The 'm' word

[v-six]

modern vs. Modernism.
Why?
Because I can.

[Grove]

This should be good

[v-six]

I've decided this subject would be too painful to cover thoroughly, so here's a quick explanation with relevancy to Graphic Design.
The word "modern" is a very simple word that I don't have to define for anyone with English as their primary language.
"Modernism" with a capital 'm' is a completely different thing... be careful not to confuse one with the other. Modernism was a broad movement in the early 20th century that called for utilitarian rationality. In architecture and design/typography, a move was made away from the expressive idiosyncratic art of the past. It was thought that with modern thinking, a new, better kind of thought could replace the old. Of particular importance is the writing and work of those such as Jan Tschichold and Josef Müller-Brockmann. Their most notable related works were Die Neue Typographie and Grid Systems in Graphic Design respectively. If you're interested, find a good library and see if you can dig them up.
Anyway, to the meaty part. Here's my interpretation of the progression of Modernism in a nutshell. We don't want any of this decorative frilly stuff. We want new utilitarian ideas to replace the frilly stuff. Here's the plan... everything's going into a grid, set flush left in a sans-serif. We're amazing, this stuff works better, and we got rid of all the decorative junk. Wow, I like grids, they solve everything.
..
..
..
I miss the frilly stuff.
Enter Postmodernism, stage right.

[koala]

The thing I don't get is Post-Modernism (or Post-anything). Is it a reaction against or a continuation of? These movements are in style for a period of time, then the next generation comes along saying "no more rules" and has to create the next new thing. They can do this by either rejecting the previous ideologies and reference points, or expanding on them to create something seemingly new.

Sorry, this doesn't make sense. My brain hurts! I'll try again later.

[v-six]

Post-Modernism is just a broad word to cover what came after Modernism. It is more of a rejection of Modernism than a continuation of. Rejection is a tough word though. Lets say you totally redesign a website you're doing because you think you can put something together that will work better. It's an acknowledgement that the previous setup was not necessarily the ideal, and that you should move on. Tough question though, because in some cases it was a rejection... I mentioned Tschichold's book The New Typography. He resented much of this book in his later years.

[koala]

I'm glad you mentioned Tschichold. I've never heard of him so I just did a quick google and found this image


which reminded me of one of my favourite artists, Kurt Schwitters and his Merz paintings/collages. Looks like I've got some reading to do.