Music Department

after crit. rrrrrrrevisions

Earth day......

London Underground and New York Subway maps

New York Subway Guide


London Underground//Harry C. Beck//1931-1933

Both subway maps deal with information design. Subway maps are generally confusing to understand. Although these maps do not show the exact route of the subway train, the maps have simplified the information, making it easier to understand. In the map by Harry Beck, there are different colors to help distinguish between the different lines of the subway. The typeface Beck used is also easy to read.



Circuit Board photo//Rosa Menkman//2007

The first thing that came to mind when viewing the subway maps was circuit boards. I think circuit boards are beautiful and they look like the subway maps. The circuit boards lack the colors of the subway maps, but has the same intertwining lines.


The Legend of Zelda//Overworld Map

Thinking of circuit boards had me thinking of video games and more specifically Zelda. The layout of the old Zelda world looks like a simplified map. This image is actually the Overworld Map from the Legend of Zelda. I can imagine it as a subway map that Zelda would use to travel throughout his world.

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Ripley's Believe It or Not

Ripley started out drawing comics. He would travel the world searching for oddities then record them through drawings with crayons. Ripley's Believe It or Not became a cultural icon. "Believe It or Not! became such a common household phrase that its potential as an advertising tool was well exploited. The tremendous amassed backlog of cartoons was licensed for virtually any promotional use...Ripley's unmistakably recognizable graphics were frequently used to represent everything from auto parts manufacturers to coffee shops." Something that started out as a comic turned into a cultural phenomenon.



Ripley's Believe It or Not museum//Gatlinburg, Tennessee

This is the first thing I thought of when I was reading the article. I went here on a family vacation many years ago. It was kind of cheesy but at the same time it was fun to look at all the odd things that they fit into one building. Ripley's is based on oddities. It is what made him famous and what made these museums so popular.



"Tori Spelling Stars in Attack of the TORPION!"//Artist: 14 // March 2, 2009

There is nothing more odd than what 14 produces on her site Gallery of the Absurd. She creates her own bizarre objects using celebrity mishaps as her inspiration. 14 has portrayed other artists such as Britney Spears, Gary Busey, Tom Cruise, Brangelina, and so on. It's an amusing portrayal of celebrity mayhem.

getting connected...

Modern Hieroglyphs

Modern Hieroglyphs

We see modern hieroglyphs everyday. The most common ones are the symbols seen on bathroom doors. There is a symbol that's the basic shape of a man and a symbol that is the basic shape of a women. We are exposed to these symbols throughout our whole lives and that is what gives us the ability to discern what they mean.



Symbol Signs

This pictures has many different signs that use modern hieroglyphs. The symbol used for a man is often used for other instructions. Like in the "Out" sign. The symbol for a man doesn't mean that only a man is allowed to exit. Because we have been exposed to these symbols for such a long time, we already know that the symbol for 'man' can have different meanings depending on what it is trying to represent.





Safe Baby Handling Tips//David and Kelly Sopp//2005

Modern symbols can be used to give instructions without words. Like in this example, instead of writing out that you shouldn't bury your baby with the groceries, it shows a picture of a baby buried in groceries with the word "don't" above it. Modern hieroglyphs/symbols allow us to express words, meanings, instructions, etc. with only pictures.

Contemporary

Understanding Comics

Understanding Comics//Scott Mccloud//1994

Scott Mccloud has created a comic book about comics. He has completely broken down comics and explained every part of them. He talks about iconography, words, and styles of comics. Some comics can consist of simple forms and deliver a power message while some that are fantastically drawn can bring a simple message with beautiful artwork.




Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate//Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon (authors)//Georges Jeanty and Jo Chen (Illustrators)//2008

First of all, I LOVE comics. And this is one that I'm fascinated by. I watched the T.V. show and am happy to see the show extended into a comic book series. The story continues! In the Buffy comics, everything is detailed, the drawings and backgrounds are simply beautiful. One part of comics is looking at the expression on the characters faces to feel the vibe of the comic. The majority, if not all, of the comic is photo realistic.




Explosm Comics: "Excuses"//Rob//11-23-2009

The Explosm Comics are a good example of taking a simple form to send a message. Although the character's face is a circle with some dots and a line or two in it our brain fills everything else in, making these characters just as real as a photograph.

Typography for Children

Michael Bartalos//Shadowville/1995

Many librarians were concerned that children would be distracted by playful typefaces, so they placed some restrictions on what they would bring into their libraries. More often than not, the fanciful children books became mere collectibles in the 1920s and onward. But soon artists began taking on the challenge of children books and were able to come out with something fun and educational at the same time. According to the reading, it the late 1980s 'type design became more integral to the entire children book as the author/illustrator became more of an active participant in the design process and the computer forced the widespread reevaluation of typographic principles in all print media."




Richard Scarry//The Best Word Book Ever//1991 revised edition

I couldn't help but think of the books I read as a child. I never really remembered any strange typefaces but more so strange illustrations accompanying the text. Richard Scarry is a wonderful example of this. His illustrations are often very strange and his story almost disturbing. In this story you have a piglet who wants to work in the meat section of the supermarket...odd. But Richard Scarry provided a book that was both entertaining and educational.




Simms Taback//This is the House that Jack Built//as retold and illustrated by Simms Taback in 2004

"This is the House that Jack Built" was one of my favorite Mother Goose nursery rhymes as a child. I stumbled across this book that has taken the nursery rhyme and illustrated it in a fantastic way. The text in this book by Simms Taback looks like it was cut from contruction paper and some of the letters have designs. Each element in the book looks like a cutout which is really pleasing to the eye.

