What is in the West

Exercise 11 has us looking at some of the cultural classifications that one can find in the contemporary post-modern wormhole in which we all reside.

Popular culture: The sickly bastard off spring of consumer culture. Popular Culture (Pop culture) is the face of superficial hedonism that thinly masks the demon of profit. Its whats 'in' or 'fashionable', always somehow centers around sex and wealth and is the fire that burns humanities discontent. This may sound a little hysterical but the fixation on superficiality of the present is what is always attributed to the failings of Western capitalism. As discussed in my previous post when people are eventually faced with a nihilistic perspective they have 2 choices create a purpose or cling to whatever falsehood is most easily assessable and comforting. So the fact that Popular culture seems to implicitly suggest that this is the sub-set of culture that people are most often drawn to is a grim reminder that the security blanket of denial seems more appealing than true fulfillment. A culture of "Do what you have to and go home so you can stare at Carmen Electras t*ts"

Youth culture: The baby sister of Popular culture that appears to be more about just fitting in, in order not to be ostracised by ones school mates yet probably has more to do with sex than its adult counter part. Youth culture takes the roll of fads and even would-be counter culture (Ill explore this later) and is ultimately the sad begins of the standardization of the Western populous. The irony of the current trends of youth culture is that it is tending towards kids trying to express ones "uniqueness" yet does so by standardizing "uniqueness" with popular cultural trends. As personified by the Emos and Hipsters

Counter culture: Now here is finally a concept that has a degree of merit. For every philosophy or great movement that eventually became the norm started as some sort of counter argument to the previous norm and was itself challenge and adapted into a new preposition defining human existence or conduct. However in contemporary culture, counter culture serves a some what less glorious roll in that it is a movement that attempts to challenge the status quo and give individuals a slightly different social paradigm to exist in. One such movement is the Goth movement which Ill explore next

One contemporary counter-culture: In the interest of flow Ill Quickly go to the counter culture that I researched. The Goth movement is a counter-culture that attempts to discard the social stereotypes of society by embracing the darker aspects of civilization. It creates a sort of passive nihilism that, instead of attempting to gain the state of active nihilism, that embraces the pointlessness of life where Popular culture has become the norm. From music to alternate religions, Gothic life style is dark and tortured as if to spite the superficiality of modern life, some even going so far as to dip into Satanism to express their contempt of the world and their fierce individualism. I think they are interesting because they are the ultimate hopeless paradox of identity that take nihilism to its bleakest extreme.

However even this extreme counter-culture (I would go so far as to call them anti-culture) isn't without its dark little Pop/youth culture bastard offspring complete with it own music, movies and dress sense: The F**King Emos. Short for Emotional, Emo culture chooses not to express anger toward the status quo but instead opts to express insincere self-pity and individualism as the misunderstood children of society, yet their
individualism is some what hard to take when it eventually developed into a massive youth movement and fashion trend. Also where goths generally avoided public forums, Emo children all other the world were being broadcast all over the rest of the world through global networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The Emo fad has,thank god, been disposed of in today's world but alas has again been replaced by the new contemporary hypocrites the "Hipsters", rip off artists of the former alternative group the Beatnics. Anyway this as always is a clear example of if you want to destroy and image, give it to a bunch of teenagers.

The visual generation: To reverse up the list again we now take a look at the effect of contemporary visual overflow that has come to define culture today. Whether it is for pure escapism or personal identity affiliation, the visual generation has their pick to fill the gab of whatever form boredom can take. Just between television and the internet the sheer number of visual stimulations that is at the average middle incomes persons disposal can keep one occupied for 10 life times over. The devastating effect of this global pheonmenon is that boredom is no longer illiviated through constructive means, now you can just pick up a remote and be lost in a viseral experience. Not only that but now almost all forms of education or entertainment is expected to contain some sort visual stimulus. Its like that philosophy of simulation, simulation first mimics reality but then eventually becomes reality. But since Im a graphic designer ill let this one slide.

Generation X: Ok to go back up the list to generation X, the were the generation to come after the Baby boom that happened directly after World War 2. So it was the generation to be born from 1960 to about 1980, the first truly post-modern generation and the first to be hit by a culture that wasn't convinced there was only one way of doing thing (unless you were American or Russian in which case you were either Capitalist or Communist respectively or Satan as far as they were concerned until the 90's.) So in the 60's the kids of the veterans who fought in the war were now growing out there hair and abusing marijuana and tie dye and the first truly liberal movement was starting to sing songs and hug trees all over the world.

