Émigre & 8VO – The Legibility Wars

Re-Cap:

In the first general lecture of the year we looked at graphic design and animation history. Within this we were talked through how there are multiple histories, this is due in part to the expansive variation in technology across the world and techniques being employed over time. However in graphic design history books it is typically simplified down and therefore a lot is missed or looked over.  There are different ways of talking about graphic design and/or animation history depending on your particular interest and focus.

Our second lecture was based on expanded practises, that being graphic designers as animators and vice versa. This covered critics’ views as one becoming the other, all dependant on the person whose opinion you are reading as to which become the hierarchy.

Overview:

Emigre

Octavo

This lecture was about Émigré and Octavo design magazines, their differences and how it shapes their positioning in terms of modernism and post-modernism. I found this lecture quite interesting in the way you can identify such through their continuing use of typography, layout and style on top of their own ethos. Émigré also run a type foundry and so many fonts they produced were used within their own publication, this helped kick-start popularity for their designs before David Carson’s began to popularise the style.  Although Carson frequently used their work within his Beach Culture and Raygun magazines, he became against the idea of Émigré due to their persistence of style. I feel this is due to post-modernism being about change and a lack of uniformity, whereas due to their consistent style and layout this would soften the impact that it produces. 

Octavo magazine came about very much with the age of the Mac computer and has a modernist style. Although these two design magazines both share typography as a focus they do so in opposite directions. Octavo is very clearly structured around a gridded system and combines type with image in a concise manner as oppose to the deconstructive nature of Émigré. The main argument being brought forward within this lecture is that of subjectivity and identifying a magazine or designers core incentive so to speak. I.e. when reading an article produced by say Émigré about a modernist typeface, their review may be biased against due to the nature of their own magazine and the ethos behind such. Therefore it is important to think about the writer’s objective and own subjectivity when judging an article, or perhaps to simply make you question their opinion and open up to different viewpoints.