2. Task 1 – Research – Web source
De Stijl
A term directly derived from the Dutch word for Style and also commonly referred
to as Neoplasticism, De Stijl was founded in the year 1917, during the First World
War, as a publication for the two abstract art pioneers, Piet Mondrian and Theo
van Doesburg.
The art style is characterised by its major simplicity, use (in most cases solely) of
the three primary colours and values, thick black lines and geometric shapes (most
primarily rectangles which share their measurements with the adjacent shapes).
De Stijl isn’t just explored in the realm of modern art, it’s also used for the
purposes of experimental architecture and furnishings as well as even web and
software design.
Even Microsoft took inspiration from this art form during their Windows 8/RT
phase, favouring the simplicity and pleasant aesthetic feel of De Stijl’s geometric
layout over their previous style which was more reminiscent of their software’s
origins and roots.
Title/Weblink/Date accessed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/this-100-year-old-dutch-movement-shaped-web-design-today/
3. Task 1 – Research – Web source
Piet Mondrian
Likely the most influential and famous artist to employ De Stijl was one of its two
founders, the late Dutchman Piet Mondrian. Mondrian was primarily active during
the early 1900s, producing such artworks as Broadway Boogie-Woogie, Gray Tree
and Composition with Red Blue and Yellow, with the latter being most accurate or
typical to the parameters of De Stijl (with the employment of vividly contrasting,
neatly geometrically aligned blocks structured in an orderly manner and defined
with bold black outlines). This style, more specifically, was also referred to as
neoplasticism (a term of which Mondrian had coined).
Mondrian eventually limited his colour palette to the three primary colours (red,
blue, yellow) and the three primary values (black, white, grey) and limited the
direction the shapes were from one another to the two primary direction of
longitude and latitude.
Theo van Doesburg once proclaimed that: ”Mondrian realizes the importance of
the line”, suggesting that this was a heavy aspect of Mondrian’s work due to its
great importance in the world of art.
Title/Weblink/Date accessed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian
4. Task 1 – Research – Web source
Theo van Doesburg
Another one of the two founders involved in the formation of De Stijl as an
artform was Theo van Doesburg. Van Doesburg was a Dutch artist, primarily active
during the 1910s and 20s, who was inspired by the works of Van Gogh in his early
work due to the exploration of obscure style and subject matter. Much like
Mondrian, van Doesburg was seemingly heavily invested in the conceptual interests
of art and the surrealism or spirituality that artworks can represent to people.
This most likely drove the inspiration and common interest between the two
Founders of De Stijl to go ahead and base their artworks from that point on more
abstract concepts, as opposed to easily recognisable mimicries of scenes in their
lives.
Van Doesburg was responsible (at least partially) for the creation of such works as
L’Aubette, Russian Dance and the Counter-Compositions series, as well as many
more, most of which followed the parameters of De Stijl to some extent.
Title/Weblink/Date accessed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Doesburg
6. Task 3 – Production/Final Products
Include a version of your print product/screenshots
Include a link to your blog where you have posted this PP and your final
products – the post on your blog should be titled ‘Induction Week Project’
8. Task 4 – Evaluation – Production
Describe three strengths of your final pieces.
1. Something I have done well is that t I have stuck to the conventions really well of De Stijl.
I have done this by sticking to bright, modern colours which when doing research I found out
is very important for de stijl. I have also adapted the conventions for the title
‘technoplasticism’ which is representing the modern technology and art work.
2. The layout of the poster is a strength as I have made it with a combination of size and
multiple coloured boxes to represent the conventions of de stijl and created it t be neat and
parallel and not messy and unorganised. I also liked the border of the poster which I created
as it makes t look neater and more realistic to a printed poster as it would have a border
from printing most of the time.
3. I liked that I have used an oil painting filter to create a retro looking poster but still with
modern art work to represent the history of de stijl as it was founded in 1917 but still around
in the modern world fairly similar just with more colour and structure to the art work.
9. Task 4 – Evaluation – Production
Describe three areas for improvement in your final pieces.
1. One thing that I could have done better/improve on is adding a bit more information about
the exhibition by adding some names of de stijl artists and maybe adding some information
about de stijl it’s self, like where it originated.
2. I could have also improved it by only sticking to primary colours as even though more
colours have been added in the modern day society, it is still more known for sticking to
primary (red, blue and yellow) colours and monochrome colours (black, white and grey).
3. Finally one more improvement I could have made if I was to make it again or redesign it is
to have a different layout and placement of the text as I have placed all of the text at the
top of the poster and there isn’t much going on in the rest of the poster making the main
section of it quite plain so I could have placed the writing in either different places or added
more information to not only use up some room on the poster but give the potential visitors
more information of what to expect at the exhibition.
10. Task 4 – Evaluation – Problem Solving
Describe three problems you faced in your project and how you solved these
1. A problem I had faced when producing my poster was problems with the layout and getting
the shapes to be parallel and I had solved this problem from just placing them around until I
was happy with the layout of them which meant I could start colouring.
2. Another problem I had faced whilst producing was that the poster was too bright and drew
attention away from the title which I had solved by changing the brightness levels of the
poster to make it darker so it wasn’t too bright. I had also put the oil painting filter on which
helped the brightness and also made it look more retro.
3. Finally another problem I had faced producing was that two of the fonts were not matching
and didn’t fit the expectations of the task as it was different and one was a serif font so I
changed the fonts so that all of our group had used the same fonts and also so that my poster
had the same fonts and looked neater for it and it fit the expectations we were set for
making the poster.
11. Task 4 – Evaluation – Working with others
Choose three aspects of your production where you worked well with your team and this
benefited the project
1. As a team we were well organised by assigning tasks to different people so that our
research and findings wouldn’t cross over and we weren’t researching the same things. This
benefited us a group to save time which allowed us to have more time to think of ideas for
the production and gave us more time to actually produce the final products.
2. Working as a team we also worked well to come up with the design idea and the
text/information we were using on the poster so that we all had the same font and text in
our products just in our own adapted ideas for the layout for the poster. This benefited us
when I came to production as it made it straight forward as to what we had to put
(information) on the poster and we were more prepared for it.
3. Our communication with the research we had found benefited the team so that we knew
exactly what it was and we weren’t all researching the same things. We had worked together
to find out more information and get more familiar to the art style and understand it’s
background, meaning and design.
12. Task 4 – Evaluation - Feedback
Discuss the feedback you received from your tutor during the project and how
you used this to improve the project
Scott had come into the class during Tuesday’s lesson and had said that he
liked what I had created so far so I didn’t change what I had done s far, only
added to it.
Brittany had given me some feedback after I had finished producing about
how she liked the colours and the retro theme and layout. However she had
suggested to pick a bolder font to draw a bit more attention to the writing
rather than the quite thin font I have currently used. So if I was to redo this
project I would pick a different sans serif font which was bold.
