Before 1900 colour was less important than form. There was a big impact in graphic design. In the 19th century graphics was based on poster art. The form was very organic (art nouveau). After 1900 there was a move towards geometric form and abstraction. Shapes started to permeate into graphics. Neville Brody's work is very geometric. Balance and order started to appear in magazines. Colour is expressive and a sign. All art and design is a system of signs:-Semiotics. As an artist I would encode signs.
Designer/Artist.
Encode.
Signs → Transmitted → Receiver → Decode signs.
Signs in graphics.
• Colour.
• image-Drawings-video-computer generated imagery-photos-stills-films.
• Text.
• Cultural references e.g. attitudes towards: social issues, nudity, sex, gender, homosexuality, swearing(FCUK).
Colour is: Culturally determined.
Personal.
Connotive (meaning beyond) i.e. has association.
e.g. bright colours are associated with vulgarity (Austin Powers).
Colour began in 1905 with the Fauvists Andre Derain and Henri Matisse.
Post Modernism.
In current architectural criticism, the term formally and effectively describes the rejection of orthodox Modernist purity in favour of an updated Neo-classical ornamentation. Like art Deco, the last major international style, Post modern blends art history and new technology with a decorative tendency to achieve a broad-based commercially acceptable look. Characteristics include: kinetic geometry featuring floaty forms, randomly placed blips and lines, multiple fragmented lines and layered imagery, discordant, letter spaced typography and frequent references to art and design history. The Memphis style came about in 1947 by Ettore Sottass Jr. He has executed a series of graphics combining Constructivist forms and gaily coloured geometric debris. His furniture, textile designs and accessories and there nature as three dimensional forms affected the look of graphics in Milan, Barcelona, L.