CREATIVE STIMULATION NOV | DEC 09£4.50

REMEMBERING ALEXEY BRODOVITCH

DREAMER, DOODLER+ CREATVE GENIUS

WITH RANKIN

HOW BAZAAR

POMME POMME

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Say hello to Pomme Chan. She was born and educated in Bangkok. Then she decided to move to London for the focusing on her interest in graphic design and education. Over the past four years, her drawings have featured in the Telegraph, IDN, Grafik, Curvy Book and FT magazines, and she has worked on prestigious ad campaigns for the likes of Sony, Mercedes-Benz, Marc Jacobs, Microsoft, The Guardian, Nike and Topshop. Using her very unique style, Pomme draws inspiration from nature, fashion, architecture, music and the female form.

Now a few questions

If you have a chance to draw a movie poster, what movie will you choose? I’d choose the French film: Amelie. Do you prefer color or form? Definitely Form. Some works are even nicer just plain black and white. Which dead artist inspired you? Salvador Dalí. His imagination has always amazed me. What themes do you express through your art? Secret, Geometric and Fun Fare. Favorite book? One and only: The Red Tree by Shaun Tan. What are your first steps in illustration? Doodles. What is your tips for drawing? Let it flow. Who rules the world? Everyone. Everyone rules their own world.What inspires you? Dreaming. My inspiration comes from dreaming. I know a guy who sleeps with a special small pillow and he draws or writes down what he dreamt right after he wakes up.

You can see more of Pomme Chan’s work at www.pommepomme.com

“Dreaming. I know a guy who

sleeps with a special small pillow and he

draws or writes down what he dreamt right

after he wakes up.”

interview/ pomme chanwords/ lena kamay

INTERVIEW

28

RememberingAlexey Brodovitch

Alexander Brodovitch, fondly known as Alexey is remembered

today as the art director of Harper’s Bazaar magazine where

he did revolutionary editorial design for nearly a quarter of a

century. During the 1950’s he introduced the United States to a radically simplified and more

modernised style of graphic design which gave the magazine

design a clean and avant-garde style. He was fascinated by

photography and photographic elements played a big part in

his style of design. During his career he collaborated with famous photographers such as Irving Penn and Richard

Avedon and set the bar high for the new age of editorial design.

Today Brodovitch’s legacy is still remarkably rich and his

layouts remain to be respected models of graphic intelligence

and continue to inspire with their energetic vitality and

immediacy.

FEATURE

photography by ILONA BRIDGES

16

Brodovitch was born in Russia in 1898 where he deferred his goal of attending the Imperial Art Academy to fight in the Czarist army. In defeat, he fled Russia with his family and future wife and, in 1920, settled in Paris. Like many other

emigrés whom had gained wealth in Russia, he ended up being both poor and workless. Living in Montparnasse, he found himself in a community of russian

artists, which lead to his wish to become a painter. He obtained a job as a painter of stage sets for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Diaghilev’s approach to design inspired him to move towards the more commercial arts and influenced him in

his ideas on the lack of boundaries between different arts.

Despite the burden of exile, he prospered. In 1924 Brodovitch entered a poster competition which searched for the most innovatory design to announce an upcoming ball. He won the first prize, leaving a drawing by Picasso behind.

Furthermore, in 1925 he won medals for fabric, jewelry and display design at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts. Soon he was in great demand,

the advertisement agency Maximilien Vox asked Brodovitch to design an advert for Martini Vermouth. The result, based on strict geometric forms and basic colors resembled the constructivist style as seen in El Lissitsky’s

work. His artistic work shared the ideas of the avant-garde. He then became art director for Athélia Studio, which gave him the opportunity to direct all

aspects of a creative production. He had become one of the most respected designers of commercial art in Paris, however Paris began to lose its spirit of adventure it initially had. He looked across the Atlantic for new

opportunities and was asked to come to Philadelphia to organise design classes at the Philadelphia College of Art. So in 1930 he moved to the

United States. Within the training school he trained students in the fundamentals of European design aswell as continuing with his freelance

work. His breakthrough came in 1934 when the new editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Carmel Snow, saw his design work and immediately hired him

as the art director for the magazine. His addition to the team catapulted the magazine in both realms of fashion and design and surpassed its competitors, including Vogue.

