History of Animation

Animation made huge progress from the beginning till now. Here I’m going to mention some of the things that changed the animation all the way round.

1603 – Magic Lentern

The first king of projector as it used pictures on sheets of glass.

 

Magic Lenter

1906 – Funny Faces

First animated film, with stop motion photography.

 

First Animated Film

1908 – Fantasmagorie

First animated cartoon, using hand drawn animation.

 

First Animated Cartoon

1961 – Yogi Bear on TV

First show to be aired on TV

1964 – Fritz the Cat

First animated film, which featured X-rated adult.

1980 – 2014 – Modern Animations

In this era animations evolved from black and white to colour and even improved in the quality. From this animations that have been shown trough this era we can find two popular animated series/movies. These are; Simpsons and Toy Story.

Simpsons

Toy Story

References:

History of animation, n.d, History of animation (online):- http://history-of-animation.webflow.io/ (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Pop Art

We can say that this movement originated/started to evolve in 1952, after a group of artists began to meet up to discuss certain topics such as science and technology, etc..… these artists called themselves The Independent Group.

In Pop art, hierarchy of culture didn't exists and together with this another concept was that art can borrow from any source.

An artist within this movement is Seymour Chwast, who was born in 1931 in New York City. He is an American graphic designer who used to study illustrations and design at the Cooper Union. He is also a co-founder of Push Pin Studios

 

Seymour Chwast

Seymour Chwast Work

Later on in the mid of the 1960s, the Psychedelic movement began. It effected the majority of aspects Pop Art had, including; music, literature, philosophy, language, fashion, art etc.….  The name ‘Psychedelic’ came from a popular drugs that youth people used to take at those times, infect the rock concerts posters used to express the feeling of tripping out.

This movement had some elements of Art Nouveau, which had the curvilinear shaped which were inspired from there. It had illegible hand drawn type, and of course the intense optical colour vibration which was inspired by Pop Art.

Some designers within this movement:

Wes Wilson was born in 1937 in Sacramento, California. At first he wasn’t interested in art infect he used to study forestry and horticulture, but after he dropped, he self-published his first poster and from there he kept on going.

 

Wes Wilson

Wes Wilson Work

References:

The Art Story, n.d, Pop Art (online):- http://www.theartstory.org/movement-pop-art.htm (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Push Pin Inc, n.d, Seymour Chwast (online):- http://www.pushpininc.com/about/seymour/ (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Visual Arts Department, n.d, Psychedilia (online):- https://visualartsdepartment.wordpress.com/psychedelic-60s/ (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Wes Wilson, n.d, Wes Wilson (online):- http://www.wes-wilson.com/a-brief-biography-by-michael-erlewine.html (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Punk

This art movement evolved in the 1970s and it was part of the Postmodernist movement that was made as a reaction to the restrictions of the Modernism. During this time, a new era was beginning and this consisted in British music, fashion and of course design. This movement was pushed to its popularity by music bands with the main two being; The Ramones from New York and The Sex Pistols from London.

Thanks to this Punk effected also the type of designs, as these bands wanted something to describe/reflect what they believe in; basically to show their identity. It was very common that the designs were done by the members themselves, and it usually involved of certain imagery and other pieces which would be ripped from other images and putted on the imagery and by this they would break the typographic grid rule that was used by the majority of the designers. Using this method making the movement similar to Dada, which used almost the same technique of photomontages.

 

Punk Poster Design Example

Some designers within this movement:

Malcolm Garrett was born in 1956 in England. He used to study typography and graphic communications when after some time he started to work for punk bands by designing posters.

Malcolm Garrett

Malcolm Garrett Work

Jamie Reid was born in 1947 in Ireland. He was recruited to Sex Pistols as the manager of the band used to study with him at the art school.

 

Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid Work

References:

99 Design, 25^th November 2015, Punk (online):- https://99designs.com/designer-blog/2014/04/25/ripped-punk-influences-graphic-design/ (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Art Directory, n.d, Malcolm Garrett (online):- http://www.art-directory.info/design/malcolm-garrett-1956/ (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Biography, n.d, Jamie Reid (online):- http://www.biography.com/people/jamie-reid-20937155 (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

New York School

We can say that this has happened thanks to the European immigrants, who imported the modern design in America. Infect the New York School mainly, started from the passion about the European modernism and by economic and technological expansion. Between 1940s and 1970s it was a very dominant force in the graphic design world.

In the 20^th century, New York City served as a cultural incubator in the middle and many people who had great talent were attracted to it and they were given opportunities to realize their potential they have. Because the society was very competitive, the original concept and ideas were given much importance. Solving communication problems and express own personal views and styles were both designers’ desires, with the main thing being to express ideas and the information being presented directly.

Some designers within this movement:

Paul Rand who was born in 1914 is an American Designer who had a good idea of modern design, where he also followed some artists work, such as; Paul Klee and Kandinsky, and he also followed Cubism.

 

Paul Rand

Paul Rand Work

Saul Bass was born in 1919, is a designer who brought in Los Angeles, California the characteristics of the New York School.

 

Saul Bass

Saul Bass Work

Massimo Vignelli was born in 1931 in Italy. In 1966 he moved to New York where he formed the Unimark International NY branch, and later on, together with his wife they formed the Vignelli Associates.

Massimo Vignelli

Massimo Vignelli Work

References:

Slide Share, n.d, New York School (online):- http://www.slideshare.net/lovegraphix/new-york-school (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Swiss Design

This style originated in Switzerland, post-World War 2. Although the name used is Swiss Design, historians prefer to call this style “International Style of Design”. It emerged from other designs, such as; De Stijl, Constructivism, Bauhaus, and The New Typography. Although it emerged from these movements, their political and historical contexts weren’t effected in this movement (Swiss Design). It can be seen as a reaction to the Nazi Germany because of the geometric abstraction feature it has.

The designers who were in this style, didn't looked as designers as artist but they saw them as communicators. Their idea of a design was to be clear and in order without any room for personal expression, with an attitude to make it socially useful together with universal and scientific.

The difference from other art movements is that the Swiss Design favours minimalism; it has designs which are clean and free from ornamentation with all the unnecessary things. In the same context their design abstraction is made by simple geometric shapes and to present a clear message typographic grids are used.

Swiss Design Poster example

The most preferred typeface used in the Swiss style was a sans-serif, flush left with a ragged right edge, and the name was Akzidenz Grotesk but this name was later on changed to what is known today, the Helvetica.

 

Helvetica Font

Some Graphic Designers within this movement:

Ernst Keller was born in 1891 in Aarau, Switzerland. With his several training programs that he established, in both design and typography, he was called the father of Swiss graphics.

Ernst Keller Work

Theo Ballmer was born in 1902 in Switzerland. He was a student of Ernst Keller an also attended in the Bauhaus school.

Theo Ballmer

Theo Ballmer Work

Max Bill was born in 1908 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Known for his sophisticated and disciplined advertising designs.

Max Bill

Max Bill Work

Max Huber was born in 1919 in Switzerland. He used to attend the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts.

Max Huber

Max Huber Work

References:

Vanseo Design, 22^nd July 2013, Swiss Design (online):- http://vanseodesign.com/web-design/swiss-design/ (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

History Graphic Design, 2015, Ernst Keller (online):- http://www.historygraphicdesign.com/the-age-of-information/the-international-typographic-style/805-ernst-keller (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Britannica, 23^rd January 2015, Max Bill (online):- http://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Bill (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)

Icon of graphics, n.d, Max Huber (online):- http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Max-Huber/ (Accessed on 3rd February 2016)