Peter Max

Peter Max (1937-) is an Jewish-American multimedia artist who specializes in pop culture art such as psychedelic posters and neo-expressionism. One of Max most famous works is his “Love” psychedelic poster created in the 1960s.

His early art influences are his mentor, the Austrian expressionist Professor Honik, Fauvism, Henri Matisse, Max Beckmann, Maurice Vlaminck and Alexi Jawlensky. From 1958-1962, he studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan under the guidance of Frank Reilly. Max’s time at the Art Students League is best characterized as his realism period. 

While looking for a gallery that would exhibit his work, Max left his paintings at a photo copy store to make prints. An art director at a record company noticed his paintings and contacted him for a commission for an album cover. The album cover enabled Max to win an award from the annual Society of Illustrators and the start of an impressive career.

The mid 60s was a time of social upheaval and counterculture, Max took inspiration of collage with elements of the Dadaists and surrealists. He pioneered the usage of photography in kaleidoscopic patterns. It was also in this time when Max saw innovation in four-color reproductions. He created a breakthrough “split fountain” technique which allowed him to blend colors dissolving into each other seamlessly into a lyrical harmony. His art of bold yet fluid organic lines and vibrant colors resonated with young people for its visionary and ground-breaking imagery.  College students would frequently hang his poster prints in their dorm rooms.

Max is perhaps the artist best associated for capturing the spirit and essence of the 60s. Max’s art has such mass appeal that it was licensed by 72 corporations and in a span of 3 years his products generated sales over 1 billion dollars.  

Other notable works of art are his paintings of American presidents, redesigning NBC’s iconic peacock logo, worked as the official artist for the 1994 World Cup, Superbowls, Grammy awards, painted “Peace Accord” for the White House, 365 Portrait paintings commemorating the heroic sacrifice of 9/11 firefighters, and recently 44 Obamas celebrating Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

 Currently Max resides in New York City.

Resources:

1. http://petermax.com/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Max
3. http://bio.parkwestgallery.com/artists/Peter-Max
4. http://www.artnet.com/artists/peter-max/

Olympic Logos and Emblems

With Meggs’ discussion on the Olympic emblems and pictographs such as the Mexico 1968, L.A. 1984, and Beijin 2008 games, I decided to take a look at the emblems of the recent and upcoming Olympic Games.   

London 2012 Olympics

The London 2012 Olympics logo was created by Wolff Olins. The emblem is 2012 and within the 0 are the Olympic rings. There are no landmarks or images of sports as many other Olympic logos typically have. Rather the logo signifies a universal appeal that goes beyond London, sport, age, culture and nation. The goal of the logo was to portray the modern, dissonance and edgy spirit of London, while serving as a visual that is appealing to youth and portray new ambition. This was a logo that sought to convey that everyone could seek challenges and find new abilities within themselves.

The London Olympic logo has garnered polarizing reactions among the public, the media, and designers alike. Some have applauded the logo for being edgy and unconventional. Its boldness and uniqueness has made the logo into an instantly recognizable visual symbol.

On the other hand, it is commonly derided for being the one of the “worst” Olympic logo ever created. The use of the font Headline 2012 is jarring; the jaggedness makes the text hard to read, while as a whole the logo looks crude and does not effectively portray the spirit of the Olympics. Alongside, there are complaints about hidden sexual imagery, antichrist messages, and sneakily spelling the words “Zion”.

If anything the London 2012 Olympic was very successful in being a groundbreaking design, as well as an instantly recognizable corporate identity and garnering a lot of attention from people around the world.

Rio 2016 Olympics

The Tátil agency is the team who designed the Rio 2016 Olympic Game Logo. While working on this project, the designers had the assignment of compiling 12 topics into one logo. The goal for the Rio logo was to find a way to represent “the spirit of collectivity”, have an emotional impact, be legible and easy to recognize, be technically sound yet original, show the effect to transform and be inspiring while capturing the spirit of Rio and its people to the world. 

It was especially tough for the designing team to portray an apt personality for Rio when there are only 3 letters to work with. In the end, the team of designers ended up creating 150 logotypes but only one could be submitted. The designers sought for balance, tactual visual, and most important of all, a logo that could to touch people.

