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design and

visual culture

SSUE 24

SUMMER 2011

GB 25

DE E28 IT E24

SSN 1767-4751

PRINTED IN FRANCE


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n24IMAGES & QUICK HITS

P10

P14

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LUDOVICA GIOSCA

MATT SHLIAN

CLEMENS BEHR

P12 EKTA

P22

GUERRA DE LA PAZ

BROGEN AVERILL

PRACTICE + THEORY

CAMPING DESIGN

MARIAN BANTJES

ED AWARDS 2011

EDUARDO DEL FRAILE& ALEXIS ROM ESTUDIO

EDHOLM ULLENIUSAND HAOSHI DESIGN

FILIP DUJARDIN

GAT LYRIQUE

SCANDINAVIANDESIGN LAB

over by Geo Mc etridge

r , x , .

2010. Geo Mc etridge, The Westest

how, The Hal Gallery, NewYork.

Fonts: Boton by Albert Boton,

randa by Gerard Unger,

Kievit by Michael Abbink.

P40

P70 BY YOLANDAZAPPATERRAYolanda Zappaterra is a writer anddesigner.

P78 BYCLARE MCNALLYFormer advertising copywriterat TBWA, Clare McNally worksas a journalist and editor.

WINK, WORK LABS ANDIVANNA SHASHKINA

ALVVINO ANDCONTAINER

PORTFOLIOS

THE GRAPHIC

DESIGNERS

MIRROR

BYCAROLINE BOUIGE

BYCAROLINE BOUIGE

MARI

MEKKO

CLARA

TERNE

P42

SACMAGIQUE

P46

BYCAROLINE BOUIGE

MATTIHAGELBERG

STOCKHOLM

DESIGN

LAB

P50 BYISABELLE MOISY

P58 BYCAROLINE BOUIGE

YOKOLAND


KOKORO

& MOI

SCANDINAVIAN PORTFOLIOS

A CLOSER LOOK

U

ISSUE 24

SUMMER 2011

GB25

DEE28 IT E24

ISSN 1767-4751

PRINTED IN FRANCE

design and

visual culture


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P88 BYVANINA PINTERVanina Pinter teaches historyof graphic design in Orlansand Le Havre.

P104 BYJOL VACHERONWeb editor now resident in London,Jol Vacheron teaches visual culture

at the ECAL in Lausanne.BYSILVIA SFLIGIOTTIP124

OPINION

WWW.ETAPES.COM/E

P140 BOOKS

P132 BYRAQUEL PE LTDesign historian, teacher andauthor of a book about the deprofession.

P137 BY ANNEBEYAERTGESHead of CeRes, she teaches tsemiotics of images, the medobjects at Limoges University

A composer and musician who alsoteaches at the ENM (cole Nationalede Musique) in Villeurbanne, France..

Pierre Ponant is a teacher at the coledes Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux.

BYGRALD VENTURI

BYPIERRE PONANT

Designer and professor at the FreeUniversity of Bozen and the SPD(Scuola Politecnica di Design), Milan..

P98P114

CAPERS

ANDGOINGAGAINSTTHE GRAIN

THE DOUBLE

LIFEOF GRAPHIC

DESIGNERS

DRAEGERTHE VOICE OF

INK

P129Chantal Prodhom is director (Muse de Design et dArts apcontemporains) in Lausanne

BYCHANTAL PRO

GOO

BYEPOSTER

STEFA

SAGMEISTE

THELABETHE BOTTAND THE CONTRAD

OF TIM

VISUAL WAVES

MUSICNOTATION

WAVESOF ALTER

NATION


FRANCISBAUDEVIN

Isabelle Moisy is editorial coordinatorof tapes: magazine.


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Through the Looking-GlassIn his compositions Ekta strikes a balance between abstract and figurative art. Human morphology is not immediately

apparent in his portraits. A dash of caricature and a splash of paint is all it takes to turn passers-by in the street into

fairytale characters. With particular care given to the palette of colours, the aerosol ends up plunging the image into

a semi-reality, a vaporous world provided with a solid base and resonance through the insertion of highly concrete

objects and details. Swedish-born Ekta now works in London and adds his personal touch to decorations on T-shirts,

skateboards and concert posters. CB

WWW.EKTA.NU


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Eco Tin CanThe American population gets through 106,000 tin cans every 30 seconds.

Designed by the Haoshi and PLA studios, the new environmentally-friendlyTin Can range, produced in a limited run, invites consumers to rethink their

behaviour with regard to food packaging in the throwaway age. The Tin Cans

are in PLA (Poly-Lactic Acid), a material that is biodegradable in 180 days. In this

eco-minded effort, the packaging has no illustrations and no paper. Each can

is reusable: it has a double insulation capsule and can withstand temperatures

from 20 C to + 110 C. Tea, coffee or fruit juice: just unscrew the top cover and

choose your days beverage! A-SC

WWW.HAOSHI.COM.TW

Haoshi Design Taiwan

PackagingOverweight. Designing packaging

is becoming a real challenge. The

accumulation of graphic elements

is no longer a se ller. Nor is the slogan

in fluorescent lettering. With the

superposition of colourful banners,grotesque, simplistic illustrations

or other information about

the products qualities, the identity

of the contents and container

disappear, buried under a horde

of logos illustrating multiple buyouts

of a brand name by multinationals.

But how do we still manage

to find the desired brand or product

on a shelf, and worse still, to read

Cocoa PaintingWith its flat tints in bright colours, it looks like

a Paul Klee. Commissioned by Stockholms modern art

museum Moderna Museet, this is a bar of chocolate

in packaging inspired by the work of Olle Baertling,

a female Swedish artist who was doing shows at the

museum at the same time as the cocoa product came

out. Designed by the Swedish studio Edholm Ullenius,

the food packaging is in the image of its two founders,

the graphic artists and illustrators Sissi Edholm and LisaUllenius: full of vitality yet sober. IM

WWW.EDHOLMULLENIUS.SE

Edholm Ullenius Sweden

what is in it? A recent experimental

work by the Turkish agency Antrepo

highlighted the steady increase

in writing and images on ever yday

packages over the last few years.