THE MAN BEHIND HARPER’S BAZAAR

Brodovitch was the art director at Harper’s Bazaar from 1934 to 1958 and incorporated the works of famous artists such

as Salvador Dali, Man Ray and A.M. Cassandre. His style was instantly recognisable by the utter simplicity of the

page layout and the skilled use of white space. Models in the latest fashion floated on the page and his layouts

created an illusion of elegance. He integrated different elements to accentuate fluidity and used repetition to

create movement within the page. He was passionate about photography and revolutionised how photography

was represented in editorial design: he often cropped photographs to frame the page and set them off centre

or on the edge of the page - again creating a fluid layout. Legibility was not his main concern and was

more concerned with the aesthetics of the design. The typeface he preferred was Bodoni, but when needed

he switched to Stencil, Typewriter or a script. He matched the typeface with the feeling or with the need

for an appropriate effect. Brodovitch was the first art director to integrate image and text, where most

american magazines at that time used text and illustration separately, dividing them by wide

white margins.

When Brodovitch left Harper’s Bazaar in 1958 due to alcoholism he was succeeded by Henry

Wolf who commented on his unique approach to magazine layout. “Oh, of course he was a

good designer and superb typographer and had an innate sense of elegance about space,”

Wolf said. “But his layouts were done only as approximations. He stood in the middle of the

room and, with a scissor, cut out photostats which he taped to a piece of paper. Others

later straightened them. It was

communicating an idea, a mood, a criticism that he was precise and masterful.”

Earlier, in 1949 Frank Zachary felt the need to create an american publication focused on art and design and approached Brodovitch to be the art director.

He considered approaching Paul Rand but he was considered to be too much of an artist rather than an art director. The magazine was entitled Portfolio,

although it was only published for three issues it was influential. Brodovitch used only type on the cover, which was unusual in the industry at that time. He

wanted to create a magazine unlike any other. The first issue of the magazine is filled with a range of design influences that formed Brodovitch’s creative

vision. The readership was aimed at designers and included techniques such as die-cuts, transparent pages and multipage layouts which all accumulated to

expensive production costs and could be the reason the publication ceased to exist. Also, advertisers were refused as he felt this would affect the aesthetics

and flow of the magazine and this undoubtedly added to the closure of the magazine.

He continued his work teaching others and focused on graphic design,

photography and illustration. He was known as a inspirational teacher yet sometimes harsh in his approach. He didn’t formulate a theory of design

that he taught, to the contrary he would continually change his opinions and contradict himself to push his students to question their design and concepts,

as a result many students under his tutelage discovered untapped creative talent.

He once said “We learn by making mistakes. We must be critical of ourselves and have the courage to start all over again after each failure. Only then do

we really absorb, really start to know.” His dedication to education directly influenced a generation of visual communicators and indirectly everyone else.

Irving Penn said, “All designers, all photographers, all art directors, whether they know it or not, are students of Alexey Brodovitch.”

words by ILONA BRIDGES

communicating an idea, a mood, a criticism that he was precise and masterful.”

Earlier, in 1949 Frank Zachary felt the need to create an american publication focused on art and design and approached Brodovitch to be the art director.

He considered approaching Paul Rand but he was considered to be too much of an artist rather than an art director. The magazine was entitled Portfolio,

although it was only published for three issues it was influential. Brodovitch used only type on the cover, which was unusual in the industry at that time. He

wanted to create a magazine unlike any other. The first issue of the magazine is filled with a range of design influences that formed Brodovitch’s creative

vision. The readership was aimed at designers and included techniques such as die-cuts, transparent pages and multipage layouts which all accumulated to

expensive production costs and could be the reason the publication ceased to exist. Also, advertisers were refused as he felt this would affect the aesthetics

and flow of the magazine and this undoubtedly added to the closure of the magazine.

He continued his work teaching others and focused on graphic design,

photography and illustration. He was known as a inspirational teacher yet sometimes harsh in his approach. He didn’t formulate a theory of design

that he taught, to the contrary he would continually change his opinions and contradict himself to push his students to question their design and concepts,

as a result many students under his tutelage discovered untapped creative talent.

He once said “We learn by making mistakes. We must be critical of ourselves and have the courage to start all over again after each failure. Only then do

we really absorb, really start to know.” His dedication to education directly influenced a generation of visual communicators and indirectly everyone else.

Irving Penn said, “All designers, all photographers, all art directors, whether they know it or not, are students of Alexey Brodovitch.”

words by ILONA BRIDGES

All designers, all photographers,

all art directors, whether they know

it or not, are students of Alexey

Brodovitch.”Irving Penn

19