Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

BASTOS, Helena Rugai
ment that reproduction technology allowed for such a solution.
But illusion as a resource, replacing literal representation, was
well received in the pharmaceutical industry and by physicians.
Fred Jordan was concerned with the visual identity of the projects
he was involved in. His intention was to achieve a unity in
the products and companies for whom he worked, using standardized
elements and organizing graphic components and formal
language, an integral part of developing visual identities. The
attention to organizing the messages in order to create an identity
that is immediately recognized is inherent to the designer’s
work. This was very important in building the visual manifestations
for Niccolini’s advertising.
There is also a unique style in the definition of Niccolini’s visual
identity, in the series of promotional packages used to hold souvenirs
and gifts for clients or used as showcases. More than the
distinctive language and singular design, Jordan also used distinguished
materials and supplies, and several printing and finishing
techniques. The series of promotional packages created for Niccolini
displays the technical mastery of its author, both in design
and in mastering different techniques. Jordan confessed that this
was Niccolini’s role: to produce in compliance with the clients’ demands.
In Jordan’s opinion, the combination of both defined the
quality of the services they provided – printing excellence, Niccolini’s
greatest goal, starting with the initial planning all the way to
the final product delivered to the client. Therefore, graphic creation
enhanced these qualities. This was an axiom in Jordan’s work, on
which rested the definition of the design business and the role of
its professionals.
The Niccolini Calendars were created with this purpose. They
followed the identity created for the printing business, showcased
the resources and quality of the printing and finishing.
For the Calendars’ project, Fred Jordan also developed exclusive
visual identities to some of the series, such as Projeto Cor
(Project Color), carried out between 1985 and 1992. For this
series, he created certain elements and standardized pieces,
such as packaging, envelopes and print patterns. The graphic
language was evident in the layout, the use of colors, of typographic
fonts and of his own calligraphy. Most of these projects
included a presentation letter, flyer or folder, with texts on the
theme chosen and “Complementary items” – graphic pieces
delivered during the year, whose goal was to illustrate, explain
or suggest experiments from the Calendars’ proposition and
theme, elements that showed Jordan’s theoretical research,
considerations and concerns on varied subjects. In Niccolini’s
Calendar series, especially those created between the 1980’s
and 90’s, Jordan used Goethe’s conception of the color prism
and color theory, presented in the book Theory of Colours.
The author tried to grasp the relationship between colors, and
between color and men 7 . This same concept was expanded in
the articles published on Jordan, and their authors suggested
the discussion about the relationship between man, time and
7 Excerpt from the letter written by Fred Jordan to Millôr Fernandes, apud FER-
NANDES, M. 1990. Pausa para a eco-poesia. Jornal do Brasil, 21 apr: 9.
space, thus amplifying the analysis on the Calendar. From studies
of natural phenomena referenced in the Calendars, Jordan
exploited, through his illustrations and illustrated essays, the
meaning of the “relationship with” others and society. For him,
nature’s balance depended on the connections in the world, on
the evolution of Universe, on the History of Humankind, objects
of his interest. It is important to point out that Fred Jordan’s
Calendar projects also became a means to a study on colors,
optics and phenomena in the universe. The same is true for
the research and experiments on the processes of printing
reproduction of visual elements, illustrations and drawings.
His research on colors and optics, as well as his interpretation
were based on Goethe’s research, that questioned the theories
of Isaac Newton. In the formulations of Time/Space, the formation
and transformation of the Universe, the author mentioned
studying, for example, Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity,
and, beyond that, reveals the Strings Theory. Fred Jordan established
the relationship, the simultaneity and connections
between events and intended to explain simultaneously the
past, the present and the future.
In the Niccolini Calendars, the narrative does not describe History.
Jordan worked with the lyrical, revealed his poetic subjectivity
and saved the task of interpreting the narrative for the
observer. He suggested an immersion in his own world, full of
emotion and sentimentality: we ourselves write History. To him,
time was an element of creation which transformed his calendars
– seemingly mundane objects – into insights about the
world and the permanence of mankind.
His Calendars are a tribute to time.
Figure 1. Main Illustration from Niccolini Calendar from 1952 O Cavalo Azul
(The Blue Horse). (photo by Alberto Ghiurghi).
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