While the ground classes were locked down because of the ice storm, online was plowing ahead. However, fear of losing the internet pushed me to race through my homework and get it in early just in case!

This assignment was to create a magazine cover that addresses a social message. I went for one close to my heart, homeless teens in Indianapolis.

While the photos were not my own, I did change them to be less photographic and I rendered the Indy skyline in Illustrator using the pen tool. I also added a bit of timely humor with the final bullet point. This was done quickly and I can see several things I would change, but the only suggestion the teacher had was that there was too much empty space a the bottom. My mind was seeing Psychology, Medical or topic magazines as an example, as opposed to Martha Stewart, People, etc., and they have more “white space”.

Here is the project overview: Garvin_W4A2_Report

And the final layout:

This week the field trip was to choose a poster at http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/posters/aa.html.

I chose Rosie the Riveter and learned much more than you might imagine! This poster actually has some very interesting facts surrounding it! This research may be the moment where I fell in love with posters in relationship with art history. Fascinating!

J. Howard Miller (ca. 1915–ca. 1990)
Westinghouse for War Production Coordinating Committee
We Can Do It!  ca. 1942
photolithograph
55.9 x 43.2 cm (22 x 17 in.)
National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Retrieved from: http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/posters/aa.html

Rosie the Riveter – even though she was not originally an icon of my era, I grew up very familiar with this particular image of her because it was re-discovered in the 1970s and then given the title of “Rosie the Riveter”. Something interesting is that the woman whose photo was used in this photolithograph only worked at a factory for 2 weeks and then quit to find a job at a counter in a store for safety reasons. She also did not know she was the woman in this poster until much later in life and then insisted that she was not really Rosie when people would call her that. She lived into her 80s signing posters and happy to have been an unwitting part of history.  She passed away in the final week of 2010.

This poster was originally used by Westinghouse to encourage women to work in the factories and support the war effort.  In 1970 it was resurrected, called “Rosie the Riveter”, and became an icon of the feminist movement.

The style looks like it draws its influence from the “Poster Style (Plakatstil)”. It uses flat colors and is simplified in style. This style was starting up in Europe prior to the war and was a fresh look following the flowing lines and detail of the Art Nouveau posters.

Incidentally, the real Rosie was painted by Norman Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post to commemorate the women helping with the war effort. She was a real riveter and her feet are on a copy of Mein Kampf, Hitler’s autobiography/ideology.

Retrieved from: http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=norman-rockwell-rosie-the-riveter

The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2010/12/31/geraldine_doyle_inspired_rosie_the_riveter_poster/

Greatsite.com – http://greatsite.com/ancient-rare-bibles-books/bibles/1846harper/

The Harper’s Illuminated and New Pictorial Bible – a huge event in printing mentioned in our reading caught my attention so I looked up more information about it. This site explains it and shows some pictures.

Here are some more photos: http://www.windmillministries.org/Antique-Family-Bible-Store-231G.htm

Fonts In Use –http://fontsinuse.com/

This is a fun site that allows you to look up a typeface and then see examples of where it is used and other pertinent information. Since we are studying and using Helvetica to design in my Adv. Typography class, the author’s rant on the boring design of Helvetica caught my attention:

http://fontsinuse.com/the-typographic-monotony-of-american-retail/

How Stuff Works: Stone Lithography – http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/stone-lithography.htm

This is a wonderful demonstration of how stone lithography is created. You can watch a master lithographer at work to see the whole process.

The Artists – http://the-artists.org/

A site for anyone interested in art movements and artists. You can search by the artist’s name or the movement for more information.

For example, if you search for “art nouveau” then you get a listing of artists in that time period. It is a very good reference site.

Just for the fun of it:

Typography for Lawyers:

http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/

The Design History class has been studying posters and this week we were to design one that announces a social event. I used my own photography and manipulated it in Illustrator.  I then sampled the photo colors to make the background. We were not being graded on creativity, rather if we can get the information across clearly and concisely.