15 October 2014

Week 1

Swiss Design


Wim Crouwel's work was discussed in the class, and after reading the class notes about him, I decided to investigate Swiss Design further.  Swiss Design has so many aspects that appeal to me.  The mathematics and controlled order of grids, and simplistic minimalist sans serif typefaces.  Crouwel's New Alphabet is fascinating in its design, although limited in its application. 

I read Grid Systems by Hans Muller-Brockman.  It is very useful for helping to understand the intricacies and possibilities of how applying different types of grid can aid design.  Some of the methods for developing a grid seem really complicated, but the principles are easy to follow.  I definitely want to apply his grid format to work I create.























I watched the film Helvetica, a documentary about the history of the typeface.  What I found most interesting was the attitude of Wim Crouwel, when he said that when you write the word dog, it doesn't need to bark, meaning the typeface doesn't need to be expressive, that is what words are for. Massimo Vignelli stated that he only uses 3 typefaces! I love the simplicity of the film poster, but I prefer Helvetica in lower case.  To me the upper case characters look ungainly.




















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