Mia Marshall LCC DBS / DPS I am currently studying Design for Branded Spaces at LCC. Throughout my studies, the subject of Anti-design is something that has come up here and there, but not at all within my external practices. The idea has always been something of intrigue coming from a place of revolt, exploration and experimentation. There is no doubt it re immersed during the pandemic. Due to the nature of control, we were under I think it made us reflect on this in a spectrum of ways, especially creatively. Along with a lot of time to think about why things are the way they are, anti-design and antiestablishment has seen an increase seeping into the world of art and design once again. As the saying goes, rules are meant to be broken, but is it viable? Born at a time where people were sick of the obsession of functionality, does its meaning prevail in today's society? Created in 1960’s Italy, it was a backlash at the modernist and Bauhaus ideals that form should follow function. Stated in https://www.madewithover.com/trends-copy/anti-design “Almost every great cultural movement in history began with an intuition to purposefully go where you're not supposed to go.” A reaction to a certain set of rules and ideals that has the power to change society. Ettore Sottsass was one of the most prominent designers and artists in the world of post modernism and the Memphis movement, his work was monumental and inspired future generations' thought. He was inspired to rebel by his father who was a Modernist architect, constrained by the rules of modernist design. There is something within humanity that is hungry for difference and strives to explore different ways of thinking. Anti-design has really flourished in graphic design over the past few years, becoming somewhat of a trend despite the stringent rules that apply. It’s fundamental communication imperative makes it quite hard for anti-design to intervene at its fullest capability – you still need to be able to read things and understand what the piece is trying to communicate/inform you of. You wouldn’t use anti design ideals when creating an instruction manual on how to release the emergency door on a crashing plane, or on an IKEA shelf set up manual. That would honestly drive anyone crazy, there is a big space for pragmatism and minimalism, below are some great examples of anti-design being used well. They retract out of the restraints of normal graphic design rules but are still legible and functional to a degree. In a talk on AIGA, Daniel Kalick talks about the various places anti-design can be used well. Someone in the crowd asks a question that has lingered in my mind. “If anti design becomes a trend, is it still anti design?” I guess I lean more on the side of thinking it could be a trend, anti-design was meant to reflect social and cultural ideas going against designs capitalist imperative to produce to make money. It could be a broad trend, a trend to revolt and to go against constraints doesn’t have to be categorized and anchored down like the modernist movement. Are their rules for going against the rules? My own practices don’t usually include anti design, but I'm delighted that I have some more perspective in researching it more. I have always followed tight briefs of what other people want, both in my course briefs and own separate illustration commissions. During lockdown I felt as though the process was so ingrained in my brain, I'd never be able to stray. You receive a brief, research the company/client and find out their ethos, investigate other current ideas that follow the same brief somewhat, followed by design and research, as well as design using different tools to refine the design until you have the finished product. Then after a long repetitive process of presentation, feedback and altering you are finished. There is room for experimentation, but not so much that you jeopardise what the client wants. In a world of designing for other people, it's hard to stray from the safety of familiar design principles. Here are two examples of the poster designs I did as a project brief with LCC Masters Script Writers. As you can see, I haven't really strayed from the set graphic design principles, but I wonder now how different my outcome and process would have been if I applied some anti-design philosophies into my own work. The design – anti design argument is in my opinion more important than the answer itself, it’s the fact that we are questioning the norms and trying to break away from constraints that it is successful, not the necessity that it works. It's easy to follow a set of guidelines for your whole life but I think something unexpectedly beautiful happens when you think in a way that disregards what you know. I will definitely be using more anti design principles in the future to broaden my perspective in the way I work.
