The Arts and Crafts Movement
The arts and crafts movement started in the 1950s and finished in the early 1900s. The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reaction against the poor quality products being made as a result of the industrial revolution. It was a socialist reform group that embraced all different types of art and design and its designers. The arts and crafts movement was for all the designers and craftsmen who were being ignored because of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution was largely about producing cheap mass produced products. Designers and craftsmen were not a part of the mass production process as it was largely driven with the motive of making money. Money was saved by not taking as much consideration into what a product looked like, or how well made it was. The Arts and Crafts movement had a form follows function approach while mass production had more of a function follows function approach.
William Morris is one of the main designers associated with the movement. Through the Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris wanted to rediscover traditional standards and fight ugliness in all its forms. Through this movement, Morris helped to establish the ethics of modern design. Frank Lloyd Wright is another well-known designer who was strongly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement.
William Morris created book covers, manuscripts and other forms of graphic design. His designs featured, natural colours, detailed and organic patterns and ornamental text. Goudy is an Arts and Crafts inspired font that is still commonly used today.
Visually, designs from the arts and crafts movement had a very natural feel to them. The style focused on proportion and simplicity of form. Morris loved patterns and textures inspired by natural forms and nature. Natural and earthy colours were most commonly used. The arts and crafts movement also has a sense of simplicity and unity. The movement was a reaction against the cluttered, careless designs of the Victorian period. William Morris created book covers, manuscripts and other forms of graphic design. His designs featured, natural colours, detailed and organic patterns and ornamental text. Goudy is an Arts and Crafts inspired font that is still commonly used today.
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is a design movement that is a direct descendent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Many previous movements such Arts and Crafts were only popular in the country they originated from, and were not widespread. Art Nouveau was the first style to become widely popular on an international level. Often when people think of Art Nouveau they think of Paris. This connection with Paris has given Art Nouveau an association with glamour.
One of the goals of Art Nouveau was to enhance the beauty of industrial products. Like the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau was also a reaction against the values of the Victorian period. Art Nouveau was not just about how a design looked. Each part of a design was included not only to look good but also to serve a specific function. Unlike Victorian design, Art Nouveau lacked unnecessary embellishments and decorations
Similar to Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau also had an organic feel to it. Some of the visual characteristics are
- Organic Shapes
- Energy
- Decorative
- Illustrated motifs integrated into interior design
The Art Nouveau style is more refined that the Arts and Crafts but is still decorative. Art nouveau also takes influence from Asian art and woodblock printing.
The style was also applied to graphic design in the form of posters. A distinct visual characteristic of art nouveau posters is flat simple drawings. This characteristic is largely influenced from Asian art. Some other characteristics are
- Organic forms
- Hand drawn type
- Heavy type
- Organic shaped type
- Strong lighting
- Dynamic diagonal shapes and lines
Unlike Victorian graphic design, these posters used design elements and principles such as line, shape and balance to create particular effects and lead the viewer around the poster. The posters were often for dance halls or other night entertainment and commonly portrayed self assured and happy people.
As Art Nouveau posters continued to be developed, the designs became simpler, more focused on shapes and more abstract. The 1960s design movement, Physadelic Art was influenced by Art Nouveau.
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