Anti-Modernism

Harry Stanley Griffiths                                               
Extended Diploma Graphics Year 2                                                   
Contextual Studies Essay

Anti-modernism

Post modernism has opposed modernist in design since the 1980’s when post modernism was brought to light. In Jan Tschichold’s book “New Typography” he express rules of how to create the perfect piece of design work the way Tschichold express’s his views in an imperative manner which is bound to cause friction between the two styles. The rules of modernism have been challenged throughout the past by post-modernist designers as they tend to stick to the ‘rules’ whereas the post modernist’s focus on the niche and the idea of individualism and letting people’s opinions be heard rather than the clear separation of high and low culture and creating normality in contrast to the post-modernist view and portrayal of a disruption of the dominance of high culture such as using art as a process to share the identity of the artist. The work of post modernism is opposed to modernist designers as art and design is believed not to be seen as a corporate affair yet the modernist’s create work that is understandable to all and should still be praised for it.

Terry jones in a post-modernist designer who tends to create aggressive collages by using brash colours and bold type this is seen to conflict with the rules of the modernist rules such as type should not shout it should whisper this ‘rule’ was not abided by post-modernist designers as they tended to use an experimental style that is appropriate as most of the post-modernist designers where young and at the time of Terry Jones design was produced it was the 1980’s which was when the punk movement had taken hold resulting in work going against what was perceived as conventional. It is noticeable that the postmodernist movement was sparked by the catalyst of the youth culture was the perfect excuse for the experimentation in the design such as typographic advancements and image manipulation that began to be produced. Modernism had been seen as experimental around 1925 with the Russian avant-garde style that had used text that would roll around the image and work inside block colours and overall cause a strong contrast whilst still causing contrast it had been created to appeal to the mass market and that is where the difference between post modernism and modernist start’s as they both create bold designs but their motives are not shared.

Roy Poynor wrote a book in 2003 called “No More Rules” this expressed his opinions on being modernism as he feels it is constricting and lacking an edge similar yet different to Jan Tschichold’s book “New Typography” which was written about how pieces of design should be and how it should not. Poynor’s book is based more on the observation of post-modernism and how it differs from the work of modernism and he also states how the work of post-modernists will carry on throughout the years as it is forever developing. Jan Tschichold’s book stands more as a manifesto this is seen as a bible to designers for as long modernism exists. Focusing on the content of Poynor’s “NO MORE RULES” it is looking at elements of design from origins, deconstruction and appropriation too authorship, opposition and the a bibliography than a book of observation. In this introduction of Poynor’s book Richard Kostelantez, author of A Dictionary Of Avant-Gardes says “My personal opinion holds that anything characterized as postmodern, whether by it’s author or advocates, is beneath critical consideration, no matter how immediately popular or unacceptable it may be.” I feel that the quote used here represents the idea of postmodernism as it is not made to be a appreciated by all who look at it but it is something that represents the designer and how he feels his work can portray his concept. This view on postmodernism does contrast with the opinion of modernist designers as Jan Tschichold once said, “Perfect typography is certainly the most elusive of all arts. Sculpture in stone alone comes near it in obstinacy.” by the word ‘perfect’ it comes to attention that Tschichold feels everything that is created has to be perfect showing an elitist side to the modernist designers, which then brings you back to “New Typography” with how it is somewhat of a rule book this is why people want to be able to create work that does not fit into Tschichold’s ideals therefore resulting in postmodernism.

As modernism attempts to construct a coherent view of design and the way the world is looked at by looking at past beliefs from learning from past experiences and trusts what it was that has come before such as from written pieces and narrations of the past showing how the base the design into depth as it is more understandable once it had been fully analysed. Considering the work the original work as being authentic in comparison to how the postmodernist views on trends and what is being shown in the media at any given time whether it is from past or present. The postmodernists take a different view where they aspire to scrap the difference between social standing somewhat similar to the work of the constructivists and the Russian Avant-garde as the work stood for communism, which strived for equality with the designers such as Rodchenko postmodernism also stands for progression is the only way to justify culture they also believe that looking into works from the past can be seen as useless or have no use in the present believing that it is important to venture into the superficial, showing no concern to the depth of the work they are looking into producing. Showing the difference between each of their eras because during the modernist period art was taken seriously and literally and considered as unique as it was believed that the work bore a deep meaning when the work of the postmodernists appeared art was much more easy going although as art no longer was thought to need unique meanings to be appreciated but the work still held meaning but that of the designers own will, making the postmodernist art work as debatably selfish.

The work of experimental jet set is strongly post modernist, as they tend to have certain tell tale signs such as the legibility being not very readable such as in this piece it is shown with only certain parts of the words being visible this is similar to the work of David Carson as he tended to see how much of the lettering can be removed but still be readable experimental jet set have used a similar approach playfully but appropriated it by changing the context if doing it by removing so much that it is un-legible. On first look at this piece of design work you can see it has individuality from the colourful depiction of images that all seem to work together by the colour contrast the images also work well along side the torn paper affect that makes the image look textured because the images are almost intimidating such as it shows a hand, mouth, eye and a body that has been manipulated this creates another contrast with the clarity of the body copy being a legible font that does not portray an emotion of feeling which is almost rather modernist.

The work of Herbert Bayer was revolutionary at the time as he had been to the design school of Bauhaus this is modernist as the image is seen but it does not jump out at the viewer which is what modernist’s strive for. Kandinsky’s birthday invitation was created by Bauhaus. The colour scheme in this image shows the information on the invitation in a minimalist style using a little amount of text as well as showing it in basic colours black and red this causes a contrast and displays the information in an obvious way. The positioning of the information being shown at an angle is another characteristic of the work of Bauhaus. The angle that the information is shown, works alongside the blocks colour as they create partitions between the information. The type size varies from the relevance of the information such as ‘KANDINSKY’ is shown in a larger font than other pieces of information, which was used heavily during the modernist era.

Overall I believe that modernism will always oppose postmodernism and the gap will always be there although through the years it will certainly be getting smaller as design is forever changing and developing and in some cases the gap is closing as there are beginning to be noticeable similarities between both post modernism and modernism. Even though designers may be against the ‘Rules’ of modernism with out them the work of Carson, Experimental jet set and other key designers with a postmodernist background would have nothing to bend and manipulate for the work they have created. Finally for as long modernism exists so will postmodernism, as it is similar to the saying for every action there will be an opposite or equal reaction I feel that that embodies Anti-modernism at its best.