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Anti design was an art movement originating in Italy, lasting from the years 1966 to 1980. The movement emphasized striking colours, scale distortion and questioned the function of the objects in various ways. The movement was a retaliation against the perfectionist aesthetics of Modernism whose designers placed emphasis on style and aesthetics of good form. It was a way for designers to express and show their new way of thinking by stepping out of the boundaries set by those aesthetics. Anti design puts the function at the centre of the design and then questions it, providing a new perspective on the function. The famous Joe sofa designed by Paolo Lomazzi in 1970 looks like a giant baseball glove. It suggests that forms don’t have to be invented, they can just be recycled. A more recent example from 2016 by Clark Bardsley is a chair that in fact, cannot be sat on. It is a wooden frame of a chair designed to fit over any everyday seat and transform it into something new every time. Making a chair that you can’t sit on breaks all the rules and may seem ridiculous. However, it reminds us of its function we often take for granted. The digital revolution ushered in a new era of design and with it came new sets of rules, aesthetics and functions. In a time where technology is becoming less limiting and more accessible, everybody can do graphic design and therefore, more people can express themselves. Art and design has almost always been a reflection of society and a way for people to retaliate against something. The same can be seen in the graphic design industry today. The recent pandemic influenced years have severely affected our society which is evident in the work it produces. New and unconventional designs often gain traction as they stand out in their visual appearance and just like in the past, they remind us of the function of the design. I am now able to reflect back on my recent experiences and projects undertaken during my placement. The studio Superhero Cheesecake, where I have spent my past six months, is known for beautiful, high end interactive experiences. These usually consist of carefully selected fonts and color palettes, often trying to convey things like elegance and exclusivity. However, one project that stood out was a dynamic colourful game to launch the new Gucci Basket sneaker. The project was already standing out from the beginning by the way it was approached by everyone in the studio. It was simply different from all the other projects. After launch, the success of the project was evident from the client feedback, but mostly from having won the Site Of The Day Award from the Awwwards and the FWA. When visiting websites of other Site Of The Day winners, although being beautifully designed, they reminded me of a quote from one of the recommended articles. The quote is by Steve Watson and states, “Everyone talks about the magazines with lots of white space—the ones following the Kinfolk or Cereal aesthetic. A magazine with that approach has to work harder to hold my attention than one that’s doing something more unexpected.” He also added that, “The real challenge is to look beyond conventional places to find the best”. This helped me contextualise the success of the Gucci Burst game I was able to work on during my placement. It also made me realise that successful unconventional designs carefully break rules and have to be chosen for the right occasion. “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” - Picasso.
Filip Havlena Graphic and Media Design Sources: http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/antidesign/ https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-new-wave-of-anti-design-magazines-will-question-your-sense-of-taste-and-thats-a-good-thing/ https://www.madewithover.com/trends-copy/anti-design https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv7a3TcxugQ&t=332s http://www.clarkbardsleydesign.com/arm https://www.awwwards.com/sites/gucci-burst https://gucciburst.gucci.com/ In "The master's tool will never dismantle the master's house” Audre Lorde vindicates that to beat the patriarchy, we can't use its systems of oppression - referring to the white feminists that perpetuate racism and homophobia by not acknowledging the differences between them and non-white and/or poor women. In 2021 Ece Canli reappropriated this title when giving a lecture called "Monsterizing the Master's Tools" where she points out design as a master's tool. She enumerates seven ways how design is/was complicit in segregation and seven suggestions on how to "monsterize" (reinvent) them. One of the "monsterizing" ideas is "Embracing the monsters tools" - suggesting the use of methods regarded as substandard (...) and that challenge the norms. Anti-design is an example of this. It is an inevitable and essential response to the necessity of contradicting the standard euro-centric design rules that follow the same modernist and minimalist ideas - “the master’s tools”. the tricoutouses of the french revolution Anti-design is the proof of how excessive design rules and designer identity move in different directions - the