Researching print productions, and initial ideas

- Although the discussed, 'Bauhaus' and 'Joy Division's' genre is very different from mine, it played a major part in the development of post modernist design and my interest in the music inspired some of my initial ideas, so i decided to look into it further.


Currently i really like an poster for the post punk band 'Bauhaus' for their album 'Shadow Of Light'.
I think the image at the bottom captivates the spirit of the music as well as illustrating the artists take on zeitgeist, and promoting them as a band. Lighting and black and white used in order to represent the Gothic feel and illustrate, in their opinion the detached nature of English life at the time. The image of the Dog watching the TV creates a metaphor of, we are like animals, glued to the media, showing there aversion from consumerism and the dominant ideology of the time. The red creates a bold background to allow the black the white to successfully contrast to give the mirrored shadow effect.The Font for 'Bauhaus'  is different and slightly differently shaded ensuring the band's name is easily recognized.

 'Bauhaus's' album art for 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' makes use of similar lighting effects in order to create a visual representation of the spirit of the music.

'Bauhaus' formed in 1978 and were originally called 'Bauhaus 1919' a reference to the Bauhaus art and architecture movement of the 1920's, this was because of its "stylish implications and associations" (according to David J, bassist of Bauhaus). The band also in-textually reference the movement byb using the same typeface as they did at the originally art college in Germany when the movement began. (For more information see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus)

 -Both designs employ juxtaposition between conventional human life and some form of distorted reality, and they both seem to take influence from Bernard Pierre Wolff photography who employs dark imaginary and using lighting breathes gentle life into them which feels very human. If existentialist photography was a field he would be the founder, finding beauty where most see darkness and making viewers begin to question the boundary's of life, and non-life.

-Existentialism: A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. (dictionary definition copied from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/existentialism )

'Joy Division's' second album 'Closer' released 1980, same year as the death of Ian Curtis on may the 18th, the band and graphic designer Peter Saville discussed whether or not to keep this photography which links so closely to mortality and did not want to be insensitive abut his death. However They decided to keep the cover as it is in order to commemorate his life and because he himself chose the image as it reflects Ian Curtis's existential ideology and how he wanted the band's image and sound to be perceived by their audience. It could also be argued this album was the bands way of trying to move on, and they did and later became 'New Order'.

This video shows Staglieno Cemetery, Genoa in Italy where Bernard Pierre took the photograph to be used on the album.

This is the image taken by Bernard Pierre Wolff along with few more used by Peter Saville in the making of the album artwork for 'Joy Division's' 1980 album 'Closer' (see image below)

This is another image taken by Bernard Pierre Wolff  used by Peter Saville in the making of the album artwork for 'Joy Division's' 1980 single 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (see image below)

- Taken by Bernard Pierre Wolff: I like how the black paint silhouette on the wall creates what seems like a shadow of a man in a telephone box, it seems to me as if the shadow represents part of him, or even someone in it self; the image feels as if the man and the paint silhouette are linked in someway even though one is living and one is nothing more than paint on a wall, but using lighting and angles Bernard Pierre Wolff makes the link and poses existentialist themes.

- Taken by Bernard Pierre Wolff

- Taken by Bernard Pierre Wolff

I like this kind of photography as it is very thought provoking and bleakly filled with emotions. I think it may be effective to use this style of imaginary , despite it being typically contextualized for other genres,  as the artist i am promoting also employs thought provoking themes into the music, as well as the genre of the music, down-tempo emphasizing a relaxing hypnotic energy that  relies somewhat heavily on the contention that the music may inspire thought, as with most. I think my audience for my design would consist of a specific niche group who are well cultured and re-contextualizing this type of imaginary would only engage the  audience more, as the roots for atmospheric down-tempo music don't go much further than the atmospheric roots of post-punk and audiences who enjoy down-tempo, would probably also enjoy the atmospheric feel of music such as 'Joy Division', i think the within the audiences for each genre there is somewhat a cross over of interests.