Frank Llyod Wright, Architect

     Frank Llyod Wright

     Frank Llyod Wright, was a remarkable architect who inspired many of his time. His master pieces 

whom many study even until this day are considered monuments even by the untrained artists eye. Born

in the city of Richland Center, Wisconsin; studying at Wisconsin Madison Wright would soon embark

upon a number of brilliant pieces from a simple chair to the massive Price Tower in Bartlesville,

Oklahoma.

     Of his artworks the first I will depict is Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium located in Tempe,

Arizona.  The completion of this structure was in 1964; the building stands on an area in which is quite

vast and is an open scenery, in which it feels very inviting for those who arrive to the building. The feel

of openness makes it seem like a center piece for the university. The design is quite abstract for a
building; like any other building its structure is simple line mesh making the building appear modern.

The use of linear shapes together with round shapes gives a contrast, making it more appealing to the

viewer. The feeling I received just by looking on the outside seemed like the structure was ahead of its

time  and to have seen it right after its construction would have given anyone a glimpse into the future.

     The next piece which is my personal favorite and I am sure would be many others is, "Falling

Water". The fact that astounds me the most about this structure is its year of completion being in 1935.

Even today, this piece considered, "modern" and is quite appreciated even by that of the common eye.

This piece is remarked by American Institute of Architects as, "best all-time work of architecture". The

use of prairie style design which is the linear roofing, gives the home its style. The house built on the

rivers waterfall and is camouflaged into its surrounding because of the structure style and element of

color.

Francisco Goya, Painter

Francisco Goya

Oil paintings have always been compelling to me. the expression of an artists thoughts and the way they perceive life 

in that particular moment. Francisco Goya  did just that being involved in the Romantic art movement in the 18th century. 

The Romantic style is comprised of emotional expression the technique of the brush stroke also emphasizes expression. 

Francisco Goya was a spanish painter and is generally known for his "Gothic" style paintings.

The painting, "Saturn Devouring his Sons" painted between 1819-1823 of the Greek myth of Titan Cronus. The idea 

that evoked Saturn to devour his children in fear that they would over throw him. The realism involved in this picture for its 

time was intense. The horror in the eyes of Saturn for his depicted actions, resembles that of the viewers perception. 

Another painting that was attractive by Goya was, "Courtyard with Lunatics" this painting has elements of negative 

shapes. The element that makes this painting captivating are the awkward positions these subject matter are undergoing. The erie stares give the viewer a state of uneasiness

Wolfgang Weingart

Wolfgang Weingart

Graphic designer and Typographer of the Swiss movement, Weingart is said to have also influence the “New Wave Movement” many note him as the father of that particular movement. He began teaching at the Basel School of Design and later the summer program for Yale University. This style encompasses the idea of a more grunge feel while still maintaining legibility. This style deals with a manipulation of font that is still clear and concise. For instance, his book cover that entails the words, “Typography” gives a feel of the Swiss style due to its subtraction factor but also gives you a grunge feel because of its distortion. This style was inspired also by the movement of punk rock.Another poster he constructs with the same idea is unnamed but as you can see it uses the element of torn paper and a gritty feel. But the overall design still maintains a sense of legibility and is clear and concise. The contrast element is a bit conflicting because of the various grays used. But for this to have been designed during the Swiss movement it gave graphic designers a new taste of content and inspiration. 

Joseph Muller-Brokmann, Graphic Designer

Joseph Muller-Brockmann

Perhaps one of the most well known Swiss designers, which are design with subtraction Joseph Muller at the age of 43, was a teacher of Zurich school of arts and crafts. His most influential work, which depicted him, as one of the best at this particular design concept was the construction of a town hall poster for Beethoven. The poster was made for the Zurich Town hall, includes a design that defines simplicity at its best. The contrast of black and white as well as the lettering from bold to slim draws the viewer’s eye directly to the information. The circular shapes that encompass the lettering present a feel of classicism and elegancy to the overall design. This is a concept I am most pleased with because of the overall composition and legibility of the design.The overall all idea of Joseph Muller’s concepts were to make the eye less challenged, meaning to present less conflict between message and design. This can be noticed in the poster “Aus der Sammlung des Kunsthauses Zurich”. Again he uses a two-color contrast to draw the view to the information presented. Also the clear difference from this poster in comparison to “Beethoven” is the overall shape of the poster. This poster presents a linear shape but it still incorporates the same idea of encompassing the literature with shape

