In this sense Burtin and Upjohn were the perfect match. His
graphics for their advertisements, catalogs, and Scopewere rooted in
simplicity and directness with emphasis on the message. But Burtin imbued
each piece with unique attributes that identified the work as his own.
“Integration” was his mantra. It was also the defining trait of his graphic
signature. “In designing booklets, posters, ads, exhibits, and displays, I
noticed that the integration of job components towards a dramatic end-
product asked for a measure of discipline difficult to define,” he wrote. But
he defined it as the marriage of order and instinct—learning everything
there is about a particular subject and then allowing instinct to drive the
design. In 1948 he designed an exhibition for the AD Gallery, entitled
“Integration: New Discipline in Art,” which demonstrated how he, and by
extension others, clarify scientific information for general consumption.
“Understanding of space and time relations is a main requirement in visual
organization. In printed design images are superimposed on paper surfaces.
The spaces inside and between letters, between lines of type, their
relationship to illustration, are vital factors, which determine the eye’s
access to the basic information,” he explained in terms that added a
scientific dimension to graphic design.
Preoccupation with the graphic communication of scientific
phenomenon and theory dominated Burtin’s practice. As art director of
Fortunefrom 1945 to 1949 he developed a vocabulary for conveying
information through the design of charts, maps, graphs, and diagrams that
made complex data discernible and understandable. Ladislav Sutnar noted
in Visual Design in Action(Hastings House, 1961 ) that Burtin developed two
basic approaches: The purist, where charts and diagrams were compressed
into a two-dimensional projection, with color used to facilitate
understanding; and the dramatized approach, the grouping of visual data
with poster-like impact as in a chart describing how cosmic ray trajectories
bombarded the earth. For this Burtin used airbrush to transform a
photograph of the globe into a scientific diagram so concise and beautiful
that it functioned both as art and information. This was the foundation on
which he built even more intricate, yet no less accessible, graphics for Scope.
“Who said that science cannot achieve beauty,” Burtin argued in
Print. “What nonsense, that art cannot contain scientific truth! It is
human limitation, deficiency of understanding, that make one or the other
not do what they can do.” Much like Leonardo da Vinci, Burtin asserted
that art was the queen of sciences, a means of obtaining knowledge and
communicating it to all generations. Being a designer was being a scientist.
Design was about clarity, not sterility, and Scopewas the embodiment of
this goal. Originally designed by Lester Beall,Scopealready had a modern
tuis.
(Tuis.)
#1