Romanticism

Romanticism came about in the late 18th century in Europe as a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms as well as the industrial revolution.

It played on people's imagination and emotion, trying to escape the confines of the ever growing industrial, scientific world. The world of nature worked well with picturesque qualities as the aesthetic experience was what romanticism was aiming for.

I find Tony Kaye an absolute genius, because he used the advertising industry to his advantage. He learnt how to communicate to people effectively and learnt what would make them tick through emotional, unique and visually powerful advertising. This was all with the intention to become an 'artist' - and he has succeeded in many areas, even in the film industry, directing American Histroy X. Kaye is brilliant at making the viewer feel uneasy by showing an area that is unknown or threatening, whilst still being a true romantic and bringing a postivie reaction from the emotion involved.

He has also plays with sublimity in his work. For example the advert he created for Volvo where the car drives around a tornado demonstrates a natural force destroying everything in its path, except the volvo. It was filmed inside the car to demonstrate reliability, safety, comfort, quality. This was a new angle that had not been seen before and it had not been displayed in this sense. The reason it works is because is places the consumer inside the actual product and gtives them the feeling of being a safe, looked after owner of a Volvo.

Volvo: Twister

Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO

Director: Tony Kaye

Production: Tony K

Post Production: The Mill

Brand: Volvo

The Document

The execution of Nguyen Van Lem. Photographer: Eddie Adams

Agreeably this is a distressing photo as the viewer knows what is about to happen. The photo depicts the last living second of this gentleman's life. But this is a historic piece (won pulitzer & world press photo award 1969) that embeds an image for all to remember for the rest of their life. A good or a bad thing?

Documentation, especially of war, is essential for us to remember what may be otherwise forgotten. Not only forgotten but over-seen or covered up incidents such as the one above are brought to light.

Top war photographers such as James Nachtwey, Robert Cappa and Sean Flynn have been to places nobody else would want to go unless they were fighting. Their aim is to show the outside world what an unknown world is like. And this is not a prepared, thought through process, it is merely aim and shoot. The photos taken show a hyper-reality, where the subject and matter in hand are real.

This entrigued me - its a small, simple idea but can it be evolved into a massive one?!

What is this?
Whose is it?
Where is it?
What does it do?
How does it not do?
How can you benefit from it?
Who else benefits?

An excellent example of direct advertising using the product to advertisie itself.

Graphics & Advertising

Graphics are visual stimuli. It is placed and arranged in a certain way to portray a message that is legible or comprehendable to the reader. There are many way to execute this - from simply colour and shape composition to typography and illstration.

It is not an art however, it is merely done to put forward important statements so that they are not overseen. I see it more as a practice. This creates a massive area of interest as to WHAT is the key factor that will make graphical work stand out.

Advertising, like graphics, have the same goal. To put across a message and make it as consumer friendly as possible so that the consumer will engage in it. This is where advertising needs graphics to improve its visual qualities.

On one side of the coin, advertising is about words and emotions created by how they are used. This can affect people enough to feel the need for the product due to the way it is described. Graphics is essential in this case, as the study of type faces (typography) is a specialist job. Each type will help define a unique style, theme, emotion or aspect of the product.
On the other side, advertising is about how attractive the visuals are, for some poeple merely a glance at a good-looking product would be enough to buy it. There are endless amounts of graphic designers and illustrators in the industry now, each witht their own 'style' but it is up to the art director to select one accordingly to the way they work. Their choice may make the product look in a different league to others, or leave it invisible amongst all the other visual stimuli in life.

The graphic element of advertising, in my opinion, can either make or break the advert. Simply put, depending on how well the composition, colours, or content chosen creates a full idea, will make people see the product in a different light.

Modernity & Modernism

Modernity in itself means the 'new'. This style has shown new ways the world evolves and how art has moved with it too.

In the 18th century, the human race became rapidly scientific and philosophical about the way of life and thinking. Many inventors, architects and scientists became leaders in industry as they determined what was 'the new'. Society would inevitably follow their lead. But this left the artists with a possibility to record all these events, in which ever way they saw fit. Artists saw this opportunity to respond to the lifestyle of discovery and technology - especially as social values and norms were rapidly chaging too.

Modernism was the artist's response to the change in lifestyle and psychological effect of modernity on the public. Design benefited from the new ideals and desire for creativity, there was a demand. New technology also meant that there were opporunities for bigger, better, more daring design. Boundaries needed to be pushed.

'Form follows function' is the basis on which modernism stands on. This belief allowed new and exciting design to emerge as it was seen to be essential.

The Bauhaus movement are probably the leaders in this area. Based in Germany, this experimentation of the new ideas concerning design made it one of the best names of all time. Everyday items had to use 'form follows function', including typefaces and furniture, even buildings.
Because of the simple way their work was executed, it made it very easy for mass reproduction. This in turn was realised as a perfect opportunity to expand the idea to everybody.