Task 3 - Avant-Garde.

Adbusters - unswooshing, Nike Running - 2011
www.adbusters.org/content
Avant-gardism is a movement within art and design that aims to redefine traditional and well known conventions within artistic practice in order to pave the way for other like minded artists and designers to follow. This can be for purposes of progressing design or with a political or social agenda, however the term avant-garde has been over used and neutralised. Here I have chosen an adbusters piece which caught my eye because of its use of a very strong political message. This piece is not particularly avant-garde in its design or technique, however the delivery of its message is in such a way to attempt to change peoples opinions on a social situation. This is clever in the way that it mocks Nikes actual advertisements by almost copying the exact style in which they would be produced. By being unoriginal, it is in turn becoming original in its use of an existing style as a negative to push their message.


www.typographicposters.com

Here is a second piece of design that I would consider to be avant-garde and I think its avant-garde qualities are much more evident when you realise that this is a typographic poster. It shows a movement away from clearly legible type and communicating the message simply to a much more abstract type style. It challenges traditional conventions of both type and communication by moving completely away from legibility in favour of an entirely abstract and image based poster. Possibly an attempt to change design and progress from current type and layout conventions to much more aesthetically based pieces. The avant-garde element in this piece however is based entirely in its appearance and it doesn't appear to mock other art styles or portray any deep social message.