Paul Rand

Title : The Limited

Date : 1988

1. This logo depicts the international style well in its well organized design. There are very abrupt angles in the design that create an interesting typeface that combines color and black.

The use of a lowercase i in the size of an uppercase letter is the most fascinating part.

2. Rand's style is seen here in the composition. He has the beginning of the design come from off the page and then turn a sharp angle up and across to complete the design. He uses colors that would be catchy to those that might be inclined to shop at the store the logo design is for.

Title : Eye-Bee-M

Date : 1981

1. This design is characteristic of international style, because of Rand's simple use of shapes. The entire piece is made of up of simple and complex shapes including the M. It is a very clean work which is a feature often found in International Style. This particular design was redone in several different ways that also depict the style very well even though the palette changed for the design itself.

2. Stylistic devices used by Rand are interesting. He does not seem to use a particular font and instead opts to create a new one for many of his logo designs, although it may not be a complete font. The logos often include letters. Primary color usage is common in many of Rand's designs.

Title : Ford Logo

Date : 1966

1. This particular design was an unused logo of the Ford Motor Company. Again this design is very clean. It has defined curves which give it a more modern shape than the previous Ford logo. This is a design that uses only one color for the purpose of sustaining the Ford logo colors. It's an excellent execution of the international style on a well known logo.

2. This logo is a fascinating design. It takes on the classic ford logo and modernizes it completely. Even though this particular design is well-aged and was unused I find it to be remarkably applicable to design today. I feel that perhaps the design was ahead of its time and perhaps that was a reason Ford chose not to use it. He uses some interesting style in this through the use of clean well formed lines to create that tie the word Ford into the whole design of the logo.

Styles

Designer : Wes Wilson

Date : 1960s

Designer : Margaret MacDonald

Title : Willowood

Date : 1902

Designer : Wes Wilson

Title : Van Morrison

Date : 1967

Designer : Herbert McNair

Date : 1903

Designer : Victor Moscoso

Title : Quick Silver

Date : 1967

Designer : Herbert MacNair

Title : Gift of Doves

Date : 1904

Fred Spear : War

Designer : Fred Spear

Title : Enlist

Period : War

Country : United States

Date : 1915

This poster done by Fred Spear is an extraordinary piece of work. Instead of showing the enemy invading a city or an armed soldier saying "Follow Me!" it shows a woman holding a child in her arms. This is the typical woman that a young man during the era would be going to fight to protect. There is a bit of surrealism in that she is underwater. The contrasting color of "ENLIST" works well in this poster. The poster leads you from the woman's hair down to her feet to the word "ENLIST." It's fascinating how Spear put this message across as I've not seen anything like it before.

Subway Vandals

Designer : Subway Vandals

This particular piece strikes me as more intriguing because of its use of the female figure in the grafitti art. The female figure creates an interesting effect because her colors are entirely different than the background she is on. It is difficult to distinguish what the background is other than almost abstract shapes. The style make use of washed out colors on the background with bold colors in the female figure. This creates a distinct contrast between the two.

Link to art

Jan Tschichold : International Style

Designer : Jan Tschichold

Typeface : Sabon

Period : International Style

Country : Switzerland

Year : 1966-67

Sabon was a typeface created by typeface designer Jan Tschichold. It's usage was in Bibles and also in other religious texts. It is is an interesting typeface in that it is a roman style, which is more traditional. It works well for its purpose of being used as a font for a Bible. Tschichold himself was arrested during the reign of Nazi Germany for being sympathetic to communism and creating un-german font. He then escaped to Switzerland where his work continued.

Erik Spiekermann

Designer : Erik Spiekermann

Title : FF Meta 2

Erik Spiekermann is a type designer. He founded MetaDesign in 1979, which at the time was Germany's largest design firm. He also started FontShop, a company that electronically distributes fonts. He is most famous for his design of the font FF Meta. Here I have shown you FF Meta 2. I find FF Meta 2 to be an interesting typeface because of it's smooth texture and precise measurements. The letters are simple but eye catching. It is a slightly different version of his original FF Meta.

George Grosz : Dada

Designer : George Groz

Title : Republic Automatons

Period : Dada

Country : Germany

Date : 1920

George Grosz was an important figure during the Dada period in Germany. Much of his work is anti-nationalist towards Germany and some of his works even led to charges of blasphemy against him. His fame became greater following those charges. This particular work is inspiring because of it's message that the people in the painting are automatons of the German Republic. The holding of the flag sends the message home especially as well as the soldier with an Iron Cross pinned onto his chest. There is also a significant amount of depth in this painting with the city stretching far into the background.