By gradually removing certaingraphic elements from the

label a can of Red Bull, a jar

of Nutella or a packet of Nesquik

the original logo and the objects

silhouette are laid bare, sometimes

revealing a sophisticated but

forgotten form. The meaning and

consistency of man-made products

would have disappeared altogether

had not certain shopping sectors

advertised new operating procedures.

Luxury goods turned to artists

or designers for solutions. A few

major brands are still looking

for original ideas to catch the

eye, simplifying line and graphiccodes while seeking to keep to

the functional contingencies that

have become almost primordial:

a product has to be transportable,

easy to use intuitive if possible

be part of a sustainable process or

environmentally friendly, slip into

the background or be a fun item,

and of course attractive too.

A qu ick tour of current packaging.


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Home-Made Ice CreamThe ice cream specialists Honey & Mackie

called in the designer Scott Thares to spruce

up the packaging for their little tubs.

A patchwork of letters and information

combines several coloured typefaces in tints

recalling the flavours of the products.

The same colours are used for the ground on

which the white lettering of the logo is set. The

packaging has an old-school effect reminiscent

of ice cream sundaes at the fairground.A-SC

WWW.WINK-MPLS.COM

Wink USA

Hair-raising Chocolate!Sweet & Hot invites adventurous chocolate lovers to a spicy culinary

experience! A student at the British Higher School of Art and Design(Moscow), Ivanna Shashkina chose an original, dynamic illustration

for the packaging of this project, combining sweet cocoa and sharp

vermilion colours. Snippets of text in handwritten lettering in label-

bubbles are intended for hungry young consumers. On each product,

the face of a young woman with a spiced-up hairdo gives chocolate

lovers a foretaste of what is coming to them! A-SC

WWW.BEHANCE.NET/IVANNASH

Ivanna Shashkina Russia

Less is moreA registered trademark of the White Fences

Vineyard company, Meteor adopts a very simple

design echoing its stage name. Designed by

the American Work Labs studio, for this range

of wines the packaging reaches out into

an intergalactic universe. Like the Virginia night

sky, the dark tall glass scintillates all the way

round. A meteor, the moon and the solar

system in turn dress it in white dots.As a side note, the il lustration of an apprentice

astrologer is hidden behind each bottle. It turns

it into an astronomers telescope opening up

onto a really starry sky once emptied! A-SC

WWW.WORKLABS.COM

Work Labs USA


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Crumple, unfold!Large cities all contain within them the h istorical marks of people traffic flows

in every age. So many visible and invisible traces make up the urban kernel

forming folds and connecting spaces that cannot be erased. To escape from this

jungle, the Palomar company asked the Alvvino studio and the designer

Emanuele Pizzolorusso to devise an intuitive graphic design for Crumpled City,

a collection of guides and maps of large cities. The booklet is in a small

format and comes with a map on recycled paper that is crumpleproof and

waterproof and clearly indicates all the must-see sights and places to go.

You just stuff it any old how in your pocket. IM

WWW.ALVVINO.ORG

Alvvino Germany

21st-Century Make-up Cases

Their names are Krner, Radii, Kevin Murphy, Milk,Slingback and O&M. They are not the children

of some star, or the titles of the latest chart-toppers,

but cosmetics, the newest in the upmarket Container

cosmetic range. Each of them was entrusted for

its creation or revamping to a different design studio,

including HCP and Rebecca Corner, responsible

for coming up with some seductive curves.

The result is an innovative range of packaging for

lipstick, gels, creams and eyeshadow with

simplified lines and rounded shapes. Luxury cases

for the modern-day princess. CB

WWW.CONTAINERMADE.COM

Container Australia / China


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Eduardo del Fraile Spain

Alexis Rom Estudio Spain/I

Lascala: Theatrical Spanish Wine

While theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine was working with the Thtre du Soleil

in late 2010, Spanish graphic designer Eduardo del Fraile was inventing wine

packaging for a producer in Murcia who wanted to conquer the Chinese market.

Theres no doubt that a number of Asian traditions, including Chinese theatre,

classical Kathakali dance-drama and Balinese theatre, had an influence on his

labels for the Lascala range, but Del Fraile also blended typical Spanish symbols,

such as red polka-dot paper to evoke the flamenco tradition, with the Asian

iconography. As a final touch, three faces that seem to be modelled on Japanese

kabuki masks illustrate the wine range: la peineta(sculpted comb) for the ros,

el abanico(fan) for the white wine and la bailadora de flamenco(flamenco

dancer) for the red. IM

WWW.EDUARDODELFRAILE.COM

Chic Souvenir

La Vie en France designed a range fo

The Original Ch-Ch Barcelona wit

humour and imagination based on s

of France and clichd souvenirs. Forcollection, Alexis Rom Estudio used

a patchwork technique. Like an earli

designed for Grandi Magazzini Mila

outlandish comparisons and connec

create playful and poetic images. Th

graphic designers used an array of c

and cutouts of black-and-white print

paper, juxtaposed with the colours o

French flag. The techniques they use

from digital: the letters are painted w

a brush, written in heavy lithograph

pencil or made out of paper. Some o

characters are reminiscent of Banco

designed by Roger Escoffon in the 19

HTTP://ALEXISROMESTUDIO.EU


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Bleed (Norway)GOLD _ Corporate illustration

Myspace

An Internet space for sharing that s

to be a unique experience for its us

Myspace fits in with the idea of a g

culture that gives programmers, ar

and consumers the tools to discove

publish and exchange views on shar

interests. Recently endowed with a

logo and a new website, the Myspacmanagement invited Bleed to desig

the rest of the companys visual ide

Based on the promotional slogan p

create, celebrate, the Norwegian st

devised illustrations that combine e

of the three notions with an image,

to be found on all communications

media, both printed and online,

including office stationery. IM

WWW.BLEED.COM


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Transmdiale

Une ligne, un point, voil la communi-

cation A line, a point: that sums up the

communication for the 11th edition of the

multimedia arts festival Transmediale.

