The multilayered, fragmented, postmodern style of graphic design revolutionized by desk-top computing has run its course. Anything that could be tried has been tried.
Graphic design today has entered a new period, one of greater experimentation that often takes place outside the commercial realm and forces us to reconsider what we have taken as a given. What has emerged is a radical body of work that is rapidly redefining the very nature and scope of design.
As presented in this dynamic international showcase of the world's hottest thirty-seven studios, three sensibilities characterize this avant-garde: "Code," "Generic," and "Disjunction." "Code" looks at the innovative ways designers, tired of using the computer as a tool with applications that are analogues to conventional media, are becoming programmers, unleashing the computer's processing powers to discover new worlds of extreme beauty. Designers in "Generic" confront the ordinary to offer us an offbeat system of signs, symbols, and meanings that are still strangely familiar. Finally, "Disjunction" considers work that appropriates anything to advance its own, often self-interested aims, whether they be political, social, aesthetic, or even personal.
All of these approaches respond in their different ways to the problems facing the graphic designer, and while none endeavors to set out a single systematic solution for design, many suggest unexpected and entirely original ways to communicate images and words. In the ever-shifting realm of contemporary culture, Restart offers a new grid.
With over 600 illustrations in color and black and white.
Contributors: Joshua Berger/Plazm; Paul Farrington/Tonne; Henrik Kubel + Scott Williams; Andreas Lauhoff; John Maeda; Sara Maconkey; Norm; Ralph Steinbrüchel; Stefanie Barth; Tomato Interactive; Bump; Anthony Burrill; Paul Elliman; Miles Murray Sorrell (Fuel); Graphic Thought Facility; Müller + Hess; Paul Plowman; Jake Tilson; 2x4; Alexander Boxill; Peter Anderson; Irma Boom; Darren Hughes; Angus Hyland; Scott King; Mitsuo Katsui; M/M; Bruce Mau; Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller; Mevis + van Deursen; One9ine; Paul Sahre; Peters Saville; Frank Philippin; Cornel Windlin; Ian Wright and Bob Wilkinson; Michael Worthington
Graphic design today has entered a new period, one of greater experimentation that often takes place outside the commercial realm and forces us to reconsider what we have taken as a given. What has emerged is a radical body of work that is rapidly redefining the very nature and scope of design.
As presented in this dynamic international showcase of the world's hottest thirty-seven studios, three sensibilities characterize this avant-garde: "Code," "Generic," and "Disjunction." "Code" looks at the innovative ways designers, tired of using the computer as a tool with applications that are analogues to conventional media, are becoming programmers, unleashing the computer's processing powers to discover new worlds of extreme beauty. Designers in "Generic" confront the ordinary to offer us an offbeat system of signs, symbols, and meanings that are still strangely familiar. Finally, "Disjunction" considers work that appropriates anything to advance its own, often self-interested aims, whether they be political, social, aesthetic, or even personal.
All of these approaches respond in their different ways to the problems facing the graphic designer, and while none endeavors to set out a single systematic solution for design, many suggest unexpected and entirely original ways to communicate images and words. In the ever-shifting realm of contemporary culture, Restart offers a new grid.
With over 600 illustrations in color and black and white.
Contributors: Joshua Berger/Plazm; Paul Farrington/Tonne; Henrik Kubel + Scott Williams; Andreas Lauhoff; John Maeda; Sara Maconkey; Norm; Ralph Steinbrüchel; Stefanie Barth; Tomato Interactive; Bump; Anthony Burrill; Paul Elliman; Miles Murray Sorrell (Fuel); Graphic Thought Facility; Müller + Hess; Paul Plowman; Jake Tilson; 2x4; Alexander Boxill; Peter Anderson; Irma Boom; Darren Hughes; Angus Hyland; Scott King; Mitsuo Katsui; M/M; Bruce Mau; Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller; Mevis + van Deursen; One9ine; Paul Sahre; Peters Saville; Frank Philippin; Cornel Windlin; Ian Wright and Bob Wilkinson; Michael Worthington