Generation Y and Next : This was the generation after X and was the first brought up on a diet of internet, video games and cellular phones. Where the X generation was freed by many of the trappings of modernism Generation Y's young middle class had fallen into a new type of trapping in culturally based consumerism. And eventually after the exit of Ronald Reagan from the white house for the Americans, the West started to evolve a unique brand of neo-liberalism.

Nihilism in Anime

Exercise 8 is an interesting one I find. It haves us looking at a treatise written by Marco Olivier about Nihilism.

Firstly Olivier starts by describing Nihilism as the realization that the universe has no great creator driven native. While quoting the work of Nietzsche and other great philosophers, Olivier makes the point that on the road to while young and insolent people live firmly in the "fact" that there is a greater purpose to the world but as time passes the illusion fades and people are left to cling to whatever comforting belief system they can find.


People that cling to these convenient pre-made metaphysical life rafts, i.e. archaic or pointless consumerism,  are what are described as passive nihilists, people desperately trying to hide from the fact that they're all alone in the universe.

While active nihilism is the act of creating ones own sense of meaning by dedication ones self to creating something of deep personal and inter-personal value. It boils down to purpose or purposelessness

He goes on the describe in depth the false hood of Western capitalism, consumer culture and religion do nothing to fulfil people on a personal level. The simple act of clinging to socially acceptable paradigms of being doesn't give people a sense of purpose but rather is a blanket of comfort that hides peoples existential insecurities and ultimatley holds people back.

He then goes on to discuss Japanese history and culture and describes that their theological pursuit of harmony with nature and strong work ethic allows them to craft their own sense of purpose and almost culturally makes them inclined to active nihilism.

He describes some of the themes of Japanese anime and that their cultural themes are perpetuated through this artist medium. That the give meaning to themselves by creating rich universes in which characters develop along meaningful plots that tie in with many of the aspects that represent problems that they as Japanese feel are important.

He concludes be saying that media is the expressive form of social discourse that is available to us as a people today and that by using intelligent forms of analysis we can properly understand the facts of culture, and by extension ourselves.

I really liked this paper, as I have felt quite,truth be told, hopeless from time to time in the pointless expected pursuits of our times. So calling to light that through the act of passionate creation one can define a great sense of purpose is a good, positive reminder that in a pointless universe it is still possible to create a point. I also am very fond of anime, even though it doesn't get a lot of respect in the graphic department here, so it is refreshing to have the positive aspects and deep storylines that Ive come to love intellectualized in such a positive light. Viva le Anime

The Modern show down: Modernism versus Post-Modernism

Modernism                                                             Post-Modernism    

    

                             Certain                                                                     Uncertain

                             Order                                                                       Choas

                             Future                                                                       Now                 

                             Logical                                                                      Intuitive

                             United                                                                       Separate

                             Objective                                                                  Subjective

                             Truth                                                                         Belief

                             Serious                                                                     Sarcastic

                             Faith                                                                         Nihilism

                             Progress                                                                   Peace

Unitied colours of Benetton Baby!

Exercise 6 has us retracing the sets Benetton has taken from the 80s to the 2000s:

Where diesel was more tongue in cheek for the fashionably alternative crowd, Benetton had their tongue firmly in the cheek of major social issues, especially those of race. From the 80s when America was still in the grips of crazed right wind fundimentalists like Ronald Reagan and South Africa in the grips of Apartheid. Companies like Benetton were planting their flags well to the left. Pushing their business to not only support but be branded by concepts that were plaguing the world at the time.

In the 90s Benetton dived deeper into the idea of identity, constantly drawing on concepts that would make one question the social stereotypes people cast upon each other and constantly trying to subconsciously draw people together. They more and more tried to give graphically jarring imagery that would shock people. They were less trying to portray a brand than to portray a movement of togetherness, which I'm sure helped their brand quite nicely.

In the 2000s they even got into a bit of trouble with their above advertising campaign that depicted people on death row. Well they say there is nothing like bad publicity so you can say their brand reached a sort of apex when they tried to humanize Death Row inmates. This is really the best example of Benetton advertising philosophy. Part of you can see that the is something unethical about it yet because of that the adverts cause you to somehow question your own ethics and societies need to demonize certain aspects of itself. And thats Benetton, pushing buttons, bounderies what we think we think about ourselves and selling some cloths to pay the bills.

Diesel Powered

Exercise 5 has us looking back the design philosophies of Diesel jeans.

 Diesel is a post-modern brand par excellents. The most common version of advertising there is in the world is that of plain old self-promotion, the "we do this and do it better/cheaper than our competitors" school of advertising. Clothing might be a good area to break away from this mold as their purpose is to portary personal image but Diesel jeans take a delightfully ironic form on advertising.

