April Greiman

April Greiman was a designer in New York City in the mid-1970s. In 1976 Greiman decided to move to California, where she opened a graphic design studio in Los Angeles: “Made in Space, Inc.” this meant leaving the comfort of a design community deeply entrenched in European tradition for an uncertain future in LA, which had a culture of limited aesthetic and where museums and galleries were few. On the positive side the lack of an established design practice created a opportunity to explore new paradigms in communications design. In her first job after moving to Los Angeles, Greiman hired Jayme Odgers, who had previously worked as an assistant to Paul Rand, to shoot a series of photographs and shortly after, they formed a creative partnership that lasted for four years in which they produced some highly visible work. Notable projects include a 1979 poster for California Institute of the Arts that Odgers art directed and photographed, the 1980 China Club Restaurant and Lounge advertisements, and a poster designed in 1982, for the 1984 Olympics. April Greiman has been regarded as one of the most influential women graphic artists working in the digital media. In 1982 she became head of the design department at the California Institute of the Arts. Greiman’s book “Hybrid Imagery: The Fusion of Technology and Graphic Design” was published in 1990. Greiman has worked as a designer for the MAK Center for Arts and Architecture in Los Angeles, AOL, Time Warner, Microsoft, the US Postal Service, and the architects Frank O. Gehry, RoTo Architects, and others. April Greiman has been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions for her work.

Greiman sees herself as being in the middle of Modernist tradition and future generations of designers. She actively saw the potential of a new medium notably being the invention of the mac and the possibilities a new digital technology would offer her design. In the tradition of graphic design, you had to be either a great typographer, a great designer, illustrator, or a great poster designer. Now we are confronted with motion graphics, the World Wide Web, and interactive applications. The world has changed and the field of design is also changing. Greiman claimed that “we must be open to new paradigms, to new metaphors, to a whole new spirit of design: It’s not just graphic design anymore. We just don’t have a new name for it yet.” This quote represents Greiman well as she was innovative, unique and open to a new direction.

Source: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-aprilgreiman

 This poster was designed while Greiman was in her creative partnership with Jayme Odgers it was for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. I think its good piece to show as its innovative for its time. Its plain and simple i love the effect of the legs stepping out of the image you really get the effect of movement even though its a still image. Although i really dont like the use of background colour it clashes and looks a bit pale in my opinion. This is a perfect example of her not being confined by the two dimensional properties of the page and has imagined the design and altered it to be three dimensional.

 Greiman designed a poster for Ron Rezek titled “Iris Light” in 1984. This poster is significant due to its innovative use of video imagery and integration of New Wave typography with classical design elements. This work incorporated a still video image, which at a time meant shooting a traditional photograph off the monitor using a 35mm camera.

“Iris Light” represented a turning point in Greiman’s work as it was the first hybrid piece incorporating digital technology. Greiman claimed “Instead of looking like a bad photograph, the image was gestural. It looked like a painting; it captured the spirit of light.”  Although it looks ammature now it wouldnt of in the 1980’s the thought of having a three dimensional poster would of been more than interesting. I do like the use of bright colours which makes it more exciting to look at and the symetrical layout she has used.

After researching Greiman she doesnt overly interest me although i respect her for not being feard by the invention of digital technology and instead excelled and took advantage of it. I have noticed alot of her work often looks collage like and consist of many layers of lettering and images which i do like as i tend to use collage in some of my works.