Ethical aesthetics
By Charlotte & Peter Fiell. Excerpt from the book Contemporary Graphic Design
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Surrounding us every minute of every day-from packaging, print and signage to television identities and web pages-graphic design is an omnipresent aspect of modern life. Complex and ever changing in form, it synthesizes and transmits information to the public while, at the same time, reflecting society's cultural aspirations and moral values.
The four years since we published Graphic Design for the 21st Century (2003) have witnessed many developments in the practice of graphic design, and significant shifts of emphasis in both style and content. For example, the ever-growing interactivity of computers has transformed graphic design from an essentially static medium to one that increasingly involves movement. The greater sophistication of software solutions has also refined image manipulation, and graphic designers worldwide have creatively exploited the blurring of fiction and reality that this facilitates.
Many of the younger generation of graphic designers working today grew up with computers
Many designers-and, of course, film makers-have exploited these potentialities to the full, generating hyper-real artificial environments in which even the laws of physics can be broken at will. This has given media of all kinds a rather surreal air, promoting greater skepticism among audiences who are no longer prepared to trust the evidence of their eyes. Indeed, the more polished the message and its delivery have become, the more distrust they seem to breed. Unsurprisingly, this trend has inspired many graphic designers to reconnect their work with the "authentic" and hand-drawn-employing scratched, shaky or blotched visuals to suggest a trustworthy simplicity. Taken to extremes, this approach has spawned a variety of campaigns clearly constructed on the principle that, "if the ad is crap, the product must be good". The almost cult success of the Cillit Bang campaign featuring the over-enthusiastic "Barry" and his cleaning products, revisited in endless spoofs and remixes on the web, succeeds precisely because of its garish "naffness". Similarly, the huge impact of Dove's Real Women campaign owes much to its parodying of "glamour" advertisements and the rigidly idealized portrayal of female beauty that they display.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
Surrounding us every minute of every day-from packaging, print and signage to television identities and web pages-graphic design is an omnipresent aspect of modern life. Complex and ever changing in form, it synthesizes and transmits information to the public while, at the same time, reflecting society's cultural aspirations and moral values.
The four years since we published Graphic Design for the 21st Century (2003) have witnessed many developments in the practice of graphic design, and significant shifts of emphasis in both style and content. For example, the ever-growing interactivity of computers has transformed graphic design from an essentially static medium to one that increasingly involves movement. The greater sophistication of software solutions has also refined image manipulation, and graphic designers worldwide have creatively exploited the blurring of fiction and reality that this facilitates.
Many of the younger generation of graphic designers working today grew up with computers
Many designers-and, of course, film makers-have exploited these potentialities to the full, generating hyper-real artificial environments in which even the laws of physics can be broken at will. This has given media of all kinds a rather surreal air, promoting greater skepticism among audiences who are no longer prepared to trust the evidence of their eyes. Indeed, the more polished the message and its delivery have become, the more distrust they seem to breed. Unsurprisingly, this trend has inspired many graphic designers to reconnect their work with the "authentic" and hand-drawn-employing scratched, shaky or blotched visuals to suggest a trustworthy simplicity. Taken to extremes, this approach has spawned a variety of campaigns clearly constructed on the principle that, "if the ad is crap, the product must be good". The almost cult success of the Cillit Bang campaign featuring the over-enthusiastic "Barry" and his cleaning products, revisited in endless spoofs and remixes on the web, succeeds precisely because of its garish "naffness". Similarly, the huge impact of Dove's Real Women campaign owes much to its parodying of "glamour" advertisements and the rigidly idealized portrayal of female beauty that they display.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4]
Contemporary Graphic Design
Hardcover, 19.6 x 24.9 cm (7.7 x 9.8 in.), 560 pages
$ 39.99
$ 39.99
Packing a powerful visual punch: contemporary avant-garde graphic design
Adapter, project: “I Hate You for US Army”, poster, 2006. Client: Personal project, N/A