
text of the cards, I opted for more
contemporary fonts, which gave
the cards a touch of modernity. I
realized that juxtaposing the con-
temporary with a historical piece
is more likely to appeal to a more
large scale audience.
When Benjamin called for authors to become producers, hedid not mean for them to become factory workers alienatedfrom the form and purpose of the manufactured thing. Thechallenge for educators today is to help designers become the
masters, not the slaves, of technology. There exist opportuni-ties to seize control intellectually and economically of themeans of production, and to share that control with the read-ing public Ellen Lupton
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
6/21
Book Cover Design
6
The Troubled Craftsman
Richard Sennett divides craftman-
ship into two parts: the head and the
hand. The head is the spark of inspi-
ration, the obedience, and intention
of the craft and the hand conveys
those ideas and turns them into re-
ality. According to Sennett, By one
commonly used measure, about ten
thousand hours of experience are
required to produce a master car-
penter or musician. So as much as
we like to instant gratication and
so called geniuses, repetition is a
necessity for a skilled craftsman.
Both the head and the hand are
needed for this. Repetition can be
mentally and physically exhaust-
ing, but through repeating the same
thing again and again, we often
make ground-breaking discoveries
through the slightest changes thatresult from redoing.
As is the norm nowadays, the role
of the craftsman is disappearing and
being replaced by desktop publish-
ing programs. An actual person is
still needed to operate this technol-
ogy and still design, but the skillsets
and the repetition-hardened mind
can be swapped out with each other.
The head and hand are separate in
the new craftsman.Anyone can be a craftsman now. Or
more exactly, no one is considered a
craftsman now. Lorraine Wild high-
lights how anyone can call them-
selves a designer now thanks to
desktop publishing. Being a crafts-
man requires extensive knowledge
on an area of expertise. Designers
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
7/21
Book Cover Design
7
are expected to know all steps of pro-
duction now and often rely on the
tools that programs give them. CAD,
for example, allows the user to design
fully realized building through com-
mands. The actual art of drawing is
no longer necessary. But because the
user has become comfortable with
seeing the nished product of his la-
bors with a few clicks of the mouse,
he is more likely to miss key features
that only someone who has visited
the site and labored over the drawing
board would notice.
The program I use the most often is
Adobe Illustrator. Because of its
name, thats the only programs I
deem competent enough to actually
produce art. Because of my personal
style, I still feel the same mental stress
that I experience when painting nor-mally. But there are moments where
the head is not needed. I dont feel
the same pressure to not make a mis-
take since I can easily erase or cor-
rect it. When I paint, making a mis-
take means possibly another hour of
work or even cutting out the area. In
Illustrator, I also dont have to worry
about making perfect shapes. Theres
a tool for that. Though these tools are
limiting. The spiral tool, for example,only produced a single type of spiral.
Trying to change it by adjusting each
point becomes a task that never has
satisfying results. More often than
not, I just accept the spiral that Illus-
trator gives me because I know that
trying to get other results wont work.
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
8/21
Book Cover Design
8
Research & Destroy: Graphic Designas Investigation
Design is added value. En masse, designers throw themselves into desires instead ofneeds. There is nothing wrong with admitting as much. Konstantin Grcic, Rodolfo Dordoniand Philippe Starck are found in Wallpaper boutiques, not in Aldi supermarkets. Unvaryingly,the poorest families for they are always around are still living with second-hand setteesin grey, post war neighbourhoods, in a total absence of design. Orchestration of third-worlddesign assembled for the cameras cannot escape the image of the world in poverty havingto make do without the luxury gadgets that are so typical of contemporary design. The hopethat some designers still cherish, of being commissioned to work from the perspective of
objective need, is in vain. Design only generates longing. The problem is the problem of lux-ury. Daniel van der Velden
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
9/21
Book Cover Design
9
In graphic design, every problem is coloured by the desire for identity on the part of theclient. They are the problems and the solutions of the game of rhetoric, expectations and
opinions. The graphic designer, therefore, has to be good at political manoeuvring.
The effect of this depends, among other things, on his position in regard to his client. Whathas historically come to be referred to as important graphic design was often produced by
designers whose clients considered them as equals. Daniel van der Velden
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
10/21
Book Cover Design
10
Re-Thinking Modernism
The Modernists invented new formal languages that changed not just how things looked,but how people saw. Modernism was a heartfelt attempt at using design to change the world.Tibor Kalman, J. Abbott Miller, Karrie Jacobs
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
11/21
Book Cover Design
11
Designers abuse history when they use it as a shortcut, a way of giving instant legitimacy
to their work and making it commercially successful. Tibor Kalman, J. Abbott Miller, KarrieJacobs
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
12/21
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
13/21
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
14/21
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
15/21
Book Cover Design
15
Experimental Jetsets says that modernism can work as both a deconstruction and construction depending on
what side you view it from. An example being how Punk is about destroying the current state of something
while surrealism is about adding while still breaking. Metahaven sees this as something that can be imsily
applied to anything to make it modern. The commercialization of punk has lost its original meaning. The
use of helvetica can be found on anything even if its ill tting.
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
16/21
Book Cover Design
16
I think that Metahaven has a more
set stance on Modernism. I dont
know if the topic was supposed
to focus solely on the movement
that followed WWI, but Experi-
mental Jetset was a little too eager
to rationalize that everything was
a form of regional Modernism.
Though I might have misunder-
stood Metahavens stance since
most of what they said was just
asking Experimental Jetset ques-
tions about their own stance.
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
17/21
Book Cover Design
17
Were Here to be Bad
In an age when anyone can become a good designer through desktop publishing, Tibor Kalman explains that
in order to stand out from the rest, one must become a bad designer. He does not mean make bad designs,
but to disobey the clients original instructions
Even twenty years later, the need to be a bad designer still holds true. These days, a designer measures their
success on how big their clients are. Though the bigger the client, the more the designer has to play it safe and
stick to their wants and wishes. Because the eye is on the prize and the prize is money and large corporations,
design schools churn out students that are trained to create exactly the same thing that these clients alreadyuse. It is the safest route to take.
Tibor sees small business as the way to inject art into commerce. Since they have a smaller market that
theyre pandering to, small clients are open to new ideas and are more likely to accept the designers sugges-
tions.
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
18/21
Book Cover Design
18
Although Tibor Kalman has a very straightforward philosophy, his cultural force view was a bit contradic-
tory. He does not want to do art for arts sake yet he believes that design is becoming too professional. Good
design should educate the audience over enticing them to buy the product. Joe Duffy agrees with Tibors initial
statement and adds that design should give instructions and explain why its superior than competitors. Tibor
is quick to condemn that as lying and lying is the equivalent of selling. To Tibor, selling a product is mediocre
design.
Honestly, I think Duffy is the only one that had the most constant view on design. His isnt in denial over de-
signing to earn an income. Like the Classico labels, his rm puts a lot of thought into creating a narrative to
suit the product. As much as Tibor denies it, design is meant to sell products as well, which is something Duffy
willingly accepts.
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
19/21
Book Cover Design
19
The package itself is part of the product. Its not just whats in the container; its everythingthats part of it. If the package is better, for any number of reasons, the product is better.
Joe Duffy
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
20/21
Book Cover Design
20
Reading and Writing
Ignoring critics complaints about graphic bells and whistles and razzle-dazzle narrativetechniques, these authors cant resist the seductive allure of the self-reexive page.Ellen
Lupton
8/13/2019 Thea Stevens ebook
21/21
Book Cover Design
Books serve not just to be readbut also to be displayed, ex-changed, reviewed, collected,shelved, archived.Ellen Lup-ton