Pages 18 - 37 from Rick Poynors 'No more rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism' is essentially a debate with previous leading practitioners views on postmodernism- wether they be good or bad. The text throughout is divided into positive and negative tones of voice, starting with design critic Corin Hughes-Stanton dismissing postmodern styles as "[lacking] originality, and the fact it has not produced it's own contemporary style". This is later emphasised by fellow critic Mark Treibec commenting that "postmodernism's assault on the eye with pages of blips, slits, dots and zits was initially enjoyable, an exhilarating relief from ordinary design, but has rapidly become tedious and exhausting" suggesting "this is not charred complexity, this is just noise".
This is counter argued regularly as the text later discusses postmodernist designers being visual interpreters of hybrid design, providing the information in the most ascetically challenging and innovative way they could think of. Postmodern Graphic Design is 'the medium of a new sensibility, informed, playful, ironic...', a pleasant change of pace from the constraints of modernism. Postmodernism within Britain's new-wave was identified strongly youth culture from 1960's- 1980's, possibly because 'modernism never dominated the face of British graphic design' unlike overseas. Since the introduction of the Punk movement and experimental sensory designers such as Vivienne Westwood pioneering the way in individuality, the tastemakers of the day pursued postmodernism more so in the UK than in the US. In conclusion, postmodernism has divided industry professionals such as Wolfgang Weinkarte, Robert Venturi and critics such as Corin Hughes-Stanton and Mark Treibec with their opinions. It is evident postmodernism has been subconsciously created as a design wave to be the experimental sibling of 'modernism', whilst essentially freeing the artists creativity to a new level through experimental composition and digital colour ways.
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