1984 - 2004 - typography magazine
The Apple Mac meets a dislocated team of designers
Rudy Vanderlands (Dutch founder, editor, designer)
Zuzana Licko (Czech founder, typeface designer)
The original intention was to focus upon liminality - "Inbetween-ness"
Showcase work of Emigres: writers, artists, actors who live or had lived outside their country of origin.
Emigre exploited the quirks and possibilities of software to produce a new innovative design language.
After issue 3 it became known for coarse bitmap typeface created by Vanderlands Zuzana Licko (partner and wife)
Personal Research:
My Thoughts: Personally I don't like EMIGRE magazine because of how post modern it is, the layouts and designs seem random and thrown together, I prefer a much more modernist style because of the structure and the kind of set guides behind it. Although many post modernists say that modernists lack emotion and creativeness when designing I feel that modernism still withholds the same amount of emotive visual language it's just displayed in a different way.
Its weird looking at the cover and then looking inside the magazine itself, the cover is very post modern, no particular grid system is used or setting for the type and one image that is held on the cover. We look inside and we get a sense of a neo modernist style with some grid implications incorporated into the magazine. I really can't understand this magazine because of it's style, the magazine itself is obviously based on typography and different types but from looking at the style I can't fathom what the style of the magazine is all supposed to be about.
Critics:
Massimo Vignelli (Neo modernist)
"A national calamity"
"An abberation of culture"
Darvid Carson (postmodernist)
He once championed their work for its aggressiveness
Then began to condemn it for being too readily identifiable, therefore unusable.
Magazine published with the words "No Emigre fonts" although the logo itself was Licko's Senator.
Ironically it was designers like Carson who had popularised the style.
Stephen Heller (middleground - design journalism)
"A blip in the continuum"
"Cult of the ugly"
Output:
- Issue dedicated to Vaughan Oliver, trying to contextualise his work.
- Known for having a very diverse involving style.
- Can see a set of tendencies that are manifested in a number of different ways.
- Use of very organic experimental type forms, use of ornate technical forms.
- They often collaborated with particular designers/design groups. E.g Designers Republic, David Carson, Experimental Jetset.
- Tuning into a combination of punk aesthetic with a very expressive and artistic form as well as being playful and experimental with the construction.
- They talk about type and composition, heated discussion.
- Influenced by the idea that there are technological aspects to page design - reflected political and social shifts in art, culture and communication.
- Tried to destabilise the post-war design ethic of righteous form.
- Contested universal graphic vocabulary, built on grid systems which was adopted by corporate culture.
- Relaxation of grids, provocative clutter and visual forms of anarchy.
Monotony of 'International Style'
The text is as provocative as the imagery, not a balanced argument.
"A rant with visual elements". A rant against modernism.
Trying to ironically drawing attention to the fact it's not expressing anything.
Old modernism:
- Mostly black and white, bit of primary colours.
- Helvetica, lots of white space.
- Big ideas, visual puns that everyone understands.
- Organising principals are expressed through vigorously articulated systems.
- Iconic.
- Form follows function.
- Less is more,
- Lots of use of bars and lines.
- Collage. Imitates fine art.
- Geometric.
- Ornament is a crime.
- Precision craftsmanship.
- Simplicity is best.
Modernism 8.0
- Mostly black and white with tertiary and a bit of primary colour.
- Helvetica. Empty space.
- Little ideas and visual slapstick that nobody understands.
- Form follows function but function is negotiable.
- Less is safe.
- Underlines and strikethrough.
- Crude collage.
- Imitates fine art.
- Form is provided by software.
- Bitmapped abstraction.
- Whats an ornament?
- An obvious repression of any expression, afraid of unable to express themselves.
- Whatever.
- Simplistic is popular.
Personal note: I find it funny how post modernism is being told as "Old modernism" because of how post modernist design feels it has changed the face of design.
Format changes:
Tabloid
Smaller news magazine
Issue 60 (audio CD)
Issue 62 DVD "Catfish"
Emigre Music Publishing
In part these were attempts to move away from a style that was being commerciality appropriated (MTV, mainstream fashion, designer and music magazines of the 90's)
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