- When we discussed Post-modernism,
we touched on the idea of Vernacular Design.
At its base definition, Vernacular architecture
speaks to the aesthetics related
to a local region or building usage.
A roadside motel is the vernacular of Route 66.
Or, exposed pipes are the vernacular of a factory.
In graphic design, this idea is about language.
What is the language of the sign for the Route 66 Motel?
In the 1980s, Tibor Kalman founded M & Co. in New York.
He began playing with Vernacular forms from low-end designs
such as a warehouse ad or street signage as a contrast
to the slick and cold modernism of corporate America.
His design for an ad for Restaurant Florent
borrowed typography from the street,
diners, and a telephone book advertising.
Kalman didn't replicate the typography
to create a themed look.
He reinterpreted it in a fresh new way.
On a promotion for the same client, he appropriated
an agricultural etching of a hog with a diagram
of pork cuts and turns it into a map.
The expected solution for a restaurant ad
would have been to photograph the food
and show a clean map typeset in Helvetica.
The genius of Kalman was his willingness
to reject that in favor of humor.
Vernacular Design was a way of celebrating low-end culture.
The menu at Florent was a reference to non-designed
menus at diners all over New York.
Kalman adopted the elements creating the same look,
but the skill of fine typography and smart
copyrighting elevated it to great design.
Other solutions had a tongue-in-cheek attitude
that winked at the original source.
A poster for an exhibition on humorous graphic design
appears to be a well-designed expected solution
with tasteful Bodoni and a well-photographed banana peel.
Kalman shifts the entire poster to the right,
revealing the printer's marks, suggesting a slip
on a banana peel when the poster was trimmed.
Other designers such as Charles Spencer Anderson
incorporated multiple forms from a large range of sources.
The complete covering of the entire poster rejects
any three-dimensional typographic ideals or Swiss modernism.
It was a wonderful overload of popular culture.
This resulted in work that had a far warmer tone
and spoke to a wider audience.
The best work, not only borrowed the
typography and forms of low-end design,
but also included smart or ironic messaging.
It reinterpreted the language and made a new idea.
Paula Scher's posters for the Public Theater slammed
together the language of street typography,
Constructivism, Dada, and wrestling posters.
Again, the issue of Modernist minimalism is rejected,
reflecting the energy and vitality of the content.
Vernacular Design relied on two ideas.
First, the audience would find a deeper connection
with the recognition of the source.
And second, if they didn't,
it would still be appealing aesthetically.
Several years ago, I judged a competition.
One of the entries was stationery system for a car wash.
It was beautiful in its raw and naive form, but the
question posed by Vernacular Design was this:
"Was it intentionally raw and naive or was it authentic?"
If it was authentic and not designed in an ironic way,
did that make it less good?