Avant-Garde in Graphic Design.

Translated in English as "Vanguard" or "Advance Guard", applying the term Avant-Garde to Art and Design implies innovative, radical and original work considered to be at the forefront of progression. The movement is very often described as to have begun in the 1850's, yet however the term is usually accredited to Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the forerunners of Socialism, some time earlier on in 1925.

"The notion of the avant-garde enshrines the idea that art should be judged primarily on the quality and originality of the artists vision and ideas."

http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=38

In some ways I very much consider this playing card design by Si Scott to be quite Avant-Garde. It is very progressive in terms of challenging common perceptions of what a playing card should look like, and transforms a very typical household object into something innately valuable and beautiful. It fulfills many of the supposed criteria to become a piece of Avant-Garde design, particularly due to its originality and the seemingly painstaking process that has been undertaken to create what is essentially just a playing card. 

This bit of typography (reading 'Hudson Mohawke) I feel is Avant-Garde in the sense of originality and radicalness. It's legibility and readability are somewhat slightly compromised for the purpose of aesthetics, for the need to implement original and progressive ideas. The notion of using hands and fingers for typography is perhaps nothing new, yet arranging it in the way that is shown is far out of the ordinary, reflective of the music created by Hudson Mohawke.

As far as I can tell, the term 'Avant-Garde' has perhaps been applied to so many styles and ideas that it becomes difficult to pinpoint one particular image as being particularly so. These two images I felt were Avant-Garde in the sense they explore radical, innovative techniques to resolve a particular project, yet then again they have been produced over 150 years since the term arrived, so the influence of digital media (or a rebellion to this) means they may have no ties with the term whatsoever, and perhaps they are simply Art and Design in the Digital age.