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JMC 200:
Visual Communications
December 16, 2014

Team:

Aliaksandra Shatsila
Georgi Dobrev

Monika Karanikolova
Roberto Herranz
Rozafa Maliqi

Dear readers,
Greetings and a warm welcome to the first issue of Final Arts!
We are excited to present you with the product of our hard work. Our
magazine explores diverse topics in the field of visual communications.
There is something for everyone: from the Gutenbergs Bible to Dada
and Psychedelic.
Read about the Gutenbergs 42-line Bible, the first printed book in
the West with movable metal type, that led to the increase in literacy
among the common people. Take a journey back to the late 19th and
early 20th centuries with Art Nouveau and enjoy the evolving elegant
designs that united flowing, natural forms. Find out about the inspiration behind Art Deco movement the last splendidly self-indulgent
decorative style. Learn about Dada and Suprematism - two radically
obscure movements in visual communications history that, despite
being short-lived, greatly affected how art is perceived today and paved
the way for conceptual art and design. Discover Russian Constructivism and the most famous representatives of the style - El Lissitzky,
Stenberg Brothers and Alexander Rodchenko. With its ambiguity and
enigma, its combination of all hysterical, obscure and provoking, psychedelic will answer all of your questions and will do you the favor of
immersing you into the realm of sense pleasures.
We are happy to have you as readers of Final Arts and hope you will
find reading our magazine enjoyable.
With warmest thanks,
Aliaksandra, Georgi, Monika, Roberto and Rozafa the editors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Gutenberg Bible 4
Victorian Arts&Crafts 6
Art Nouveau 8
Art Deco 10
Dada 12
Suprematism 14
Russian Constructivism 16
Psychedelic 18
The Swiss Style 20
Infographics 22

Gutenbergs Bible
Gutenbergs Bible is the
first printed book in the West with
moveable metal type in 1454-55. It
is also known as the 42-line Bible,
because of its design. Prior to that
point of time books were hand written or printed from engraved wooden
blocks, these processes would take
months or even years to complete. By
inventing the printing press Johann
Gutenberg gave us the ability to enjoy
free access to so many books today.
He started this new way of quick and
relatively easier way of producing
books and reproducing copies. You
can check out this game that shows
accurately how printing was done
on Gutenbergs printing machine.
After the printing, on whole pages
or around the text of the book were
drawn images. This process is called
illumination. You can see the illuminations on these two pages of the
Bible. The blue color was present
very often in the illuminated pages
and this color was gained from a lapis
lazuli stone, one of a kind. Ornamentation like this one can be seen only in
the more expensive copies of books.
The original is held in Staatsbibliotek
PreussischerKulturbesitz in Berlin.
In contrast with Gutenbergs generation, today we enjoy not only books,
but also e-books. Nonetheless, he is
not forgotten. Something interesting
I stumbled upon when browsing for
more information about Gutenberg

was an online e-book library dedicated to him. It is called Project Gutenberg and consists of over 46,000
free e-books. You can find books in
a wide range of categories there. If
you want to know more about Gutenbergs invention you can check out
this documentary- The Machine That
Made Us and coming back to 21-st
century Im sure youll be able to get
a new experience next time you enter
the library or when you pass by some
bookstore. Having in mind through
what development has passed the
production of books, we are blessed
today with such an easy access to so
many books. All of them are here, just
because once Gutenberg created the
key that enabled us to open the door
of endless knowledge.

by Monika Karanikolova

VICTORIAN
ARTS & CRAFTS
By Roberto Herranz

ccording with
the Victorian and Albert Museum
(United Kingdom), the Arts
and Crafts Movement began in
Britain around
1880
and
quickly spread
to America,
Europe and Japan. It was inspired by the
ideas of John
Ruskin
and
John Ruskin

William Morris, it advocated a revival of traditional handicrafts, a

return to a simpler way of life and
an improvement in the design of
ordinary domestic objects. Personally, I have chosen this style
because I think it reflects so well
the culture
and the society of the
late 19th century. I find
this style so
elegant and
sofisticated
also.sit, tem
William Morris

especially love
the
different
patterns, full of
flowers, plants,
natural live...
I also love the
differents drawing of
women wearing dresses because even though
there are a lot only in
black and white, you
don not really need
the colors to believe
the picture is almost
real. They took care a
lot of the details of the

drawings, of the different

lines and strokes... I also
love this style because
it is so elegant. The Victorian Era were years of
suits and hats in the men
and incredible dresses in
the women. All that elegance and polite social
behaviour is really well
expressed in the pictures.

