Written Task
List 4 key evolutionary design steps that contributed to the identity of your design culture today in your country in your opinion.
Design, like art can’t help but be influenced by culture, politics and economics. When things are fractured in the world around them, thats when design seems to progress the most and become more influential. Changes in society, technology and art are unbreakably linked to design. I believe all design is influenced by what’s going on around it, even if only on a subconscious level. It is hard to pick four main steps that contribute to design identity in Britain so I have gone quite broad in my choice.
Industrial revolution
The industrial revolution marks a massive turning point in Britains history. The mass production that came alongside the industrial revolution may be seen as the birth place of the designer as we see them today. No longer was art a slow craft, but now it could be created fast and printed again and again. By 1900 full colour reproduction was possible in print, making image reproduction faster, cheaper and more accurate, and by the 1960’s colour photography was commercially available. (Roberts, 2005) These jumps forward in technology allowed designers to create things that would have previously been impossible. Different art forms such as photography and illustration could be combined, and the designer could take ownership of the entire process.
This step away from traditional craftsmanship however, can be seen as distancing the designer from the craft they are creating. At the time movements such as the pre-raphaelites and the arts and crafts movement struck back against this, believing the new mass production to be a significant drop in quality. (Design History 2011) This opinion stays with many today and in Bristol it seems there is a push towards reigniting these traditional crafts. A lot of people are going back to tradition design production methods, thinking of slow production as something to be appreciated and cherished in todays fast and consumerist society.
Modernist art movement (and the bauhaus)
A long running influence, but in my opinion such an integral one was the art being produced in the 20th century. The emergence of modernism alongside revolutionary ways of approaching art and design taught at the bauhaus have had a strong impact on design as we see it today.
Artists began to use new imagery, materials and techniques, moving away from traditional methods of painting and traditional subject matter.
“Although many different styles are encompassed by the term, there are certain underlying principles that define modernist art: A rejection of history and conservative values (such as realistic depiction of subjects); innovation and experimentation with form (the shapes, colours and lines that make up the work) with a tendency to abstraction; and an emphasis on materials, techniques and processes. Modernism has also been driven by various social and political agendas. These were often utopian, and modernism was in general associated with ideal visions of human life and society and a belief in progress.”
(https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism)
This move towards modernism, with its bold lines, bright colours and bolshy attitude can be seen as a massive influence in design created today. Modernist artists pushed the boundaries of what people accepted as art to often unrecognisable levels, questioning the world around them and art itself. This pushing of boundaries and constant questioning seems to be a theme that is integral to the work of many designers today. (backed up by the studio interviews in week one)
Second World war – political propaganda
“At the end of the Second World War western society was fragmented, the old order had been all but destroyed. Sociological, political and economic changes were absolutely inevitable.”
Drip Dry
This massive upheaval in society seemed to create the perfect gap for a new way of doing things and design rushed in to fill the gap. I think in times of massive change like this all parts of life are effected.
Throughout the war graphic design had it use with political propaganda. Posters worked to influence people to act certain ways, to feel patriotic and as a form of social control. Such as Abram Games’ work:
“He began his career designing impactful public information posters for the War Office, urging Britons to ‘Keep a guard on what you say’, ‘Use spades not ships: grow your own food’ and ‘Your Britain: Fight for it now’”
(https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-festival-of-britain)
This political side of design didn’t stop when the war ended. Peoples eyes had been opened to the injustices in the world and they used emotive design to shout about it. Corita Kent is an example of this, she was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice.
“Her work evolved from figurative and religious to incorporating advertising images and slogans, popular song lyrics, biblical verses, and literature. Throughout the ‘60s, her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and injustice.”
(https://corita.org/about-corita )
This use of design to push for change and to highlight injustices in society continues today. People use design to push for environmental change, the recent upsurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement uses emotive design to help get their point across. The use of design and art to share a political (or similar) view or message is all around me in Bristol, almost every available section of wall or bridge or underpass is coated in bold, colourful and evocative messaging in the form of graffiti.