Raban Ruddigkeit has cleverly boiled down

his graphic preparation so as to keep only

the active principle. A binary code ensures

it is in keeping with the theme of this yearsevent: response: ability This matter

of interfaces between man and computer

finds its source in the primordial element

of each party, namely DNA and computer

programming. But the formulas

effectiveness doubtless lies in its

despotic application to the typography,

poster, booklet and flyers, where it is

brilliantly renewed each time. CB

WWW.RUDDIGKEIT.DE

Ruddigkeit (Germnay)BRONZE _ Brand implementation


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Christian Busse (Germnay)GOLD _ Student project

Facts+patterns :Infografische Musterim AlltagA graduate project for the communi

department of the HTW, the applied

school of Berlin, Christian Busses w

combines everyday objects with wor

data display focusing on common to

They highlight the possible associatof informational content with an aes

form. Each illustration is adaptable a

with a topical matter confronting th

and its functionality in the western w

to a major humanitarian issue; the p

show poverty in the world, the show

curtain addresses water shortages,

the dress takes in the problem of ch

labour and the textile industry. IM


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Thonik (Netherlands)

ED AWARDSSHORTLIST

Florian Mewes (Netherlands)

GOLD _ Posters series

Net Echt (Life Like)

Working together on an event from October

2010 to January 2011, three of Amsterdams

largest institutions, the Van Gogh Museum,

the Foam Photography Museum and the EYE

Film Institute, inquired into Naturalism,

an art movement that is relatively little

covered by art history or photography.

Entrusted to Florian Mewes firm the DutchGotoflo studio, the poster campaign is

accompanied by an online platform

Net Echt (Life Like) that handles

and presents certain aspects of the

movement through specific themes. IM

WWW.GOTOFLO.EU

WWW.GROOTMEWES.COM


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Tape

Located in Arnhem, Tape is a bar tha

is turned at convenient moments int

an exhibition area or a theatre stage

In response to the convertibility of t

space, Cline Lame, a member of th

agency Lava, seeks to design an amu

modular identity based on the letter

in the word Tape. Simplified by an edisguised triangle, the letter becom

pointed hat, a cocktail glass or a snow

The separation into two fields is effe

applied both in the two-colour sche

the confronting of flat tints and imag

WWW.CELINELAMEE.COM

NRC

A Dutch daily newspaper, the NRC

Handesblad is famous for its very h

news coverage. The Thonik team bas

its identity on the chevron quotatioa symbol of writing and quoting, a fl

dynamic sign that in one direction re

the play button, or fast forward wh

double, or again the mathematical

sign greater than. The newspaper

communication plays on the signs m

meanings and combinations, wheth

it collides with a photographic subje

or is self-sufficient, a manifesto for a

strong identity. CB

WWW.THONIK.COM

Cline Lame (Netherlands)

ED AWARDSSHORTLIST


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StockholmDesign Lab

How many people work

at the Stockholm Design Lab?

Fifteen.

What are the different trades

represented?

Artistic directors, designers,

accounting directors,

marketing directors, produc-

tion directors. We share our

offices with the co-founder,

Thomas Eriksson, with whom

we set up an architecture

agency with over 35 staff. The

two agencies work together

on a number of projects.

Industrial design and graphic

design are an integral part

of Swedens cultural history.

How is this heritage

expressed in your work?

I think that Sweden enjoyed

success and won recognition

through the creation of brand

identities that followed

on from a smart distribution

principle combining small-

scale logistics and production.

Large firms like H&M or Ikeaused design as a force for

development only much later

on. H&M moved from being

a clothing supplier to a fashion

brand during the 1990s. Ikea,

with whom we have worked

for over 15 years, introduced

original Scandinavian design

in the late 1990s with

a project called Ikea PS which

we had the pleasure of launch-

ing, very successfully,

at the Milan Furniture Fair.

The Ericsson brand also real-

ized later on that the design

was the part of the productwith the greatest impact.

Why is design so important

in the Scandinavian cultures?

I am not sure it is that

important, but I would say

that it is part of the culture.

More so in Denmark

than in any other country.

Is there such a thing as

Swedish graphic design?

I am sure that every country

can see that in their own

culture. At SDL, we use our

Scandinavian cultural back-

ground by emphasizing

simplicity and functionality,

but most of all simplicity,

which we combine with

influences from all over the

globe. If you listen to Swedish

music, you find a similar

approach, with Jan Johanson,

The Embassy, Robyn.

Ikea, Hemtex, H&M, airlines.You work with multinationals

and very big companies. How

did this come about?

It was a luxury not having

to choose or not having to

focus on one particular type

of business. Large or small.

We always launch into a new

project with great relish and

try to learn as much as we can

each time. For instance,

on the petroleum industry,

chocolate, skis, energy, the

art of Alexander Calder or the

director Tomas Alfredson.

All different, but their workprocess is the same: come up

with a bright idea and give it

concrete form in the best way

possible. We usually like

to develop the overall project

in-house so as to be able to

hire and help freelance work-

ers. Ninety per cent of projects

on product sales, architecture

and design involve joint work

with TEA (Thomas Eriksson

Architects).

What experience have you

gained from this joint work?

Client relations?

Our first assignment was SAS,

Scandinavian Airlines. The

project called for input from

many specialists. At one stage,

there were more than 60 of us

working on various aspects

of the overall design: uniforms,

drawings of aircraft, cutlery,

photographs of destinations,

lounge concepts, a single type-

face, etc. Over 2,500 differentapplications were needed.

Scandinavian Airlines knew

exactly what they were look-

ing for and claimed that

design was the key to standing

apart from other airlines.

With an extremely tight

schedule and a very strict

design concept, we somehow

managed to see it through. The

team was exhausted, but this

project was very satisfying

and it taught us a great deal.

What is your approach when

working on a global identity?

Where do you start?We ask ourselves what?and

what for?The answer lies

in the third question, how?

We use this approach for all

our commissions, whether

domestic or international.

Do you ever work with

other studios?

Yes, Stockholm Design Lab

has already worked with

Henrik Nygren, Greger Ulf

Nilson (Moderna Museet),

1.2.3 (Biennale di Venezia).