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau or new art is a style that is known for its appreciation of beauty coming from the
woman and nature. This style came to life during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, because the new
generation of designers across Europe believed that people had enough of the Industrial Revolution and
it is time that they spread beauty around. The philosophy behind the style promoted art as a way of life.
That is why Art Nouveau spread in all kinds of spheres in design- art, furniture, jewelry, silverware, fabrics. Although, the style was short-lived, it is now considered as important transition between the era of
technological innovation and Modernism. Since artists wanted to escape from the previously done styles
they were getting inspiration from organic and geometric forms, combined in elegant designs that featured
flowing, natural forms. Art Nouveau also drew attention with the posters for the Moulin Rouge cabaret in
Paris, France. They were famine and had the style of Art Nouveau, which a few decades later had influence
on the Art Deco style that followed.

Picture dating from 1920. Dancers performing the famous can-can dance, which originated in Moulin
Rouges cabaret in Paris.

Alfons Muchas four seasons poster. Creative way to visualize winter, spring, summer and autumn (from left
to right). We see the main objects of his work- women, nature and the arches surrounding them and the
floral motives.

Alfons Maria Mucha was born in Czechoslovakia and moved to Paris. He is from the artists that enriched
that style. He was a painter and decorative artist. Mucha was assigned to make a poster for Sarah Bernhardt,
famous dance of the time, in 1894 and this gave him a kick start in his career. Since Sarah Bernhardt was
so impressed by his work, she wanted him to make not only posters for her shows, but also her costumes
and stages. His career was at his peak around 1900. His art influenced significantly the style of the time and
elements like the arabesque hair and the aureole surrounding the female profile were and still are copied. I
find his work amazing, because of the beauty in it. His posters are depicting females and nature with curved
lines, very common for Art Nouveau style. His art work is very distinctive and what is unique and recognizable is that he uses mild colors, nothing that would shock you. The pictures show just pure beauty and
perfection.
by Monika Karanikolova

ART DECO
By Roberto Herranz

As the Art Deco New York

Society says in its webpage,
Art Deco was the last splendidly self-indulgent decorative style, one described
lightheartedly by Brian
J. R. Blench in the Spring
issue of the Art Deco Society of New Yorks news-

letter in 1985 as for luxury and leisure, for comfort

and conviviality. It is an
exciting style and should,
like the archetypal drink
of the period, the cocktail, be enjoyed while it is
still laughing at you. I love
this style because is the
art movement of jazz, cities, elegant night clubs and
also the one of the Golden
Hollywood Era, of course.

Boston
University
Exhibition,
2009

Yeehaw Industries, 2006

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT DADA?

SI
Poster for
Hayward
Gallery,
1978

fact
dadaism introduced ANARCHY and despite the
movechaos IN ART. it stood against
that this
dered
everything and anything:
ment consi
anticulture,
war, itself to be
d a big
traditional art,
art, it ha
the devalues of the era.
impact in
f new
Dadas
purpose
was
to velopment o
be scandalous and shock
styles.
the general public by
attacking the very
definition
of art.
spoke to me

sophy.

