Motopomo: the historical-theoretical background to contemporary graphic design practices

This study proposes to illustrate that the twentieth century passage from modernity to postmodernity, with its induction of socio-cultural development and attitudinal change, exists as a fundamental means of informing the character of contemporary graphic design practice1. Today, in contrast to the intentions of this study, many appraisals of graphic design work would seem to place too much emphasis on the analyses and evaluation of the stylistic character of creative practices and not enough on the theoretical, historical and attitudinal issues surrounding them. As such, this study attempts to reveal the meaning and moreover the relevance of philosophical, social, cultural and critical theory for contemporary, postmodern graphic design practices. This is done in order to provide graphic designers with a reflective awareness of the structure of the cultural context within which they work, and takes into account twentieth century cultural theory and twentieth century, western graphic design practice, within the framework of the passage from modernity to postmodernity

The effect of media law on selected Zimbabwean editorial cartoons during Zimbabwe’s 2008 harmonised general elections

During the 2008 elections the Zimbabwean media laws had a direct impact on the way that editorial cartoonists expressed themselves. The study contextualises an understanding of the editorial cartoon as practised in an environment of freedom of speech and defined by the four categories identified by Press (1981) and Manning and Phiddian (2004), and delineates the effects of media law on the newspaper industry in Zimbabwe. We review four editorial cartoons reading the semiotic nonverbal communication and meaning principles as defined by Du Plooy (1996) according to the criteria: symbols/metaphors, exaggeration/distortion, stereotypes, caricature, irony, captions and background knowledge as developed by Fetsko (2001). A comparative analysis of the cartoons reveals that objectives and functions of the unmediated zimonline.co.za and mediated Herald newspapers are exactly the same. They are propagandistic representations of Zimbabwean politics that are more of an extension of political ideology than they are a reflection of the country’s socio-political landscape.Gedurende die 2008 verkiesings het die Zimbabwe mediawette ‘n direkte impak gehad op die manier hoe redaksionele spotprenttekenaars hulself uitgedruk het. Die studie konteksualiseer die verstaan van die redaksionele spotprent, beoefen in ‘n omgewing waar vryheid van spraak heers, soos gedefinieer deur die vier kategoriee van Press (1981) en Manning en Phiddian (2004), en skets die uitwerking van mediawetgewing op die koerantwese in Zimbabwe. Ons beskou vier redaksionele spotprente deur die uitlees van semiotiese nieverbale kommunikasie en betekenisbeginsels soos gedefinieer deur Du Plooy (1996) en volgens die kriterium: simbole/beeldspraak, oordrywing/ verdraaiing, stereotipes, karikatuur, ironie, onderskrif en agtergrond kennis soos ontwikkel deur Fetsko (2001). ‘n Vergelykende ondersoek van die spotprente bring aan die lig dat doelwitte en funksies van die ongeredigeerde zimonline.co.za en die geredigeerde Herald koerante identies is. Hulle is slegs propagandistiese uitbeeldings van die Zimbabwe politiek en meer ‘n verlenging van politieke ideologieë, as wat hulle ‘n uitbeelding is van die land se sosio-politieke landskap.ai201

The cultural context of contemporary graphic design

Graphic design in the contemporary era (postmodernity) seems to be in a state of diversity and pluralism as designers produce work without any unifying stylistic or theoretical principles. Although designers frequently draw inspiration from stylistic and attitudinal trends at a street culture level in order to produce designs that have market appeal (to economic ends), seldom do they take the time to analyse contemporary culture at a theoretical level. As a result contemporary graphic designs often emerge as empty consumerist styling that celebrates the "postmodern moment" in contemporary culture, or alternatively as a rational, simplified, objectively planned approach that resists the status quo in favour of earlier modernist approaches. This essay, as a theoretical investigation of contemporary culture, attempts to contextualize graphic design within this culture, by analysing its main features and characteristics as highlighted by leading cultural theorists. This is done in order to encourage graphic designers to become more self-aware and to reflect critically on the work that they produce.Article digitised using: Suprascan 1000 RGB scanner, scanned at 400 dpi; 24-bit colour; 100% Image derivating - Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3 - Image levels, crop, deskew Abbyy Fine Reader No.9 - Image manipulation + OCR Adobe Acrobat 9 (PDF)http://explore.up.ac.za/record=b171913