Paul Rand, Graphic Designer

“Design is a problem solving activity. It provides a means of clarifying, synthesizing, and dramatizing a word, a picture, a product, or an event,” Paul Rand. This quote stood out as an inspirational thought conveying Paul Rand’s idea of design. Paul Rand, graphic designer of the 20^th century was a major influence in the design world. His businessman tactics partnered with his ability to understand the design process, helped bring an adequate and respectful
relationship between design and the corporate world. Paul Rand, based in the United States was mostly known for his corporate logo design those being IBM, UPS and ABC to name a slim few. 

Paul Rand an American born graphic designer would soon find himself amongst the legends of design and inspiration. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1914 Paul Rand attended Institutions such as Pratt, Parsons School of Design and The Art students League. Though attending such design schools it is said he did not take any concept from them, thus, making him a self taught designer. During Rand's uprising in become a world-renowned, designer he found himself to be one of the originators and innovators of the, Swiss style of Graphic Design. The Swiss style, is an international typographic style, “that demands cleanliness, readability and objectivity. The typical layout of the style are asymmetric and use a sans-serif typeface,” such as Helvetica. Rand’s path to success began creating stock images for magazines and various newspapers. Paul Rand’s core influence was from the works of European Magazine “Gebrauchsgrahik”.  His attention to the German advertising style played another large role for inspiration more particularly the, Sachplakat style which, is described as an ornamental poster. The skill sets that separated Rand from other young and upcoming designers of that particular time was his articulate mannerisms his ability to conduct himself on an intellectual level. Rand’s artistic ability was not discovered by his innovating logos; rather, it was his indistinguishable layouts found in magazines. An Apparel Magazine, anniversary issue (Esquire) which, received criticism such as, “His remarkable talent for transforming mundane photographs into dynamic compositions, which [. . .] gave editorial weight to the page”. After his uplifting career at Esquire Rand would take on a new identity. 

Corporate logo design made Rand an icon in graphic design. One of his most influential and prestigious logos was the IBM logo. The logo originally designed in 1962, consisted of 13total bars that horizontally marked through the letters, “IBM”. The logo was originally designed using blue and white coloring. Later the design was modified to an 8 bar design were the 8 bars horizontally struck through the lettering, “IBM”. The idea behind the implementation of stripes was considered a half-toning technique the objective was to make the logo slightly “less heavy and more dynamic.” Paul Rand quoted in his article, The Politics of Design, “Ignorance of the history and methodology of design-how work is conceived, produced, and reproduced-adds to the difficulties and misunderstandings.” With this being said the depiction of this computer company through his logo design was to interpret to the consumer the easiness and simplicity of this new innovation. Associated with this campaign was the famous, “eye-bee-M” poster, which was designed in 1980 as a banner and 1981 as a poster. This poster consisted of an artistic eye that is looking at the viewer; a bee that is colorful and artistic as well followed by the trademark “M”. This poster made the company, IBM, recognizable amongst daily living and even through the viewer’s children. Many viewed his logo design as, “simplistic”

William Blake, Painter and Poet

William Blake, born in 1757 took part in the Romanticism movement. Blake’s beginning exposure to the idea of art began in engraving Greek drawings of antiquities this practice was preferred to actual drawing. Through this practice Blake was unknowingly practicing the classical form of drawing. By the age of 21, Blake was considered a professional engraver. 7 years later Blake found himself enrolled into the Royal academy. During this time Blake rebelled against the accepted views of painting at the time that being the Rubens style. This style was derived from Peter Paul Rubens who was a Baroque painter, this focused primarily on emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. The focused subject matter was predominately portraits, landscapes and history paintings of allegorical and mythological subjects. Blake preferred the classical style specifically from early influencers such as Michelangelo and Raphael.