The fountain by
because of its philo
ls for what

Marcel duchamp, it aimed to expose labe
ncepts.

which is now
they are: limiting co
tter

considered one to a dadaist, it didnt ma
was beautiful

of the most
whether something

influential
or meaningful in a
ay,

artworks of
straightforward w
ovokes or

the twentieth
as long as a work pr
, it was doing its

century, was
offends the public

at the time
job.
eedom to

(1917) rejected
it gave unlimited fr
d designers

because by
writers, artists, an

societys
alike:
es, to

standards, a signed
from poster collag
ve poems, and

urinal wasnt
meaningless repetiti
eryday objects

considered art.
the treatment of ev
n be used.
as material that ca

this informal and
portant
avant-garde movement
i think this was an im
f visual
happened in various places of
step in the history o
cause it
the world at the same time. most
communications be
notably in switzerland, germany,
ic designers
broadened a graph
france, and united states, during
to choosptions when it comes
o
and a little bit after world war
hich to
ing the means with w
one.
sage.

Dada

well, dada hasnt heard about you (either).

TH
I

By Rozafa Maliqi

convey a mes

DADADADADADADADADAdaDA

da

By Rozafa Maliqi

Elements
basic shapes:
triangles,
rectangles
lines, circles;
& basic colors:
black, white,
red, yellow,
blue, green,
orange.

MA
L

IR

By moving away
Malevich believed
from realistic
that reality is not obrepresentations
of the world around jective, thus he considered constructivist
us, suprematism
wanted to act as goals to unite people

a mirror for under a humanist
people. philosophy futile. Despite that difference,

the geometric

forms used in

A suprematism contin
piece ue to influence posters and designs.

of art
done in this
style will inspire Suprematism was
active in Russia
an individual to
throughout the years
look inside of
1913 - 1922.
themselves in
order to interpret it.

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Suprematist ideas
rg
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b
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continue to influence
ut c
sto
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hea
t
designs.
**

ZIM

Art
Movement

Kazimir Malevich has

described the movement as the supremacy of pure feeling or perception...
as opposed to a realistic visual representation of objects.*

KA

Black Square,
1915, Malevich

This movement
impressed me because of the simplicity with which it
was trying to convey a profound
message.

EV
ICH

SUPREMATISM

*Source of quote: MoMA.org

The Last Futurist Lab,
2012

Suprematist Batman Malevich Exhibition,

Poster, 2010
2014

by
Aliaksandra
sh
atsila

We hold that the fundamental features of

the present age is the triumph of the constructive method.... Every organized work whether it be a house, a poem, or a picture
- is an object directed toward a particular end,
which is calculated not to turn people away
from life, but to summon them to make their
contribution toward lifes organization.

TIV

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ISM

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R
ART INTO LIFE

Stenberg Brothers
Constructivist Soviet artists and designThe Man with a
ers attempted to put their talents to use
Movie Camera
for the new communist state. Their gen(1929)
eral slogan was Art into Life and their
goal was, as Vladimir Tatlin put it, to
unite purely artistic forms with utilitarian intentions. They were inspired by ideas from Cubism, Suprematism and FuturAlexander
ism, but at the heart of Constructivism
Rodchenko,
was an entirely new approach to making
Dobrolet
(1923
objects, one which sought to abolish the
traditional artistic concern with composition, and replace it with construction.
I have
The seed of Constructivism was a desire
a particuto express the experience of modern life lar interest in
its dynamism, its new and disorientating
Constructivist art
qualities of space and time. But also cruand ideas for several
cial was the desire to develop a new form
reasons. Firstly, I am from a
of art more appropriate to the democratpost-communist country, and conic and modernizing goals of the Russian
Revolution. Constructivists were to be structivism and its relation to the USSR
and communism is a part of its history.
constructors of a new society Secondly, the Constructivists worked on public
cultural workers on a par
festivals and street designs for the post-October revolu
with scientists in their
tion Bolshevik government. What I found out is that the
search for solutions
most famous of these were in Vitebsk my hometown. There Mato modern
levichs UNOVIS Group painted propaganda plaques and buildings (the
problems.
best known being El Lissitzkys poster Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge
(1919)). Then, my favorite poet Vladimir Mayakovsky was heavily involved in the
creation of constructivist posters by ROSTA Windows, a Bolshevik public information campaign of around 1920. Inspired by his declaration the streets our brushes,
the squares our palettes, artists and designers participated in public life during the
Civil War.

