Constructivist typographic journal
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Transcript of Constructivist typographic journal
I
CONSTRUCTIVISMT
YP
OG
RP
HI
C
JO
UR
NA
L
II
C
O
N
T
E
N
T
S
III
Introduction
Historical Context
Theoretcial context
Experiments
Typeface
Bibliography
IV-V
VI-VIX
X-XIII
XIV-XXXI
XXXII-XLIX
L-LI
IV
NTRODUCTION
The end of an era brings about
the new. Revolution is in the air and
new ways of design are taking over,
traditionalist methods of old are
shunned and a new way of thinking is
needed. Artists and designers are no
long the elite of society. They are the
engineer, the worker, the labourer
and the constructor.
Constructivism was an
avant-garde art movement that
originated in Russia shortly after
the revolution in 1917, it was
very strongly associated with
communism. Although short lived
its bold aesthetic quality meant
it has influenced a variety of
contemporary designers.
Contemporary
Neville Brody
Jaime Gili
Oscar Niemeyer
Vaughan Oliver
Historical
El Lissitzky
Vladimir Tatlin
Naum Gabo
Alexander Rodchenko
Vladimir Mayakovsky
The Stenburg Brothers
Aleksei Gan
Lyubov Popova
Kasimir Malevich
Artists associated with constructivism
V
VI
ISTORICAL CONTEXT 1917REVOLUTION
“Death to Art!It arose naturallyDeveloped naturally And disappeared naturally.”
VII
1917, Russia is in revolution.
In these new terbulent times
there is no place for the ways of
old and the Artist elite is pushed
to the side by the new avant
garde designers.
It is a time of industry, of new
materials and of design created
for the people.
VIII
El Lissitzky’s ‘Beat the white
with the red wedge’ is an iconic
constructivist design and a good
example of the simple geometric
shapes and contrasting bold
colours that are associated with
constructivist design. The design
is seemingly abstract but the
message is clear and bold.
IX
El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919
X
heoretical context
“Let the picture imitate nothing”
Albert Gleizes.
Constructivist thinking was
heavily intertwined with communism
and marx theory, it was a socialist
design movement with goals aimed
towards the benefit of greater
society. Ideas of ‘non-objective art’
and art without subject matter were
explored. Art that had an aspect
personal to the individual became
unfashionable and functional design
for the masses was in.
XI
The Slogans of the Constructivists
1. Down with art. Long live technic.
2. Religion is a lie, Art is a lie.
3. Kill human thinking’s last remains
tying it to art.
4. Down with guarding the traditions
of art. Long live the Constructivist
Technician.
5. Down with art. This only
camouflages humanity’s impotence.
6. The collective art of the present is
constructive life.
Stephen Bann ‘The tradition of
constructivism’ pp-9
XII
The Constructivists seemed just
as interested in the philosophy of
their movement as much as their
designs. There was a lot of emphasis
on renouncing the old ways of art and
looking at design from a more scientific
or logical perspective with many artists
likening themselves to engineers
Alexander Rodchenko .The Board for the Leningrad
branch of the State publishing house . 1924
XIII
The movement explored a number
of different themes throughout design
including-
Mathematics
Chance or random design
Optical phenomena (optical illusions)
Movement
Light
Colour
Space
xperimental stages
Constructivist designers
used alot of paper cut outs to
create geometric shapes and
compositions. so i began by
making some simple designs out of
coloured card.
XIV
XV
“I sought refuge in the form of the square.”
kasimir Malevich 1913
XVI
Letterforms can be found in unlikely
places. Here a well used cutting
board was used to create abstarct
letterforms made up from random
straight lines and shapes
XVII
XVIII
Taking the paper cut out techniqes
further to create letters. A successful
technique and a good basis for future
development. The bold simple shapes
and colours are similar with those
associated with constructivist designs.
XIX
Experiments using positive space to create shapes.
“Treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere, and the cone,”
Paul Cézanne.
“we declare uncompromising war on art!”
the 1st working group of constructivists 1921 moscow.
XX
XXI
Initial pencil layouts explorng different shape combinations
XXII
“long live the communist expression of material construction!”
the 1st working group of constructivists 1921 moscow.
XXIII
The aim was to make letters that
were basic, bold and yet sturdy as if
products of industry. A lot of emphasis
was placed on using triangles, columns
and semi cicles with strong contrasting
colours for maximum effect.
Original sketches
were taken further into
digital format. Recreated
using the pathfinder tool.
XXIV
XXV
A quick and effective method
of working with shapes and
using traditional Constructivist
techniques in a modern way.
XXVI
Here the technique of
photomontage was explored.it
was a teqchnique used widely
by the constructivists. It is an
interesting and unique way of
constructing letterforms
XXVII
XXVIII
Many of the original designs
were slightly more complex than
they needed to be. So in keeping
with simple Constructivist thinking
they were simplified down to more
basic shapes, losing the coloured
backround aswell.
“The collective art of the present is constructive life.”
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
Through experimenting i’ve
found that limiting the colours i
use creates the best results, black
and red work well together and
ive stopped including grey and a
coloured backround. it’s become
apparent that the letters need to
be simple and bold in order to be
legible and satisfy the contructivist
element of the typeface.
XXXII
he
ypeface
L E T T E R S
N U M B E R S
P U N C T U A T I O N
XXXIII
XXXIV
L
e
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XXXV
XXXVI
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XXXVII
XXXVIII
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XXXIX
XL
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XLI
XLII
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XLIII
NU
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XLIV
XLV
XLVI
NU
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XLVII
Pu
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Ma
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Qu
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M
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XLVIII
XLIX
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LV
Website articles
<http://simonthebold.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/constructivists/> (2009)
<http://www.lilithgallery.com/arthistory/constructivism/> (unknown date)
<http://jesseturri.com/wordpress/?p=210> (2009)
<http://artpulsemagazine.com/constructivist-jungle-interview-with-jaime-gili/> (2010)
<http://artandthis.typepad.com/art_and_this/2009/06/mark-danceys-graphics-and-russian-constructivism-.html> (2009)
Videos
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PduzgLz9bQY> Rodchenko and Povova.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC6fgr5ggHQ> Alexander Rodchenko smashing the mouldbbc 4 ‘the art of Russia’ series.
<http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/35371670001/24280276001> ‘Constructivism and the art of everyday life’ series of lectures on constructivism - from the tate channel.
Books
Ricky, G,1968.Constructivism - origins and evolution. George Braziller Inc.
Bann, S 1974 The Tradition of Constructivism. Viking press.
LVI
“Down with art. Long live technic.”