No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism by Poynor Rick (2003-10-01) Paperback

by Rick Poynor

En los últimos veinticinco años el campo del diseño gráfico ha experimentado una profunda transformación. Este libro es el primer estudio crítico que analiza estos cambios a nivel internacional y en profundidad. Identifica y describe conceptos como deconstrucción, apropiación, autoría, etc... fundamentales en la cronología

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art Design, Art, History, Research, Creative

Unknown Binding

First published October 11, 2003

About the author

Rick Poynor is a British writer on design, graphic design, typography and visual culture. He began as a general visual arts journalist, working on Blueprint magazine in London. After founding Eye magazine, which he edited from 1990 to 1997, he focused increasingly on visual communication. He is writer-at-large and columnist of Eye, and a contributing editor and columnist of Print (magazine).

In 1999, Poynor was a co-ordinator of the First Things First 2000 manifesto initiated by Adbusters. In 2003, he co-founded Design Observer, a weblog for design writing and discussion, with William Drenttel, Jessica Helfand and Michael Bierut. He wrote for the site until 2005. He was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, London from 1994 to 1999 and returned to the RCA in 2006 as a research fellow. He has also taught at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. In 2004, Poynor curated the exhibition Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. The exhibition subsequently travelled to four venues in China and to Zurich.

Poynor's writing encompasses both cultural criticism and design history and his books break down into three categories. He has written several monographs about significant British figures in the arts and design: Brian Eno (musician), Nigel Coates (architect) and Vaughan Oliver and Herbert Spencer (graphic designers). Other books document and analyse general movements in graphic design and typography. Among these are Typography Now, the first international survey of the digital typography of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and No More Rules, a critical study of graphic design and postmodernism. Poynor has also published three essay collections, Design Without Boundaries, Obey the Giant and Designing Pornotopia, which explore the cultural implications of visual communication, including advertising, photography, branding, graphic design and retail design.

Poynor was a prominent interviewee in the 2007 documentary film Helvetica.

Reviews

[Pedram · Rating 4 out of 5]

We can also put it this way, NMRGDP focuses on a part a creative industry where deep thought and craft go into the work, but it doesn't sell well and stays underground.

I realize how insane it must've been to write a book where contemporary visuals and the counter-culture meet. The amusing thing is the least interesting and most cohesive chapter of the book focuses on books and authorship in general.

There's just one flaw. As this book revolves around the text, not its images, on many occasions you have find the image that text is referring to in next pages. It would've been nicer if it was the other way around.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well organized with insightful and thought-provoking analysis that maintains an unbiased voice. A perfect balance of visual example and meaty content, No More Rules gives context to the strands of postmodernism in its many expressions through the last quarter of the 20th century.

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the first books I made when I decided to design. Very light and fun even

[Mason Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I've done a good amount of graphic design work over the years on LPs/CDs/cassettes, fliers, book and magazine covers, I'm very much self-taught. I like reading and perusing design resources, and I remember the days of buying Raygun and Emigre magazines, among others, and looking for ideas and inspiration. I came across this book and thought it would be intriguing; which it is, but it spends more time deep in history and theory than I'm looking for. I enjoyed it nonetheless, but I'm not its core audience. I definitely got some more in-depth knowledge of where a lot of the design I like came from, and I'll keep it around for future inspiration, but I also know that those who identify more strongly as designers will get much more out of the book than I did. Check it out if that sounds at all interesting to you!

[JD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poyner's book is an easily digestible overview of postmodernism for the beginner. As someone with very little experience in graphic design, beyond basic appreciation, I found this book insightful in terms of explaining the various trends in postmodern graphic design as well as highlighting the various features of postmodern work in every area from album covers to magazine articles. If anything, Poyner made me realize just how much I appreciate the artwork on albums by Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, and the Sex Pistols, as well as comic artist Chris Ware. The text is fairly dry while still having interesting things to say about different artists, groups, and pieces.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poynor, who also appears in the terrific documentary film "Helvetica" (which is how I learned about him) writes about graphic design with insight and, in the process, delivers one of the best explications of postmodernism you'll read--far more lucid than most literary critics manage. He's especially good here on the influence of Cranbrook Academy faculty in the '80s and '90s. Accompanied by hard-to-find illustrations of ephemera like posters.

[Chelsea Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great deep dive into Graphic Design and Postmodernism, written from the perspective of a true insider. It helped me understand what designers and artists were thinking when they deconstructed the rules, compositions, materials. It was a great resource for a school paper on Postmodernism in Graphic Design.