Graphic Design Rules - Part 1


When I started thinking about rules within Graphic Designer I instantly thought of "Grid Systems in Graphic Design" by Josef Muller-Brockmann, I remember starting my BA in Graphic Design and being told to look at this book as it would help us to improve our designs. Within this book Brockmann sets out a design system in which designers can work their type and designs, it creates a rule set in which a designer can find a way to create a grid system that can work for them and their designs along with how to use the system and what it can achieve.


When looking at just the start of the book where Brockmann introduces the idea behind the grid system he is about to lay out, he uses this set of words repeating the phrase "the will to" implying, at least to me, that a graphic designer must use these rules to "cultivate objectivity", "rationalize the creative" and "penetrate to the essentials". It’s s as if without these rules a designer cannot be creative, but how much does this grid system force a designer to keep to this mandated design system.



The introduction mentions an art movement that I have previously looked into in a lot of detail, being Constructivism, this may be interesting to look at other art movements and how much their theory of practice informed the artists and designers of the art movements. Thinking about this there are lots of art movements that created manifestoes alongside the art movement that helped to inform what it was all about, and what the artists wanted to achieve with the movement.

If I were to create an art movement, what would it be and what would the manifesto say?

Grid Systems in graphic design. Muller-Brockmann, Josef. Sulgen. Niggli, 2007.








 

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