They sell tongue in cheek concepts that dont so much illustrate the image of the clothing in them but rather illustrates the quirky nature of the brand that you can buy into. Cool avand guard irony by association as apposed to some skinny sexy person looking angry in jeans, which is (ironically) how there branding started.

Conceptually Sound

Exercise 4 has us looking at the concept of conceptual design in contemporary culture. So lets look at the concepts that make the world turn round.

When you look at conceptual design one might think design that crafts a visual metaphor for some idea or other. Alas on the contemporary circuit there is a difference between conceptual art and conceptual design, so the examples we will be looking at will so the differences. The first example is that of contemporary concept art:

This image is art that is made for an up and coming video game. Concept art in this instance is art that is made to keep to the "concept" of a video game or movie. It not so much a design that is suppose to articulate a certain design concept as it is to expand upon a libary imagery that makes up a universe that a motion project is trying to create. Which brings me to the second example:

This is a more traditional art piece titled: "Happiness by disassociation". Its conceptual in that it is a singular piece that tries to create a visual metaphor that communicates a concept that views can intellectually identify with. This still falls under the catagory of conceptual art as opposed to design because it was created to express a emotional paradigm not to serve any other function. Which brings us to the third example:

This is most definitely conceptual design. Its make up is quickly communicates the purpose and function of the company it was made to represent. Where the last example was more esoteric is its execution and function, this logo is non-ambiguios and forms an identifiable symbol for the business it represents.

So calling something conceptual is up for interpretation depending on where and why something is created. Surely all art and design has some degree conceptualization to it but its the difference in functionality and clarity of symbolism that separates art, design and one design from another.

Global Blizzard

Exercise 3 has us examining a interesting brand, their philosophy, identity and all that jazz. And what brand is more entertaining than Blizzard entertainment:

People who play computer games on a regular basis will almost certainly know about Blizzard entertainment, for people who dont... they make computer games but not just any computer games. Games that have people in rehab for addiction, games that have sponsored tournaments before a game is even fully released, games that have people waiting for up to 10 years in feverish anticipation for there next release. Yip Blizzard is a brand that holds a lot of weight in the pc gaming  community, one that takes the philosophy of Quality over Quantity to a whole new level. In fact the company has been know to completely cancel games (projects that take years and millions of dollars to develop) if they are not up to Blizzard insane standards. Most game development companies dont really have the resources to publish there own games and rely on big publishing companies to produce their work for a global market. Blizzard on the other hand, not only publishes their own games but once a year hold their very own video game convention: Blizzcon.

This illustrates what Blizzard does best (besides making crazy good games) PR and generating hype. Where other game companies take about 2 or 3 years to develop a game or make a sequel to some franchise, Blizzard sometimes takes up to 10 years to release a game, while they do this they slowly trickle game content to the salivating masses, giving little snippets of footage, updating websites with concept art or intros to the story line then they hold a convention where the development team goes over every little detail of their progress. Then there's merchandising and literature extending games story lines all to make their target market  burst with anticipation. Then when a game is finally released they tend to sell out very quickly.

Locally Global

 
The second exercise in this marathon of Design analysis has us examining a local (aka South African) design magazine. Wasn't sure what I was expecting when I started looking into this months issue of One Small Seed, to my eternal shame a magazine I have neglected to get into until this point. With the title Cult of Self and then going onto quote for the opening of the abstract, I immediately thought, 'Woah, for a self proclaimed Pop culture design magazine its quite existential, Pop went and got deep.' Maybe thats not fair, Pop culture design is very different from Pop music after all. An existential/sociological theme for a single issue of a design periodical and issue that focuses on interviewing designers however does give an interesting concept when put into context of design history.

The modernists periodicals of the 20th century generally focused on one branch of philosophy, you know coz Modernists generally only thought there was only right one. Then Post modernism crept in along with its nihilism and people began to question the status quo, traditional views of truth and explored the realms of subjectivity. Now a contemporary magazine that makes an ironic statement about our cultures fetish with subjective reality. So first we were objective, then subjective now objectifying our subjectivity ironically. Arent we a funny bunch.

Anyway back to one small seed. One small seed seems aimed squarely at designers, not just graphics but music, fashion and any kind of interesting form artistic creation. Its content and execution all deal with the design community and the philosophies and movements in it. For the most part the issue consisted of interviews, as expected from the concept of the issue most of the interviews centered around the how-what-where-and-why of motivations and beliefs of the designers/artists. The magazine doesnt seem to seek to define the industry but more to illustrate the possibility of personal expression, this being quite the opposite to other a lot of other Pop culture mags that seem to try set the mold with a sort of "your life is sh*t so try be more like these people" aka things like Heat magazine aka the bloody after birth of contemporary hedonism.

