Instead of growing up with aspirations of becoming a ballet dancer, singer or even a fireman, I wanted to be an artist. Then I decided to become a Graphic Designer. Not the usual decision of a 9 year old but that’s what I wanted to do. I grew up loving art, architecture, design and fashion. I loved painting, drawing sculpting and when I got onto a Mac for the first time I felt at home. Even though my chosen field is Design, I still love fine art. In my final year of my Advanced National diploma (from The Isle College, Wisbech), specialising in two subjects, fine art and graphics. Only one could become my career path. As far away as the two may seem at times they will always be closely linked and the lessons from one disciplines shouldn’t be forgotten for the other.
For my creative insight I have decided to feature the work of Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec. This was not an easy choice as there are many artists I love, but I felt his work reflects a relationship between art and design that shouldn’t be forgotten.
Toulouse-Lautrec was a French post impressionist, that contributed to the development of Art Nouveau in the 1890s. He was a great observer of Parisian life and captured the the feel and spirit of the time. I love his work for the linear and uncluttered appearance of these works that were not afraid to show the sordid elements of late 19th-century Parisian society. He produced many paintings, lithography, and posters and some of his best known works are the series of posters for the Moulin Rouge.
Art, Illustration, Typography, advertising, marketing and design. I think he got it pretty much covered!
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Walking into Leeds college of Art and Design library for the first time was an interesting experience, so much reference and so much amazing work all in print and at my finger tips. At this point I had just started my Advanced GNVQ? which meant I had a choice of paths before me Fine Art, Design, Textiles, Photography and 3D were just a few of the options.
It wasn’t a hardback or paperback book that caught my attention though, it was a magazine.
Sat in-between ID and Face was Ray Gun, and it just jumped off the shelf at me, the images of musicians (Music and Art the two most important things to me at college) the use of typography just amazed me. I had never even considered using typography in that way or used a Mac much come to think of it. Big brash letters adorned the cover demanding your attention, text was spilt, distorted and on an angle, images were blurred and dirty… basically the cover looked like the inside of a rock stars pocket.
After seeing Ray Gun and some of Chris Ashworth’s other work it inspired me to start using the computer as a tool. Before, painting or drawing would be my first port of call, now I would use every opportunity to get on the Mac. Speaking to other design students I found that Ray Gun and Blah Blah Blah magazines were akin to some kind of holy graphic design bible of the mid to late 90’s.
When it came to deciding which direction to take, I’d now seen the possibilities of design, so there was only one choice, and that’s how I started on the road to ICM…
As some of you may know I’m a bit fanatical about my Volkswagens, having owned a 1966 Beetle, a 1983 Golf GTi, a 1983 Campervan, a Lupo GTi, and now a modern Transporter van. VW fans are often brought-up in families, my father had Volkswagens and my memories of these cars are very strong. Brand loyalty within a family is often a brand of reliability and affordability. It wasn’t until I ventured into the world of Graphic Design did I begin to take an interest in the early advertising for Volkswagen.
1960’s America adored Volkswagen advertising, and with good reason. In an age of glorified announcements of size, power, and prestige, 1960s Volkswagen advertising was the calm voice for a different set of values. Plus, it made you smile: the magic formula that today’s ad agencies persistently strive for. This understated style was introduced in 1959 by New York ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach.
In a world of horsepower, styling and the hard-sell of an American dream, Volkswagen advertisements were pockets of blindingly simple wit that extolled the cars’ virtues with affable self-ridicule. ‘Live Below Your Means,’ was the advice of one ad, ‘Think Small,’ exclaimed another.
‘Lemon’ was probably the stand-out ad that defined the era. Supporting copy told the story of how the car, at first glance perfectly acceptable, had failed Volkswagen’s rigorous quality checks.
America couldn’t help but love a company willing to mock itself in public, and no one responded more to the Volkswagen or its advertising than the ‘baby-boomer’ generation; children of postwar affluence that came of age in the 1960s embraced the Volkswagen as a show of rejection their previous generation’s materialism. Besides, Volkswagens were cheap to buy and run, and they were easily fixed. Most of these kids probably didn’t realise the Beetle was born of war, but it didn’t matter.
The love-affair was all-too brief. Though Volkswagen increased sales throughout the 1960s to hold its status as America’s top-selling foreign make, its share of the import-car market withered from 67 percent in 1965 to a less than impressive 51 percent by decade’s end. The nails in the coffin were driven by Toyota and Datsun who offered the next generation of ‘small-car’ luxury, styling and affordability that Volkswagen couldn’t compete with for another decade until the first Golf (Rabbit in the US) would arrive on the scene.
For almost five decades Volkswagen have continued with clever wit and simple humour that still appeals to the latest generation of Volkswagen owners, occasionally reverting to the original DDB format to sell their vehicles.
May this style long-continue. DDB’s approach to advertising a product has always been an inspiration to me, here’s to the next fifty yea…
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