Part 2: Exercise - Working to a brief

Brief#1 - Quaker's new "Chilled Creamy Oats"

 

Brief#2 - Metaphorical journey on the theme of connections

This is my second brief where I am going to depict journey through the history of Punk Subculture. I want to show the genesis of punk through the influence of various art movements, key figures, fashion, movies and literature. It would be the short story which will follow punk from the beginning when it was just a “garage rock” through its development and influences and how it made an impact on culture and fashion style today. I want to show the people that punk is not just kids with crests, it is much more. It is an ideology with the different forms of expression through visual art, movies, fashion, literature, film and of course music.

Useful background information

Firs thing I need to do is to dig into the history of punk subculture. I used various resources such as newspaper articles, TV shows, and internet.

Punk subculture emerged in 1970s in United Kingdom, United States and Australia. It was a youth movement that drew influences from various political, philosophical and artistic movements. The music itself was based on rock n roll among other genres. Particularly significant was the punk aesthetic which is today main symbol of punk. 

The earliest punk music bands emerged in United States as a garage rock bands so the first known punk scene was in New York and later it was developed in London, UK. Since this scene appeared in almost same time at the different parts of world so there were distinctive differences between them. 

This music was often described as aggressive and loud form of rock and roll in which dominated distorted guitars and loud drums. Songs was short often accompanied with a few chords performed by small bands rather then solo artists. Song text was inspired with nihilism, anarchism, or had an anti vice message. 

British band Sex Pistols established themself as an symbol of punk rock music. They expressed rebelling against the political system during 1970s through their songs such as “No Future”. This was a moment where punk fashion came to scene. British designer Vivien Westwood who cooperated with Sex Pistols established herself as a pioneer designer of punk rock clothes. Shortly after designing for Sex Pistols, she opened the shop called “Sex” . Punk style is very inspiring when it comes to fashion. We can see it in mild forms in many today collection which are made for wide public. The same situation is with hairstyle. While the more extreme forms are strictly worn by people who consider themselves as a “punkers”, hairstyles in some mild forms are presented in all range of people. For example many women wear short or middle haircuts with some form of spikes which are very acceptable for everyday life.

Across the ocean, in United States punk scene had been developed in a different way. Unlike the Sex Pistols mostly nihilistic ideology, US punk expressed dissatisfaction with way of life in middle and working class as well as unconcern for present. The Ramones are considered as One of the key bands in punk rock ever, not just in US but in whole world. They marked an era and its music inspired many artists today. 

Aesthetic of  punk visual arts was based on styles such as underground, minimalism and often had satirical note. Visual arts was often in the form of album covers, flyers, posters and pointed to political issues such as social injustice. On the other hand, this art could also picture apathy, selfishness, stupidity in order to provoke the mass. Mainly it was black and white design which was made for magazines, collage and some of them used the stencil art. Winston Smith was famous collage artist who among others created album cover for the band Dead Kennedys. John Holmstrom, a cartoonist who created many funny designs is famous for creating for Ramones as well. Pop Art and Andy Warhol, Avant guard movement such as Dadaism and Surrealism also played significant role in this style. 

When we speak about film most people agree that Stanley Kubrick’s “Clockwork Orange” are tied to punk subculture. The main motif in film are rebellion just like in punk itself. The film picture a revolting young people who are dissatisfied with a system and who, in retaliation,  decide to use violence as weapon against array.

Jim Carroll’s “The Basketball diaries” is a sort of autobiography which describes his adolescent life in New York, political circumstances at that time, his growing up and involvement with drugs. This book is considered as classic in adolescent literature.

One of the most famous novel of 20 century was certainly George Orwell’s 1984. Although it can not be considered strictly as punk, many musicians of this movement claimed that this book was a great inspiration for them because of its themes.

Project overview

I have been asked to portrait one metaphorical journey with the general theme connections. Since this is an open theme I have chosen to present journey through the punk subculture, how it all started, roots, major influences, and how it further, through its development, made an impact on culture nowadays. 

I am going to make a design which will integrate in the best way key figures and influences that made punk to be what it is. I had a lot of thoughts on what would be the best way to show that connectedness. I thought about various symbols of connection, various paths (for example dotted ones) but in the end I think it should be presented as an retro diary with photos, thoughts, scribbles, comments, cuttings from magazines, ...It might look as a punker’s diary.

Prime objective

My prime objective in this particular case is to show people especially ones with prejudice that punk is more than just a group of kids who look a little odd and scary. My aim is to convince them to be more open minded and to look on this subculture as cultural value whose roots were in some established art movement. People should be aware that punk emerged as an result of youth dissatisfaction and repulse, and it was the way they could express the critic toward society Similar to dada which “mocked” to classic aesthetic in art, punk music rejected  the popular music styles at that time.

Target audience

Target market are the people who love music and art in general, but I would try to get it closer to wider audience. This is a kind of small guide through the history of punk subculture and it could be interesting even to people who would “a priori” skip theme like this. 

About design

My main idea is to create a design that would look like a scrapbook. It would be in retro style, with photos, thoughts, scribbles, comments, cuttings from magazines. In general I would stick to black and white design but it will also have some cartoonish colored parts. I am going to present key figures, key events and movements that influenced punk subculture. It would be done in a form of retro scrapbook where pages will contain information, pictures, and design that refer to particular figure, event or movement. I would like to present something about Vivien Westwood, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Iggy Pop, Dadaism, a film Clockwork Orange, George Orwell’s 1984, Jim Carroll’s “The Basketball diaries”, punk influence on fashion, etc...It will journey from genesis of punk subculture and its influences, through its development and the impact that punk made on nowadays culture.

Timescales

Since this project actually came up as a one sort of mini book, it will certainly requires a much more time then I thought. I will have to leave a time to do research about history of punk subculture and to gather all relevant information. Next step will be creative thinking and making a draft. Further come developing process, and finishing phase. I have to include extra time which will be needed for improvements, and preparing for print process.

* I bolded in text what I consider as the keywords