Jasper Morrison (stra

Stadtbahn), Acne (SAS), Gert

Wingrdh (Filippa K Ease),

La Mosca (Velux), Johan Prag

(Filippa K). And also with

several advertising agencies.

Is there any financial

backing for graphic design

in Sweden (for small

studios for instance)?

A development policy?

No.

And how do you see SDL

shaping up in the future?

Like the lyrics in the Daft

Punk single that came out

on the 13 October 2001:

Harder, better, faster, stronger.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN STUDIO SET UP IN 1998

BJRN KUSOFFSKY [INTERVIEW] (AGE 46), THOMAS ERIKSSON (AGE 52), GRAN LAGERSTRM (AGE 72) WWW.STOCKHOLMDESIGNLAB.SE


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Centre left:

Ikea Food.Identity and packaging

concept to bring together

the brands various food productsunder a single label.

Left and above:

Ikea Packaging.

Identity and new packaging range

for over 8,000 products distributed

worldwi de. SDL design s the pac ks

in line with Ikea values

and creates an identity

system including

pictograms, symbols,

and typography.

Stadium.

Development of the global

identity and the seat design for an

international chain of sports shops.

A joint production with the

Thomas Eriksson architects agency.

Autumn 2005.

Both.

S

tockholmDesignLab


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Hemtex.

Global identity

and store design for

the group dedicated

to textiles and

household linen, 2009.

Ohmine Shuzo.

Global identity and

packaging for a line of

three sakis produced by the

Japanes e Takeshi Akiyam a.

H&M.

Packaging and research

for the H&M stores

cosmetics line.

Rstrand Glass.

Packaging of a new range

of wine glasses for Rstrand,

a Swedish porcelain makers

active since 1726.


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y

p

j

g

p

y

Br

nda

Ord,aninstallationproducedjointlywithBig

ert&Bergstrm

Filippa K Underneath.

Packaging and sales concepts

for reusable nylon bags, developed

by the Swedish fashion label.

Bottom right-hand page.

Filippa K Ease.

Creation of a logotype and a visual

based on a flower base for one

of the labels collections. Produced

jointly with the electr onic mus ic

producer Mokira.

Venice Bien nale.

Creation of a new identity for the 53rd edition

of the Venice Biennale (Italy) curated by Daniel

Birnbaum. Based on the making worlds concept.

SDL developed a language based on abstract forms,

in relation to the different regions of the world

and the notion of universality national flags

while cr eating s omethi ng new.

S

tockholmDesignLab


21/36

Swedish Cultural Institute.

Identity of the Swedish Cultural

Centres around the world aimed at

fostering ties between the community

and the cultural, economic, scientific

networks of each country.


22/36

S

tockholmDesignLab

Atthemoment,Kaddish,

ChristianBoltanskisbook.

Above:

Scandinavian Airlines.

Global identity of the Swedishairline (SAS Group) under

development since 1998.

Below:

stra.Public transport identity,

map and signs (bus, tram,stations) for the city of Hanover

in Germany. The graphic

programme is part of TW2000,

a city development plan

with tr amways t hat uses t hesystem developed in

1997 by Jasper Morrison.


23/36

Askul.

Identity and packaging for

the products of a J apanese

mail order firm. SDL focused

on the identity of the brand

products by working on the

packaging with a simple,

playful, colourful line.


24/36

rald Venturi looks back at the functionnd evolution of western music notation

n the 20th century, and examinesome examples of graphic explorationthatighlight structural and compositional aspects

eflecting the evolution of music itself. By Grald Venturi

MusicNotationspace-time sign systems


25/36

Music and its notation system have often received great attention

from visual artists, and the 20th century witnessed many experi-

ments in this field. The advent and development of music graphics

raises the issue of whether this medium is a means of communica-

tion or an end goal.

The score is a visual medium, an interface. Music notation is a

type of writing with its own sign system: notes, keys, articula-

tion marks. Music notation serves both as a memory and a means

of communication and transmission. According to the composer

Gyrgy Ligeti, notation is neither the representation of musical

facts nor the image of movements or actions that lead to the pro-

duction of music, although part of notation can apply to this kind

of action. It is, however, a system of signs and a system of rela-tionships between these signs. Although the most common form

of western music notation the score does not represent musi-

cal facts, it displays certain types of space-time relationships and

ratios: the spatiality of the registers (from low to high) is notated

vertically, while the position in time is notated horizontally. The

sequence is read from left to right, and simultaneousness from bottom

to top or from top to bottom. All music implies a more or less het-

erogeneous sonic organization of time. Perceived and memorized

musical time is arranged in space. In its relationship with reality,

it is comparable to dreaming: musical time is an imaginary space

that is revealed and evolves throughout the listening experience,

but a complete image of it can only be obtained retrospectively,

after the last sound is heard, in a holistic memory of the music.

As part of their respective investigations, Wassily Kandinsky and

Paul Klee visually transcribed excerpts of music scores. These ana-

lytical works enable eyes unversed in music notation to read many

of a compositions structural, quantitative and qualitative aspects.

Paul Klee invented a form of transcription that featured in a series

of classes he gave at the Bauhaus in January 1922. He addressed

the question of structural formatting, and measuring and weigh-

ing, as creative processes and processes for measuring time and

length I will now move on to the field of music. Here, fundamen-

tal structure is represented by rhythm. To the ear, the bar exists

in a latent state, one might say; but it is muffled as a network

that serves as the backdrop to the quantities and qualities of the

musical ideas occurring in it. The work of Klee and Kandinsky1proposes a simplified reading of music, through a graphic inter-

pretation of its structural elements. Their transcriptions by sym-

bolizing lines, the pathways of lines, vocal inflections, succession

and simultaneousness help the eye to discern musics funda-

mental parameters. On reading the score, one notices that these

same parameters, though less obvious, are often already legible.

