DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE WITH 50 HANDS-ON EXERCISES 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 1 9/25/14 4:16 PM 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 1 9/25/14 4:09 PM ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb (Text) DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::11 © 2015 by Rockport Publishers First published in the United States of America in 2015 by Rockport Publishers, a member of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. 100 Cummings Center Suite 406-L Beverly, Massachusetts 01915-6101 Telephone: (978) 282-9590 Fax: (978) 283-2742 www.rockpub.com Visit RockPaperInk.com to share your opinions, creations, and passion for design. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owners. All images in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the artists concerned, and no responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied. We apologize for any inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or missing information in a subsequent reprinting of the book. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN: 978-1-59253-910-9 Digital edition published in 2015 eISBN: 978-1-62788-056-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available Design: Rick Landers Cover Image: Rick Landers Printed in China 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 2 9/25/14 4:16 PM 40847 - Grap 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 2 9/25/14 4:09 PM 40847 - Grap ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb (Text) DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::22 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steven Heller is the cochair and cofounder of SVA MFA Design/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur. He is the author of 170 books on design and visual culture. In 1999, he received the AIGA Lifetime Achievement Medal, and in 2011 he earned the Smithsonian’s National Design Award for “Design Mind.”  3 5/14 4:16 PM 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 3 9/25/14 4:16 PM 5/14 4:09 PM 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 3 9/25/14 4:09 PM ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb (Text) DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::33 C O N T E N T S about the author no. 2 no. 3 3 PLAYING WITH PLAYING WITH VISUAL V OLD preface -NEW- PPERRSOO NAL SCTOYLNE: STYLE O A 1. Create an album cover that parodies famous 1920s Russian avant garde design using a photo I of yourself. 30 7 C 2. Create “tour guides” for different historical styles, featuring historical and contemporary introduction applications. 32 PHAVLE FUAN Y. . . 3. Redesign an existing mass-market coffee E package to make it more appealing to an upscale consumer. 34 4. Touch the heart of an acquaintance through a designed gift. 36 11. Use cut-and-paste collage to mash up 5. Invent a beverage company that is multiple styles and images into a cohesive represented by a venerable heritage, yet is visual statement on a specific theme. 56 of the moment, and design the label for its signature product. 40 12. Transform a souvenir postcard into social protest. 60 9 6. Typographically make advertisements or promotions for something using American 13. Repurpose Soviet agitprop posters to celebrate wood type. 42 something entirely contemporary. 62 no. 1 7. Combine vintage and contemporary styles 14. Design a chair that is symbolically based on a to personalize a beer brand. 44 famous person using styles that express his A GLOSSARY know the or her period of time. 66 8. Create the identity(cid:4)—(cid:4)logo, signage, menus, and matches(cid:4)(cid:4)—(cid:4)for a restaurant that has a 15. Express a personal voice in a public styles you’re vintage French bistro theme. 48 space. 70 playing with 9. Conceive and design the packaging for a 16. Create a vintage typographic identity for a stationery product that has a vintage veneer regional restaurant. 72 yet is a useful gift today. 50 13 10. Use Italian commercial typographic references to make an artist’s book. 52 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 4 10/14/14 8:39 AM 40847 - Grap 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 4 10/14/14 8:40 AM 40847 - Grap ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb (Text) 1100--CC7722335599 DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::44 no. 4 no. 6 PLAYING WITH PSLAyYImNGb WolITicH AATTTTIITTUUDDEE TYPE 37. Create a blackletter typeface that 17. Transform a digital idea into an analog 23. Parody any well-known rock-and-roll poster is old and new. 146 outcome. 78 from the ’60s to promote a contemporary 38. Design custom lettering based on classic musician. 96 18. Evoke 1920s decorative style with twenty-first- banknotes, deeds, or stock certificates. 150 century attitude. 82 24. Use familiar yet novel graphics to shout out a 39. Design a typographic sign, billboard, new food product. 100 19. Design posters that convey graphic commentary or mural that looks both old and new. 154 on issues of importance for you and society. 84 25. Find a palatable way to express extreme 40. Design a book cover or poster that combines violence using Saul Bass expressionism. 102 20. Make a visual pun from a well-known logo, word different styles of lettering into one startling mark, or trademark. 86 26. Using only drawing, painting, and/or hand typographic approach. 156 lettering, design a series of book jackets for 21. Design a DVD box set for a recent action film the cannon of modern literature. 