Neville Brody Essays - Type Foundries, Communication Design

Neville Brody Neville Brody is an internationally known British graphic designer and typographer, who is best known for his work on magazines, most notably ?The Face.' This magazine transformed the way in which designers and readers approach typography and layout. In addition to his magazine work, he designed record covers for such independent record companies as Fetish, Hannibal, and Phonogram Records in the 1980s. Along with his other work, Brody created a vast amount of type faces throughout his career. A few of these types are Arcadia, Industria, and Insignia. Brody was born in 1957 and grew up in Southgate, which is a suburb of North London. He commented that he does not remember a time in his life when he was planning to do anything other than art or painting. In 1975, Brody attended the Fine Art Foundation Program at Hornsey College of Art. The school was extremely conservative and at this time Brody decided to pursue a career in graphics instead of the Fine Arts. He says why can't you take a painterly approach within a printed medium? In the autumn of 1976, Brody started a three-year BA course in graphics at the London College of Printing. Brody says he hated his time there, but that it was necessary to his development as a designer. I wanted to communicate to as many people as possible, but also to make a popular form of art that was more personal and less manipulative. I had to find out more about how the process worked. The only way possible was to go to college and learn it, His work was often considered too experimental. At one stage he was almost thrown out of the school for putting the Queen's head sideways on the design of a postage stamp. If tutors said they liked something I was doing, I would go away and change it, because suc h approval then made me think there must be something wrong with the work. I think that was a very positive and healthy attitude. Brody's attitude on computers has changed a lot since he first started using them. His view had been that if you could do something by hand, you should not use a machine. In 1987, Brody forced himself to play around with a friend's computer. He says learning to use the Macintosh computer was a slow process. But in the end Brody acquired his skills with the mouse by playing a game called Crystal Quest for hours, instead of working. He realized all the ways that he could manipulate his work on a computer that he absolutely could not have done any other way. Although he still believes that hands on experience is definitely necessary, he realizes that computers open up a whole avenue that would not be possible without their development. Dadaism and pop art have largely influenced Brody's work. Although he says he never sought to copy these styles, he took from them a sense of dynamism and humanism and a non-acceptance of the traditional rules and values of art. These elements can be seen in Brody's typefaces, which are have a very original and expressive design. All along the line, Neville Brody has tried to create and use typefaces that go against the grain of contemporary fashion. Others that have influenced Brody are Man Ray and Lazlo Maholy-Lazlo's photography. Both of these men were able to stretch the limits of their fields, by inventing and manipulating techniques as never before. After his graduation, in the late 1970s, Brody began to design record covers for British punk music companies such as Fetish and Hannibal. The punk music scene then was more concerned with the ideas behind the music than with the actual music. Brody's outrageous cover designs were readily accepted by these companies. Cabaret Voltaire and 23 Skiddo were two bands that he worked extensively for on album covers. In 1981, Brody began working for a magazine called ?The Face.' During this time he questioned the traditional structure of magazine design. Why be inhibited by the edges of the page?says Brody. His main concerns were to encourage people to have to look twice at a page and to make the magazine as visually interesting as possible. Brody worked at

Hearing Life in a Deaf World.

Hearing Life in a Deaf World. "Was it weird growing up having deaf parents?" "Why aren't you deaf?" "How did you learn how to talk?" "Can your parents talk?" "Is it quiet in you house?" "How do they use the phone?" When most people find that my parents are both hearing impaired, their first reaction is to automatically have sympathy for me due to this perceived disadvantage. Although I have come across the inventible obstacles, I don't view the situation as a problem, only as an opportunity that God has placed in my life for a purpose.At an early age I learned what it meant to appreciate all that was given to me. Gifts which many take for granted I cherish. From all of the so-called "hardships" that I have endured, somehow I have developed not only an open mind, but also an open heart. Exposure to dealing with this professed disability has given me the ability to see beyond that which the populace generally sees.090720-1100314"Perfect" people who lead "perfect" lives often make judgments on others. I consider tha t a more critical disability than countless physical impairments. Becoming conscious of how people react to my parents has enabled me to distinguish how much of a deficit first impressions can be. Not only has this bestowed a unique opportunity to have a lucid, understanding perspective of the lives and community of the deaf, but it has also made me become a compassionate, empathic person towards everyone. Although I am by no means perfect, this experience has helped shed light on the world in general.No, it wasn't weird growing up having deaf parents, and still isn't. Hearing impairment is not always genetic. My parents taught me how to speak. Yes, my parents are able to speak, just not very clearly. My household is actually...