Modernism

Modernism was not conceived as a style but a loose collection of ideas. It was a term that covered a range of movements in art, architecture, design and literature, which largely rejected the styles that came before it. The methodology flourished in Germany and Holland, as well as in Moscow, Paris, Prague and New York and was prominent in the years between the World Wars. Modernism arose out of the war as this was seen as a period of enlightenment and a transformation of society. People started to think differently and embraced the ideas of science, which brought about avant garde. Modernism became the most influential movement of the 21st century, with the likes of Josef Muller Brockmann becoming one of the most popular designers. Modernism embraced maths and science, which is where the grid system was born out of. Art became more expressive and experimental, as designers had to use art to get messages across. Before modernism, graphic design and typography was overly decorative and associated with greed. The movement played with space and clean sans serif.

Neville Brody

After the lecture, I decided to do some research into a modernist designer. I chose Neville Brody as his work is very sleek and elegant. I particularly like his ‘screw the rules’ piece as he is implying that he doesn’t want to follow current graphic design trends. The cut up and misplaced typography gives a chaotic effect yet still looks aesthetically pleasing due to the simplicity.  He was one of the founding members of FontShop in London and designed a number of notable typefaces for them. He was also partly responsible for instigating the FUSE project an influential fusion between a magazine, graphics design and typeface design. Each pack includes a publication with articles relating to typography and surrounding subjects, four brand new fonts that are unique and revolutionary in some shape or form and four posters designed by the type designer usually using little more than their included font. In 1990 he also founded the FontFont typeface library together with Erik Spiekermann.