106 41. Make words into signs and signs into words. 160 using type that represents the plot and time period of the movie. 90 27. Use delftware pottery designs as a narrative 42. Use movie house vernacular as a title for a theatrical performance. 162 element. 110 22. Create distinctive signs that you can use to sell 43. Reinterpret classic circus poster lettering. 166 produce in a grocery store, farmers’ market, or vegetable stand. 92 44. Design illuminated typographic compositions that are simultaneously almost unreadable and no. 5 ornate, yet entirely legible. 170 SIMPLICITY + COMPLEXITY PLAYING WITH 45. Make a facsimile of vintage New York tabloid newspapers. 172 46. Design typography that represents, symbolizes, or illustrates an individual’s personality. (It can be a friend or well-known person.) 176 47. Create a series of designs in various historical styles. 178 48. Make a series of silk-screen gig posters 28. Use silk screen or letterpress to reproduce a 33. Use familiar objects in unexpected ways. 130 incorporating various vernacular styles, series of inspirational signs and posters with each with its own distinct character, but bold wood type or metal lettering. 114 34. Design maps with distinct stylistic also with your own personal style. 182 personalities. 132 29. Use airbrush to create a streamlined heroic 49. Design a stylized comics poster that is representation on a poster for a sporting 35. Make what is a frequently impersonal dense with different layers and characters, event. 118 experience into a more comfortable one yet perfectly readable. 186 through a product designed in a friendly, 30. Conceive a series of recruitment posters for nostalgic package. 136 50. Use any small everyday thing (paper or object) a college continuing education program. 122 to make a poster with a message where the 36. Transform sound into visual representation “thing” that you select is conceptually 31. Create optical iterations of the letters. 124 of music. 140 appropriate. 190 32. Provide distinct identities for a single company’s various products. 126 acknowledgments 192 4/14 8:39 AM 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 5 10/14/14 8:39 AM 4/14 8:40 AM 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 5 10/14/14 8:40 AM ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb (Text) 1100--CC7722335599 DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::55 SSSSSS TTTT YYYYYY LLLL EEEEEE ————GGGRRRRRAAAAAPPPPHHHHHIIIIICCCC—— SSSSSSTTTTTTT YYYYYYY LLLLLL EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ———GGGGRRRAAPPHHIICCC——— ——GGGGRRRRAAAAPPPPHHHHIIIICCCC—— SSSSSSTTTTTT YYYYYY LLLLLL EEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEE ———————————————GGRRAAPPHHIICC—— SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTYYYYYYYLLLLLLLEEEEEEEE —— LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LL CC II HH PP YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY —— AA RR CC YY GG HIHI —— TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT PP AA RR GG SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS———————TTTTGGGRRRYYYYAAAPPPHHHLLLLIIICCC———EE —— SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS TT SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 6 9/25/14 4:16 PM 40847 - Grap 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 6 9/25/14 4:09 PM 40847 - Grap ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::66 preface STEVEN HELLER PPERRSOO NAL SCTOYLNE: A “Should I have a personal style? What is style? Is it right to borrow styles?” T hese are the most common questions from design and illustration students—and rightly so. Style is a precarious notion. Often style is considered more important than substance. Sometimes style is substance. This book attempts to answer these questions through fifty exercises/case studies of how styles are used (sometimes abused) and how they can evolve into a distinct design personality, if only temporarily, for the designer. The case studies address the distinctions between personal and universal style, historical and contemporary style, one-of-a kind styles, and how lettering, type, and typography can define style. Everyone has personal characteristics that distinguish or identify one from another. That is style. All designers use stylistic elements in their work. Style is an essential marker. So choosing a style or styles is critical. Sometimes the content of an assignment demands a certain style. Sometimes a designer simply wants to have a certain look. Whatever the rationale, it is important to know the options. This book is about how to experiment, or play, with styles to become more adept inside and outside of the classroom. Through fifty examples of professional and student work, Graphic Style Lab will provide the impetus for designers—beginning and practicing—to learn more about the role style plays in the theater of design. 7 5/14 4:16 PM 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 7 9/25/14 4:16 PM 5/14 4:09 PM 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 7 9/25/14 4:10 PM ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb (Text) DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::77 L Y introduction HAVE FUN… P A ! 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 8 9/25/14 4:16 PM 40847 - Grap 40847 - Graphic Style Lab_001-011.indd 8 9/25/14 4:10 PM 40847 - Grap ((FFooggrraa 3399))JJoobb::0099--4400884477 TTiittllee::RRPP -- GGrraapphhiicc SSttyyllee LLaabb (Text) DDttpp::222255 PPaaggee::88