Posters featuring the slogan Keep Calm and Carry On, once distributed throughout London during World War II, have seen resurgence in popularity. The iconic design is recognized by its recognized by the capital lettering set against a bold red backdrop with a crown atop the text. It is near impossible to go a day without seeing a tote bag, coffee mug, or Web page (namely the Visual Rhetoric course site) sporting the statement. Though the intended message has long been forgotten, the posters’ minimalist design has enabled the creation of countless incarnations and has popularized a style of design from a bygone era.

Arguably, the source of the Keep Calm logo’s popularity is its variability. The bold, sans-serif typeface lends an air of authority, making even goofy statements inserted in place of Keep Calm and Carry On seem witty. The small size of the crown allows for the insertion of a variety of symbols relating to the changed text. For example, decorative Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake posters (left) substitute the icon with the silhouette of the pastry. The color palate is limited to only two hues, making for added changeability depending on the product or motto being shown. Design adaptations range from functional, like for advertisement purposes to silly, such as for apparel items. With the ease of making new posters (Keep Calm generators are abundant online), it does not look like the trend will die out anytime soon.

Given the number of variations that have come about since the documents’ publication in the 1930s, relatively few people likely know of their original utilitarian purpose. In fact, few people would probably credit it as being a government-issued document as it is bold, clever, and classic due to its sleek font and vivid coloring. The posters’ simplicity and timelessness will keep Keep Calm and Carry On in the cultural lexicon for some time. 
Posted by Anonymous
0

Add a comment

In class, we discussed Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics," which is really the seminal work in well, understanding comics.  McCloud discusses just about every, and any aspect of comics that can be conceived, and our discussion on 'gutters' was interesting, as I hadn't read "Understanding Comics" in some ten years.

As an avid comics fan (buff?), I had always been told that Neal Adams was one of the genre-defining comics-book artists of his day (which happened to precede me by some 15 years).  As you can see in the examples to the right, his use of panel arrangement was completely "outside-the-box," to coin a phrase that came up in class.  That is not the interesting part, however.

Trap. The combination of the genres of trance and rap usually through sound mixing and editing, has become a staple of parties and festival shows. They share similar use of synth, heavy base and spoken words to create music. But what interests me out of these is the artwork and how the artwork mimics the mixing of themes between rap and techno much in the same way the music does.

Arguably one of the most recognizable symbols in the Western cultural lexicon, or even that of Eastern cultures, is the silhouette of Mickey Mouse. Popularized in the late 1920s by a series of short films, America’s favorite rodent has come to represent the Walt Disney Studios and the Disney corporation at large.

The above comic by Robert Berry appears in his Ulysses “Seen” adaptation of the James Joyce novel Ulysses.

We watched "The Machine is Us/ing Us" and had an interesting class discussion on whether it was a scholarly work or not. It was not, perhaps, “scholarly”; but it was an argument, and it made me think about the sociology of internet communication.

During our in-class discussion of Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art," the composer brought up gutters, the space in between frames of a comic (or newspaper, cartoon or other media).  In a comic, as McCloud states in the image to the right, gutters "play host to the magic and mystery that are at the very heart of comics."  These gutters are vital, and can serve as more than a space to let the reader's mind wander.

When we talked in class about usability and the internet, it sounded like the conclusion as to what makes a usable website is simplicity. Creating a website to serve a very obvious purpose is the key to usability. But even when a site is usable, there are aesthetics that make a website a more enjoyable experience for the user. Color, formatting, and graphic elements can enhance usability by making a website visually appealing.

In Vitaly Friedman's article "10 Usability Nightmares You Should Be Aware Of," the first item listed is  problematic hidden login links on websites. Friedman uses Backpack as an example because the login link is very small and placed right underneath a block of text that looks like an advertisement, rather than placing the login somewhere else on the page where it can be easily located.

-->

Of the recent readings for this course, I feel most compelled to comment on the writings of Jakob Nielsen. I had heard of him before, touted as the leading expert of usability. A great deal of the discussion in class was devoted to some apparent contradictions between his ethos and one of his now defunct websites. However, I noticed contradictions on the very page we were asked to look at for class.

Professor John Logie teaches us that comics have a place in academia. He teaches it in Visual Rhetoric. Why not? Comics are visual and they are graphic and they are certainly full of rhetoric. Comics teach us to engage ourselves with the comic we are viewing, on our own time, in our own space. Professor Logie teaches that Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" is an essential book to do just that, understand comics.
Blog Archive
Blog Archive
Contributors
Contributors
Loading
Dynamic Views theme. Powered by Blogger. Report Abuse.