No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism [Paperback]

Rick Poynor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

The past twenty years have seen profound changes in the field of graphic communication. As the computer has become a ubiquitous tool, there has been an explosion of creativity in graphic design; designers and typographers have jettisoned existing rules and forged experimental new approaches. No More Rules is the first critical survey to offer a complete overview of the graphic revolution during the postmodern period. Design critic Rick Poynor tells this story in detail, breaking down a broad, multifaceted field of graphic design activity into key developments and themes: the origins of postmodern design; deconstructionist design and theory; issues of appropriation; the revolution in digital type; questions of authorship; and critiques of postmodern graphic design. Each theme is illustrated by spectacular and significant examples of work produced between 1980 and 2000 that have changed the way in which designers and their audiences think about graphic communication. This generously illustrated book is a vital reference for design professionals and educators as well as for students of graphic design, image-making, advertising, and the visual arts.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

As twenty-first-century design concerns seem to center increasingly on the depiction as well as the use of technology, this new graphic design book, copiously illustrated and thoughtfully written, provides a comprehensive overview of modernism as applied to American graphics and a look at the explosion of creativity ushered in via digital design.

No more rules screams the title in a font reminiscent of De Stijl-ist Germanic modernism as design critic Poynor explains the changes in graphic work both before and after new electronic technologies took hold in the 1990s, with emphasis on the unleashing of creative energies occasioned by computer-assisted design. The last two decades of the twentieth century saw many of the old, tried, and true rules of graphic design abandoned as the idiosyncratic and self-expressive took precedence. Poynor, who founded Eye, an international design journal, provides good overviews of graphics development and issues in the electronic age, including the digital revolution's impact on "fontography" and discussion of appropriation, the visual equivalent of musical sampling. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Rick Poynor founded Eye, the international review of graphic design, and was its editor from 1990 to 1997. His books include Typographica (2001), Typography Now: The Next Wave (2000), and The Graphic Edge (2000).

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300100345
• ISBN-13: 978-0300100341
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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