Lecture - A History of Type.

Typography as a term can first be traced back to ancient civilisations where they used hammer and chisel to carve letterforms out of stone.

Due to the chisel having to have a starting mark on letters, the letters of that day and age were all what is known as, serif, meaning they have tails and foots on the ends of the bases and tops. This is where the chisel would be first dug in.

Type classifications: Humanist, Old Style, Transitional, Modern, Slab Serif and Sans Serif (without serif).

Print in mass production began in 1450 when the first 'gutenberg' printing press was invented. Before this pages in books would need to be printed individually by hand and was a very time consuming matter. It also meant when this printing press was invented that the price of literature could drop allowing books to be more readily available for the lower classes.

A humanist typeface is where the stroke widths of the lines is allowed to change from letter to letter giving it a more hand rendered aesthetic.

Old style is a term referring to modern serif fonts such as 'garamond' or 'times new roman' which are made to emulate the old chisel carved stone letterforms.

Slab serifs are chunky bold letters which have their roots in woodblock printing and letterpress. Probably most associated with the style of old west in America.








Type itself and the choices used can inflict certain feelings on the viewer. For example a script handwritten font is seen as more personal where as I said earlier a slab serif is seen as a cowboy old west heritage.

http://ilovetypography.com/2008/05/30/a-brief-history-of-type-part-4/

Modernity and Jazz.

Modernity is defined in the dictionary as
- the state or quality of being modern.

Here we will be looking at modernity, in direct relation to Jazz.

"Approaching the topic of jazz and modernism, one might begin with the emergence of bebop, which was routinely called “modernist” in the 1940s. While the debate about bop replicated aspects of earlier disputes about literary and artistic modernism, the parochial nature of the debate (largely confined to fans, journalists, and record collectors) insulates it from the more compelling issues associated with modernism. An alternative approach to the topic might enumerate encounters with, and opinions about, jazz by recognized modernists. Ezra Pound, for instance, backed George Antheil's concert hall amalgamation of jazz with futurism, even as he disparaged the piano as an agent of jazz (confusing it with ragtime). But most of the modernists had little interest in jazz, and to detect fugitive traces of their encounter with it one would have to scrape deep recesses of the biographical barrel (and, in most cases, the evidence would illustrate a larger pattern of Negrophilia or Negrophobia, adding little to the study of jazz). A third approach, adopted here, is to regard jazz as a conspicuous feature of modernity as it was manifested during and after the Great War. In that capacity, jazz unquestionably informed modernism as intellectual challenge, sensory provocation, and social texture."

- Jed Rasula, 2012.

Jazz as Decal Essay by Jed Rasula 2012. PDF 

 Modernity as a Cultural Style - Jazz in Black and White. 

American Modernism

Due to it's American origins this resource shows some interesting links between modernity, jazz and how they stood for similar values.

The American writer Lawrence W Levine described Jazz as "a catalyst of shifting national consciousness". It shows how times were changing in the states due to the influence of modernity and it's views.

Jazz itself owes it roots to black slave culture primarily but is a melting pot of different cultures. It was a positive new genre for the modern age and a direct product of modernity and modernism. At the time it was the progressive musical brother to the artistic revelations seen in painting, sculpture, design, fashion and architecture. An overall creative blanket, fresh and vibrant.

Daniel Gregory Mason charged that jazz "is so perfectly adapted to robots that the one could be deduced from the other. Jazz is thus the exact musical reflection of modernist industrial capitalism".

Irving Berlin called jazz the "music of the machine age." Players drew influences from everyday street talk in Harlem, as well as from French Impressionist paintings.

Jazz. Visual Culture.

Blue Note Covers:

The blue note covers show some interesting jazz related graphic design. It aims to capture that freedom with simple methods of breaking down rigid Swiss modern typography and crashing it together with illustrative elements. Certain examples could be seen as a mash of modernism and post-modernist aesthetics.

Bluenote Records History.

 Art Deco:

Art deco was the artistic movement around when looking at jazz in context.


Wiki - Art Deco.

