Avant Gardism

My own understanding of 'Avant Grarde',
Avant-Garde is a concept associated with art.  It is deeply modernist, with ideas of 'taking things forward'- being progressive.  The concept of avant-garde in relation to graphic design splits into two groups, elitist and conformist.  The elitist view is an experimental one, where only graphic designers will understand and appreciate other designers work.  This is through using their existing knowledge to communicate an idea that only a select few will understand.  The conformist designer sacrifices personal style for ultimate transparency- it is seen as unoriginal because it uses existing styles and rules that are already recognised within society because of what they signify and because of the connotations they hold.  It is generally used to communicate to the masses.
An example of elisist avant gardism within graphic design would be:

So essentially all graphic designers know that as a rule it is not okay to use comic sans as it 'encompasses all that it wrong with Photoshop and people thinking they are designers'- there are too many examples of bad design using this typeface, and not only because of the typeface but general principles of good design, i.e.layout, colour etc.  This is elitist avant gardism because only people with a specific contextual knowledge of type within design will understand not to use this typeface- on almost everyone else...it is lost.

An example of conformist avant gardism within graphic design would be:

Taken from 'Adbusters', this design has taken an existing popular advertising campaign by 'Absolut Vodka', playing on the term 'absolut' of the product and creating a witty slogan around the word.  This specific design uses exactly the same rules as the original campaign, however it takes a more negative pun highlighting what this product can do to the consumer.  At the same time as advertising the product, the design also puts it in a bad light- this is what avant gardism is all about, making fun of existing rules society understands by encompassing perhaps the same imagery, phrases, typeface etc so that society understands what they are communicating- a conformist approach to avant gardism within graphic design as the masses understand it.