Art & Crafts

1850 - 1900

William Morris was the biggest influence, and basically the one who lead the world into this new and simple design style. His new outlook on design is so different to the previous ones of Victorian and Art Deco. William Morris dedicated his life to exploring the ways of design outside of the tradition. He liked to use the natural materials, not to layer it in furnishings and covers, but to leave a piece as naturally as possible, for example, a chair. Also, Henry Van de Velde was an influencial designer.

Sometimes it is very simple in layout, but then sometimes it can either be obvious or inconspicuous in its design.

William Morris loved texture and patterns. Below are some of his detailed illustrations presented as borders and frameworks.

Art and Craft was used in architecture and interior design also. The Arts and Crafts Movement was the beginning of the modern values.

Victorian

1840 - 1900
The Victorian design was the first recognised design style which influenced the world, at that time and for the future. The Victorian age was a time for strong morals and religious beliefs. It can be described as nostalgic, ornate, clustered and detailed. This can be found in designs, publishings, packagings etc. Not like other designs, where colour co-ordination, line and form are considered, Victorian was very much about filling the room with over-the-top furnishings, which cause cluttering and mismatching. I love the detail of individual pieces of furniture, but all the colours and patterns is not something I like. Like in the picture below of the Victorian couch, I think it's gorgeous. But designs of rooms and posters were not as simple and elegant, as this couch is on its own.

Type in cloth banners were large part of the design of posters. And even the posters were influenced by hundreds of years previous. Along with banners, architectual motifs were used as banners. Most pictures were drawn as real scenes, rarely any close up scenes. Included in some posters are cheribs to create the romantic atmosphere.

Art Deco

Between the end of the WW1 and beginning of WW2, Art Deco was the new design style to influence the world. Art Deco uses geometric shapes, Eqyptian zigzags, lightning bolts, shapes and curves, motion lines and streamlined forms creating a futuristic theme. It is still influenced by Art Nouveau by it's shape and they share the representation of luxury, glamour and culture.

Lines and curves were very important in this age, they were used everywhere. Miami is famous for its Art Deco buildings, and this is where you can see the American Kitsch designs begin to overlap, as the Art Deco period ends, and American Kitsch begins.

Cassandre was the famous advertisement designer of the Art Deco age. His posters largely used geometric shape, and connected typography and picture together, perfectly. He also used overlapping and experimented with different angles, designs and influences. He did alot train and shipping advertisements using his geometric shape.

His last advertisement was rejected, and found on his desk after taking his own life. It used a combination of imagery, design, shadow, and his original Art Deco bold colours and shape influences.

Here are some more retro Art Deco pictures ☺

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau design era was between 1890 and 1910.
This design style was heavily influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement, in design and attitude. Art Nouveau saw the beauty in furniture of its orginal state. This age was very creative in designing as you will see below. It was also similar to the Art & Crafts movement in attitude, by its promoting and advertising of cabaret's and nightclubs, as it was rebellious in not conforming with the Victorian beliefs.

1. Posters were how many of the changes were seen in this age. It is easier to see how style and design changes throughout the years. For example, this poster below is alot more simpler and basic than the Victorian age posters.

Borders are still very important in these times, as you can see with this poster. Even if it is a white border with rounded corners. The same has been applied in the other floral design. It's very much alike the Victorian styles. However, in the blue flower design begins to push boundaries by placing the leaf over the border, coming off the page.

2. I like the next picture, it shows the creativity that Art Nouveau inspired. This 1911 kitchen utensil set is gorgeous in how different from other styles have been. The shape of the handles represents leaves which refers back to the Arts & Crafts Movement, where nature is the influence to designs.

Here are some more designs and pictures from Art Nouveau.

Digital

From 1985 to the present, digital was made to push boundaries, express emotion and explore designs and styles which haven't been explored before. Messy, chaotic, random, and loose are the main elements of this era. Sometimes art or designs need to be destroyed before they can become art. Many of these elements apply to magazines, advertisements, films, photography, packaging and fashion. Basically, this is the 80's, the beginning of the punks and all things abstract.

Okay so the first example of what sort of designs and effects were around in the 80's, 90's to now, here is an iconic company, MTV. They used different effects in advertising, and as Candy Kugel from www.awn.com/mag/issue2.10/2.10pages/2.10mtv says,

"It's going to be like nothing you've seen before.."

And that is exactly what happened in the 80's. Everything was brand new to the world of design.

