Shepard Fairey

A contemporary artist, graphic designer and illustrator from the skateboarding scene, Shepard Fairey first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign. Later on this campaign evolved into what is known as the "Obey Giant" campaign.

After graduation fro

m the Rhode Island School of Design, Fairey founded various businesses such as Alternate Graphics, which allowed Fairey to continue pursuing his own artwork while specializing in shirt and sticker silkscreens.

Other businesses include the BLK/MRKT Inc. which specialized in guerilla marketing, and "the development of high-impact marketing campaigns." In 2003, he and his wife Amanda founded the Studio Number One. Through this agency, Fairey designed numerous recognizable products, such as the poster for "Walk the Line," the cover for the The Smashing Pumpkins "Zeitgeist," the Black Eyed Peas cover for "Monkey Business."

In 2008, Fairey was com

missioned by the Obama campaign to design the now famous "HOPE" poster. Fairey distributed 300,000 stickers and 500,000 posters during that campaign. Instead of pocketing all the money, Fairey instead put

all the money earned during that campaign into producing more work. The poster itself was acquired in 2009 by the US National Portrait Gallery making it part of its permanent collection.

The Merchants of Cool - A Response

Titled "The Merchants of Cool," a Frontline documentary produced in the last 1990's/early 2000's discussed the influences that pop culture has on our society. Specifically addressing the influence of the pop culture movement and teenagers, early on the documentary addresses the notion that 'cool' or the idea of cool is so elusive that many people fail to capture the essence of what is 'cool.'

At one point an interviewer gives a group of teenagers a sheet of paper with specific logos and photos on it. The teens are then instructed to circle what they deemed to be cool and what was not at the time. In terms of graphic design this is evident on a daily basis, in advertising espeically. One can create a flowing, beautiful design, but if it doesn't effectively convey a message or has arrived too late or too early, it risks losing its audience or missing it entirely.

This is one of the struggles that the advertising agencies in the documentary constantly face. For instance the Sprite ads, initially using Grant Hill and a catchy tactics of bags of money it helped to convey a message of "buy this product." After some time, the ad grew stale and people were tired of the joke, thus forcing the creative minds at Sprite to think of something new yet again.

One of the topics the documentary also addressed is that of the "mook." This character lacks any central identity, instead being an all-encompassing label for a stereotype of sorts. Labeling one type of person, in this case a Johnny Knoxville-type of person. This "mook" for advertisers is someone they can use, in the reverse, many people look at that type of person, ultimately wanting to BE that person. In some designs this is evident, such as posters and magazine ads.

Late in the video, the notion of hidden messages and iconography is also addressed. This again is a recurring theme in graphic design. Examples of this include propoganda style imagery.

Helvetica

Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface, developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger.

Trained as a typestter in the late 1920's, Miedinger eventually went to work for Edouard Hoffman, the director of the Haas Typefoundry. During his time there Miedinger worked primarily as a sales

man. Eventually, he was approached by Hoffman to do something more in his spare time. As a result of this initial behest, Miedinger sought out to design a sans serif typeface that over time would become on of the widely known and sought after typefaces to date.

Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, the typeface design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas' Normal Grotesk. Miedinger's aim in creating this new design was to create a neutral typeface that lacked a general

clarity, no intrinsic meaning and could be used in a wide variety of forms.

In the 1960's the typeface was renamed Helvetica in order to make a more marketable product. In doing so this helped to put Miedinger on the map. Earning royalties from this seemingly simple breakthrough, Helvetica's influence on society shows no signs of slowing down, even after Miedinger's death in the early 1980's.

Since it's initial inception, various Helvetica interpretations have appeared, such as the Helvetica Light and Helvetica Compressed

Family (consisting of Compressed, Extra Compressed, and Ultra Compressed Fonts). The next iteration of the font appeared in 1978, under the title Helvetica Rounded. In relation to the original design, this variant contained rounded stroke terminators. Since then at least 2 other variants and countless imitators have appeared, many of which are still around today.

The simplicity of the typeface seems to be the greatest attribute it has to offer, with countless companies and organizations adopting it. For some though, it appears to have something of a dark side. As philosophers, scholars and the like see the government and corporation love of Helvetica in a more ominous manner. Leslie Swan wrote that these corporations "can come off seeming more accessible, transparent, and accountable, which are all buzzwords for what corporations and governments are supposed to be today. They don't have to be accessible, transparent or accountable, but they can look that way."

Found Items and Art

When is something old new again?

What exactly does it mean when one man's trash is another's treasure?

Over time it seems that something once thought old and obsolete is suddenly new again. Whether it be an elevator door such as the picture above, or pool balls turned into home decor, the second life of a product can often be more fascinating and creative than the first.

The term "found object" often refers to smaller objects found by chance which captures the imagination of the 'finder' therefore giving the object a second life. such an object can stand alone or form the basis for a collection such as a collection of bottle caps, or walls littered with old license plates. Going into several 'theme' restaurants such as Applebee's the walls have been adorned with thousands of found object

s.

So what makes these found objects so appealing?

Often it's the feeling that these objects appear in a 'lucky' occurrence or the sense that "its a free gift from the world."

Much of the college age crowd has at least one item that at one point or another served another purpose. This is largely due to the lack of funds said college students seem to have. As a result much of the younger crowd has been forced to be more creative in terms of home decor.

Other people have taken the found item phenomenon to other extremes. This past June, a North Carolina man was arrested for creating a statue from three road blocking barrels. Cutting and screwing the pieces together Joseph Carnevale, 21 sealed his fate later being charged with misdemeanor larceny causing reportedly $360 in damages. Perhaps the ultimate in found object art, this most likely will be more present in the coming years.