The two painters educate the eye whether familiar with music

theory or not to read movement in notation. Movement cannot

be reproduced by a succession of positions in space, explains phi-

losopher Gilles Deleuze regarding a thesis of Henri Bergson.2This is

what resonates in the painters work: the general direction and the

curves of the lines are relationships with space, ranging from the

general to the specific. Kandinsky and Klee represent the general

Above: Graphi

representation

Paul Klee of a t

movement by J

At the start of

excerpt of the

movement, the

(here, two voic

a reading grid

semi-tones are

vertically. The

plane divides t

into fractions

duration. The

chosen as the

of division is t

The thickness

of the line itsymbolizes the

or qualityof th

The graphic in

X-rays the mus

order to revea

quantitative a

qualitative str

elements: num

proportion, m

aspect, repetit

variati on, the m

of the voices, a

degree of inde

or interdepend

Zentrum Pau

Bern.


26/36

movement by the overall look of the line, and the specific melodic

movement by its singular curves, segmentations and qualities.

For his graphic transcription of scratch music, graphic designer

and musician Laurent Burte3devised a typographic system and a

typeface based on the hands movement on the turntables: it is

a kind of action notation. The project, a 2003 collaboration with

French electronic-music band Birdy Nam Nam, yielded a collection

of ideograms that fuse gestural information into a single form.

Today, there is still extensive research into the visual transcrip-

tion of music notation. Recently, in the SisTeMu project, graphic

designer Laia Clos created a graphic interpretation of the ampli-

tudes, rhythm and intensity of articulations and ornaments in the

score of VivaldisFour Seasons: it is a transcription of the first-violinpart, and somewhat reminiscent of a Klee diagram.4

Relationships and ratios

In art, numbers are an intriguing subject, for what they represent

or hide. Numerous musicology papers have attributed diverse and

often mystical meanings to them. They represent a symbol, a mark

of affiliation, or the composers signature. The hidden number

has a structural function in composition: it is an item of quantita-

tive information or a ratio proportion, for example. Quantitative

ratios are literally taken into account by unconscious listening and

memorization. In 1712, Leibniz wrote: Music is an occult exercise

in the arithmetic of the soul, which does not know it is counting.

Paul Klee, in his work on music, already devised quantitative cat-

egories: bar and meter, weight and density. His work showed that

notation made it possible to read the structural ratios present in

music composition. The painter also demonstrated that quantity

and quality always acted in a relative interrelationship: weight

depends on both surface (quantitative) and colour (qualitative).

The question of symmetry, for example, is considered in a very sim-

ilar ways in imagery and music. In the painters opinion, the wob-

bly curiosities of the five-beat bar or the seven-beat bar correspond

to two-beat bars subject to unequal loads: 2+3 or 3+2 (five), 3+4

or 4+3 (seven). The quantitative is always closely linked to the

qualitative: the unequal loads of the bar confer its wobbliness.

Klee also discussed the conditions for achieving the asymmetrical

balance of an image, i.e. a hidden symmetry, invisible yet present.Mozarts musical phrases are known for their evident asymmetry:

divided into two parts, they reveal an offset centre. Formal bal-

ance is maintained by other means, for example the number of

notes a hidden use of symmetry. Formal balance depends on the

organization and regulation of all quantitative ratios and qualita-

tive relationships.

Form

Regarding form, Ligeti wrote: The syntactic relationships between

the various musical elements are [] translated by our imagination

into a virtual space, in which all the musical entries fragments,

motifs, figures, parts, etc. act like places or objects, whereas the

musical progression looks like architecture in space .5

Music estab-

ve: Laia Clos.

eMu.

uatre stacions .

mavera (Spring)

ter, from a series

our. Laia Clos,

9-2010.

:


27/36


28/36


29/36

Above:

Earle Brown.

December 1952

fromFOLIO (19

and4 SYSTEMS

1961 by Asso

Music Publishe

Print courtesy

Earle Brown M

Foundation.

Music and the visual arts are often informed by two-way research

and experimentation, conducted by artists from both disciplines.

Schnbergs painting explorations, for instance, are well known.

The composer did not claim to be a painter, however; he said

the practice let him approach the problems he encountered in

music differently. Ligeti showed how a Paul Klee engraving ena-

bled him to find a solution for the formalization of an intuition,

a musical vision, that was bothering him. Renaud Huberland, a

graphic designer at the Salut Public studio and a teacher at the

Belgian art school ERG, gets his students to investigate the prob-

lems developed by Paul Klee in his classes in Weimar, and explores

the resonance between music and graphic design in his own work.

To reframe and decontextualize problems by considering anothercontext, which may be that of another discipline, provides a

detached perspective and offers additional pathways into reflec-

tive practice. In this respect, it is of fundamental importance that

places of artistic education, whose purpose is to train artists and

not just artworkers, musicians and graphic designers, should be

places of research, experimentation and cross-disciplinary creation.

References :

Zentrum Paul Klee: www.paulkleezentrum.ch

Laia Clos: www.motstudio.comLaurent Burte: http://laurentburt.wordpress.comThe Earle Brown Music Foundation: www.earle-brown.orgBibibliothque Publique dInformation: www.bpi.frCentre Georges Pompidou: www.centrepompidou.fr

With assistance from the Earle Brown Music Foundation, the Zentrum PaulKlee, the Bibliothque Publique dInformation, the Institut de Recherche etCoordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) and the Centre Georges Pompidou.

1. Wassily Kandinsky,Point et ligne su r plan.ditions Gallimard, collection Folio Essais, Paris, 1991.2. Henri Bergson,Matire et mmoire. Essa i sur la relationdu corps lesprit, Coll. Bibliothque de philosophie contemporaine.Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1939.

3. Laurent Burte, Scratch graphique. ditions Pyramyd, 2003.

4. Paul Klee,crits s ur lart. La Pense cratrice.ditions Dessain et Tolra, Paris, 1980.5. Gyrgy Ligeti,Neuf ess ais sur la musique. ditions Contrechamps, Paris.6. Arnold Schnberg,Le Style et lId e. ditions Buchet-Chastel, Paris, 2002.7. Theodor Adorno,Philosoph ie de la nouvel le musique.

ditions Gallimard, Paris, 1948.


