Choose two of the three following topics, and write two discussions in response to the questions. Each essay should be 1-page long (2 pages overall). Paper length requirement assumes Times New Roman or similar font (12 point) or 250 words per page, double-spaced.
If you are using one of the sources from the list below, you do not need to include footnotes, just include the author’s name and page number in the text of your essay.If you are using other sources, include a proper footnote(Chicago manual style)
Question 1. Times Square
In Money Jungle: Imagining the New Times Square, Benjamin Chesluk writes that Times Square âhas always been a monument to inauthenticity, to commercialism, to the power of symbols over substance â âa testing ground of limits.â” Discuss this statement, using specific examples from the readings and lecture; what role did graphic design play in shaping Times Square into the commercial space we are familiar with today? You can discuss either the evolution of this area over the years, or focus on one period of
time in its history that you find particularly interesting.
(required readings for question 1: “Richard Poulin, Graphic Design and Architecture.time square” and “Money Jungle Imagining the New Times Square”)
Question 2. Art Deco
In âArt Deco Graphic Design and Typography,â Jeremy Aynsley writes: âThrough commercial architecture’s preoccupation with the graphic sign, trademark or lighting, Art Deco lettering became an integral feature of major cities worldwide. In these contexts, the style escaped the particularity of feminized associations with fashion and became part of an Americanized business culture, which in many ways was its true home.â How does Art Deco architecture and graphic design in NYC exemplify the argument made here?
What does the writer mean when he says that Americanized business culture is Art Decoâs true home? Use at least two examples.(required readings for question 2: “Richard Poulin, Graphic Design and Architecture. art deco city skyscraper” and “Jeremy Aynsley, Art Deco, 1910-1939.”)
Question 3. Corporate Identity â CBS
In his discussion of the CBS headquarters in NYC, Richard Poulin argues that âThe CBS Building was the first project of the modernist era to achieve a âtotal designâ through graphic design and architecture, all in the name of corporate image making.â Discuss the significance of the CBS branding, and the architecture of its headquarters, in the history of graphic design; How was the branding innovative? What does Poulin mean by âtotal design,â and how was this achieved through a combination of graphic design and architecture?(required readings for question 3: “Stephen J. Eskilson, Graphic Design A New History” and “Philip B. Meggs, Meggs’ History of Graphic Design.CBS HISTORY” and “Richard Poulin, Graphic Design and Architecture.CBS. ” )
