The Modern Face of Dada

The design world in which we live consists of clean lines, tight grid structure and flat design—a perfect fit for our technology enhanced and driven society. However there are designers and artists out there that break the “trends” and expectations of design in the 21st century. There are designers and artists that stay true to earlier time periods such as pop, futurism, or even punk. The latter of which emerged as a rebellious anti-establishment movement—breaking the rules and guidelines set forth by prior design periods. The punk design period was during a time of political and social concerns that took place in the 1970s.

Fig. 1 Theo van Doesburg, art piece during the Dada movement.

Around 60 years prior, a similar “anti-” movement took place, Dada. Dadaism was considered an “anti-art” movement which arose as a direct response to the Great War and used nonsensical and satirical design to display the issues of that time period (Meggs). Dada (fig. 1) broke the traditional standards that were in line with design created during the renaissance and the proceeding movements.

Fig. 2 Graphic Design by David Carson

David Carson, a graphic designer that considers his design as “experimental, intuitive and personal” (“Interview with Graphic Designer David Carson”), emerged during the punk and grunge period shows many parallels to the Dada movement. Carson’s designs (fig. 2), much like the Dada artwork prior, break the traditionally held concepts of design in favor of a more chaotic approach. Carson, most notably, designed an article of the magazine Raygun in a typeface of pure symbols—making the story completely illegible. The reasoning behind the bizarre choice, it was boring. Now, that’s a prime example of the spirit of Dadaism.

Does history repeat itself, will there always be a parallel to a prior art period as there is clearly the connection between Carson, Punk and Dada?

Sources

“Interview with Graphic Designer David Carson.” Interview by Designboom. Designboom, 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.

Meggs, Philip B., Alston W. Purvis, and Philip B. Meggs. “Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution.” Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2006. 134–36. Print.