Counter Culture in Graphics Arts came out from the post war period. During this period designers were trying to self exprese them selfies breakdown the social norms in the 1960s and 70s through freedom, improvisation and expression.
My first piece I chose was of Seymour Chwast a graphic designer, illustrator, type designer and cofounder of the Push Pin Studios. As a graphic designer typography hold a great interest to me. Chwast typefaces really interests me since it has a sense of quality and understanding of complex emotion. Each one of his typefaces have diffrent tone of message and influence. Rather than thinking about legibility his type is more illustrative thinking about how to create a visually aesthetic typeface that can work on a poster as an artwork instead of a just type conveying a message across. I think overall Chwast takes on typography in a unconventional way being playful with his work.
Wes Wilson is a very important designer to me because he invited and popularised psychedelic font. Im in interested in illusion and how I can use them in my own practice since messing with the human psychiatric can be fun and creates engaging work like Wes Wilson work during the Counter Culture period. Wilson also use very vibrant colours and attractive female form to compose his poster creating the iconic rock and roll look that would later be mimicked in the 1970s by other designers. Looking at both Chwast and Wilson work I have a better understanding of type and how I can deconstruct the anatomy of type and reconstruct it.
My final piece I chose was Blue Note Records an American jazz record label. As someone who wants to improve my skills in page layout Blue Note Records was some I could learn of understanding how to use negative space, type layout and photography. The way they have edited the photographs colours with the orange hue gives the record a funky soul-jazz vibe. Blue Note Records really showed the spirt of jazz through there design and showing off this new and upcoming innovative cool music to the next generation.
Seymour Chwast –
Graphic Design 1: Seymour Chwast Fonts. 2017. Graphic Design 1: Seymour Chwast Fonts. [ONLINE] Available at: http://jgaytan2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/seymour-chwast-fonts.html. [Accessed 09 November 2017].
About Seymour | Seymour Chwast Archive. 2017. About Seymour | Seymour Chwast Archive. [ONLINE] Available at: http://seymourchwastarchive.com/about/seymour/. [Accessed 09 November 2017].
Wes Wilson –
Wes Wilson. 2017. A Brief Biography, by Michael Erlewine. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.wes-wilson.com/a-brief-biography-by-michael-erlewine.html. [Accessed 09 November 2017].
Blue Note Records –
RETROFUZZ. 2017. Timeline | Blue Note Records. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bluenote.com/timeline. [Accessed 09 November 2017].
Blue Note Records – Wikipedia. 2017. Blue Note Records – Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Note_Records. [Accessed 09 November 2017].