03 Remix

American post-modernist architect Michael Graves advocated the use of modernist simple geometric forms, with rich historical decorative printing and complex color schemes.

His post-modern architectural design technique of decorative processing on geometric figures has influenced quite a several graphic designers.

For example, in 1983, William Longhauser, a graphic designer in Philadelphia, was deeply inspired and catalyzed by Michael Graves, and began to use this technique to design posters.

poster of William Longhauser

Since the theme of his design is the poster of Michael Graves’s architectural design exhibition, he composed the letters of Graves into a colorful background grid and added rich and decorative features to the grid network of modernism and internationalism. The color processing uses dynamic geometric patterns to create a styled typographical layout, forming a very colorful new look.

These geometric shapes in the poster suggest the shapes, patterns, and textures found in Michael Graves’ buildings. This remix idea from Michael Graves’ architectural design style is fully expressed in graphic design. This poster allows the postmodernist style to be fully expressed in graphic design, so I think remix idea from earlier artists’ approaches is not only not bad behavior but also an opportunity to promote the mutual extension of graphic design and architectural design.