El Lissitzky Beat
the Whites
with the
Red Wedge
(1919)

Alexander
Rodchenko
Books
(1924)

References:
Constructivism Movement http://www.theartstory.org/movement-constructivism.htm

c
i
l
e
d
che

By Georgi Dobrev

y
s
P

experienc

e your in
ner self

was a reaction medium for

Psychedelic art design is
artist achieves by attempt- the widespread issues over
a branch of design that
ing to depict the inner
womens rights, the social
derives its name from the
role of authority,
inspiration of psyhuman sexualichedelic experity as well as the
ences in a state of
experimentation
mind revealing.
with drugs of psyThose experiencchoactive nature.
es, in most if not
Its immediate
all cases, refer to
popularity spread
the altered state of
to include dress
consciousness after
design, music,
the consumption of
language, and
some psychedelic
Psychodelic experiences - an illusional paradise
even philosophy
drugs such as LSD,
of colliding dimentions
world of a person. The viand literature.
psilocybin mushrooms,
cannabis and many others. sual art is initiated during
a 1960s counterculture
According to the British
movement and continued
psychologist Humphry
to gain popularity during
Osmond the word, along
the African-American Civil
with the style of design,
Rights movement and the
relates to the
Vietnam War. In some
mind manifesting an
cases, psychedelic design

First you
will see a spot. The spot will become a crack. This is the crack between the nothing, and out of this nothing will come your unborn soul.(caption from the movie Altered States) Whether you appreciate the
obtrusive nature of the psychedelic art or disgust yourself
by your contact with it, psychedelia has embraced
peoples culture for well over
50 years. In fact the time
frame of this styles existence
is just as illusory as the very
nature of psychedelic style.
Its origin dates back not to
the first visual representation
of the radiating multi-color
circles but to the times of the
irst drug consumption, of
the first daydream and nightmare, of the very start of the
human belief in God. It associates irrelevance in an altered
consciousness. Psychodelia is
the anarchic realm, the mind
bond-braking with reality, the escape from the existent human oppression
through the flow of illogical thoughts.

Sonatine, Christian Ward

What I find fascinating is the charisma of the style, its enigma. Art
as people perceive it nowadays is
expected to link to some real-life
analogy, rebel against a commonly held belief or depict that
other viewpoint people associate
themselves with. While psychedelic design could possibly combine

Psychedelic fish
all that, it surely goes two to three
steps further. It doesnt simply
challenge authority like Dada,
it diminishes it from reality. It
wouldnt only stick to the gracious
eclectic elegance of Victorian
style, but will further its reception
to all your human senses sight,

smell and taste. It wont align

to the urges of Constructivism
design, but will illuminate them
wordlessly.

Logo of Psyhedelic
e-magazine

Field, Tree, Sun; Psycholedil landscape

Bubbly Sun; Technique used: micro

pen on bristol board

Liquid Friends; Nikos

Gyftakis

Rederences:
Psychedelic 60s. Graphic Design History.
Northwest College Graphic Design, 04 May
2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.

Psychedelic Pop Art;

Nicky Barkla

By Georgi Dobrev

Swiss Style

International Typographic Style

or Swiss style is commonly
associated with the graphic
design developed in Switzerland in 1950s, following the end
of World War II. The style puts
primary emphasis on the official
layout, objectiveness and readability. It also relies on sans-serif
and gridded typefaces believed
to express the spirit of a futuristic progressive age, while also
serving the need of society, informing them through its visual
design in the most convenient
of ways. At the time of its

expression

Helvetica

One of the first Swiss

International Style
posters.

ways. At the time of its original

release, Ernest Keller, an Applied
Arts professor at the Zurich
School insisted that a solution
to the design problem should
emerge from its content. The
most famous of all typefaces
that emerged as a result, Helvetica, conveyed the sense of
comfort and easiness to acquire
as common by peoples consciousness. The following manifestation of the style derived
from its combination of both an
espresso feeling of comfort and
office-like sense of universality.

