Lecture 12: Postmodernism

Modernism: 

• initially born out of optimism, an aspirational reaction to World War 1, with a view to harnessing technology to improve people’s lives
• form follows function 
• experimentation
• individualism
• progress
• originality
• seriousness

The Postmodern condition is characterised by:

• exhaustion
• pluralism
• pessimism
• disillusionment with the idea of absolute knowledge

• Postmodernism has an attitude of questioning conventions (especially those set out by Modernism)
• Postmodern aesthetic = multiplicity of styes and approaches
• Space for ’new voices’

They are both similar in the sense that they both react to technology, new materials and modern life

Uses of the term ‘postmodernism’:

• after modernism
• the historical era following the modern
• contra modernism 
• equivalent to ‘late capitalism’ (jameson)
• artistic an stylistic eclecticism
• ‘global village’ phenomena: globalisation of cultures, reaches, images, capital, products

15th July, 1972, 3:32pm the death of modernism was symbolised b the demolition of the Pruitt, Igor development in St Louis according to Charles Jencks      

• a reaction to these rules of Modernism 
• Starts as a critique of the International Style 
• Only rule is that there are no rules 
• Celebrates what might otherwise be termed kitsch

    

James Stirling - Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany, 1977-1983

Brand new but built with a hole on purpose to go against Modernism. The world is falling apart, but so what. Pessimism 

J-F Lyotard 

The postmodern condition 

• incredulity towards meta narratives (stories that seek to explain the world and the history) 
• Result = crisis in confidence 

Postmodernism does not want the simplified aesthetic, utopian ideals, truth to materials that Modernism has. 

The division between high art and low art is beginning to crumble. 

Las Vegas as a Postmodern city - Robert Venturi (1972) every language of art and architecture fused together

Andy Warhol 

• exact opposite to modernist artist 
• Says that anyone can be famous 
• Factory was not supposed to be creative, was about producing things 
• Always flaws in his work because he doesn't really know what he's doing 
• Art project of anti art 

Marilyn Monroe Diptych - not just a portrait of her, it is the mechanical production of fame and social construction of beauty in capitalism. Opposite to the expressional Modernist style such as Pollock and how he listens to Jazz music and it shows the energy 

Piero Manzoni - Artists Shit 1961

Playing games with those who declare themselves to be prestigious in the world of art and claim to know what is or isn't art. 

Postmodern artists like the mix the high row and the populist, the alienating and the accessible, and to 'sample' elements from different to styles and eras. 

Postmodernism book of illustrations - 'Don't take these drawings seriously', Nathalie Du Pasquier

David Carson Ray Gun 1992-95 

Rejecting the grid 

Found and interview/business meeting boring so set it all in a wingding typeface

Knew he didn't want to work for them

Then published the notes 

Studio Brief 1 - Average body size research

yougov.co.uk
The survey that was carried out found that the ideal dress size was shown to be a size 12, but the actual average dress size in the UK is a 16. When closely looking at the age groups, those aged 18-24 years old chose dress size 8-10 as the ideal to be. This may have been influenced by advertising as the majority of fashion adverts have this age group as the models, so the expectations may be to match the visual appearance of these. In contrast to this, the older women may think in a more realistic way about their body size.


(AMA) Association of Model Agents
The requirements for models are very strict and after researching into I began to realise why many people felt pressured about not having the 'desired' body image. 
Requirement for female modelling:
- 5ft 8 inch minimum height
- 115-130 lbs with slender build 
- 32-34 inch bust
- 26 inch waist
- 35-36 inches around hip 
- age 16 to 21

Requirements for plus size modelling:
- 5ft 7 inches minimum height
- size 8 to 12
- 20+

All of these requirements are very particular on the young age, implying that a woman are only seen to be attractive when youthful. 
The requirements for plus size modelling still fall way below the actual average size of women in the uk. This shows that the media does not show an accurate representation of the reality of women's body sizes.

Studio brief1: Book summaries

The Beauty Myth: Naomi Wolf (2002)

Over the years as women have gained power within society, the standards of physical beauty have also grown. The myth of beauty spreads the belief that an objective measurement of beauty exists such as thinness, youthfulness, intelligence etc. The media and other meanings of presenting messages have essentially made women feel as though they should embody these objective measurements to be seen as attractive to men, as they are lead to believe that this is the only form of beauty. 

The book discusses how the cultural conspiracy of maintaining youthfulness to be beautiful is a common feature in adverts and it has allowed a lot of money to be made from this insecurity that has been created. The associations with youthfulness and being beautiful have lead to insecurities of many people. Big brands have targeted the consumers feeling this insecurity and put out massive advertisement campaigns which make you feel as though you need to purchase the best creams and serums in the attempt to remain youthful and wrinkle free. This cultural conspiracy is not only applicable to females, men are also being encouraged to buy an extensive range of ‘beauty’ products. 

The natural human processes such as ageing are being labelled as undesirable and the defined idea of physical attraction is leaving many people to feel unattractive as a result of powerful media images and self comparisons that are being made. 

The way that dieting has become a ‘normative obsession’ is an area which is important to consider as this is very much displayed in media. “A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience.” The role of a graphic designers to create visually powerful pieces of work, but to also consider the power of the content that is being designed and published to a wide audience. 

Media, Gender and Identity (2nd edition): David Gauntlett

The book is split into sections of topics, of which I will focus my research on those exploring gender representation.