Contemporary Icons

I will be drawing inspiration from the Zipper typeface. I really like the blockiness of it. Most of the letters are basically blocks with some lines added in to define the letter. This is what I will be going for when making my icons.


I will be basing my icons on modern technology.

The Swastika

Swastika//Original designer unknown//Refined by Wilhelm Deffke 1900s

The swastika was not always associated with Hitler and Nazism. But once taken over by Hitler it became a symbol of evil and will probably never be used to symbolize something good ever again. The article states that "Hitler's death and Germany's defeat in 1945, twenty-five years after the symbol was adopted, may have stopped the Nazis' crimes against humanity, but no amount of cleansing can wash the blood off the swastika. Unless the history of the Nazi era (1933-1945) is totally rewritten-- and the danger of that is ever present--the swastika will remain forever the most powerful logo of the age, the manifestation of evil and hate."


E. Phillips [U.S. card publisher]//Postcard//1907

This is one example of how the swastika was used as a good luck symbol before being adopted by the Nazis and being turned into a symbol of hatred and fear. Before becoming a symbol of evil, it was often used by merchants on packaging, and like this card shows, it was meant as good luck.


Portrait of Hitler//date unknown

Of course when you research the swastika, Hitler will always pop up. Many people forget that he was not the first people to use this symbol. He changed the way people view the symbol and their interpretation of it will never be the same because of this one man that changed the world for the worst and will forever be a part of history.

from font to icons

I began this process by looking at the different typefaces from the list given to us. The Peignot typeface stuck out the most to me. I really like the simple elegance it provided and well as the curves and angles of the letters. After doing a little research and finding that it was developed in the 1930s by AM Cassandre, I started looking up objects from the 1930s. I decided on everyday objects that could be found in a home during the 1930s. I ended up with a telephone, radio, television, and refrigerator. I really like the shape of these objects and how well they fit the shapes of some of the letters.

Once I decided on which objects I would draw inspiration from, I started slicing and dicing my peignot alphabet. I did struggle at first, when I started creating the radio, but once I got through that, the rest were a little easier. I used straight edges from letters for the sides of my objects, rounded edges where I needed rounded edges, and then used everything in between that I would need to finish off the icons. I decided to use 'broken lines' in my icons to give them similar characteristics. My favorite icon is the refrigerator. It was the most fun and the most challenging to make. I probably used the most letters on the refrigerator to get the right curves and look for it.

All in all I really enjoyed this project, even though it was frustrating at first since we could not change the scale of the letters once we found a size we liked. It was also hard at times to keep the objects to scale. But I'm really happy with the results.

The Peace Symbol

Peace Symbol//Gerald Holtom//1954

The peace symbol is most commonly see today on jewelry and clothing. But during the late 1950s through the 1960s it was used as a protest towards the war. In 1954 is was used in England's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The peace symbol was used to promote exactly what it is...peace.


Miochael Foot leads a CND march to Hyde Park//London//1983

I found this image when researching the Peace Symbol. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was one of the first organizations to use the peace symbol as their graphic of choice. It became very popular through them. Just putting a peace symbol on a sign without any text was saying a lot.


B-52 Peace Symbol//Artist Unknown//2007

I also found this image and though it was really interesting that the artist used a plane to make the peace symbol. And not just any plane, a plane with what looks like missiles attached to it. The peace symbol promotes peace yet here's a war plane combined with a circle to make the peace symbol.

Peignot and the 1930s

Here are a few images that I will draw inspiration from to create my icons from the Peignot font.

Simplicissimus Poster and Paper Bombs readings

Thomas Theodor Heine//Simplicissimus//1896-1897


Thomas Theodore Heine created a simple character, the bulldog, set against a flat background. It was kind of his style to have such a simple layout, displaying only one object of concentration. His bulldog represented the common people of Germany who opposed the ruling class. This article said it best:
"Beware! This is not just some rabid canine, but the most unyielding watchdog ever conceived. Born not of flesh and blood, but of ink and brush, this bulldog was the embodiment of a nation's anger, the charged graphic emblem of Simplicissimus, one of the most biting, satirically critical magazines every published."


Aubrey Beardsley//Ali Baba//1897

I found this image to be similar to Heine's dog by the way it is a large figure dominated a single space. Both characters in the images are somewhat disproportionate.



Toshusai Sharaku//Otani Oniji II//Polychrome woodcut print on paper//1794

This image of Otani Oniji II, a Japanese actor from the late 1700s, reminds me of Thomas Heine's dog and Aubrey Beardsley's Ali Baba. All three have very similar stylistic qualities.

Korean War Leaflet


Paper bombs were used during a time of war as part of psychological warfare. These leaflets contained messages with only two options, live or die. There were cautionary leaflets dropped on the enemy, which "encouraged" them to retreat or surrender. Other leaflets were designed to "undermine a battle-weary soldier's morale." The ones dropped on U.S. troops looked like they were designed by the enemy to encourage them to drop out of the war, but in fact these leaflets were also designed by the U.S. army. This was used to help train soldiers to withstand emotional assault. These 'studies' led to the conclusion that "under severe battle conditions, a leaflet is just as formidable as a bullet or missile."


"Bombs Not Bread"//Mark Vallen//1983

I came across this image when I was searching for paper bombs/war leaflets. It is like the first image in coloring and there is a skeleton. The text in this image mocks peace movements, who had the slogan "Bread not bombs."


Leaflet Against War Toys

This image is also similar to the two above in coloring. This one has more of a homefront approach. It encourages parents to not buy toys that evoke violence. It is very anti-war.