Punk : Blog 11

Punk:

The Punk generation was established mainly in London in the 70’s. This movement rejected fundamental values and wanted to eliminate everything that has to do with the establishment, meaning the Queen and the Royal institution, Flag and so on. This style affected every artistic aspect, for example; fashion, music and design. Clothes were usually made from unwanted fabric, and other stuff that they found. They were usually cut, torn and also wrapped with tape and written on. Jewellery was all about safety pins and razor blades.

This is a result of the social and historical context of that time. The post-world war 2, liberal society led to a decaying society. In the 60’s, there were various changes in society like, for example, the rise in divorced couples. Also, all the ‘free love’ ideology meant an increase in teenage pregnancies, and this all resulted in a lot of rebelling teenagers in the 70’s.  In the late 60’s protests started to increase. All the traditional norms that the society was used to were being challenged and therefore changed. The economy was the worse it could be. There were the worse economic crises since the great depression of the 30’s.

Moreover, everything was about mass consumerism, the oil prices and buildings were rising and there was a high amount of unemployed people. Society felt bored, and there was a general feeling of discouragement. No one had hope for a brighter future, and their rebellions were cynical. One industry that was developing is the music industry. Rock music developed into an advanced music industry with multinational companies by the 70’s. They were more concerned with money making and competition for profit than with the idea of rebellion of the earlier years.

All this combined resulted into a new movement in Britain and even in the USA. The Punk movement is referred to as a subculture which was motivated by the negativity.  The Band Sex Pistols was an icon for this movement. It neglected all norms found in society. Jamie Reid is the designer behind the promotional posters of the Sex Pistols. He created some controversial posters which were perfectly combined with the Punk street culture.

Jamie Reid was born in 1952 and studied art in London. He used several techniques to advertise Sex Pistols, but mostly the collage technique. He used random unusual typography. He also made use of the letraset transfer technique. Ransom note lettering was his main characteristic, along with the use of highlighter pens and day glow inks. Reid also used icons from the British establishment and manipulated them. This juxtaposition of order and chaos created shock within society.

Furthermore, these posters and designs continued to become popular and everyone started practicing this style even those who were not artists. This happened exactly before digital typography was created, and therefore changed the design of the future generations. Punk is a free movement, and those who contributed left a great impact. I believe that, even though, today we do look back and get inspired from such styles, we still find Punk as an exaggerated style. Some ideas and motifs are important but in my opinion, Punk was an overstated expressive style.

Bibliography

Anon., 2011. Design History. [Online]
Available at: http://www.designhistory.org/PostModern_pages/Punk.html
[Accessed 10 12 2014].

Anon., 2013. Type Tasting. [Online]
Available at: http://typetastingnews.com/2013/10/24/how-punk-changed-graphic-design/
[Accessed 10 12 2014].

Anon., 2014. 99 Designs. [Online]
Available at: http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2014/04/25/ripped-punk-influences-graphic-design/
[Accessed 10 12 2014].