William Blake’s works were influenced from the Bible, as stated before he shared many radical views and ideas about the bible through his paintings. From a young age, it is said that William Blake has witnessed visions of times were he “saw God” when God “put his head to the window”. Blake from these visions made what viewers depict as visionary paintings. Blake’s painting, “The Ghost of a Flea” depicts a monstrous head un-top of a human like body. The head can be described as being demonic. The body of the flea is lying between the stride of the demonic figure. This exaggerated subject matter is painted on a mahogany panel and painted with tempera heightened with god leaf. The painting was produced in 1820 and was a commissioned painting by watercolorist John Varley. Spiritual art had become popular in Britainfrom 1770-1830.

Another one of William Blake’s painting that I found intriguing that consisted of a religious subject matter was, “Satan calling up his Legions”. This painting is based upon the Book of Revelations in this the subject matter is seen uprising his “minions” to what one may assume Earth. This being one of the thought's of final judgment from the Book of Revelation. Thispainting has a lot of motion as well as feeling. It can be said that based upon the reading in the bible, this uprising is what Blake may have found most compelling to translate the overall feel and tone of the particular reading. You can take away from the painting that this is unearthly but it is quite romantic. The colors and tone of the painting one may not be able to depict what is being portrayed without the title. Another painting that was based upon the Book of Revelations that one might find compelling is, “The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun”. In this painting the Dragon is depicted as being ready to devour the child of the pregnant woman. The dragon’s back is facing the viewer and the lady underneath the dragon in horror. The dynamic wing spread of the dragon demands the viewer’s attention. This particular scene was depicted from Revelations 12 verse 4 it is said, “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. This painting was produced between 1805 and 1810 and was a part of a watercolor series.

Neville Brody, Graphic Designer

Neville Brody

The digital world has made a huge influence in the world of art. Many designs of which are hand sketched then produced unto a digital platform this has been taking artists interest by storm. Graphic designer, Neville Brody, comes from the London College of Printing and Hornsey College of Art both of which are based in England. Neville is what many may call a key influencer in the community of graphic design. Currently Brody owns a number of studios those being in San Francisco, Paris, Berlin and New York. His company concentrates more so on motion design or films, working for Paramount and Mission Impossible films. But instead of showing you some motion film examples, Brody has also done a number of poster ads, album covers and typefaces to name a few.

Brody’s design, “It allows” designed April of 2007 incorporates the idea of contrast. The use of black and whites allows for this design to not only to be understood but, strong in flow for the eye. From my perspective it seems as if Brody is in fact Idealizing graphic design. The elements I feel depict such a message is not only his title, “It allows” but that subject matter clearly defies what viewers accept as proper writing format. Being a fan of typography, one can appreciate the use of slim fonts with bold; larger fonts with that of smaller create an amazing sense of contrast. The design also incorporates some original fonts created strictly for this design.

"People think that digital design is a fixed language," he says. "But it's not; it's very fluid. It's like I'm doing a painting where the paint refuses to dry. I hand it on to the someone else, who pushes that paint around. And the process is continuous - it will never stop." This quote from Muchacreative.com clearly states the world of graphic design; that being an art that is continuously evolving through the influence of other designers. This next image consists of a number of magazine covers designed by Brody. While with the magazine company, “The Face” Brody was the art director, typographer and graphic designer. The Face magazine is a magazine that housed most of his early works from 1981-1986. The magazine’s context was of music, fashion and culture many described this work as “digital romantic” or “new romantic”.

Currently wikipedia states, Neville Brody has been announced to be the new Head of the Communication Art & Design department at the Royal College of Art commencing this happened January 2011”. His works on various new typefaces, album covers, posters and other mediums have influenced many designers to study his style and intake his inspiration.