Jules Cheret

Jules Cheret was a prolific artist during the Art Nouveau movement in France during the early 19th century. I wanted to explore his work because I really love the color, movement, and whimsy of his pieces. I also was interested in learning about his life and influencing experiences because his work is so decorative. This entire era is intriguing to me in regards to graphic design because it is so far from what we do today. However, I also enjoy this work a lot because it is so illustrative and captivating.

Alex Riggio

I found this great website that has everything you would want to know about Cheret, his life, and his work. On the home page of the site, you will find this blurb about the beginnings of his life work. Jules Cheret was born in Paris on May 31, 1836 in to a family of artisans. Since the family had little money, Jules Cheret’s formal education ended when at the age of 13, his family could no longer afford to keep him in school. His father, a typographer, placed Cheret in a three year apprenticeship with a lithographer.

http://www.cheret.info/
"French lithographer, poster designer and painter, Cheret’s formal training in art was limited to a course at the Ecole Nationale de Dessin, Paris, as a pupil of Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran.

Although he was able to sell sketches to various music publishers in Paris, this did not satisfy Cheret. He left Paris for London in hopes of finding a more lucrative way to afford his career as an artist. After a short period of time executing drawings for The Maple Furniture Company, a frustrated Cheret, returned to Paris with no more money than when he began his journey. This did not deter him and his continued perseverance led him to his first commission to create a poster. This would later reveal him to be The Master of the Poster."

I perused through the site some more, and one of the most interesting things I read was about his influences with color and how he began a "color revolution". He also produced many works for the Moulin Rouge and did decorative panels, posters, and paintings that were highly influential in Parisian society during the time.

Victorian Houses

I've always had an interest in interior design and architecture, and the Victorian era produced homes that interest me a lot. The Boyle House was built in 1890 and features many unusual Victorian elements such as a Queen Anne Tower; embossed, raised, metal flower garlands decorating the porches; rosetted brackets; porches with turned balusters, spindles and columns; and leaded-beveled glass and circle top windows. Unusual interior features include ornate flowered, tile-faced columned and bevel-mirrored oak fireplace mantles with wood carvings, and embellished summer grates; unique gas /electric brass and crystal chandeliers (gasoliers); beautiful hardwood floors and woodwork. http://www.herinn.com/?page_id=3 Many homes today still stand from the Victorian era and even some new architecture exists when building brand new homes. Victorian homes were intended to be romantic, peaceful, and elegant, reflective of the time and attitudes of the people.

The interiors of the homes especially exemplified the elegance and attention to detail of the era. Although some find it to be overkill with the elaborate and excessive embellishments, there is some beauty to the fine detail crafters paid attention to in designing pieces. The picture above is from a Victorian bed and breakfast located in Texas. This room in particular is the drawing room where many social affairs were held. http://www.benefieldhouse.com/common_rooms.html

A Victorian is a house constructed during the Victorian era, approximately 1840 to 1900. During the Victorian era, industrialization brought new building materials and techniques. Architecture saw rapid changes. A variety of Victorian styles emerged, each with its own distinctive features. http://architecture.about.com/od/housestyles/ig/Victorian-House-Styles/

Alex Riggio

How Typefaces have Changed

While browsing around on the AIGA's archives, I found several designs, both contemporary & not, that caught my attention. I then ventured to the thinkingwithtype.com website we were given & was led to yet another page, fontbureau.com, a Boston type foundry which produces both historical and new, modern typefaces. A few of the original fonts that they have made include Caslon, Bodoni, & Garamond.

This site drew me in mostly because I find it amazing that even though typefaces began to be designed several years ago, there are still people out there that find the need to keep recreating it in their own shops for designers & everyone else to use. I also find it interesting how years later designers can still find a place for older fonts in their work. Nowadays when things change, we as humans tend to follow the trend, leaving behind the old. It turns into a 'what if', thinking about how all of the historical fonts could have been left behind as new ones became developed therefore making those fonts just that, history. What if that had changed design as a whole? Where would we as designers be today?

There were also a few fonts on fontbureau.com that I found that reminded me of the older, historical fonts, some including Antenna, Antique Condensed, Belizio, & Escrow, pictured on the left in order. The designs on these fonts were similar to those created when typefaces was first widely used which, again, amazes me that there are still people out there today who take the time to design typefaces that would take more time than a simple font to design such as Helvetica.

Sheryl Mueller

Fabriano Paper

I looked at the AIGA design archives and specifically at some of the typography design. Of course there are so many fabulous designs (goes without saying, really) but there was one, in particular, that I think is really amazing . I love paper crafting so Paper Alphabet for Sculpture Today by Phaidon Press, 2007 is really wonderful in that it looks so simple (but as designers, we know that it wasn't!!). Unfortunately I can't post or copy that imagery here but it got me thinking about paper and how it (paper) changed the world in so many profound ways.
I wanted to look at Fabriano Paper. Started in the late 13th century, it is still a leader in the paper industry today. (above is a picture of the Museum of Paper and Watermarks.)

"In all likelihood, the reason that Fabriano became the most important papermaking center in Europe can be found in the fact that it is located near Ancona, a port particularly open to commercial exchanges with the Arab world. It must also be noted that the ever greater skill shown by the growing numbers of qualified craftsmen in Fabriano led to a significant increase in the quality of the paper made here. Two important process innovations led to the rise of Fabriano as the cradle of papermaking in the modern conception of this term. One was the use of animal gelatin for surface sizing of the paper. This innovation permitted better writing on the sheet and solved the problem of aging caused by starch sizing, the main reason that chancelleries and notaries were forbidden to use paper for public deeds.

The second innovation was the invention of the hydraulic hammer pile with multiple screens (13th century) used to beat the rags, thus eliminating the stone mortar and wooden pestle, which had to be operated by hand, in use among the Arabs.

Another major product innovation in Fabriano was the use of watermarks on sheets so that when they are held up to light, these famous symbols can be seen. They were used initially to reproduce the trademark of the different papermakers."
http://www.cartierefabriano.it/uk/_storia.html

kristen powers

Typography Investigated

For the first week's assignment, I investigated AIGA's archives and came across quite a few designs that I really enjoyed. However, because AIGA protects their archives, we are not allowed to copy links or photos and post them to the site. I also looked into Lupton's site and came across a lot of typefaces and information that I really liked. On James Craig's site, www.designingwithtype.com I found some interesting student work of type designs that he published. This particular design interested me because it seems to have a Gothic tradition with a very modern flair.

The design on the top is neat because it is very modern, but very clean and simple. It's fun to compare the two and see how very different the typefaces are. I can really appreciate the effort that both students made with designing type and I admire their persistence at making the typefaces become as uniform as possible.

One of my favorite things I came across is the "T Openers: Lace, Swirl and Damned" archive on AIGA's site. It's done so intricately and beautifully and while it only uses one letter (T) I think the design quality is really awesome. It's very lacey and pretty but within a Gothic style typeface. It reminds me of something we may see in the Victorian Era.

There is also a card on AIGA's site called "Joy" that is really cool. It folds out and the letters j, o, and y pop up. I've always found it amazing that we can do so many things with paper and that a few simple folds could enhance a piece from good to great.

Alex Riggio