So a few of the big things in the 80's and 90's was to animate 2d images, or experiment different effects. The MTV Man on the Moon image, is a stillshot example of the animation of 2d images. The MTV advertisement with the red mouth and tongue is an example of pushing the rules for what is and isnt acceptable. It's like "if you dont like, get lost" because of this care free, rebellious society.

The third MTV advertisement are different designs for it. The black background of them all sort of represent the rock genre, which represents the rebellious, as it is quite dominant.


This next image I think is very effective and unique. I like abstract, and I find this piece creative.

I love the ripped paper, mixed images and techniques. It is just so effective, loud, bold and engergetic. I like the busyness of the patterns, and colours, and how the white of the ripped edge creates a border cutting through the whole cover. The ripped effect creates leading lines, but in general it attracts the eye. Another one of my favourites is the packaging of these bottles. This is how much the 80's rebellious streak has influenced and continued into the 90's and the new millenium.

Psychedelia♥

Psychedelia (or psychedelic) is defined by www.wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

"... having the vivid colours and bizarre patterns associated with psychedelic states..."



Bright. Colourful. Full of energy.
The Psychedelia era began in the '60s.

Creative and full of spirit, flower power, peace and love. ☺♥
Here are a few examples of psychedelia designs that are classic, some more obvious than others.







1. A poster by Alton Kelley, a popular artist and designer of Psychedelia. This poster is advertising singer, Bo Diddley touring dates in 1966. The use of colour and shapes, as well as images and text is creatively worked into this energetic poster. The gradient colour scheme used in the images as well as shapes in the poster, is very effective and shows how important colour can be to attract attention. The circle in the centre is very dominant, as well as the leading lines on the outer-circle which draw the eye very effectively. The background of the circle is a similar design influenced by the Yin-Yang symbol. Chinese see Yin and Yang as the coming together of different forms. Male and Female. Black and white. Hot and cold. High and low. Similar effects such as leading lines and dominance are used everyday in todays designs, as part of attracting the eye.

2.The Arper Winter Jazz poster by Roy Lichtenstein (1967). This particular designer enjoyed taking comic book-like art and enlarging the image to reveal the image is made up of halftone dots. This effective and original idea creates a "vibrating" effect to ones' eye. Personally, I like abstract art, so the use of angular shapes, dominant lines, odd shapes is very effective to me. I know that other people overlook these simple aspects which can create a trendy or bold design. The colours used here are very striking - black, white, red, yellow and a pink. Vibrant yellow is very effective, and the red and black are very dominant, so it's contrast and compliment at the same time.

The other pictures are just for your enjoyment.

Although, the Sunkist design has been inspired and influenced by the Psychedelic time, by using graphic design to create a bright and lively packaging for it's product. It represents fun times, which psychedelia is sometimes looked up as.

There's the colourful hippy-van; tie-dye; and flower power and peace.

American Kitsch

1940-1960

"...something that appeals to popular or low brow taste and is often of poor quality..."

or

"...Kitsch is a love of all things tacky, witty, artistic, brash and or tasteless."

Both quotes from http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/american_kitsch/29885

These two definitions will be appropriate for one person or another, you love it or you don't.
Below are two images from the American Kitsch era, and a little about each of them.


1. The Jukebox


The Jukebox, formally known as Nickel-In-The-Slot, was made in 1889 by Louis Glass and help from William S. Arnold. Originally the jukebox didn't have any speakers or amplification, but used four tubes to listen to the music. In 1950, a loud speaker was successfully installed into the jukebox, giving the listener a choice of 8 records. The jukebox's design is part of the American Kitsch era because of it's roundness and neon-like colours. It's design perfectly fits into any 50's diner as well. Today the design and style of the jukebox is classic. It's unique design and it's originality is gorgeous and funky in nearly every eye.


2. Comics






Comics are the best form of entertainment in the American Kitsch time -- except for the jukebox of course. The American Kitsch time was very dramatic in attracting peoples attention in advertising and entertainment. Comics, movie posters, etc., had very dramatic poses, such as the Superman comic cover above. In mid flight, Superman looks as if he is in the middle of one of the many fights of good vs. evil which creates curiosity for everyone, mainly males as the dominant figure is very masculine. The design layout of the comic is very eye-catching, in that it's bright yellow background and dominant blue and red central super-hero character creates excitement and action. The Superman comics were created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938, and his iconic 'S' has become a well known symbol around the world.


The American Kitsch designs is widely used in advertising today because of it's original and confident use of shapes and colours. It is classic today because most people find these designs and inventions eye-catching, gorgeous and exciting. Just to end the blog, here are some more American Kitsch pictures... Enjoy!