Summaery 2012

Design, Technology, Music

Fakultät: Gestaltung, Studiengang: Visuelle Kommunikation (B.F.A.)

Design and music have always had a complex, passionate, sometimes obsessive relationship. Graphic design and recorded music have evolved in parallel, confronting similar challenges while moving from mechanical reproduction to digital dissemination, yet always creating space for collaborative hybrids that inspire and empower while balancing the demands of art and business.
During this semester we examined design for music and musical designing from multiple angles: from animation to album sleeves; identity to merchandise.
Topics included: music as code (and vice versa); the visual culture of pop; vinyl as art object; design and typography for music; the creative legacies of Alex Steinweiss and Barney Bubbles; and design for performance. Inspiration from mathematics (Fibonacci series, the golden ratio, etc.) and its effects on design and music were explored.
An important part of this adventure was comparisons. A 6-second audio clip from an obscure 1969 B-side – known as the “Amen Break” – has inspired and indeed helped to create entire musical genres. This brief rhythmic clip, or parts thereof, has been used (and abused) thousands of times in everything from club anthems to automobile advertising. One of our challenges was to find the “Amen Break” of graphic design.
From funky abstraction to heavy-metal umlauts, we examined the areas of overlap between music and design, with technological and mathematical stops along the way.