I was surprised how globalized the magazine was, I dont know, was kind of expecting a more SA design focused mag but I suppose globalization and Pop culture go hand in hand (and the worlds a lot bigger SA as a pool to draw content from) but OSS(one small seed) had enough SA content not to seem completely alien. Anyway, the layout, style and typography are what you'd expect from a high end design mag, each was considered in accordance to the concept of the content yet having enough visual solidarity to not seem erratic as a whole. The concept still tickles me. Irony is 'in' and concept is king Baby!

Brain on a treadmill

For the sake of time (and hopefully passing history) Im going to keep to the exercises for the blog project for the time being. So first on the agenda is ITS.

For those who arent familiar with the movement and believe my last sentence just had very bad grammer, ITS is the International Typographic Style, one of the last true Modernist movements. Back at the begining of the 20th century, Europe was quite fixed on the idea of the Perfect way of doing things, that there was some sort of adsolute truth that everyone should b trying to get to (Sounds good and noble and theory but taking all the humanity out of humanity tends to make people a little bit cruel, the Nazis for instance). So in Europe, decoration and prettiness was out, geometry and functionality were in, form following function and frankly f**k frivolous facades... and all that. Pretty much the opposite of the art Nouveau Movement of the previous century.

So ITS was born, a typographic style that focused on grids, clean/simple geometric layouts, plain bold colours, san-serif type faces that were aligned flush left and clear legibility. Heres an example:

Though Modernism had its draw backs in that it never actually found an absolute truth, it did have a few good, pioneering ideas. Some of which have permeated though to contemporary design, Eg:

And just for some context some very Not ITS contemporary design:

Introductions.....better late than never

Hello world and Miranthe (our lovely and ever patient lecturer) . My name is Jeremy Sealy-Fisher. I'm a 3rd year graphic design student in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As a part of our History of Graphic Design module my fellow soon-to-be designers and I are to create blogs documenting our thoughts and feelings over the content of our curriculum. Researching, commenting and letting the whole world know how we got to where we are in design (and at the same time letting Miranthe know that some of the course content sunk in bit and that she didn't write the study guide  for a bunch of paper wasting ingrates ).

As opposed to creating a stuffy academic blog written with a register as high as the himalayas (that only people who already knew all the information I would be blogging about would be interested enough to read just so they could correct me on how many chin whiskers Johann Gutenberg had or something) I've instead decided to be a complete rebel and try appeal to the average person who generally would'nt give a Da Vinci's- flying-machine-sh*t about the history of graphic design so that i can maybe give someone else a passion and respect for the past like I got when I started design. Learning cool things like that the alphabet was not derived from alphabet-soup or that the ancient egyptians had three writing systems, one for holy writings, one for official documentation and common writing (or as I like to think of it: ancient sms language).

To the average person the mere mention of the word "History" causes things like glazed eyes, decreasing of attention spans and drowsiness. This is however a grave injustice. History is the proper dictionary-definition of Awesome!

How can I be so sure? Because (simply put) people are f**king CRAZY! And history is the story of how people have changed and evolved and how one form of crazy eventually becomes another or often several other forms of crazy. Yes it may sound quite crass and crude to explain the entirety of human history as if explained from someone on the Jerry Springer Show but I feel people disassociate history from their contemporary lives because of the clinical and academic way history is explained. The idea of history being boring has stopped most people from seeing the fact that there is a lot of just plain old interesting stories out there. You might watch Paris Hilton and think her promiscuous rich girl life style is crazy. Im talking Henry the Eighth: The King who invented divorce and executed a few of his wives while he stole money from monasteries, now that's rich and out of control. You think the latest issue of heat is interesting. Im talking about the INVENTION OF PAPER in ancient China B*tches!

But the real magic is when you start to connect the dots and the interesting stories start to join up. Eventually you start seeing how things evolve, bounce off each other and join together while some things stay the same and little by little you get a bit of a picture what makes us, us.

Well actually as far as course content is concerned in third year we start by dealing with late Modernism going into Post-Modernism (like design around the second world war and onwards). So if you don't really know much about the history of graphic design already you've essentially walked into the theatre when Frodo is dropping the ring into the volcano. But dont worry, throughout the course of this blog and year I'll be periodically making a few retrospective posts just to give context to everything. Im also thinking about doing a one paragraph per chapter fly-by of the work we've covered over the subsequent two years, haven't decided.

Well, til next time...