The analysis representations of gender in the past firstly focused on women and how in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, only 20-35% of characters were female in tv shows. The most common role for women to play was the housewife and never the breadwinner. All of the advertisements of this time era involving women focused on showing them to have the dream of impressing their husbands by their interest in household products, cleanliness and beauty. Women were not encouraged to focus on their own potential, only the happiness of their families. The ideal woman was seen to be passive, feminine, sexually interested and young. The male on the other hand was portrayed as having to be active, looked after by female, heroic, adventurous and the breadwinner for the family. 

The representation of gender today shows a sense of equality as both men and women are shown to be working side by side. The image of women as housewives now holds an element of mockery and humour, the focus has been diverted to the sexualisation women in the work place e.g. sexy secretary. The equality in the workplace seems to have been made better, but the open sexualisation of women is causing comparisons to be made and women can easily be left to feel undesirable.

Lecture 11: Colour theory 2

Subjective Colour

There is no one colour red, it is a contextual thing and depends what else is around it. It may be the reddest thing we see, but it could actually have orange tones or be quite dark etc.

spectral colour is a colour that is evoked by a single wavelength of light within a visible spectrum. A single wavelength, or narrow band of wavelengths generates monochromatic light. Every wavelength of light is perceived as a spectral colour in a continuous spectrum. The colours of similar of sufficiently close wavelengths are often indistinguishable.

Colour is a theoretical as well as a physical phenomenon, how we see it is actually an illusion.

chromatic value = hue + tone (luminance) + saturation

-Tone:

Can be seen by looking at black and white, series of colour contrast that allow different colours to be visible through the contrast which allow for differentiation. The simplest form of this Rods working out black, white and greys. Contrast allows for things to be seen easily as black and white are quite high contrast. However using tones/shades of the same colour make it more difficult to see due to little contrast. 

-Hue:

Juxtapose differs colours and identifies the greatest contrast. The contrast in hue allows for colour to be recognised based on the wavelengths.

Blue and yellow on a white background would suggest that colour has a tonal vlue because the yellow would not stand out as much as the blue. There is a higher contrast of hue with the blue on the white. The colour and tone proximity can confuse the eye and if they are too close, it make it hard for the user to know which one to read. 

-Saturation:
Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values and their relative saturations.
when shown a shade of blue, you may just label it as blue but then when compared to another blue it may become a 'light blue' etc. 

-Contrast of Extension
Formed by assigning proportional field sizes in relation to the visual weight of a colour. Also known as the contrast of proportion.

-Contrast of Temperature:
formed by juxtaposing hues that can be considered 'warm' or 'cool'.
Blue is seen as a cooler colour and orange is seen as a warmer colour. Adding a a tint of blue to the red would make that a 'cooler' red rather than a red with a bit of orange which would be 'warmer'.
The colour swatch of changing temperatures shows that each square does not look like one set colour, but towards the right it lightens out. This is because there is a higher contrast between the two colours, so the lighter colour will have a patch that seems to be lighter, due to this contrast.  







-Complementary contrast:
Red and green do not work together as it is too harsh on the eyes, complementary colours do not work together. harmonious contrast is nice on the eye and would make a passage of coloured text easier to read. 

-Simultaneous contrast:
Formed when boundaries between colours perceptually vibrate
When you stare at the colours they begin to change. yellow and green next to each other would make the green more blue and the yellow more orange when you stare at them.

Lecture 10: Colour Theory 1

Systematic Colour (Part 1) - An Introduction to Colour Theory 
colour is infinite. There are infinite gradient, tones, shades. 

physical -> physiological -> psychological

physiological = human interpretation of colour

physical aspects of colour = optics, refraction etc

spectral colour is a colour that is evoked by a single wavelength of light within a visible spectrum. A single wavelength, or narrow band of wavelengths generates monochromatic light. Every wavelength of light is perceived as a spectral colour in a continuous spectrum. The colours of similar or sufficiently close wavelengths are often indistinguishable by the human eye. 

wavelengths of colour

All colours have different wavelengths and light is made up of all of the different colours we can see vibrating at different wavelengths.

Our perception of any colour is based on the eye receiving light that has been reflected fro a surface or an object. 

The eye contains two kinds of receptors:

Rods convey shades of black, white and grey. Cones all the brain to perceive colour.

Types fo cones:

1. sensitive to the red-orange light

2. sensitive to green light

3. sensitive to blue-violet light

When a single cone is stimulated, the brain perceives the corresponding colour. But two cones can be stimulated so combinations of colours can be perceived e.g. the stimulations of red-orange and green cones show us yellow.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the colour spectrum through the eyes of different conditions and how it can be so different.

Josef Albers (1888-1976)

Johannes Itten (1888-1967)

Colour - Pigment - Media

Johannes Itten colour wheel

There are thought to be primary, secondary, tertiary colours in the colour wheel that when mixed can make endless combinations.  

Primary + primary = secondary

primary + secondary = tertiary

When you mix opposite colours, the wavelengths are cancelled out and a brown/grey colour is always created. (neutral tertiary)

Spectral colour

The eye cannot differentiate between spectral yellow, and some combination of red and green. The same effect accounts for our perception of cyan, magenta, and the other in-between spectral colours. 

Colour mode

Red, green and blue = relates to light

RGB - anything screen based

CMYK - anything printed

Chromatic values - hue, tone and saturation 

Hue - initial response to a colour e.g a range of colours that sit within the violet/green/blue spectrum

Luminance - how bright tit is, how much light it reflects, how vivid the colour is

Tint - adding more or less white to a colour which also affects its luminance

Saturation - the amount of a colour we can see and how pure it is