30/36

For Renau, posters enjoyed this support because deprived of that halo of mystery

that surrounds a painting and because, in its expression, so humble, so unpreten-

tious, it had no need to pose to be a work of art. Its significance goes beyond that

which it manifestly publicizes, beyond its function as notice, the plastic use o f

its colours and abstract laws of its forms, he declared, indirectly alluding to its

documentary and social value.

But he was also referring to an unbreakable bond between the history of the poster

and the rise of capitalism, which he mentioned in these terms: When positive

experiences technical and functional of advertising forms find the highest

expression of their servitude in the social needs of the new era, the first step of

the poster as expression of capitalism, from its early romantic stammerings to

the great and latest creations, will constitute an enthralling chapter in the his-

tory of the evolution of our society.

From commercial function to socio-cultural function

More than 70 years have passed since this text was published, but as far as the

Spanish poster, at least, is concerned, it is perhaps only now that Renaus essay

has acquired its full meaning, now that the poster has progressively lost its com-

mercial function and instead gained from a social and cultural point of view.

It might be that Joan Costa is indeed right when he affirms that the poster has

been replaced by other and more sophisticated, more powerful media, that it is

submitted to the dictatorship of the quantitative and relegated to the back-ground within the framework of some advertising campaign launched before-

hand on television. It is nevertheless worth pointing out that this comment speaks

above all of commercial posters, which fell into disgrace in the last third of the

20th century.

But has the death knell truly tolled for the poster, as some maintain? Is it really

a means of communication suffering an identity crisis in a world saturated with

messages, in which advertising fights to attract the attention of consumers who

are increasingly hostile to classic stratagems? So it would seem, if we consider

advertising investment in Spain, for example. According to the InfoAdex study

of 2009, investment has tumbled pretty much everywhere, including traditional

media like radio and outdoor advertising but except for the Internet, the only

medium in which there is strong growth. Indeed, there are plenty of advertis-

ing executives who are themselves convinced of the obsolescence of conventional

Goodbye Posters?

a 1937 text, La funcin social del cartel, which marked the history of Spanish posters,ep Renau questioned the possibilities of this means of expression in Spain. He saw a new

tistic discipline able to stimulate more interest among artists and the general public thanost sculpture events being held at museums at that time.

sters by raquel pelta

reu Balius, 2008. One poster, two functions: serving as

ertisement and as presentation of a specimen of the Pradell

t, designed by the graphic artist between 2001 and 2003.:


31/36

media given the advent of the new channels bearing Internet and digital medi

are more flexible, have no constraints of space or time and are open to inter

Their development corresponds also to a search for personalized positionin

ing more and more, and better and better, a targeted public in order to mea

effectiveness of a campaign immediately. Which is the opposite of what a p

a few decades ago. It was about this that Angharad Lewis wrote in her boo

Talk: The Rise and Fall of the Poster, declaring that poster could not discrim

all, that it was impartial and democratic, given that its message was addr

all passers-by.

Everywhere, including in the context of exterior advertising, posters have a r

small importance, compared to billboards, printed awnings stretched over b

buses and banners, which are increasingly common in large towns. But they sa place in street furniture, which is the most commonly used advertising m

and which in the first six months of 2010 represented 44 per cent of the inv

made in exterior advertising. Of course, posters will never be able to rival

spectacular offerings, such as olfactory postings and electronic advertising

offer possibilities of video projection and interactivity. Nor can they comp

guerrilla marketing, or with ambient mediaor electronic word-of-mouth. In

way, one might even say that posters, more than ever today, are that expre

humble, so unpretentious of which Renau spoke.

Nevertheless, on top of the competition from the new media, one has to bear

that in Spain as in many other countries, posters are the victims of increasing

regulations governing their use in a public space. For instance, it is forbidden

posters alongside roads, and every municipality has its own bylaws as regard

sions and positioning of luminous hoardings, advertising panels and poste

territory. These bylaws, which can vary from one town to the next, forbid and

unauthorized posting, amongst other things, requiring prior authorization

ing on boards in public space. Display of posters is therefore limited to street f

within public or private spaces.

Thus it is that the poster, in some way freed of the laws of competition, has b

to preserve less marketable territories, such as shows and especially in

ent music production, art and cultural exhibitions, together with social an

cal militantism.

Paradoxically, while the poster emerged from the rise of capitalism and ha

to encourage consumerism, it has today become a critical instrument for th

ing alternatives.

Creative and spectacular

The Spanish poster can boast a remarkable tradition, with roots back to thethe 18th century. It enjoyed a period of splendour in the first third of the 20th

and a flourishing period in the 1960s, followed by a progressive recession with

of activity during some years, as in the 1980s, reflecting the boom of Spanish

In this sense, its history runs parallel to that of the poster in other Europea

tries, with all the nuances resulting from the individual social and cultural

and the preoccupations of our designers resemble those of designers throug

world. Thus, while recognizing that the poster is no longer what it was, mos

ers refuse to accept its disappearance. On the contrary, they believe that it po

interesting challenges, as much for its past splendour as for its widespread e

to the public or, despite everything, because it has remained a medium for m

munication enjoying a respectable tradition.

For many, the poster even represents one of their favourite formats. David T

for example, who is an unconditional fan of the poster and one of the mos

Top: David Torrents,

2006. The font and

colour give an idea

of circus in this poster

for the exhibition held

at the Barcelona

Contemporary Culture

Centre on modern-day

Catalan circus and

the art of risk.

Bottom left:

Alex Trochut, 2007.

A personal project for

the Psicotipogrfico

exhibition (Madrid,

2007). This is a good

example of a drawn

letter that is both text

and image at one and

the same time.

Bottom right:

Daniel Nebot, 2007.

This simple line drawing

evokes the theme of

shoes for an exhibition

of 30 leading Spanish

brands, which brought

together the work

of prestigious graphic

designers.


32/36

after for his skills as poster designer, declared in an interview, I dont know how

other people see it but for me anyway, the poster is at the centre of things. Each time

theres a poster in a project, thats what matters most to me.

