graphic design research project

reza abedini

an iranian born in 1967, reza abedini is one of the most prolific asian graphic designers. most famous for his typography pieces, his work incorporates both modern images and traditional persian lettering. abedini has stated that he believes traditional art practises to be 'dead', and bases his work on the fact that modern design is the future of iranian art. he describes graphic design in particular as a 'phoenix' rising from the ashes of traditional dying art forms. his main reason for including persian lettering in his designs is that he believes that it has lost it's cultural identity through constant use in generic pieces of art and design. i find reza abedini to be an inspiring designer, as it is clear that he is eager to progress the traditional art and alphabet of his iranian heritage into a much more modern setting so to preserve it's relevance in the 21st century.

tom eckersley

tom eckersley is one of the foremost british graphic designers of the 20th century. he began his career after attending salford art school in the 1930s. his natural ability and hard work was rewarded with the hey wood medal for best student. after moving to london to work as a freelance poster designer, eckersley began to receive high praise for his innovative and minimalist aesthetic. during the second world war, he started designing posters for the royal society for the prevention of accidents which included informative graphic posters aimed at workers in an industrial setting. i find eckersley's work very interesting. he manages to combine simple graphic designs and sentences to communicate very complicated messages. he also created a design incorporating the faces of hollywood stars from the 1930s, 40s and 50s such as greta garbo and joan crawford. the image successfully captures the personality each star in a set of very simple graphic images consisting of only one or two shapes.

shigeo fukuda

shigeo fukuda was a japanese graphic designer and sculptor whose work concentrated on creating aesthetically pleasing optical illusions. during his early life he was inspired by the modern swiss design style of the 1940s and 50s. he achieved success after graduating from the tokyo national university of fine arts and was hired to design posters for the tokyo world fair in 1970 and amnesty international. he was the first japanese designer to be invited into the new york art directors club after they discovered his 'victory 1945' poster. i like fukuda's simplistic yet effective style and believe that his work succeeds in condensing deep and complex themes into very minimalist images made up of only one or two shapes. he also uses colour very well to catch the viewer's attention and make them really concentrate on the image.

max huber

max huber is one of the most influential swiss designers of the 20th century. he began working in the 1930s and 1940s when he moved out of switzerland to avoid being drafted into the army to fight in the second world war. he formed the design group allianz with a handful of fellow european designers and held his first exhibition with them in 1942. huber was then invited to become the creative director for a very influential swiss publishing house. he also became very involved in the jazz scene, creating a series of record covers for artists such as louis armstrong. i find max huber's posters fascinating, and enjoy his use of shape and colour. in the poster above i find the fusion of existing colours to create new ones very effective in attracting the attention of the viewer and drawing them into the messages and words within.