more the rules, the less the space for creativity and vice-versa. The minimalistic design makes it difficult for the designer to have a voice and stand out, diminishing the value of his work and turning it into just a commercial element of an over-consuming society. When I think about anti-design and its visual revolutionary impact, I think about zine making. There are no rules for zine-making. It might include images, narratives, confessions, collages, stickers, or even a teabag, it is decidedly informal. Its making process is rooted in a DIY (do-it-yourself) tradition, it is a purely creative pursuit, an expression of the DIY ethic “a specific dimension of feminist expression centering upon grassroots politics and autonomous cultural production” (Kempson 4). They are a “safe space” - a way for people to share their voices, a vehicle for participatory learning, and for critical thinking development as it can be about anything. Similar to Anti-Design, zines emerged from a necessity to have a space to share and speak in a time where all medium was for the mainstream culture. They are both tools to dismantle the “master’s tool”. The Riot Grrrl Zine collection
Anti-Design is deeply inspired by the zine-making spirit and aesthetics. That is visible, for example, in today’s website making. It’s easy to make a website using templates, but for creative practitioners, whose web page is a way of presenting themselves and their work, having one that looks like a “white walls and bright lights” art gallery might not be what they wish. During this year I’ve been seeing really amazing websites that carry the DIY ethics before-mentioned - they allow creative practitioners to expose their work as they want, giving themselves an identity and a way to stand out from other websites. I believe that Anti-Design exists a long long time ago but only recently it was seen as a movement, and like any other movement, it is spreading and becoming more present in people’s lives. But one thing that I find amazing about it is that it incentives people to follow their creativity, to be more DIY. There is amazing Anti-Design and I believe that for the next years there will be even more unbelievable good Anti-Design as it is a safe space for creativity. Maria Quintas https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=m_YcZOxZyb8&ab_channel=YaleSchoolofArt "The master's tool will never dismantle the master's house” Audre Lorde 1985 https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-new-wave-of-anti-design-magazines-will-question-your-sense-of-taste-and-thats-a-good-thing/ "Zine-Making as Feminist Pedagogy" Kimberly Creasap https://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughts/coping-withirrelevance When thinking about what to write on anti-design, I chose to do some research on what it means to go against design and why people choose to do it and have done so in the past, in order to analyse the emerging anti-design of today. PolItics of Design In the book The politics of design by Ruben Patter the author explains how design is one of the big pillars that have held racism, sexism, homophobia, etc throughout history until today, rather than just a contributing factor outside of it. He presents a vast range of examples of how design shapes divisions, injustices and prejudices. Starting with service icons used all over the world, that were designed in North America in the ’50s and are still in use, where the man is the representation of the general person and the women is only represented next to the man, serving the man, or taking care of elders and children, how food symbols are westernised with a fork and knife and how disabled people are represented as passive, inapt and dependable on others. The biggest example of all is how even the representation of the world in the maps is designed to favour and enhance the global north. The Mercator map was made in1569 and distorts the proportions of the continents and it is still used in education systems. Monsterizing the Masters tools Design holds these structures of division and oppression that have marked history and still prevail in today's society, it is part of it.Its own foundation, its rules and history was created by a very selective group of individuals that didn’t make space for other ethnicities, genders and other underrepresented groups to take part in it. Ele Canli calls this group of design leaders the Masters in her lecture Monsterizing the Master's Tools, where she explains how the Monster ( a representation of the people underrepresented/ oppressed/ who battle the design canons) can change Design by exposing the Master tools and then appropriate it and change. By changing the design from within only can the designer change how it connects with the world, that is when Anti-Design comes in going against design in itself as a way of liberation from its history and what it represents. The Monster monsterizing the Master's tools. Anti-Design as a political Choice Forms of Anti-Design used as a political choice to go against structures have been around since the beginning of design history. Movements like the Maximalist movement, where artists and designers