From Andreu Balius: Designing a poster is a fantastic exercise that presupposes

a series of skills ranging from colour to fonts, and including page layout. Of all the

supports available to graphic designers and those who have things to say, whether

its a personal project or a commission, the poster is the means of communication

par excellence, that closest to people, that which gives the graphic designer the most

freedom and brings him closest to the fine arts. Its a spectacular instrument and

graphic designers adore its format.

For Eric Olivares, The poster is the advertising standard of the 20th century, one of

the most interesting and most creative exercises in the graphic arts.The poster is thus perceived as an opportunity to demonstrate ones talent, as it calls

into play the mastery of the graphic language and tools, including the ability to syn-

thesize and communicate.

Some, like Gabriel Martnez, member of the Un Mundo Feliz collective, avow that even

if it is possible to go further with the Internet, they have a soft spot for the poster.

It retains a part of our memory and gives us pleasure when we design it, when we

print it and stick it up. Its format is pleasing and we have noted that its also liked

by the students who come to our studios. Perhaps theres a little romanticism in all

this, because were aware that it has lost its power, probably because you cant stick

a poster up in the road anymore.

Displaced

This is the opinion also of Balius, who claims that posters have lost their raison

dtre, given that in large towns, no one knows where they can pin them up. The

boards that were once available have vanished and with them [goes] the popular

dimension of the poster. Today unless you go via an agency, you cant do anything, to

the point that the poster has ended up resembling a sort of advertising ticket; in other

words, without the impact it had before the digital age, its no longer really a poster.

This situation worries Torrents, who in a conference recently stressed that the places

in which it is still possible to place a poster are monopolized by municipalities or pri-

vate companies. Why, he asks, cant everything that happens on the Internet also

happen in the street? In a text written for the occasion, he rightly added, Why is

there no better regulated, more democratic way to show a good poster to everyone?

Why arent there more panels? Why is the only support we have in this country a

kiosk or column on which one poster covers the next, without any temporal logic,

with squadrons of young people sent deliberately on their mopeds to change them

every half-hour, thus depriving the posters of the possibility of having some mean-ing or spending some time in the road without having to pay for private or public

panels? Adieu posters! Well meet up in art galleries! Or in books!

From the street to the art gallery

This declaration by Torrents expresses a common regret, the nostalgia for the street

with which the poster was closely associated from the outset; we should not forget

that it was the urban character that best defined it. Gabriel Martinez, for his part,

declares himself to be less sad but just as aware of what its disappearance from

the street and its admission into art galleries means: I think that today, the poster

belongs more to the artistic world of exhibitions than to that of advertising.

That it has progressively changed from being a means of mass communication to

an exhibition piece closer to a picture is a fact that seems to agree with the large

number of exhibitions organized in Spain in recent years in line with the following

ac Ballester, 2004.

erimental

ographical project

ed on the Helvetica

t and a text by Joan

ssa on the poetic

e of letters. The

eriment included an

bition and poster.

Bottom left:

Iban Ramon, 2008.

In summer, the festivals

in Benidorm offer

varied programmes

of music, dance and

theatre. The graphic

designer has succeeded

in suggesting the

variety by making use

of forms that can be

read as letters.

Bottom right:

Miquel Polidano, 2007.

Poster announcing

a series of four matine

performances of

concerts by stars of the

1960s. The graphic

design uses only type,

in a nod to posters

of the past.

:


33/36

principle: after launching an appeal for a project on a given subject, the be

of the participating graphic designers are reproduced just for the occasion a

lished in limited editions. This is what Cajamadrid does for its annual com

generally on a social theme followed by a travelling exhibition of the wo

sen by the jury and the publication of a catalogue.

Metamorphosed into a unique or almost item, or restricted to the artisti

the poster will probably never again be that museum in the street that so fa

its fans at the beginning of the 20th century. We shall regret its ability to edu

publics eye and that capacity to present aesthetic innovations to the obser

could not have been seen otherwise.

New perspectivesBut not all is negative in these transformations. The poster has largely fre

of the constraints of creativity imposed by its commercial considerations, a

are numerous graphic designers to design and approach them practically a

they were works of art. The growth in the number of posters created that ar

fruits of commissions shows this clearly. These graphic designers produce

publicize themselves (as with Balius and his typographical works for his Type

foundry), send their best wishes to clients and friends, celebrate or commem

event or directly to sell themselves, as in the case of Alex Trochut on his w

Vasava in his Vallery gallery. The Toormix workshop, another example wor

ing, has recently published a collection of 101 typographical posters to cele

tenth anniversary.

For others, like Iban Ramn and Ddac Ballester, the poster is perfect for al

experiments. The former was responsible for Bsicos (2008), a reflection on

and the meaning we arbitrarily give them, presented in a limited edition

posters, and more recently, his We Love Geometry, a proposal for a playfu

tion to geometry, formed of a box containing a series of cards and unfolding

We may also mention Ddac Ballesters Helvtica sobre negro, a visual resea

the Helvetica font that included an exhibition, a book and a poster.

It can also happen that graphic designers make use of posters to pass on a m

support a charity cause or express political engagement.

And it is exactly this direction that is adopted in the works of Eric Olivare

Ferrer and Un Mundo Feliz, a collective that has taken a stance on such seriou

as the war in Iraq, violence against women, terrorism and the 11 March

together with ecological catastrophes, and which was also set to support Ha

wake of the January 2010 earthquake, for example.

Quite clearly, the poster is a powerful ally of graphic militancy. They are g

intended to be spread through the Internet and printed at home, as in 200middle of the Gulf War. The posters published on this occasion responded to

national appeal that depended on the mobilization of numerous Spanish

designers, a participation that is habitually acquired for major causes, as

after the ecological disaster caused by the sinking of the Prest igeoil tanke

coast of Galicia.

We are thus in a sort of graphic do-it-yourself period in which the designer

both creation and production. Perhaps the cause is a reduction in client comm

such as those from the largest consumer of social and cultural posters in Sp

public sector.

Producing a poster becomes in practice a militant act in favour of a specie

extinction and is at the same time an opportunity to express ones opinions

ones personal brick to the social structure.