Helvetica was probably

the greatest product
to come out of the
Swiss Styles effort to
bring uniformity to
the typeface realm. Its
initial purpose to bring
rationality, smoothness
and color neutrality are
all features that have
kept it intact till modern days. My fondness
of that style comes
from its widespread
use for the most part of
the 20th century and
its multi-purpose. You
will rarely see a design
so elegant and yet so
natural in its visual
communication. It

One of the many Helvetica

trannsformations - Hlevetica
Neue 75 Bold

communication. It
transcends the stigma
that one typeface is
unable to serve as an
informant code and a
comforting quick-read
simultaneously. A person is literally engulfed
by the style. He goes
shopping to the mall
surrounded by Helvetica, he eats food labeled
on the package by Helvetica, he travels with
the subway which title
screams Helveticaaa!!
A person doesnt read
Helvetica he absorbs
it.

Giselle psoter created by Armin Hofmann,

one of his many artworks associated with
the Swiss Typographic style

References:
Hollis, Richard. Swiss Graphic Design. Google Books

Infographics:
Making Information Beautiful
By Aliaksandra Shatsila
It all started as a social media experiment and then
suddenly so many infographics have gone viral that
it is practically impossible to ignore them. No matter
what you are searching for online, whether employment statistics or endangered animals, you are sure to
find an infographic for it.
Information graphics or
infographics are graphic visual representations of
information, data or knowledge intended to present
complex information quickly
and clearly. They can improve
cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human
visual systems ability to see
patterns and trends. The process of creating infographics
can be referred to as data
visualization or information
design.
Infographics has been condemned by some artists , like
Neville Brody, who believe
that presenting information
with images is beguilling
and seductive.When infographics first exploded on
the Internet, designers got
a bit carried away. Everyone
started competing with each
other over who could come
up with the most vibrant,
creative and elaborate piece
possible. While the infographics produced as a result

A chart depicting the environmental

footprint of each country. The visual
apeal is reached through showing the
actual footprint, composed of circles,
which symbolize the contribution of
a single country.

of this ill-directed movement

proved effective for link
baiting and viral purposes,
they did not fulfill their real
purpose. They had become
more about form than function and the data was lost
somewhere between the
striking typography, the
over-the-top artwork and
the obscure representations.
Data had become secondary
even though infographics, by
definition, are one half information and one half graphics.
However, I believe that in
our world infographics is the
most efficient way of presenting information. Firstly,
as we are heading into the
new decade, we want to read
less and see more. Secondly,
it is all about the properties
of our brain. We receive input
from all five of their senses
(sight, touch, hearing, smell,
taste), but significantly more
information comes from
vision than any of the other four. Fifty percent of the

human brain is dedicated to

visual functions, and images are processed faster than
text. The brain processes
pictures all at once, but processes text in a linear fashion, meaning it takes much
longer to obtain information
from text.
Thus, infographics spice
up boring data and
augment our perception of
information by turning historically lengthy and tedious
bulks of data in to something
thats much more interesting: a visual. This is one of
the things you dont notice,
but when you think about it,
you realize how influential
it is. Despite the criticism
they get, infographics are an
effective tool of helping us
make sense of information of
any kind and complexity.

With so many different variations, it can sometimes get confusing for some
of us to know exactly what we want to order at a caf. A nice way of telling
the difference between different types of coffee to help make a choice.

Thsi infographic encapsulates millions of years of evolutionand numerous periods. Instead of making us read loads of
text about the evolution of the Earth and living creatures,
the designer created one big gorgeous time spiral with
great attention to detail.

A visual showing the circles of hell according to

Dantes Inferno- each layer depicts who gets
there, what they are sinful for and what punishment they
get.

References:
Infographics: How to Strike the Elusive Balance between Data and Visualization
Pictures courtesy of The Daily Egg (http://blog.crazyegg.com)