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Inter-period Journey of the Graphic Design and Its Reflection on the Thematic Magazines
On the other hand, the capitalist system caused by the industrialization has destroyed the spirit
of the art and culture. Therefore, today’s works are ordinary, standard and routine. In other
words, they are not the product of the creativity and authenticity.
Adorno and Horkheimer, the Frankfurt School philosophers state that the industrialists and
media boss dominate the field of culture, which standardizes the culture. Adorno had negative
ideas about the popular culture, because according to him, the popular culture is low-quality,
ordinary and dangerous. He affirms the modernist approach based on the high and leading
work of art.
3. Data Collection and Analysis
It could be said that the designers like Morris, Beardsley, Bayer, Brodovich and their
magazine designs considerably affected the developments in the post-revolution press
methods. The magazine design emerged with the Arts and Crafts movement under the
leadership of William Morris after the industrial revolution. The Yellow Book, designed by the
art director Aubrey Beardsley with an exotic approach in 1894 struck all of a heap during
those days (Figure 1). “The Yellow Book, a work of literature and art, became the symbol of
innovation and immorality in London with its light yellow cover” (Bektaş, 1999, 25).
Figure 1. The Yellow Book Cover, April (Beardsley, 1894)
Although the topics in the magazines consisted of the current issues after 1920s, they were
different from the newspapers. The magazines were flourished in terms of content with the
description, stories and commentaries; moreover, the photographs as one of the visual
elements were included in the pages of magazines in time. In the 19
th
century the art
movements brought new approaches in various field (architecture, music etc.) including
graphic design. The images of Surrealism bringing the depth to the two-dimensional pages
and attaching importance to the subject and the effect of the subject more than the form affect
various designation fields (Becer, 2010) (Figure 2).
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Figure 1. Vogue Magazine Cover, February (Covarrubias, 1937)
The theories argued by Bauhaus are sometimes summarized with the motto Functionalism.
According to it, if something is designed in compliance with the purpose, the beauty comes by
itself (Gombrich, 2002, 560). Herbert Bayer, Australian graphic artist, painter, photographer
and architect who had an important role in the expansion of the European advertising
principles in the USA created a different design sense from the interaction between the
writing, photograph and pictures by means of the ‘grid’ system (Becer, 2005) (Figure 3).
Figure 2. Bauhaus (Bayer, 1928)
Another name creating difference in relation to the design during that period was Alexey
Brodovich.“The giant pictures, dynamic use of the space and the colorful and textured papers
introduced a new atmosphere to the magazine” (Bektaş, 1992, 110). Brodovitch emphasized
the importance of the composition and the spaces creating room for the design in his works
and the aesthetic they create. Harper’s Bazaar, the owner of which is Brodovitch is a fashion
magazine and the recognition of the importance of transferring the philosophy of the
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Inter-period Journey of the Graphic Design and Its Reflection on the Thematic Magazines
magazine and the content constructing the magazine to the style/form during the design
process increased the importance of the visual identity for the magazine (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Harper’s Bazaar Magazine Cover, February (Brodovitch, 1939)
In the light of all these developments, the innovations in the magazine design caused the
change in the social dynamics and in the search of the producers for the consumption; and it
became a different branch. The development paved the way for a new phenomenon in the
concept of magazine design. It has created the designations depicted based on the
consumption away from the standardization, Fordism and aesthetic concern.
Figure 3 Good Housekeeping Magazine Cover,
February (Phillips, 1917)
The magazines, gaining in popularity between 1920s and 1930s tried to affect and appeal the
readers by means of their original designs, typographies and stunning drawings. The
magazine covers designed by the art directors including Alexey Brodovitch (Harper’s Bazaar)
and Elenor Treacy (Fortune) seemed like toiles beyond being just a Figure.
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Good Housekeeping magazine is an actual magazine for women published since 1919. The
magazine designs designed during the first times had artistic integrity (Figure 5).
Figure 4. Good Housekeeping Magazine Cover, March (Murphy, 2002)
However, the media had tabloidization due to the unification of the media and the capitalist
system as far as the today’s design and content sense is concerned. Therefore, the
communication tools have been standardized. During the process, Housekeeping taken as the
example has become the magazine which could explain and describe the case we carried out
in a best wat as it is a thematic magazine. Here is the remarkable point in terms of graphic
design is the both Figures - Figure 5 (1919) and Figure 6 (2010) had female figure as the main
object on the covers.
As analyzed in detail, it is observed that the female image used in the Figure 5 sends less
message, whereas the cover in the Figure 6 is depicted by the image identity attributed to the
woman by the society. The reason is there is a huge difference between 1919 and 2010 in
terms of economic, sociologic and politic systems. The position of woman is one of the most
important elements here. After the sociologic analyses of the issue argued in the article named
“Inter-period Journey of the Graphic Design and Its Reflection on the Thematic Magazines”,
it is required to be analyzed in terms of graphic design. As the graphic design is a
phenomenon that includes various elements and fractions as mentioned above and depicted
with the sense communication at the same time. As the examples, Figure 5 and Figure 6 are
analyzed within the scope of this sense; it is examined in specific points in terms of graphic
design.
Starting with the typographic analysis in the Figure 5 (the reason is the color and the logo are
the most important element to appeal both subconscious and over conscious of the consumers
as buying a product), the correct use of the typography, the space that the woman image
holds, being the main object, lack of the contents on the cover make it a whole magazine
cover design. The reason for it is that the golden ratio is used in the cover and the message to
be emphasized is transferred in a simple and effective way.
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