used ornamentation to transform craft and design and embrace feminism, queerness and gender, disregarding the minimalist cleanness of the time. Or the Anti-Design movement that emerged in Italy in the '60s as a criticism of consumer culture the widespread diminution of the social relevance of design at the expense of the capitalist enterprise. Anti-design today I can see that today the anti-design is again coming along with the rise and rise of social media, taking references from the internet world with its memes, satire and impactful graphics that stick to short memory spam. Having grown even more with the Covid 19 pandemic that made internet spaces even more important. This anti-design movement is linked with a lot of underrepresented groups- LGBTQ+, People Of Colour, and Women-, it is in graphic Gesign, Digital art, Photography, in Video, Animation, Fashion, etc.- a lot of times linked with music, the club scene and rights movements of today. These new designers and artists are appropriating the space online for themselves, it is more than just an aesthetic or meme- it is the monsterization of the Masters tools. Bibliography https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Politics-of-Design-Ruben-Pater/9789063694227?redirected=true&utm_medium=Google&utm_campaign=Base1&utm_source=ES&utm_content=The-Politics-of-Design&selectCurrency=EUR&w=AF7ZAU9TVRK1CVA8V9RU&gclid=CjwKCAiAhreNBhAYEiwAFGGKPHjN6i8wlV6dreh0tLFkwsvijM6OpwAEr6WpLokRCz9gPUiOUZx_khoCUCsQAvD_BwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_YcZOxZyb8 https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/3k39aw/maximalist-art Matilde Basto, Illustration and Visual Media Siew Teng Loke - Illustration & Visual Media
Firstly, anti-design originated from Italy during the year from 1966 to 1980. It is an expression of rebellion and where the artists and designers created from their own set of rules. This is different from your average designs. Instead of a minimalistic and neat style, anti-design is more distinctive where bold colours are used and more for the decorative purposes. “Their designs were characterised by kitsch, irony and the dissertation of scale. These functions of their works were to subvert the way you thought about the object.” Martinique (2016, para. 3) The pieces were meant to stand out for their uniqueness and something that is temporary compared to modernism that has objects that are permanent and functionality. Since the pandemic that happened in the late 2019, there has been numbers of critical writing about anti-design. For example, Ventura and Shahar (2021) states that “10 years later, save for the first-class plane tickets and countless impressive diagrams across the Web, what is left of this concept except a brilliant and catchy name? What does it really mean and is it still relevant?” This emphasises that we already have what we need from what artists and designers have created the best of the best which has a purpose. It’s the process of designing and thinking what else can be improved or made differently but it is insignificant as there is already the good basics. So, if other artists were to create something similar but trying to make it different in terms of visuals based on anti-design movement, it would be pointless. Ventura and Shahar (2021) further adds “following the social, political and economic turmoil of the last decade, should we really focus on “transforming organizations”? A true and significant innovative turn stems from design theory, encompassing, research-based and people oriented. No buzzwords or fancy diagrams, just good old multi- disciplined... well – thinking.” This shows that during covid, the social, political, and economic factors wasn’t as great due to lockdowns happening. Its needless to focus on creating content that will improve company’s products such as marketing content on the audience and the visuals but to be on the content itself. Rather than the marketing purposes, it is dominant for a creation to be functional in this time. Similarly, this is also supported by Johnson (2020, P.1) which said “This is the time for the design and advertising industry to stop trying to make us buy fizzy drinks, whisky, burgers, cars and those fancy new trainers. We really don’t need them right now. We may not need them much in the future either… In the meantime, maybe the industry can step up and really start to prove it’s worth – and prove that design CAN still offer help, strategies and solutions.” On the other hand, there is a different point view which proves anti-design on magazines can be beneficial. This can be seen when Jamieson (2016, P.1) says “In a sea of minimalism and luxury, these doing-it-wrong mags are the ones that stand out.” For this reason, artists and designers can have more of a voice when designing it in their own way rather than keeping of what is expected. They have the choice to design what they personally like. In addition, it will also target a wider audience than magazines that focuses heavily and the luxury feel of it. There are people who may not like luxury brands as much or they may feel left out in a way as its targeted towards higher class people