Design in Its Golden Age - Essay Example

Design in its Golden Age It is almost taken for granted now that things surrounding us are not only things in themselves but trademarks presenting the style of a company. We try to surround ourselves with well-known names, which symbolize our social status. And this is the result of the work of designers, who are responsible for visual presentation and images of the product. In fact the history of design started in the 1960's in America. This country didn't suffer the postwar devastation and by the 50's it had established itself as the world leader in economic and political power. US also helped the surrendered countries. "Between 1945 and 1958 world manufactures increased by 60 per cent, while between 1958 and 1968 the figure rose to 100 per cent. These rises were paralleled by a growth in export figures over the same period and by 1957 the world trade in manufactured goods exceeded that in primary produce for the first time ever " (Sparke, 1987). Such economical prosperity was mainly due to the rapid development of technology during and after the Second World War. Among the most significant achievements were creation of radar and work in aircraft production. For Sparke (1987) it was creation of the transistor, "which made possible the miniaturization of electronic equipment, including computers, which in turn were to play such a central role in the postwar period, both in the automation of production and in information retrieval". Manufacturing and trade expanded rapidly and soon achieved the international level. The outcomes allowed the consumers to buy more and more and the producers made their best to satisfy purchasers. Press and Cooper (2003) in the chapter "Design and consumer culture" argue that in the first part of the twentieth century the economy was organized on a national basis. Today people, commodities, and money circulate around the world. "The things we take for granted today - driving a Toyota made in England, foreign holidays, the overseas students with whom we study, our Levis made in the Philippines, bunches of flowers sold on New York streets that are grown in Africa, e-mail exchanges with friends in other countries - reflect a level of globalization that was unheard of a generation ago" (Press and Cooper, 2003). The number of choices grew and here the designers envisaged their major challenge: design became the means by which goods were distinguished. With the help of designers producers tried to make their product more desirable for the consumer. One of the most enduring images of design for consumer luxury was the image of American car in 50's, which combined the huge sweeping forms of streamlined luxury with chrome detail and space age tail fins. General motors' Designer, Harley Earl, was aimed to channel consumer spending towards a new car every year. "By 1953, everyone in the United States who really needed a car had already bought one, so the automobile companies realized that if they were to keep up their sales figures they would have to change their styling more often. The great idea was to use design features that were so extreme that they would date quickly" (Powell, and Peel, 1988, p.66). Press and Cooper (2003) provide their understanding of design. To them it "is a process by which a product is encoded with symbolic meaning both through product design and advertising design. This encoding aims to point towards a preferred reading of the product". As an example they give the Italian scooter, which encoded a preferred reading of it as a feminized form of transport. Press and Cooper (2003, p.15) quote sociologists Scott Lash and John Uny who explain, "we analyze, not so much knowledge - or information-intensivity in production, but design-intensivity and, with the decline of importance of the labour process, the growing importance of the design process". The combination of words "total design" appeared, the expression "form follows function" was turned into "design follows sales". Designers designed anything and everything in a new postwar world (www.qdesign.co.nz/designhist_60pop.html). This was the birth of consumer culture and designers were the one to create its shape. "Consumption provides meaning, or at least legitimizes the lack of meaning, in the secular modern world. Through consuming we meet individual needs, construct our identities and confirm our membership of social groups"(Press and Cooper, 2003). Consumer culture was spread by mass media, which started to play the leading role in determining society's life: institutions, organizations, consumption patterns and the life-styles. "More than ever before, the effects of the press, the radio, television and the cinema entered the lives of practically every individual in the industrialized world, providing new sources of information, creating new expectations and suggesting new values" (Sparke, 1987). Design was also involved not only into producing but also into the fine art. The growing Youth culture in the 60's led to Pop, and Pop rebelled against modernism, which cultivated classical approaches to the art. Pop changed all that and began the movement of design towards Post Modernism. "Pop artists and designers argued that design values need not be universal and follow the ongoing evolution of a single Modernist aesthetic theory, but instead design should be ephemeral, undisciplined, individual, and go in all directions" (www.qdesign.co.nz/designhist_60pop.html). The traditional division between high and low culture was broken and artists concentrated on consumer needs. The word "Pop" as Crow (1996) writes in the chapter "Consumers and spectators" described various kinds of work in fine-art do not according traditionally fine-art criteria. Crow (1996, p.45) cites Hamilton's definition of Pop art, "Popular (designed for a mass audience)/Transied (short-term solution)/Expendable (easy forgotten)/Low cost/Mass produced/Young (aimed at youth) /Witty/Sexy/Glimmicky/Glamorous/Big business" So design started to play critical role in postwar era. Spark (1987) distinguishes two main areas of postwar life, in which design became an important factor: "the first as part of the need to create a national identity for products on the international market and the second in the formation of mass culture - both of them highly significant aspects of the world history of the post-1945 period". Graphic design was the leading player in consumer culture. Advertising, goods' packing, creating of labels, Pop art - these were the main fields of endeavor of graphic design. Donaldson (2001) in his "History of graphic design" gives the definition of it, "It is essentially visual communication, the visual representation of ideas and concepts. Graphics as an art form exploded with the rise of photomechanical reproduction processes in conjunction with the use of fast printing methods, and the dependable manufacture endurable paints, printing inks, quality papers and boards". He points that graphic art and design are the products of mechanization. Their spreading was conditioned by the demand for broad communications using popular and cheap materials, which are easily transported. "As industry recovered from the Second World War so the demand for printed material rose to new heights. The multiplying mass of business communications and packaging added to the growth in consumer publishing. The USA led the way as far as design is concerned" (Donaldson, 2001). In 1950's The American School of Graphic Impressionism was created. The late 1950's saw a rush towards numerous photocomposition machines. Graphic photocompositions were widely used in Pop art. Eduardo Paolozzi, Scottish artist, produced an extensive number of collage compositions from the pages of American magazines. One of the most famous is "It's a psychological fact pleasure helps your disposition". Alison and Peter Smithson created "Golden Lane city, Great Britain, Drawing and collage" in 1952, where Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were presented. Richard Hamilton in his 1956 collage "Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing" introduced the use of borrowed imagery in art, a move that inspired designers as well as contemporary artists (Crow, 1996). New, young designers that had just graduated moved into this area and were keen to break down the barriers of "Modern" principles, rejecting forms that were associated with wartime austerity and emphasis on utility. New materials such as fibreglass, plastics like nylon (invented by DuPont in 1939), polythene and polyester (1942), processed woods - especially plywood used in warplanes, and metal alloys were widely used in advertising design. In postwar period designers turned to bright colors to remove the darkness of wartime. Bright pinks, oranges, blues and yellows appeared everywhere. As the source of inspiration world of science fiction, toys and even comics served. "Simplicity was the designer's watchword, and style, therefore, would not be presented through wordy texts or literal pictures but through the association of a product with the most appropriate graphic forms" (Chwast, Heller, and Abrams, 2000). As for the style in graphic design, no single style dominated, "rationalist design found a home within the expanding corporate universe; eclecticism was ideal for certain advertising, publishing, and merchandising needs; and, later, the Psychedelic style, an original synthesis of Secessionist, Symbolist, and East Indian motifs, expressed the vibrant but brief life of the youth culture" (Chwast, Heller, and Abrams, 2000). Technologies not only made graphic design necessary but also improved its techniques from photography, photo engraving, lithography to print and computer technologies. The earliest electronic digital computers were in operation around the 1940's, but only in 1960's they began to have an impact on graphic design. Different systems were programmed to assist with justification of setting. Computer memory could summon up an image on a screen. Other technological advances appeared in 1961 with "the Selectric golfball type writer", with which office machines adopted the capability of changing its characters to a different face and size. "Also in 1961 the introduction of "dry" transfer lettering by Letraset, a clean simple lettering system that had immediate appeal to graphic designers paved the way for the desktop publishing systems of today" (Donaldson, 2001). The creation of dry transfer lettering permitted to image funny faces, creating special effects through distortion and trickery. "Rules about the relationship between type and image were challenged, conventions about using or not using certain kinds of typefaces were abandoned" (Donaldson, 2001). Fantastic design breakthroughs were widely used in the cinema. The music culture of the 1960's, particularly rock music, developed its own graphic communications. Culture of posters started to develop. Computer revolution went father affecting every one, especially designers. Different graphic programs appeared. Nowadays graphic design is strongly associated with computers, Adobe Photoshop and other programs. 60's changed the face of design forever. We live in a world of consumer mass culture. We buy clothes, furniture, entertainments and consumer goods to distinguish ourselves from others. We design and that's why we are all, to various degrees, designers. "Consumer culture is a design experience that links production with consumption, professional designer with creative consumer. Designers, as cultural intermediaries, play a vital role in helping people find meaning, identity and sense in a highly confusing world" (Press and Cooper, 2003). References: 1. Chwast, S., Heller, S., and Abrams, H.N. 2000, 'Late Modern' in Graphic Style: From Victorian to Digital, pp. 182-220. 2. Consumerism, online Encyclopedia, viewed May 27, 2005 http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Consumerism 3. Crow, T. (1996) 'Consumers and Spectators' in The Rise of the Sixties, Great Britain, London: Calmann and King Ltd, pp.38-47. 4. Donaldson, D. 2001, History and Development of Graphic Design, Feesch Design Resource, viewed May 27, 2005 http://www.feesch.com/pages/history.html 5. A History of Industrial Design, The home of Qdesign, viewed May 27, 2005 http://www.qdesign.co.nz/designhist_60pop.html 6. Kinross, R. 1992, Conversation with Richard Hollis on graphic design history, Journal of Design History, Vol. 5. pp.73-89. 7. Powell, P. and Peel, L. 1988, 50's and 60's style, London: Apple Press Ltd. 8. Press, M., and Cooper, R., 2003. 'Design and consumer culture' in The design experience: the Role of Design and Designers in the 21 century, Aldershot, Hants, England, Burlington VT: Ashgate, pp.11-34. 9. Sparke, P. 1987, 'The admass society' in An introduction to Design and Culture in the twentieth century, Basic Books, pp.143-158. 10. Thomson, E.M. 1994 'Early graphic design periodicals in America' Journal of Design History, Vol. 7, pp.113-127. Read More