The Rio logo is more than the three figures embracing Rio’s main tourist attraction, a sculptural city; it is a visual that symbolically conveys welcome feelings, passion and the spirit of the Olympics. The embrace also conveys the wisdom: united we stand, divided we will fall. The overall effect of the Rio logo invokes energetic feelings, flow, and the celebration of life. It is also tridimensional, and spells the word “Rio” while cleverly alluding to a heart.

So far, the Rio 2016 Olympic logo has had more positive reaction than the London logo. It does not escape criticism, notably for the design playing it too safe. There was also controversy of the logo sharing too many similarities to the logo of the American Telluride Foundation as well as Henri Matisse’s painting “The Dance”.

References:

• http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/london-2012-olympic-logo-was-it-really-so-bad-after-all-142610
• http://www.designboom.com/design/london-olympics-2012-the-look-of-the-games/
• http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/hated-london-2012-logo-you-might-rio-2016-better-142723
• http://imjustcreative.com/rio-2016-olympic-logo/2012/08/14/
• http://www.designboom.com/design/rio-2016-olympics-logo/
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/artblog/2007/jun/05/howlisasimpsontooktheolym
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics#Logo_and_graphics
• http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670429/the-surprisingly-smart-strategy-behind-london-s-infamous-olympic-branding#1

Informational Design in the 21st Century

In 1950 Ladislav Sutnar and Knut Lönberg-Holm developed a systematic method of creating informational design in Catalog Design and Catalog Design Progress. 

The core concepts were:

1. Function: A definitive purpose that shows information in a manner that is easy to “find, read, comprehend, and recall.” (Meggs 366) 
2. Flow:  Information is shown in a logical manner.
3. Form: Directing the eye through the information by using visual and functional elements. 

The result was to create “A simple visualization language with emphasis on graphic charts, diagrams, and pictures clarified complex information and saved reading time.” (Meggs 367)

Many of the aforementioned points made by Sutnar and Lönberg-Holm apply even more so in today’s fast paced world. In this day and age of the Internet, information is always at our fingertips. Unfortunately this leads to an overload of information and to compound that even more are finicky attention spans. Infographics are one form of informational design that has proven to be an efficient way to communicate in a mass audience while also effectively utilizing the core concepts devised by Sutnar and Lönberg-Holm. 

Infographics mix visuals, data, and knowledge to create an easy to digest representation of a subject. Using visual elements can liven up dry and boring material. People are more likely to share an infographic and that in turn will create a viral spread of information. 

Types of data visualization utilized in an Infographic:

• Time-series data
•  Index charts
•  Stacked graphs
•  Small multiples
•  Horizon graphs
•  Statistical distribution
•  Histograms
• Box-and-whisker-plots
• Stem-and-leaf plots
• Scatter plot matrices
• Parallel coordinated
• Q-Q plots
• Maps for geographical data
• Flow maps
• Choropleth maps
• Graduated symbol maps
• Cartograms
• Hierarchies
• Node-link diagrams
• Adjacency diagrams
•   Networking data of relationships
• Force-directed layout
• Arc diagrams
• Matrix view

The reasons for businesses, educators, marketers, and etc to use infographics are numerous.

•   Simplifies information to make it easy to understand
•  Reaches a large audience in an accessible manner
• Generates interest in the subject
• Can be used as persuasion for branding or to attract customers
• Easier for the brain to retain and recall information
• Visuals learning tool for better learning
•  Increases traffic

Infographics are highly popular and that is why they repeatedly pop up on facebook, tumblr, television, news articles and in any sort of media imaginable. Infographics are a powerful form of communication in the 21^st century. However it must be remembered that the underlying success of a good infographics and informational design lies on 3 things: function, flow, and form.

References:

• David, Sarah, Dr. "10 Reasons to Use [INFOGRAPHICS] to Build Your Brand!" 10 Reasons to Use Infographics to Build Your Brand. Socialsavvysarah.com, 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://socialsavvysarah.com/reasons-use-infographics-build-your-brand/>.
• "Infographic." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infographic>.
• Isca, Frank. "The History of Infographics & Their Role For Content Marketing." The History of Infographics Their Role For Content Marketing Comments. Business 2 Community, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/the-history-of-infographics-their-role-for-content-marketing-0123653>.
• Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. 5th. New Jersey: John Wiley , 2012. 528. eBook.
• Ocampo, Marvi. "10 Reasons Why Infographics Are Important." Naldz Graphics.net. Naldz Graphics, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://naldzgraphics.net/tips/reasons-why-infographics-are-important/>.