THEO AARTSMA

Theo Aartsma is a 27 year-old designer out of Northern Holland who spends most of his time working with flash and other interactive media. While his computer work has been highly publicized in publications such as Computer Arts and Digital Arts his typography is also becoming very highly recognized. His work balances illustration, design, and computer art and he spends much of his “free” time focusing on amazing 3-D typography work.

His typography work is very detailed and seems to me to have a very rich history in graffiti. While this is not verified on his or any other site his style and treatment of letters seems very influenced by the graffiti movement, with one exception. His work revolves very much around the juxtaposition of technology and nature and melding those two aspects into the detail of his lettering. All of his work seems very much inspired by the meaning or context of the word, which in turn determine the type of detail work that go into each letterform.

I would have to say that while his work seems to be doing the exact opposite of what our assigned project is it seems none-the-less to be very relevant. While our task is to create a world out of type he seems to create a world within his type; building his typographic characters of organic and mechanical forms. I just find his use of shapes and form used to create typography to be very fitting and can use, perhaps, his ideology and create a world of text within a world of text. Using the letters themselves to build up other letterforms as well as letters breaking down into other letterforms.

I have seen very much of trend going towards this type of typographic work and looking forward to seeing the next stage in the evolution of typography. It seems that the only place to go from here is to begin examining the letters for the inherent value that they seem to possess while combining with that the added cultural weight while simultaneously eradicating any meaning within the form itself and providing a new context to the language. In other words, break it down to build it back up.

(Free)Will from Andrew Lebowitz on Vimeo.

IN FOCUS...

I think it is now safe to say that I have sufficiently narrowed down my scope to something that I can digest as well as have enough to work with. I would basically like to focus on the affect of commercialism and corporate advertising culture on society. How does it affect our perceptions of our selves and the world around us? We see advertising and sponsorships everyday. We see product placements in movies, hell MTV is a frickin' channel dedicated to broadcasting the newest fad sponsored by corporate America. The people that used to sell us products have moved far beyond these boundaries and have started marketing to us the ideals that we think we should live by; beauty, safety, fun, all sold on telling us how ugly, scared and bored we all are.

WHAT ARE THE AFFECTS OF ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIALISM?

1. Commercialism distorts our culture by turning every event into a reason to consume. Anthropologists say that holidays reflect a culture's values. In America, every holiday is a sales event.
   
   
2. Advertising projects false images. For example, some ads imply that you're not cool unless you drive an expensive car, that smoking means you're an independent spirit, or that to be mature means drinking alcohol.
   
   
3. Commercialism contributes to environmental problems by encouraging wasteful use of natural resources. Over-packaging, disposable goods, and buying things we don't really need all contribute to unnecessary use of limited resources. The manufacture and disposal of the things we buy cause other environmental problems, including habitat loss and increased air and water pollution. Billboards cause visual pollution.
   
   
4. Advertising perpetuates stereotypes. Examples include stereotypes related to race (African-Americans as musicians and athletes), gender (women as sex objects, men as business people), and class (middle-class whites as the social norm).
   
   
5. Advertisers influence the content of publications and broadcasts. Government censorship of the media is illegal. Yet it is well documented that newspapers and other media are censored by advertisers. For example, a beer producer may pressure a magazine in which it buys ad space not to print articles on the dangers of drinking...

for more go to http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm.

VISUAL RESEARCH

 

John Heartfield:

Hitler swallows gold and spits out junk. (Photo Montage)
 

Coca-Coloanization Breeds Resistance:

Stencil on Wall
 

Shepherd Fairey (both)

REVISED PROJECT PROPOSAL

I would like to take an insiders perspective on marketing and advertising and try to subvert it from the inside. Exploiting and exposing the manipulative techniques that marketing agencies use to sell a product. Think about it, none of the advertising that you see ever gives you the whole truth, they will give you part of the truth, the part they want you to hear, and maybe even the part they have to tell you, but beyond that they always present a facade, that is supposed to mirror reality and in turn make you realize how shallow your existence is without their product. You need them, just as much, if not more, than they need you!