Top: Germinal, 2003.

This poster expresses the

spontaneity and values

of a flamenco festival aiming

to promote young talent

aged between 15 and 32.

Bottom: Oyer Corazn, 1997.

The iconography of the fallen

angel against a fiery background

evokes the theme of one of the

Goethes most famous works,

Faust, performed in this case in

a Madrid theatre.


34/36:

I Love Type 01 Futura, I Love Type 02 Avant Garde

Edited by TwoPoints.NetVictionary160 pages 16 x 23 cm

English 32

The product of a collaboration betweenpublisher Victionary and Barcelona studio Two-Points.net, I love Type 01 Futuraand I love Type02 Avant Gardeare the first two books in a col-lection about type. Through images, they surveyrecent instances of two typefaces in an interna-tional selection of high-quality graphic-designwork. The preface explains that the two faceshad a common history: they were victims of thesuccess, torn between the technical constraints

of their age lead and Letraset and the needto be exported. They also had common form andinspiration, both descending from the Bauhaus.Herb Lubalin cited the influence of Futura (1927,Paul Renner) when he created Avant Gardein 1970. Flexible to use and timelessly simple,these two faces fit every aesthetic and are easyto customise. No surprises here, then. Letshope the next titles in the collection are moreboldly ambitious. CB

Lart imprim en Suisse 2007-2010

Stphanie Guexditions du Muse des Beaux-arts Le Locle320 pages 21,7 x 28 cmFrench/English 29

This catalogue for the Triennial Exhibition ofContemporary Art, edited by its two cura-tors Stphanie Guex and Laurence Schmidlin,reviews Swiss output in the discipline from2007 to 2010. Although the purpose of theevent is to bring together representatives of

the countrys leading printmaking firms, thebook makes a highly focused selection of artistsand authors, with three avenues of exploration:new forms of printed art (Silvia Buonvicinispyrograved carpet prints, for instance), mediahybridisation that challenges the limits of

printmaking (Fabrizio Gianninis canvases) andthe series production of prints. The unclutte-red page design, by the Gavillet & Rust studio,is enhanced by numerous colour reproductionsand photographs. IM


35/36

Latino Grafico

Edited by TwoPoints.NetGestalten224 pages 24,3 x 28,7 cmSpanish/English 45

Latin America is not only a geographic region.The continent has a strong cultural footprint,explains Cristian Jofre in his preface, thatabounds with stereotypical images and refe-rences from our common imagination: Latinlovers, Speedy Gonzales, salsa and tango dan-cers, Mayas and Incas, Tony Montana, Che Gue-vara, the Rio carnival. Edited by Martin Lopezand Lupi Asensio, the founders of Barcelona stu-dio TwoPoints.net, the book is an acutely perti-

nent attempt to carve out a new face for graphic

design in South America: that of a people whoare redefining their own visual language anddisplaying growing creative dynamism, despite aresonant artistic and cultural legacy. Latino Gra-ficoshows a selection of work by designers, illus-trators and typographers that reflects the blendof habits and customs of a land in the throes ofeconomic development spanning African folk,Christian symbolism, neo-punk and the impor-ted American lifestyle. IM

B

Through 13 March 2011, Stefan Sagmeister was the11th carte blanche guest of MUDAC in Lausanne.New York-based for 17 years, the Austrian graphicdesigner showed only recent work: CD covers,posters, catalogues, graphic projects, furniture,and advertisements. This was a big statement forSagmeister, who in recent years has been com-mitted to commissions (both public and private),which underscores the notably different profes-sional status that graphic designers enjoy acrossthe Atlantic. Prefaced by MUDACs director,who also curated the event,Another Book aboutPromotion and Sales Material, the exhibition cata-

logue, benefited from a top-notch art director:Zurich-based Martin Woodtli, an acute connois-seur of Sagmeister and his former businesspartner. The publication, different from the firsttwo, which staged the man himself, focuses onpreviously-unpublished projects, and should feedthe Sagmeister myth for a long time to come. IM

Sagmeister : Another Book

Stefan Sagmeister, Chantal ProdHom andMartin Woodtliditions Pyramyd - 176 pages 17 x 24 cm

French / English 29 ,90

Back Cover #4

Publisher: ditions B42Distributor: Les Belles Lettres53 pages 19,5 x 28 cm

French /English 9,50

Designers Identities

Liz FarrelyLaurence King Publishing271 pages 21 x 29 cm

English 24,95

The recently-published fourth issue of Back Coverbegins with a conversation between Karel Mar-tens and English author Robert Kinross: a high-calibre discussion on the binding of Printed Mat-ter, a book about the Dutch graphic designerswork, and on the ties between architecture andgraphic design. The latter concern connects withthose of Catherine de Smet in an article on archi-tecture books as a space for deploying graphicdesign; and those of Jost Hochuli on the notionof the system. A forum for analysing and reflec-ting on graphic-design and typographic practices,Back Cover#4 contains seven articles; the position

of each piece places in perspective its link withthose before and after. Through carefully-cho-sen authors, editorial directors Alexandre Dimosand Gal tienne address themes such as code,teaching and the history of typography, alwaysrelative to the discipline and its current evolution.With Robert Kinross, Karel Martens, Metahaven,Roland Frh, Jost Hochuli, Stphanie Vilayphiouand Alexandre Leray, and Wim Crouwel. IM

Seventy-six international designers. Seventy-six graphic identities. From business cards towebsites to envelopes to newsletters, a stu-dios identity ensures graphic consistency andcoherence across their own branding. DesignersIdentities compiles about 1,050 colour illustra-tions. Each profile starts with a business cardand runs through a collection of identity adap-tations. From Akatres experiments to Dada typeby deValence to black-on-black print collateralby Qube Konstrukt to the old-school motifs ofEight Hour Day, the selection by design critic LizFarrelly demonstrates the care taken by graphic

designers with their own materials. Although thegraphic designers presented here produce visuallanguage that fits their professional activities,the book explores the value of graphic work doneoutside the scope of commissions. RRT


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