El Lissitzky

A Russian born artist, designer, photographer and typographer who has Inspired my work in many different ways. I love the style of his work which was developed from the Bauhaus movement. The use of the space with the abstract geometric shapes to create his images I feel is a unique and interesting technique of working as it intrigues the viewer. 





Influenced by His technique and style of working I did some experiments for my New Visual Language brief.

Experiment 1 - Simple experiment

Starting of with a basic design using the same composition and layout of Lissitzky's work using his main theme colours, red white and black. I however linked the content of this experiment to my brief.

Experiment 2 - Manipulating the structure of type.

Taking this a step further I do another experiment using again the same colours however this time I play with the structure of the type. Using the Bauhaus font I manipulate the structure of the letter 'N'.  

Experiment 3- Adding 3D effects to Geometric Shapes

 Developing my experiments further I use more geometric shapes and try to make it much more complex than the previous experiments building up on layers adding drop shadow effects to create 3D effects.  I also attempt in creating a 3D effect with the red rectangles in the middle by altering the positioning and the opacity of the shape to create a 3D effect. Another way in how I created a 3D effect is with the grey box at the top using darker and lighter shades as side shadows which I drew using the pen-tool.

Experiment 4 - Building up on Layers

My last experimentation I built up the layers to create a much more sophisticated piece. I added a light background colour. I built up layers using different geometric shapes in colour and altered the opacity levels so all layers can be visually seen. I also inversed linear stripes into the shape of a circle which I duplicated and altered the opacity levels using them into the background. Using more shapes than circle, rectangle and a square Here I create a triangles using the pen-tool. Also I use a curve I created by drawing a normal circle and using the circle marquee tool another circle on top and cut of most of the circle leaving behind this sharp curve. This Last experimentation has got to be my favourite one.


El Lissitzky's work not only inspired some design work for the New visual Language brief but inspired my designs for the Typeface brief.

Typeface 1  - Inspired by El Lissitzky

Looking at the Geometric Shapes I was strongly inspired by El Lissitzky's work. The use of his abstract shapes gave me great ideas and influenced my typeface styles. Influenced by the abstract curves and lines I created the first typeface using one shape per letter. Developing from this to create my second typeface I used the composition of his abstract shapes and combined them to all to form one letter, so I used more than one shape for each letter.

Typeface 2 - Inspired by El Lissitzky

Influenced by El Lissitzky's work

Above is my final Typeface I created on Illustrator which I think looks very effective. It's something different from the normal monotony font styles, it's classy constructive and unique.