as it has a higher pricing. Therefore, other people can also enjoy magazines with anti-design influences and enjoy it as well. Likewise, Jamieson (2016, P.1) adds in contrast, anti-indies are experimenting with cheap paper, low-culture values, and latte-level price points… Our aim is to provide an alternative and honest voice for young women.” For this purpose, it gives a voice to people for their own problems where maybe they don’t feel too confident about it or something that isn’t talked about enough. Their aim is very powerful as the society expectations and image of women is unrealistic so their voices must be heard, and society can listen what must be said, and this is how things can be changed into something better instead of sticking to the normal. Moreover, this positive change can inspire other artists and designers to create something divergent and emphasis on something that needs a voice. In conclusion, I believe that anti designs do have benefits. There are a lot of anti-designs that make a change which is very important and useful. It helps to spread awareness on an issue and acknowledge people on this topic. So meaningful changes can be made which makes this world a better place. Additionally, anyone has the freedom to create anything they want so there is no harm if their creations are inspired by anti-designs or not. Therefore, the most significant thing about designs is that its more effective when it is concentrated on change, people’s voice and allowing people to learn new ideas and knowledge. BIBLIOGRAPHY Jamieson, R. (2016) The New Wave of Anti-design Magazine will Question Your Sense of Taste – and That’s a Good Thing https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-new-wave-of-anti-design-magazines-will-question-your-sense-of-taste-and-thats-a-good-thing/ (Accessed: 4 December 2021) Johnson, M. (2020) Coping with irrelevance https://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughts/coping-with-irrelevance(Accessed: 4 December 2021) Martinique, E. (2016) Anti-Design Movement – Aestheticism of the Modern Era https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/anti-design-italian-movement (Accessed: 4 December 2021) Ventura, J & Shahar, D. (2021) Anti Design Thinking https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346021214_Anti_Design_Thinking (Accessed: 4 December 2021) ![]() As a design student, I learn about design theory and design rules. That is certainly not surprising information. However, there is also encouragement to experiment and define my style. In the outside world, I target myself as a photographer and art director more than a designer. However, I cannot hide the significant influence of a design degree. If asked, I say I gravitate towards minimalism and simplicity. I am not particularly keen on strictly following rules, however, I have got quite a clear vision of what beauty means for me. I often aim to deliver a perfect art piece (whatever it actually is). Therefore, I perceive Anti-Design creations as an interesting challenge that can reformat my perspective and widen my creative horizons. First of all, how to understand anti-design? Practically, Anti-Design features are usually clashing colour palettes, alignments ignoring classic rules, seemingly bad font choice or illegible typography (Santori Designs, Will ‘ANTI DESIGN’ Takeover The Graphic Design World!?). It consciously violates the rules of design and socially accepted ideals of beauty. To capture a more philosophical aspect of the movement, we can have a look at the Anti-Design festival that went on in London in autumn 2010. Neville Brody, the founder and organizer of the ADF, describe the vision of the event as: The Anti Design Festival is anti-everything. The Anti Design Festival is anti-nothing. While the ADF is not against design, there is also a need for change. We are not anti-design as much as we are anti-everything (Neville Brody for itsnicethat.com, July 2010). The ADF aimed to challenge contemporary stereotypes and homogeneity in the design field; it was created in response to 25 years of the cultural deep freeze in the UK as an antipole of the well-known London Design Festival. However, the history of Anti-Design discourse goes further back to the 1960s. The movement originated in Italy as a reaction to an increasingly widespread diminution of the social relevance of design at the expense of the capitalist enterprise. This artistic stream embraced the ephemerality of capitalism, consumerism, and the language of the mass media (Oxford Reference, Anti-Design). Demonstrating these two examples of the 2010 ADF and 1960s´ Anti-Design upsurge helps us to understand the return of anti-design tendencies in the present day. There is a certain pattern of stagnance that is followed by a change. The coronavirus pandemic threw us into a strange period of uncertainty and recession. Many priorities have changed considerably, new ones have emerged. For the creative industry, the usual flows of inspiration dried up. So it was necessary to find different ones. Nothing remained as we knew it. Many things stopped to matter in the light of current events. The urge to transform has