The focus on typography was very needed. I really enjoyed the heavy focus on type that was placed during that time period and the extreme focus on legibility and simplicity. The way that type was looked at was definitely revolutionized. In terms of what can be done, people seriously gathered a greater perspective and began to see type as part of the image rather than something that just transfers information. I think it is amazing how so much emphasis can be placed simply on the words and the way that they are used on a page. The contributions of Swiss Design were game changing. The sans-serif types that were contributed were very instrumental in changing our world today. I mean, the emphasis and stress that was placed around legibility and simplicity was well needed. It affects the way that we make our street signs and pretty much everything today. Magazines, commercials, movies, almost everything tends to use sans-serif type  because of the reasons above. Who knew that their only needed to be simple changes made to letters to make everything run much smoother. This is definitely a lecture where we were allowed to further see the beauty, that is type, and explore how it impacted our world much more than we assume.

If there were any thing i could change about my manifesto it would be the layout and design. If there would have been time in my own schedule I really wanted to try to do a letterpress design in a large poster form. The letterpress project we worked on in class was really interesting to me as well as the lecture and video we went over. Making paper and printing on it for project or even for yourself would be very rewarding in the end. The different textures you can’t get with just printing off the computer. There were so many manifestos I really enjoyed. The amount of time and thought behind some of them were awesome to me.

Although some of the history in the lectures was slightly boring, the history of graphic design is the reason its has evolved into what it is today. All the styles of graphic design eventually come back in some form.

Considering there was a lot of content to cover in the  last lecture, I will pick out a few things that stood out to me overall. I really enjoyed the craftsmanship and hard work that was put into making the magazine covers for Bazaar and Vanity Fair. It just seemed like artists around that time had more of a tedious hand in the artwork.  Art wasn’t done on a computer. The text, the typefaces, the format, none of it was done on a computer, yet people were very skilled at what they did. Every piece had some type of significance to it and relevance to the time, especially in the vanity fair covers. I specifically like the Vanity Fair cover that had “Uncle Sam” sitting on the planet depressed in the shape of a four. This was very significant, considering that the country was in a depression at that time, so they personified the situation. I can truly see how the graphic design field became more prevalent at that time, and became more instrumental in changing the business world. People became more apt to embracing artistic ideas and visual representation. I also found it interesting how the federal government paid people to create art for them.

What did I find most interesting of all the art and design that we looked at this semester? Well, I took an Art History course (all the way up to post modernism) and some of the topics that were discussed in this class was similar but not the same. What I really appreciated about Graphic Design Survey, is the fact that it’s all based around the history of graphic design. When we first started this course, it was very interesting to see the beginnings of graphic design and how it’s revolved and shifted from the Gutenberg print press. It was nice to see the periods of general art history (such as the Art Neuvou) and how graphic design was influenced by it.

The most interesting lecture that we had was of course, the psychedelic art. Did it surprise me though? No. I don’t think I was surprised by anything that we learned this semester, to be honest. I’m not condoning heavy drug use, such as LSD but that whole era fascinates me. I really appreciate the style and art of the 60’s and 70’s. No, I don’t like the psychedelic art. It hurts my brain and makes me dizzy. I’m talking about the toned down styles – more like styles of Herbert Bayer (during his US Container days). I like the styles of the Bauhaus. Mid Century. Movies, films, entertainment and music of this era is very interesting to me. This was the time of the avocado appliances. Orange, greens and shag carpet. It’s very ugly but appealing to me.

The manifesto’s were interesting. I think I saw a trend, as most people did tend to focus on their own personal beliefs in the art manifesto, which is what I did. I wanted to share all the things in my posters tried and true statements. Everybody pretty much did a different form, which was pretty interesting as well!

This semester I learned a lot about the different art styles. I knew that over the years there have been different types of art and different styles, but I never had really thought about the idea that there have been different art movements. Each art movement displays different styles and has a lot of different characteristics. Some have a lot of ornamentation, others have more simplistic characteristics. There are some movements that have a lot of natural colors, others that use primary colors, and then there are others that use a lot of bright, overwhelming colors. Each movement is so different, and yet you can see inspiration from previous movements.

During class when we looked at everyone else’s manifestos and listened to everyone read theirs, it really showed everyone’s different approach on manifestos and what art is. Some people wrote on what art and design is, some wrote on typography, and others wrote their thoughts on art. Overall, it was really interesting to see the manifestos that my fellow classmates created. Some people did booklets, others did posters, and some people went another route. There were some handmade and others digital, some big, and others made small. Everyone made an interesting manifesto that demonstrates their thoughts and views.

One of the things that I have come to realize this semester and it falls under the “suprising me” category, is that graphic design had to start somewhere. It started earlier than I thought it did. Honestly, I hadn’t thought much on it, so I didn’t really realize how early it came to be.

After presenting my manifesto, I realized that I could have practiced my speech a bit more. I also wanted to do something more with my realization, because I feel that a poster just doesn’t do what my message was, justice. Now, when it comes to my classmates manifesto’s, some were more thought out, especially the “details!” one. I loved the colors, and overall design of it. And a lot of my classmates knew what they were talking about (not that I didn’t) but they didn’t seem to hesitate. They were confident in the subject they spoke of. I did notice that some of us had an overall message that design is whatever the speaker thought it was, and some spoke of it being whatever you wanted it to be. I learned a lot this semester, not just in this class, but in the rest of them too. It was a good last semester.

This semester, I learned how what was going on around artists as well as their personal beliefs about art influenced their designs. For me, this is what my manifesto was about: who I am and how the world around me and my own beliefs have shaped my perspectives on design, its misconceptions, and what it should be. I found the WWII posters to be especially interesting to me this semester because of the tactics they utilized to make onlookers feel what they wanted them to feel. It was surprising to see the lengths they went to in design approaches to get men to enlist in the armed forces. Similarly, I wanted my manifesto to stir something in its readers, to make them look at something in a new light from my point of view.

What might I change about my manifesto? Maybe some of the alignment of the fonts, which was pretty tricky to do in the first place and caused some slight frustration; but overall, I love my design and am proud of the way it impacts you and makes an interesting, original statement, yet references past styles like the International Style. I also was very intrigued by my classmate’s manifesto that talked about conveying the story behind your design. I could really appreciate and relate to her manifesto because who you are really does influence your individual design choices, and people should be able to see that.

Creativity is essential. It is only made better by attention to detail, never worse, but everyone’s creative choices are different. Everyone has a unique story that can be told best by paying attention to detail so that the design is fully able to make its mark on the world. It’s all about the details.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned this semester is how much the region plays a role in how a style of art can change and develop over time. I didn’t realize how many art movements there have been either but it makes sense because art has been around for as long as we can remember. Before I had started reading the designers manifestos I had no idea what a manifesto even was. It definitely helped me grasp what a manifesto was I still need to work on how to organize my manifesto. Honestly I found the psychedelic art to be the most interesting now I didn’t say the most enjoying. Reason being is how crazy generally posters were in this time period. The type was all types of crazy along with the imagery. It made me wonder how you were supposed to see these? Were they supposed to be seen while on psychedelics or what are we supposed to see or interpret. Now after I have finished presenting my manifesto in class I wish it would have came out more the way I had envisioned it. I wish I wasn’t so literal in the processes and maybe found a better way to represent my manifesto and what I believe graphic design to be.