OUGD401 // Postmodern Practical Research

Prior to mocking up any poster or album cover designs, I want to investigate what the bands and record companies of the day were doing. As Roomae is a 21st century record company, basing itself on a postmodern philosophy and stylisation, tallied to the graphical standards of the day. I have opted for this as the essay investigates Postmodernism within graphic design practice - suggesting modern practice occurring today.

Looking at subtle ways to introduce the promotors on the band. Def Jam records have a small logotype on all records/CD's/posters to show they are involved, yet many other posters have no record of the supporter anywhere.
Roomae will be featured on all promotional material in some way, I just need to find the best way possible.

1960's and 1970's poster design styling //

Both styles are fluid in design and colour combination, neither using crisp lines or geometric structure. The use of grids is basically non-existant, defying the rules of modernism. A structure does remain yet it is much more fluid and sporadic, with the composition remaining contained and justified.

Colourful posters inspired by traditional processes //

Possible Screen Print and typographic collage. The ransom note style is typical of the pop-punk/teen revolt culture which fuelled Postmodernism, looking to be physically overlaid by hand. The natural harsh accents on the typeface and mix of typefaces perpetuate the philosophy that everything is possible when you break the rules, with the clear use of Helvetica detailing fully informing the viewer of the content. 

Incorporated a grid like structure, experimenting with contrasting colours, two tone photography and solid typefaces. Unfortunately I could not discover the exact printing method, yet due to the simplistic colour pallet I am assuming this was a screen print onto yellow stock.

After investigating the use of traditional print within advertising I was unsure of how to print and display my practical investigation. To fully comply with the genre and my intentions for the brief, screen printing would be the most effective way to produce posters showcasing production methods of the day. However, after asking for feedback about this consideration it was raised that postmodernism is not a method of production, if anything it is an ideology resulting in a generalised ascetic made known by the time. With this in mind, I intend to digitally render and print all methods of communication showing the relationship with postmodernism and current graphic design practice.

1970's Typographic posters //

I opted to investigate 1970's posters to move away from the prominence of the 1960's within my project, especially as the postmodernist revolt was way underway by this point in time.

Exploring typographic posters pre-Adobe introduces a 'DIY' style, creating distortions between each copy through constant rescanning and photocopying. Despite being inspired by the compositional structure and typeface choices, I feel by doing this I would not be exploring the concurrent effect postmodernism has had on Graphic Design practice, simply recreating artwork. Through Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Pink Floyd and Reading Rocks 79', a range of alignments have been used to best communicate what was happening. Despite the ascetic being very experimental at the time, postmodernism structure within Graphic Design practice is still following subtle rules of modernism, something I intend to explore further within my practical investigation. The use of typefaces are interesting perpetuating the use of San-Serif, combined with some heavy serifs. This combination of typefaces creates a juxtaposition between traditionally and modernity, suggesting there is no limitation to what can be achieved.