By Megan Field, BA Graphic and Media Design Currently I am a Graphic and Media design student at The London College of Communication. For my DPS year I have been working as a graphic design intern at a local merchandising business. I have learnt a lot whilst working here; from different methods around the designing process, to the types of Facebook adverts, for marketing purposes. I briefly knew the basics around business and marketing strategies, but this is another level. The most important lesson I have learnt is time is vital. You do not have time in the corporate world to spend hours designing for a client that will not pay much. Anti-design was a movement that started in Italy and lasted between 1966 - 1980. It is about bending and stretching the rules of design, which is what a lot of companies are doing to achieve sales and targets at this current day and age. According to the Houses of Parliament website. ‘The pandemic led to a severe recession, followed by a strong recovery. This briefly examines different aspects of the economic impact of the pandemic to date and outlines the key issues for the economic outlook.’ Due to the severe recession, many businesses had to go into administration. The main example of this being, Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group’s Topshop, the woman’s clothing chain Bonmarche, and more! List of shops that have collapsed into administration in 2020 as UK lockdown hits high street. Covid-19 has massively increased the demand from a lot of consumers, so deadlines are tight. Meaning the quicker the designing the more profitable it is for the company and beneficial it is for the economy. However, due to the multiple lockdowns our economy has rapidly declined due to less consumerism, but there was a large increase in online shopping. Below is an image of a graph that shows the gross domestic product, which is a way to measure the size and health of a country’s economy over a period of time. This also got me thinking about how the government addressed the Covid-19 guidelines to the country. Remember, ‘Hands, Face, Space’? How could you forget? Those three words changed the nation. We went from crowded streets to a world where no one dared going near one another. Who knew that using a simple slogan could have so much power? The people behind it were the MullenLowe Group, a group of designers based in London. They created the ad, which shows a range of people washing their hands, making sure they are social distancing and wearing a mask in public areas. They explain that they are doing so to help protect family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. For me personally the focus of the ad would have to be the final scene where we are presented with the ‘Hands, Face, Space’ poster, that we familiarise with the NHS. I also thought about how powerful the slogan has become throughout the pandemic, and how slogans are becoming a way that designers have introduced as being the focus of their work. Hands, Face Space Video.www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr09ByDYuq4 When I think of designers that express themselves through language, I think of Barbara Kruger. She is an American conceptual artist, known for her signature style using large-scale black-and-white images overlaid with text. She would find and repurpose found images, juxtaposing them with short, abrupt, powerful phrases printed in Futura Bold or Helvetica Extra Bold typeface in black, white, or red text bars. She is also well known for being the creator of the Supreme logo, that we all know of. I love her work, because it examines stereotypes and the behaviours of consumerism with her used of collage over mass media method. I think her work is important to mention as her work is a great example of Anti Design, and signifies speaking the truth to power, and how minimalistic forms of art have just as much power in the world than maximalism. Barbara Kruger, 1989 - Untitled (Your body is a battleground) In conclusion my perspective on the critical writing of the subject of anti-design due to the pandemic, is that there has been a significantly large increase of minimalist methods to design. Businesses and the economy have been hit hard by the pandemic, so have had to change their business strategies. This includes the design process, and how it is imperative that their designers need to come up with simple, yet affective ways to go about the method of designing, so that it requires minimal effort, with a large profit made by the end of it. I have also learnt that not only are businesses relying on minimalism instead of maximalism designing, but artists are also doing it too! I was surprised to see that the government decided on using a very simple slogan, so that the public would respond to it, and easily understand, and not overwhelm them with a long list of rules to go by. In addition to this I think minimalism will continue to thrive, and with covid still being a part of our lives, with the pandemic we will never forget the slogan that resonates with us, and in my opinion, I think businesses should stick with the minimalist approach to design as they can successfully capitalise from it.
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