In it's visual form it was a progression from the curves and organic forms found in 'art nouveau' to linear symmetry and straight edges. When first emerging in the 1920's it was seen as modern and innovative and reflected a return to money and glamour after the dust had settled from the first world war. It's influence can be seen in movements such as pop art and it's aztec influenced shapes are starting to re-emerge in contemporary fashion and design.

Return to Art Deco stlyes in Fashion.
  

The art deco aesthetic is reflected in the Jazz cover designs of the time. They used vibrant colours and geometric shapes but with a fluidity about them so they don't feel too rigid. It's like they are re-shaping, cutting and pulling apart the old to create something new.

Personal Thoughts:

The aesthetics of Jazz are pretty much what I had in mind. These kind of images were scattered around my house growing up and it feels very familiar to me. The style also transitions nicely into the type of publication I had outlined in my initial thoughts. 

Jazz. History and Philosophy.

History:

It's origins lie in the south of the united states within the African American communities. The music itself is a mix of African and European music styles and incorporates blue notes and improvisation.

Jazz itself is broken down into many sub-genres including New Orleans, big band swing, West Coast, Latin and Bebop.

The name itself came from west coast slang spoke in about 1912.

Jazz began to emerge properly in the 1920's when attitudes were starting to change and become more liberal. The older generations at the time found it threatening to their old values as it very much represented the changes being seen in the younger generations.

Philosophy:

Jazz has been notoriously hard to define, which in itself shows you it's unpredictable nature and it's sense of freedom.

The dictionary tells us that it is 'A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.'

The words flexible, improvisation and unpredictable pop up quite alot actually. Part of it's charm seems to be it's experimental nature and it's expressionism. It encourages musical freedom. Jazz isn't something you can pin down and it aims to be constantly exploring new depths. You have to feel it to fully enjoy Jazz music, it needs to resonate within.

Initial Thoughts:

The philosophy is what I think I'm interested in capturing visually. I want the publication to feel unpredictable and expressionist and for it to not feel too graphically structured. Or if it is then I don't want that to be too obvious to the viewer. It should be free and experimental with links to the colours and feelings of the context. In my head I picture something which emulates Jazz music but for the eyes.

This could end up being very interesting I feel. Obviously I still want it to feel graphic in ways but I guess slightly post modernist in it's execution.


Next Step:

Now that I have a basic understanding of Jazz I think I need to look at it's visual culture.

Practical Module. Statement of Intent.

Brief:

We have been asked to create a publication based around something we have found interesting in the Context of Practice module. This could be something obvious or more obscure.

Modernism - Modernity - 1920's Paris Exhibition - The Jazz Age - Jazz.

Chosen link from module information.

Intent:

After Jo's idea generation session I believe I've stumbled across a route which I find interesting. One of my interests was the jazz age which I think we touched on in one of the modernism lectures. Jazz is something my father was apart of when I was growing up, I already have a sense of style and the visual aesthetics that are a part of it.

To give Jazz a design context and a strong link to the module and the information that has been given to us I will be looking at Jazz in relation to modernity and modernism.

Postage Stamps. Existing 'Innovative' Design.

I think some of these are stunning little things. The illustrative style and vivid colour is necessary I guess to make the image pop and is 100% my cup of tea. They've really managed to do something amazing with such a small space. I'm actually quite excited to get designing this now after looking at these. Anyway enough about of me gushing, guess I better talk about them with more purpose.

Personally the simpler designs for me have more impact due to it's level of clarity. The most successful have found a clear almost pictogram way of projecting their chosen message. For example the green stamp with a giraffe and a lion on it instantly tells me that Frankfurt has a zoo and I should perhaps visit if I ever find myself in town. This kind of clear vision is the key to my stamp design. One thing I've noticed however is the price in numbers as a graphic element doesn't seem to be exploited, they are often in style linked with the main imagery but rarely incorporated in the main image itself. Something I could possibly pick up on in my designs.

Thoughts:

This research has it more obvious to me to choose the low-impact route using an illustrative style and also possibly incorporating the price within the design. For example someone riding the price '60' like a bike. That's something I can explore on my design sheets. It might be useful getting together some transport images and pictograms like the cycling ones in my environmental post.