2000 era icons

comix

I have never thought about comics like this before.
He correlation between an exterior world and an internal simplification or relationship is
an amazing idea that I can readily jump on board with. I am really interested in reading more of McCloud's work. I posted a few examples of my interactions with comics.





my mom worked at the magazine rack in the navy exchange when i was in first and second grade. The earliest comics I remember reading were Heavy Metal and Conan.



this comic stuck with me so well that I even remember the issue number and i have not seen it in like 15 years. I think it relates well with McClouds writing becuase there are no words in the entire issue. G.I. Joe #21 by Larry Hama



When I think about the abstraction of eyes I immediately go back to the old Sunday strips of
Lil' Orphan Annie by Howard Gray

chilluns

I had no idea that so much of what
we take for granted in modern design was
hard won and viciously fought for.

the first pic in my blog is from Bethnal Green
it includes various modern toys shaped as letters


this book alphabeasties by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss
was one of the better modern examples I came across in my search. It
came out in 2009 and features all sorts of animals made up of the letters they start with

this work was cited in our text it is Lewis Carroll's excerpt from Alice in Wonderland
" A Mouses Tale"


this is a fantastic use of typography from famed designer Paul Rand.

Simplicissimus was great because it subverted the power of the bourgeosie.
It jumped up and spoke for the common people when jumping up and speaking out got you killed. Satire has done a lot for the struggle against oppression. It helps us see how ridiculous all people can be.

here is a pic from the actual mag.


here is a pic from one of my favorite satirical mags, Adbusters

Red Dog beer.



the original bad boy.



Georgia football team mascot.



The bold power of the color red mixed with the tenacity and aggression of canines made Simplicissimus's mascot a fantastic icon.

swastika

the swastika as we all know is one of the oldest symbols (read icons) in history.
It has been claimed by many people, such as everyone's favorite nutter Charlie Manson.
One of the interesting things about the swastika to me is it's ability to be reinvented throughout history. Hitler took a giant leap forward for destroying the credibility of the symbol, but to me I think it would be interesting to see it re-imagined in another couple of hundred years without the connotations of genocide and tyranny.


this first pic I saw on someone else's blog too, but I felt that it was a fantastic example of the many different usages of this ancient symbol.




this next one strikes me as hilarious.


Given recent times this one just seems appropriate.



while looking around on the interwebs I found this page full of American usages of the swastika.

swastika

paper bombs

the idea of paper bombs seems silly at first until you place yourself in a warzone where the reigning emotions are fear and confusion. With people dying all around you it would be a lot easier to be swayed by something as simple as a drawing or photograph. Ultimately, these tidbits of psychological warfare are the perfect example of the effects that graphic design can have. The persuasion of the written( or in this case illustrated) message is indisputable. A person engaging in this field has to consider what type of information he/she is putting out there for the general public and consider that there is a lot of good and bad that can done with just a picture.

I chose Cooper Black for my font. Its inception was in 1921. The prevailing art of the time was art deco, da-da, and surrealism. Picasso's guitar sculpture was done 7 years earlier in 1914. the influence of this sculpture as well as the cubists in general had a tremendous effect on the art world.

I used half-tone patterns to resemble the different shades of the guitar. I used the pen tool to outline shapes and then the pathfinder tool to cut those shapes out of letters.