Disaster(ous) Logo(s)

I-mage

Inauthentic Hybridity – is that all we can hope for?

“In a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles, to speak through masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum.”

– Marjorie Perloff, Radical Artifice

And with this inspiring remark in mind, I try to motivate myself to carry on designing…

Warm Up

NOTES: Fire as:

• recombinant force (in color theory, of primary colors red and yellow) – number 3
• an alchemical emblem because in its destructiveness, it also encapsulates the potential for re-generation and the resolution of conflict [see post about liquid/ Greek fire]
• mythical connotations: Prometheus as both the bearer and thief of fire
• The shape of fire as a triangle? the triad – religious connotations [Holy Trinity, conservatism, traditional & backward values and belief system].
• Triangle as a “metaphor for transforming destiny into choice, or repression into freedom” (Macnab, 95). This aspect of the fire could be compared with the energy movement of anarchy and/ or younger generations (at least the specific kind covered in this blog).
• But also: the fire’s energy movement as sprawling out of control, also manifest in the branching out of the distorted hexagonal heptagonal polygonal (?) shape of the crack in the wall.

Take One:

Integrating smaller concepts to a larger whole.

Take Two:

Adding value by cutting out distraction (e.g. easier to remember and reproduce)

Using paradox to discover unexpected connections –> Macnab asserts that the paradox allows for the possibility of resolution (in this case, also visually) between opposites.

Take Three:

Bansky

“Bansky” is a notorious British underground artist who uses graffiti (among other art forms) in a subversive way to deconstruct pervasive symbols and thus stimulate cultural and political commentary. Bansky’s identity remains a well-publicized mystery, along with a validated explanation of his works and his intent.  Bansky’s works can be regarded as creative destruction, that is, defacement of public property fior a higher/ self-serving purpose:  to introduce “alternative” public discourse through art.  Conversely, the canvals of his work (usually the walls of buildings in crowded public areas) can be seen as destructive creation because the creation of something new inevitably leads to the repurposing of the canvas itself through the newly-created artwork.  Bansky’s operating strategies  – usually a “design and dash” method – seem to follow similar energy patterns as those of anarchist activities (at least specifically speaking, i.e. during the Greek riots).  Moreover, Bansky-as-myth and rioters-as-symbol epitomize a state of liminality in the sense that they cannot be placed within a consistent framework. Their symbolic and mythical status oscillates between anarchy [[social marginality]] and organized political movement [[within the cultural/ capitalist logic]].

Flower Thrower

Envisioning the image as  “a complex configuration of visual, verbal, and aural signs….it is manifest not only in films but in all kinds of media texts” (Richard Dyer).  To me, the hardest element to weave into a logo is the aural aspect.

“The time has come to bring back more symbolic marks whenever possible and appropriate because we’ve been over-saturated with abstractions… the best communication is something recognizable that people can relate to”

--Steff Geissbuhler

TRIGGER: Finding inspiration in nature, man-made constructs, and art as fusion of the man-made, the natural, and the in-between (the digital?)

Without consideration, without pity, without shame
they have built great and high walls around me.

And now I sit here and despair.
I think of nothing else: this fate gnaws at my mind;

for I had many things to do outside.
Ah why did I not pay attention when they were building the walls.

But I never heard any noise or sound of builders.
Imperceptibly they shut me from the outside world.

“Walls” – Constantine P. Cavafy (1896)

Bansky decorations on the Palestinian side of the controversial West Bank barrier in Israel (9 in total)