become real. The world has turned into chaos and the design decides to answer to this change. There are many signs of the rising popularity of anti-design in the post-pandemic era. For example, let´s take a look at predictions for 2022 graphic design trends. The website 99designs.co.uk prophesies an entrance of anti-designer, especially but not only for web design. For the last 10 years, we were stuck in strict creative conventions. That has led to homogeneity across the digital landscape. Recent trends show that many artists are pushing boundaries to bring creativity and diversity back. In a world that generally leans to futuristic minimalism, Anti-Design can be perceived as problematic and too messy and chaotic. I cannot see anti-design as a synonym of absolute chaos. Being an artist (no matter what your style is) gives you a unique opportunity to see AD as an expression of freedom. As an expression of what creativity should be in the first place. It delivers a new form of beauty. Youtube creator and designer Tom Cargill points out that anti-design still requires talent, anti-designers are still designers. The only difference is that they are brave enough to disrupt the comfort zone and cause chaos by creating ´ugly, imperfect´ artwork. Beauty, perfection and art are such subjective concepts. I believe that the Anti-Design trend is a great opportunity to open our minds and refresh a design landscape. It is a movement, it is a rebellion, a discourse. It comes and goes, let's use it for our enrichment. Maddie Fiedler BA (Hons) Design for Art Direction maddiefiedler.com
by Alessia Ganzerla, Illustration and Visual Media
During the 60s a new movement was born, which was called anti-design. Anti-design means that everything that artists believed before was gone. This movement was born in Italy in 1966, during the neoclassical era where art was inspired by classical antiquity, such as Greek and Roman. The Neoclassical period was highlighting the use of straight lines, rectilinear forms and restrained geometric ornamentation, while the anti-design used scale distortion, eccentric colours and irony. The way I perceive the meaning of anti-design is that the anti-design movement believes that the art values during the neoclassical, were considered extremely unfunctional. Anti-design artists revolutionized the way of thinking, by breaking down the boundaries between what was classical and what is now a personal way of thinking. Anti design artists never discredited the neoclassical art movement, they just had a different perspective of design and art. The anti-design period shows that we do not need to meet the criteria of Greek or Roman art, which is perfection, but we can subvert their concepts with something new and unusual and still make it perfect. Breaking rules does not mean that what we are doing is necessarily wrong, but it is just a way of expressing what we believe. The concept of making art by disrupting the equilibrium of what we had before, shows how artists and generations are changing and moving in a new direction; this process is fundamental for society because it teaches people that revolution can bring positive changes into our life. People need to allow themselves to absorb the change. The anti-design movement is one of the best examples to bring up because, during that time everything looked perfect, aligned, and too stable. The anti-design movement changed the way of thinking of art in terms of perfection, everything can be perfect if the work ethic and creativity are leading our thoughts. Without two stronger points, you can't classify yourself as an artist or a designer. The anti-design shows how a chair could be functional even if we are not following the guidelines of how a chair should be: four legs, a back stand and a seat. Anti design thinks that a chair that does not have four legs could be still called a chair even if it has been made with just two legs, the back stand has round shapes and the seat is following the surrealism current. As long as the chair is stable and functional people should buy it. Sottsass, the father of Anti-Design, said “design needs to be useful not necessarily beautiful”. I believe that Sottsass is right for the simple fact that some objects or art designs could look to some as absurd but, they might be more functional and easy to use than others. Today, we are surrounded by anti-design as most of the objects are created by using colours, shapes and are extremely unique. I like the way the designers are not thinking about selling in mass production but they are thinking of the functionality and practicality of an object instead. From my point of view, this makes sense because I would rather buy or use something that makes my life easier instead of using or ever wearing something that will make my life a nightmare just because it looks beautiful. I truly believe that even if this movement lasted from 1966 till 1980 the impact that we received out of it is massive. Nowadays most of the modern art reminds me of anti-design with the only difference that anti-design stood up for its bizarreness and uniqueness. |
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