For our second project in this module, we were placed into groups where we would have to deliver a presentation on a given topic. Our first step was to decide on what our presentation was going to be on. The six options were Bauhaus and the New Typography, Design Systems for the Olympic Games, the Influence of Modern Art, the Modern Movement in America, Pioneers of Postmodern Graphic Design or Pioneers of Web/Digital Design.

My first instinct was towards either the Design systems for the Olympic Games as it is something I follow and have a keen interest  in or the Modern Movement in America as I have always found the work of American artists intriguing as to their differing approach and styles from Europe. As a group, we chose the Design Systems for the Olympic Games. We felt it would be best to break it down into 4 sections and taking one each, the medals, torches, the Olympic Rings and mascots. I began researching into the Olympic medals and how they changed over the years, depending on the current political and social situations at the time of the location where the Games were being held.

 

My Initial Research in the Olympic Design Systems

 

However, when we came back together as a group, all carrying out our own research, and received some feedback, we felt it would be best to switch the focus of our presentation to another theme as we collectively struggled to get out heads around the concept of the design systems. So, by changing to the Pioneers of Postmodern Graphic Design, we felt we would deliver a better presentation on a topic we all understood better.

I began brainstorming possible paths we could take for the presentation, including conventions of designers’ work, what postmodernism was and the influence they had. We collectively decided to take an artist each to discuss in our presentation. But we also wanted there to be a flow to when we presented, so we split up the remaining slides between us in a random order where we would discuss some background information and an introduction and conclusion.

For my own research my main source was the MEGG’s History of Graphic Design, which introduced me to a number of possible designers I could focus on. I also carried out research into postmodernism itself, as to when and where it came from and why. I narrowed it down to Rosmarie Tissi and Wolfgang Weingart, two very different artists with different styles. The bright and fun side to Tissi’s work was what finally drew me to choose her, as I felt I would be more confident talking about work I particularly really liked.

My research into the The Pionneers of Postmodern Graphic Design

 

 

My next step was to look at the design side of the presentation. I quickly brainstormed a possible layout of what we would talk about and the order of the content covered. At this point, I could focus on the design of my individual slides, two on Rosmarie Tissi and a slide explaining what Postmodernism is. My main aim was for the layout to be mainly visual so the audience isn’t looking at a screen of text. This is when I liked the fact we were talking about postmodern art, as my approach to the design didn’t have to stay within any lines or match my other group members. I took inspiration from one of Tissi’s posters for the design to link her slides together. Below I have linked a pdf of my relative sketches for this project.

 

Sketchbook: Group Presentation

 

 

What is being said on each slide..

What is Postmodernism?

The Tate Museum defines postmodernism as: ‘a reaction against the ideas and values of modernism. It is associated with scepticism, irony and the critiques of universal truths and objective reality.’

By the 1970s, the modern era was drawing to a close in art, design, politics and literature. The cultural norms of western society were being scrutinised. Particularly in minorities, there was a strong urge for equality and postmodernism was coined as the phrase for this call. Designers began to break away from the International Typographic Style, which has been so prevalent since The Bauhaus. It gained a strong foothold with the generation of designers from the 1970s. Media pundits called it the ‘Me Generation’ as they began to place forms in space because it simply ‘felt right’, making it eccentric and subjective.

 

Rosmarie Tissi (1)

Rosmarie Tissi is an acclaimed graphic designer, born in 1937, from Switzerland. Tissi found herself moving from the modernist attitude to expressing her personality through dynamic layouts, vivid colours and type experiments. Her work breaks previous alignment constructs by jamming together, turning and compacting text. This in turn sacrifices legibility but when paired with the use of blank and negative space it creates a playful sense of form and strong graphic impact.

Rosmarie Tissi (2)

The 1st piece is an advertisement from 196, for the printer E.Lutz and Company. Tissi brings the space to life due to the subtle shifts and changes in angle. Words are broken down into simple elemental symbols. These appear to be placed randomly due to how Tissi has strayed from the way images would have typically been aligned. Edges are covered and some are missing entirely creating a lost and found feeling to the composition. This can be linked back to how Tissi simply placed the images where it felt right to her. The reader is engaged as Tissi’s design makes them have to fill in the gaps. The overriding look with this advertisement is the illusion that the images are overlapping. Where in actual fact, they are all placed on the same level. But the placement of lines and having sections missing, makes it seem as if they are. This itself shows a clear break from modernism.

During and after the 1970s, Tissi turned to typeface design, which led to unexpected and new letterforms being created, which came about sue to experimentation of overlapping and combining letterforms. The 2nd image is a poster from the Swiss poster of the year competition in 1996. The text is placed on top of geometric shapes, mirroring the same shape, again at an offset angle. This is created by the arrangement of line lengths. The changes of alignment in the smaller text adds flow to the piece, as it directs the viewer what way to read. So, even though the viewers no reading left to right as usual, they can still follow what is being said. All of these are typical features of postmodernism.

 

The Outcome…

Using google slides, as a group we collaborated together to create the presentation. Luckily, due to our choice of theme, it suited for all our designs to differ from each other as it links back to the ‘breaking the rules’ style of postmodern art. Our process was to add our research into the notes section below and then break it down into notes which we could use when we presented out slideshow. It took a few run throughs to get the timing of our presentation right, at the beginning it was too long, so I found myself having to take out quite a bit of the information I had for both of my sections. After a few talk throughs, we were confident in our design and information for when we had to present.

This was the outcome for my three slides following my sketching and planning. I took inspiration from the postmodern era for the ‘What is Postmodernism?’ slide by distorting the angles at which the text is placed. I decided to place some of the key points I would be talking about around the title so that the audience is able to follow what I am saying, as it would be completely new to the majority. I was inspired by one of the pieces by Tissi that I was evaluating, and used it as the design for Tissi’s title page where I would discuss background information about the designer. My aim was for this to be very visual while the majority of the facts I would talk about, linking back to the images. To show my understanding of each of the images I was looking at, I expanded the design onto the slide background, the black dots, lines and text in the first and colourful rectangles in the second. Again, I aimed to create a mainly visual layout which I would then evaluate each design.

Link to whole presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DwF-tixcQvIbjyXOygseJ6Yhnlfk8XgBw6czBPytesw/edit?usp=sharing

 

Feedback & Self-Evaluation…

Visually the presentation was strong and matched in well with the chosen topic. Good information and explanation of each design and explained the images and content in a way that the audience understood. Content was also distributed well throughout the group.

To improve next time round, don’t have as much reading the information directly off the screen and reduce the amount of text on the screen (more images included in the What is Postmodernism slide). When delivering the information, use less notes so it becomes more of a presentation compared to just reading.

I was quite nervous before doing the presentation, as standing up in front of people and talking isn’t something I’ve had to do often. I was confident in what I knew but brought notes up with me as a back up. However, I do feel the nerves got the better of me as I found myself reading off the information , even though I knew it off. So moving forward, for my next presentation I have to do, I will create bullet points as a help rather than having all the information up with me. On the design side of the presentation, I am pleased with the outcome as I feel it matches the postmodernism topic and I particularly like how I blended the two Tissi designs into the background.