Television By Design

From the Publisher: While critics have long disparaged commercial television as a vast wasteland, TV has surprising links to the urbane world of modern art that stretch back to the 1950s and '60s during that era, the rapid rise of commercial television coincided with dynamic new movements in the visual arts-a potent combination that precipitated a major shift in the way Americans experienced the world visually. TV by Design uncovers this captivating story of how modernism and network television converged and intertwined in their mutual ascent during the decades of the cold war. Whereas most histories of television focus on the way older forms of entertainment were recycled for the new medium, Lynn Spigel shows how TV was instrumental in introducing the public to the latest trends in art and design. Abstract expressionism, pop art, art cinema, modern architecture, and cutting-edge graphic design were all mined for staging techniques, scenic designs, and an ever-growing number of commercials. As a result, TV helped fuel the public craze for trendy modern products, such as tailfin cars and boomerang coffee tables, that was vital to the burgeoning postwar economy. And along with influencing the look of television, many artists-including Eero Saarinen, Ben Shahn, Saul Bass, William Golden, and Richard Avedon-also participated in its creation as the networks put them to work designing everything from their corporate headquarters to their company cufflinks. Dizzy Gillespie, Ernie Kovacs, Duke Ellington, and Andy Warhol all stop by in this imaginative and winning account of the ways in which art, television, and commerce merged in the first decades of the TV age.

Production Design: Visual Design for Film and Television is a hands-on guide to the craft of Production Design and Art Direction. Author Peg McClellan gives an insider’s view of the experiences and challenges of working as a Production Designer in film and television. The book covers three major areas, starting with an overview and the basics of job responsibilities, the artistic approach and the background which every Production Designer needs to be familiar with, and progressing to the mechanics of the role with a day-to-day breakdown of the job itself. McClellan takes you through script analysis, team collaborations, the hierarchy of a production, hiring a team, the business elements, locations, studio facilities, handling change, and everything in between. With case studies, insights from successful Production Designers, and inspiration in the form of over 200 colour photos and illustrations from storyboards to sets, this is the ideal book for students seeking a career in production design, and professionals looking to further their design knowledge.

Drawing on the fields of theatrical design, art, architecture and television theory, this book offers readers unique insight into the special challenges facing the television production designer. Readers will learn how to create floorplans, elevations, details, and plots, as well as how to transfer ideas into real working sets.

Technology is meant to make life easier and to raise its quality. Our interaction with technology should be designed according to human needs instead of us being required to adapt to technology. Even so, technology may change quickly and people and their habits change slowly. With the aim of supporting user acceptance of iTV, the focus of this book is on the usability of iTV applications. A method for developing interaction design patterns especially for new technologies is presented for the first time. The main characteristics covered in this new approach are: systematic identification of recurrent design problems; usability as a quality criterion for design solutions; integration of designers into the pattern development process including identification of designers' needs, and iterative evaluation and optimisation of patterns to encourage designers to accept and use them; usability testing to identify proven design solutions and their trade-offs; presentation of specific design guidelines.

"Motion Graphics explores the process of animated graphic design. From the stunning broadcast of Pittard Sullivan, the cutting-edge cool of work from The Attik to the bold, independent film-title designs of BUREAU, this book presents the individuals and designs creating work that is among the best motion graphic design for television and film." -book jacket.

A passion for interior decoration might lead someone into the dynamic world of television and film set design. Using color, style, and technology, set designers create a diverse array of environments that portray characters and tell a story. However, what does a set designer do before, during, and after a production? This book outlines what skills students might need to be a set designer, successes and setbacks related to the job, and the responsibilities involved in this exciting and creative profession, while also explaining how skills developed in amateur set design experiences might lead to other careers.

This book explains the role of the graphic designer in making broadcast programmes and on-screen publicity, together with their contribution to art direction and graphic design in TV commercials, supported by case studies of student and professional work. There is a maze of technical production methods available, both old and new, but there is very little literature to describe them or to explain how TV designers organise, understand and employ them. This book offers a sound introduction to the subject with a 32 page colour plate section including many examples of contemporary designers' work.