Readings for 11/3/0

Museum Piece- Todd Hays

• Article focuses on the process of April Greiman's poster for the exhibition  of the Museum of Modern Art's  The Modern Poster exhibit in 1988 & brief history of her education and work.
• She studied design at the Kansas Art Institute.
• At KAI she was introduced to the Swiss style of design.
• She  incorporates Swiss typography in her work & contemporary elements.
• 'Design' changed to 'Visual Communication', to stress the new impact technology was having on creating design.
• Cal Arts is where  Greiman first began working with computers in her designing.
• Today computers are a trademark of her design.
• Some of her work includes: 1984 Olympics posters and  designing issue #133 of   Design Quarterly.
• HYBRID IMAGERY.
• Hybrid imagery is a process Greiman  has, "pioneered"  and is the creating layers of information from different time periods-basically the history of something. She did this in the  poster for MoMa to, "carry a message, be visually stimulating, as well as help solidify the significance of the modern poster".(74)
• The elements in the poster represent time,  evolution,  the medium itself represents the present & technology,  and the past.
• Computer programs she uses to create the poster are discussed, such as Paintbox and Empire Graphics. All the work was done on Mac computers.
• Greiman has embraced new technologies for designing, when many other designers have been weary to use them.

  Her move to california was inspired by a trip there in 1976, and she decided to live there because of what she calls the, "entirely new and unique sense of color and light" (74).  It's interesting that she says that because it's essentially true of her work as well.  This article states that she is one of the first designers to use a computer, specially the Mac. Further research I did on her introduction to using the computer was an interview with her by Josh Smith. In it she says that she was at first hesitant to use the computer, but she says she was, "immediately hooked." She says she almost exclusively works with digital tools. The  description of techniques and programs she used on the computer to create the poster outlined in Hay's article are very systematic and no decision is hasty. The process to create the poster resonates with the final product, which looks calculated and formal.  This satisfies the Modern Poster's purpose to represent  the process she uses to make it. 

Hashi, 1985

   Josh Smith's interview with April Greiman was really insightful to her and the process of her work. In it she states that she sees, "everything an as object in space."  This definitely resonates with her work because her work looks as though every object was carefully placed and relationships between forms were considered. Examples I  found for this are her 1985 Hashi poster. It seems so minimal but each line or form is significant to make the space.

  Some designers have argued against abandonment of traditional designing methods for  computers. But just because she primarily uses technology to make her work does not mean she has sold out at all. In the interview she states that she has turned down jobs from big corporations, such as an annual report for Northrop because she, "wouldn't have anything to do with weaponry." It's good to know that there are designers who uphold their own values and morals, even if it means turning down money.  She also states in the interview that she hasn't referred to herself as a graphic designer since 1984 because  at the time she was using computer and video many other graphic designers resisted it, so since her work was not considered graphic design by the design community she called it  commercial design.

 * Relating to our last readings on the difference between art and design,  Greiman says that she thinks there is no difference between fine art and design.