Week 2 National Visions within a Global Dialogue - A History of ...

A HISTORY OFGRAPHIC DESIGNJapanese designers, Kamekura brought professionalismto graphic design in Japan by way of his own work,as well as through his leadership in founding the JapanAdvertising Club and, in 1960, with the establishmentof the Japan Design Center. As managing director ofthe center, he brought graphic designers and industrytogether. Kamekura’s work is characterized by discipline,a thorough understanding of printing techniques, geometriccomplexity, and awareness of the InternationalTypographic Style, as seen in his poster design for the1970 Osaka World Exposition.In 1958, Tadashi founded the Masuda Tadashi DesignInstitute and combined his interest in photographicillustration with his interest in the collaborative team approach,resulting in new ways of seeing and unexpectedsolutions. The work is characterized by the effectiveuse of photography and color for communication anda structure of fine, ruled lines that contain typographicinformation, as shown in the 1964 Brain magazine coverdesign.Nagai, in his 1984 poster for a Paris exhibition of worksby twelve Japanese graphic designers, explores thepotential of line and geometric form in which linear elementscombine with scale and color to create a strongsense of space. While Nagai focuses on line as a basicdesign element, Tanaka, who opened the Tanaka DesignStudio in 1963, focuses more on plane and shape. InTanaka’s 1981 “Nihon Buyo” No direct translation availablebut the “nihon buyo” is a traditional Japanese typeof dance poster for the Asian Performing Arts Institute,a traditional theatrical character is presented in Tanaka’svisual language of plane and shape, supported by a geometricgrid structure and vibrant, contrasting colors.After graduating from Tama University in 1968, Igarashiearned a degree at the University of California, LosAngeles. When he returned to Japan, he opened IgarashiStudio in 1970 after he found Japanese companies unreceptiveto hiring a designer who had spent time abroad.Igarashi is best known for what he calls architecturalalphabets, letterforms drawn on isometric grids, whichhave been used in print, signage, and as three-dimensionalsculpture.Yokoo’s work was influenced less by constructivism andmore by the lack of structure and expressive vitality ofDada. He was fascinated with mass media, pop art, andcomic books, and their influence found their way into thevisual language of his work. The three examples shownin Chapter 23 chronicle the evolution of his work fromthe mid-1960s into the 1970s, when his work grew moreuninhibited and he experimented with a range of printingtechniques, and into the 1970s and 1980s, when hemoved toward unexpected and even mystical images.Fukuda’s work is characterized by the contradictionsof Dada and surrealism. He communicates in a visuallanguage of simple graphic forms, as in the 1975 poster“Victory 1945,” commemorating the thirtieth anniversaryof the ending of World War II. In this poster, a shell turnsback toward the gun, signifying the folly of war. Fukudaalso uses optical illusion, as in the 1975 exhibition posterfor Keio department store, and visual puns, as in theplayful teacups he designed in 1975.Sato opened his own studio in 1970, two years aftergraduating from Tokyo University of Art and Music.Metaphysical forms, gradation and glowing color, andcontrast through opposites, such as light and dark,organic and mechanical, and traditional and futuristic,characterize his work. He writes haikus and understandsnonverbal communication in the tradition of ZenBuddhism, which teaches the use of all five senses inreceiving communication. In his 1984 concert poster“Eclipse Music ’84,” yellow and blue calligraphy vibrateagainst the red ground as an expression of the energy ofthe music.Design in the Netherlands, 492The postwar years in the Netherlands were a time of rebuildingthe economy and restoring prewar cultural andsocial life. A prevailing atmosphere of individuality andfreedom of expression created a climate of innovation inHolland. As Dutch design evolved, two primary directionsemerged. The first leaned toward modern design,a pragmatic constructivism that built on the Dutch traditionsof the first half of the twentieth century, includingthe influence of the De Stijl movement, Piet Zwart, andPaul Schuitema, as well as influences from Switzerland.The Dutch designers discussed in Chapter 23 whofollowed this approach to graphic design include WimCrouwel, Frisco Kramer, Benno Wissing, Pieter Brattinga,and R. D. E. Oxenaar. The other tendency in graphicdesign that was prevalent during this period was a vigorousexpressionism, which pushed beyond the traditionalvalues of harmony, unity, and order toward individualmeaning and subjective expression. The designers inChapter 23 who represent this approach are Jan vanToorn; Anthon Beeke; Ghislain (Gielijn) Dapnis Escher;Gert Dumbar, Bob van Dijk, Dennis Koot, and Studio