Digital revolution
One of most recent pivotal shifts in design came with the digital revolution. In some ways a slow growing revolution, we now seem to be living in a world that has become completely consumed by and reliant on digital culture.
“Interestingly, as a consequence of the current financial crisis, those pre-consumerist ideas of design are making a comeback, especially in the USA,” Shaughnessy believes. If he’s right, it could be furtive ground for the next generation of British designers to make their mark on the world.
https://www.creativebloq.com/computer-arts/iconic-eras-uk-design-11098975
This massive shift towards easily digestible and eye catching content that has seconds to get its message across as you scroll through social media has created a new problem for designers. Their aim now is often how to snatch those seconds of attention from the viewer and entice them to stops scrolling and linger on their design. In many ways this can be seen as negative, but it also inspires designers to push further out of their comfort zones, pushing boundaries and treading new ground to get those precious few seconds of engagement from viewers.
Bristol as a city for designers
I think as a city Bristol likes to nature individuality and attracts bold and idealistic thinkers. People who know want to create and know how they want to join in with shaping the future, not just of design, but also the future of culture, economics and society.
From my research into Bristol’s design studios, shared space working and a collaborative nature seems to be an important part of bristols artistic culture. With an array of old factory buildings up for grabs from the city’s history as a trade port, these buildings have been transformed into eclectic and creative spaces for exhibitions, workshops and for creatives to work together.
The city has a rich culture and plenty of museums, possibly brought in due again to its proximity to the sea and history as trade port. This breeds the city’s appreciation for traditional crafts. A lot of people are going back to tradition design production methods, showing they also have the clients who are happy to wait longer and pay more for something made by hand and with traditional methods.
Task One -Design Practises
Design Studio No.1
Yoke “Doing great things for good people since 2011”
Link: https://www.thisisyoke.com/
Address: Yoke Ltd, Spike Island, 133 Cumberland Road, Bristol, BS1 6UX
Yoke describes itself as ‘A creative studio driven by purpose’. Founded in 2011, they take on branding, illustration, website and animation work for companies that they believe is making a positive impact in the world. The designers working for yoke all have the same ethics towards design, so the kind of work they accept helps them to stay motivated and build good relationships with their clients.
“Yoke was founded on the idea that earning a living shouldn’t cost the earth. We exist to help organisations connect with people, inspire positive change and achieve their goals. We achieve this through expert insight, creative problem solving, beautiful execution and solid delivery.”
Yoke’s design studio is situated within Spike Island, a public art space in Bristol that hosts events, exhibitions and is home to ‘one of Europe’s largest studio complexes’. The space is home to over 70 artists and was created with the vision of keeping great talent in Bristol by making studio spaces affordable.
This choice of location implies that Yoke is a reasonably small studio, and one that is focused on the quality of client they work with more than the financial side of their studio. The artistic and collaborative nature of their studio location also implies their desire to work alongside and learn from other local creatives.
Yoke have ‘a core crack-team of experts in visual design, animation, branding, user experience, strategy and project management’ that work in house, and then call on freelancers or ‘our family of talented superheroes’ to work alongside them when needed. This again highlights the collaborative nature of the studio.
“If you’re starting a business, stick to your beliefs and don’t be afraid to say no. People will respect you for it.”
Design Studio No.2
Fiasco “Through powerful ideas and great design, we bring brands to life”
Link: https://fiasco.design
Address: Gather Round, Cigar Factory, 127-131 Raleigh Road, Bristol, BS3 1QU
Founded in 2010 by Ben Steers and Jason Smith, Fiasco design has grown in size to now have 10 members of staff.
“We are big enough to offer a diverse range of skills, but small enough to huddle around a coffee table and work as one team.”
The studio doesn’t work with a certain industry, but instead takes projects from companies they respect and trying to create ground breaking design with each project. They create visual identities, website and eCommerce, design for print, wayfinding and signage and animation.
“We specialise in creating forward-thinking branding, websites, print and animation for brands of all shapes and sizes. And we do it by taking our clients with us through every step of the design process.”
