Thoughts on Democracy Poster @ the Wolfsonian Assignment

    This poster (on the right) made in 1930 by R.O. Blechman strangely entitled "Parody of the Freedom From Fear by Norman Rockwell" is very well done in wit and in aesthetic. This was done in a time of uneasiness (to say the least) in the world. The original image (on the left) was originally created to subside fear in its viewers implying that we need not fear in our country especially with our freedom from fear. You can understand that with such chaos ensuing in the world that if you can witness a family who is able to tuck their children in for bed at night, in a vulnerable safe-haven, then there is no reason to fret. The first poster was meant to coax the viewers into a state of peace and trust that their country would deliver on that freedom from fear. I feel that R.O. Blechman is satirizing this iconic image by adding word bubbles filled with endless troubles. I believe he is taking the original image implying "there is no need to fear" and places the father figure looking out and questioning that statement. The father ponders and mulls over the things that are inevitably going to plague his heart with fear regardless of the reassurance of the good old U.S.A.

Alexa Castillo

Thoughts on American Democracy - The Wolfsonian 2008 Ellen Lupton

Ellen Lupton uses an individual design style to express her views on democracy in America. She is an American designer, born in Maryland and educated at Cooper Union she specialized in typography. She aimed to bring design to the “masses” at a time, during the 1980s and 1990s when design was considered “esoteric” and “only for very organized people.” One of her books is D.I.Y. – Design It Yourself. She is very interested in challenging the standards of graphic design and is part of the Post-Modern school of Design. She is currently the curator if design for Cooper-Hewitt, a well known design firm and is still active in the design world. In the poster seen here she uses the images of birds, almost in a collage fashion, on a grid style format. She uses handwritten style typography that is placed in complement to the images on the space. She uses whitespace to create a sense of separation between the images and pictures while making a political commentary. She cites various statistics of so called “American Democracy.” One of the statistics is about the incarceration rate of Americans. Next to this text is a bird in a cage, a hand drawn scraggly cage over a collaged bird. It’s this style of manipulation that creates a visually striking poster that is whimsical and delightful to look at, but deals with a very serious subject.

Alternative Assignment

   The posters that interested me the most were 4-piece poster by Chip Kidd. Chip Kidd is a famous graphic designer, who is known for his book covers. He started out with designing comic book covers, and grew in the industry and started freelancing for publishing houses such as Amazon, HarperCollins, and Penguin/Putnam. He is now an associate art director at the New York publishing house Knopf.

   The posters' layout is simple, but each poster holds a deep meaning, and it really left an impression on me. Using the "Four Freedoms" theme, Kidd typed the text in the three colours of the American flag, and started each poster with the phrase, "Freedom isn't free/This is the abuse of the..." I really think these posters open the viewer's eyes to how corrupted American values have become.

   The first poster is about the Freedom of Speech. The Freedom of Speech is the right to freely express oneself. In my eyes, the photo of the burning flag represents protests, which can be abusing the freedom of speech if taken too far. Even if the viewer is not American, like myself, the message still gets across, because I'm sure burning a country's flag can be seen as disrespectful no matter what country you're from.

   The second poster is about the Freedom of Worship. This is the right of freely practicing one's own religion. This is the poster that left the deepest impression on me. This photo shows a presumably Christian man who is against homosexuality, and is using his religion as a justification for his behaviour. He is abusing this freedom, because he is being violent towards a specific group of people, because he believes that his religion condemns them.

   The third poster is about the Freedom from Want. This means the right to be able to get anything one wants, whenever he/she wants it. This is the main idea of the "American Dream". However, as depicted in the photo, sometimes we can overuse things if we have easy access to them. Fast food is cheap and easily attainable, which is why obesity is a major problem in the USA.

   The last poster is about the Freedom from Fear. This means "the worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point, and in such a thorough fashion, that no nation will be in a a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbour." America has one of the largest amount of cases dealing with death by gunfire in any country, and this is because the gun laws in this country are not strict enough. Just about anybody can purchase a gun, and they say it's for "self-protection," and a lot of the gun-owners who kill people are quick to claim "self-defense." The poster depicts the "right to bear arms" alone is scary.

2x4: Thoughts on Democracy

    Invited by The Wolfsonian, sixty leading contemporary artists and designers were asked to create a new graphic design considering Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings that conveyed the meaning of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech to Congress and the American people.

    Among one of the designers invited to participate in this project is Michael Rock, a writer and designer, whom is a founding partner and creative director at 2x4 and director of the Graphic Architecture Project at Columbia University Grad School of Architecture.  Rock at 2x4 leads a wide range of projects including strategy, environmental, and media design for clients such as Prada, Chinese Central Television Beijing, the Nike China Project, and the Harvard University Art Museums among others. He holds a BA in Humanities from Union College and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2006 2x4 was the recipient of the National Design Award in Communication Design and their work is currently on display at the Architecture and Design Galleries at the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.

    2x4 cleverly rearranges the words of the different “freedoms” (freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear) to serve as a commentary. Rock’s alternative speaks to many of the issues facing today’s society in which the optimism from the original Rockwell’s Four Freedoms is less apparent. He uses the dark background with capitalized words to create a bold and powerful message that freedom, although desired, must also be feared.

http://thoughtsondemocracy.blogspot.com

Chip Kidd- 4 Freedoms

It’s impossible to discuss one of Chip Kidd’s posters discussing the 4 Freedoms without covering the other 3 that accompany them. In essence, Kidd addressed each freedom individually in each poster. His purpose was to draw attention to the manner in which people take advantage of our rights as Americans in order to infringe upon other’s rights.

The first of the 4 posters to attract my attention was the “Freedom of Worship.” The group that Kidd is referencing protest at locations such as funerals for soldiers killed in battle, and high schools where students, under the age of 18, should be focusing on their education. Actions such as overeating, and then complaining about having to pay for two seats on an airplane; actions such as not being allowed to ride a horse because the horse can only hold so much weight, and other abuses of freedoms. Giving Americans the ability to easily purchase a gun without little to no background checks at gun shows is an abuse of freedom. Countless innocent bystanders, mostly college students, have died because of that freedom. Burning the flag of the country that has allowed its citizens to sleep peacefully without third world country fears is an abuse. In essence, Kidd shows us how much Americans are coddled.

Chip Kidd’s ease at expressing the problems with American freedoms is a direct reflection of his experiences as well as his many accomplishments. As a child he immersed himself in popular American culture and later, studied Graphic Design at Penn State University. His freelance work includes Amazon, Columbia University Press, and other famous names. He has worked on movies such as Jurassic Park and has written many novels.

Propaganda Strategies during WWI

     One of the propaganda strategies used during WWI was that of emasculating and bullying. Focuses including separating gender spheres with the women staying at home with the children and the men being in enlisting.

     In Britain, Edward Kealey initiated this theme with his poster Women of Britain Say GO! Encouraging women to take the initiative in persuading their husbands to enlist. These styles were blunt and to the point, with the slogans explicitly relaying the message rather than walking around it and the illustrations were depicting realistic and hypothetical situations.

     Savie Lumley’s Daddy, What Did YOU Do In The Great War? Is one of the more memorable posters utilizing this bullying propaganda. From the pointed question to the son playing with the toy soldiers, every angle seems to be attacking the father’s masculinity based on his choice and warning of the potential role the father plays in the family if he does not enlist.