| The exhibition “Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Architecture of Little Books,” is a show about the magazines used to convey radical ideas on architecture in the 60s and 70s. The show itself is set up in chronological order and displays the vehicles used (magazines) to express the angst, frustration, innovation and hopes for architectural design in the future. The covers evoke feelings of possible revolution, protest and even show some architectural manifestos. Many of the magazine covers are made with an avant-garde aesthetic and an innovative and sometimes rule-breaking graphic design layout. |  |
Little Books, Big Ideas – Ryan Quigley
The exhibition “Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Architecture of Little Books,” is a show about the magazines used to convey radical ideas on architecture in the 60s and 70s. The show itself is set up in chronological order and displays the vehicles used (magazines) to express the angst, frustration, innovation and hopes for architectural design in the future. The covers evoke feelings of possible revolution, protest and even show some architectural manifestos. Many of the magazine covers are made with an avant-garde aesthetic and an innovative and sometimes rule-breaking graphic design layout. It is important to note the size of the magazines, which evokes a sense of extremism and originality. The exhibition shows the depth and breadth of a relatively unknown—at least to this author—period of architectural and graphic design history. Each piece takes from various influences—be they art nouveau, Bauhaus modernism, or psychedelia. It is a show about the way the designers of the period were trying to make sense of their influences and education.
The one piece that struck me as the most poignant example of this ethos was the cover of the magazine Oppositions, of which there were a few examples shown here. The cover of this particular magazine seemed to follow a certain formula, a variation on a theme if you will, of the word “Oppositions.” On each cover, the title is set in a modern Helvetica typeface in white over an orange-red background, thus immediately speaking to the aesthetic of Joseph Muller Brockmann. The cover copy is set in a grid with justified type and the title is set in Helvetica with all caps across the front.
A slight change of color or kerning in these examples represents the definition of the idea of oppositions. In one example, the second “P” is put in outline and the rest of the type is solid white. In another issue, the “O” and the “S” at the end of the word are kerned significantly farther away from the other letters. These two techniques effectively communicate opposition, the first being the opposite of a solid cover, and the second being an example of using spatial relationships to show one side against the other. Clearly, this designer understood the communicative qualities inherent in typography.
Although not entirely groundbreaking, this design is very intelligent. It explains, much like architecture does, the possibility for expression and communication within a rigid system of rules and conventions. When compared to the psychedelic posters of its time meant to recreate the sensation of drug experiences with visually disturbing color harmonies and hand-done typography, this cover represents the experience of being in a design school—a somewhat laborious, process driven, convention-seeking experience, with less radical color and a sans serif type. This cover accomplishes communication on two levels: one being the typographic representation of “Opposition,” and the other the ethos of an architectural design student. On another level still, the cover breaks away into post-modernism.
Possibly a cue from Robert Venturi, an influential architect of the time, the cover takes elements from already established design styles, such as those of Brockmann and modernism. It takes the rigid compositional elements and juxtaposes them with a more free and uninhibited use of typography. On multiple levels, this cover speaks about the emotions of the students, the state of the architecture of the time and represents the burgeoning art movement at this point in design history.
Accompanying the exhibit is a series of discussions entitled, “Little Magazines/Small Talks.” The first of the discussions was lead by Peter Eisenman, Kenneth Frampton, Mario Gandelsonas and co-editor Anthony Vidler on the magazines they helped create: Oppositions, Lotus and Arquitecturas Bis. More information on the exhibition can be found at www.Clipstampfold.com .