They are based in a creative co-workspace that they also founded, called Gather Round in the Southville area of Bristol. This is an up and coming area of Bristol that is known for its buzzing arts and culture scene. Their co-workspace is aimed at other creatives, which creates a collaborative feel within the studio. They have carefully curated their space to allow spots for quiet contemplation, as well as communal areas to push people towards communication and collaboration.
The three core principles that decide their design are: “Creativity Takes Courage; Together is Better and Simple is Good”. They like to push design boundaries but also want to keep their designs simple and powerful, communicating only the essential aspects.
They have worked for some big brands including the BBC, Channel 4, National Trust and Just Eat.
Design Studio No.3
Anatomy – We’re a small creative studio in Bristol, making design that’s good from the inside out.
Link: https://anatomystudio.co.uk
Address: The Old Sorting Office, Eastfield Road, Bristol, BS6 6AB
“We’re a small creative studio in Bristol. We listen, clarify and get to the heart of what matters, to make design that’s good from the inside out.”
Working in print, brand identity, illustration and digital design, the studio aims to connect people and bring ideas to life. The studio works in a shared environment.
“A shared space means that you are surrounded by different people from different creative backgrounds, and constantly see and do new exciting things.”
They build brands up to stand out creating bold design as well as written messaging to create an all encompassing brand identity.
I was drawn to this company because I loved their series of limited edition prints showing 5 cities.
Task Two – Design Production
The Letterpress Collective
https://www.theletterpresscollective.org
The Letterpress Collective, Centrespace, 6 Leonard Lane, Bristol, BS1 1EA
Letterpress printing in Bristol. The Letterpress Collective is run by Nick Hand and Ellen Bills.
It is the printshop of The Department of Small Works which was created by Nick as a home for design, photography and print, based in Centrespace, a cooperative of artists and craftspeople, in Bristol’s Old City. A recreation of traditional print methods.
16 Tonne Press
61 Old Market St, Bristol BS2 0EJ
Specialising in risograph and screen printing, producing limited edition prints and publications for artists and musicians. They produce high quality analogue driven prints. Their risograph printer uses environmentally friendly soy based inks.
Mockingbird press
https://www.mockingbirdpressuk.com
UNIT 6.1, 74 Oak Road, Bristol, BS7
Giclee fine art printing, canvas printing and artwork reposition Created by artists with years of experience in commercial design, printing and publishing.
Conclusion
Building on my research in week one, this week gave me an even deeper insight into the graphic design studios in my area and made me evaluate what I would look for in a studio. Building up a history of the progression of graphic design throughout history was very interesting to see how different social, political and economic events had such an impact on graphic design today. Graphic design is so intrinsicly linked to society, so using it as a way to reflect or challenge societal issues creates very powerful design. One main thing that I ended up focusing on was the effect of progression in technology on design and how mass production has effect the craftmanship that used to be tied alongside design. In my search of design production business in Bristol I found quite a few were trying to move back towards slower, more traditional methods.
References
Roberts, L., (2005) Drip Dry Shirts: The Evolution of the Graphic Designer (Links to an external site.). London: AVA Publishing.
DESIGN HISTORY. 2011. ‘How the Industrial Revoloution Spawned the Arts and Crafts Movement’. Graphic Design History [online]. Available at: http://www.designhistory.org/Arts_Crafts_pages/IndustrialRevolution.html[accessed 4 October 2020].
Reference list
CENTER, Corita Art. n.d. “The Corita Art Center.” Corita.org [online]. Available at: https://corita.org/about-corita.
CREATIVE BLOQ. 2009. “Iconic Eras of UK Design.” Creative Bloq [online]. Available at: https://www.creativebloq.com/computer-arts/iconic-eras-uk-design-11098975 [accessed 8 Dec 2020].
TATE. 2017. “Modernism – Art Term | Tate.” Tate [online]. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism.
V&A. 2020. “V&A · The Festival of Britain.” Victoria and Albert Museum [online]. Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-festival-of-britain [accessed 8 Dec 2020].
Lizzie Wa Design 
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