inspiration

Questions revisited

At the beginning of this semester, I answered some questions to reflect on my design concepts. These are the questions that I answered:

What is graphic design?
What is typography?
What are your responsibilities as a designer?
What can you do to make your VisCom classes more valuable to you?

So, I know I had some dictionary definitions in there somewhere, and I talked about how design is so undervalued. I still believe that good design is undervalued, but sometimes bad design is overpaid.

In my first post, I was so detail-oriented. I was meticulous, and I even made sure to change my ' to ’. I am sure my type teacher can find a bunch of mistakes, but overall I just thought about it too much.

With the blog, I didn't space things out very well. As most students, I have an issue with time management and don't do things until right before they need to be done.

Usually, this is a bad thing for me. I need time to think about complicated processes and consider the concept. But, every once in a while I find it much more beneficial to just sit back and let my subconscious do all the work.

There were several projects throughout this semester in both of my design classes where free-association design saved me. Last-minute work is not always shabby, as long as you leave some time to clean it up.

This is all true, but I do think that getting so close to deadlines will give me an ulcer if I keep it up. I like to give myself time, but I never do. This is something I need to work on.

I also have found that I need to work SO much more on my process, or at least learning to present it. Through my design projects, the greatest problem that I have is the processbook. I am always spending my time on the finished process, but I don't give myself time to reflect. Sometimes, this is the most important part.

Reflection, perhaps, is the lesson I have learned the most this year. Just ask Ferris Bueller,
Cheesy, yes, but also true.

Inspiration _ Type _

When I think of type that has inspired me, it is usually the moveable, bendable, changable, flexible, and, most importantly, expressive type. Although it is not necessarily what I typically do, it is what I strive for.

I love the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus, not just for type inspiration, but also for finding another word for the one I keep repeating.

The text is so multi-layered, and it has an ease of motion that seems very alive.

Bembo's Zoo is another source of interesting movable type. Here are some of the animals you may see at the zoo.

Keep in mind, the creation of the animals is animated on the site.

Despite my typical dislike of reading blackletter fonts, this one was very dynamic to me.

One facet of design that I don't understand, though I would like to, is the tattoo. I enjoy it on others, but I guess I don't have the commitment to have some type on my body for the rest of my life. This book, Body Type by Ina Saltz shows the variety and possibility of type on body.

Packages within Packages within . . . more PACKAGES

I believe that packaging can create a wonderfully-designed experience, if you let it. However, packaging can also create a bunch of frustration. Take CD packaging; I think this is the main reason that we use MP3s nowadays.

Also, packaging can be so wasteful. One day I went to the grocery store and saw a bin of potatos that were wrapped in shrinkwrap. Why the hell would you do that!?!?

However, there are some very inspired uses of packaging on the market, like those silly little Chinese takeout boxes. Who would have ever imagined a package like that, and why is it so universal?

Aside from the shape, people can put the package surface to work in interesting ways, as well.

Just like we have done with books, packages often come in a series.

I like the way this AXE toy matches the usual packaging but adds a new dimension to it as well.

The following are reactions to films by Hillman Curtis:

Creative camera angles. Only tight shots. What does that mean? Are we too close?

The tight shots show quirky mannerisms of human behavior. Spinal Tap references almost annoying. They are woven through very serious words from a man whose father just died. The expression of love is very conflicted. Do you need to say I love you, or can you just show it?

I feel like I am intruding on someone's very private moment. An intimate conversation. What a gift.

Sometimes we use humor as an emotional shield, but sometimes we can use it as a glue that holds us together.

It is as if Stefan Sagmeister spends his life designing special experiences for us. How sweet. He really has a lot to say. These are things that we all know, but we never have enough time to believe.

Isn't it amazing how design can create wonderful intimacy among strangers?

Design should be about spreading happiness.

I appreciate seeing microphones in movies. Happy accident.

Is Stefan an artist now, instead of a designer? Are designers in fact artists?

Often I feel that the way he repeats his maxims make them less effective. It is better to see them designed than to hear them, although he has a very sweet accent.

BMI, UGC, too many TLAs

A TED talk with Larry Lessig I just watched was very enlightening on the concept of balance.

At first, I thought it was going to be about how old farts don't understand the technology of kids today. Luckily, it was much more than that.

The subject was UGC - user generated content - and the conflict between read/write media where the user has some say versus read only, where the user is a passive listener/watcher but never a doer.

Obviously, we are becoming much more of a R/W culture. This blog is an example of that. However, this blog is also an example of where one creator has lifted images from other people and, basically, stole their creative property (I won't do that this time, just for the record).

We've been through the property battles that technology incites many times, as Lessig discusses. Before it was about physical property. Now it is a bit less tangible. However, MP3s and digital creative property in general ware another domain that will soon be public.

While I believe, and have seen, it to be true that UGC will cause an eruption of amateur creativity, I also believe that there is a backlash to this situation.

The creative content on YouTube, blogs, etc is often very racy, democratic, varied, unexpected, everything I could want in a source of information. It is not reliable, but what is? People create for the love of creation. How beautiful.

But, where is the professional who spends her life refining her work? Where is the master? Do masterpieces exist in UGC? If everyone is a writer and a designer, why am I going to school for these things? I feel like, with any expansion of our horizons, it brings up more questions than answers.

In the end, the answer is balance. I know that there is a lot of UGC in the world, and it is a wonderful source of entertainment, but from time to time, somebody needs a professional. That is why I go to school, and that is why all of the YouTube stars have day jobs.

One haunting point that Lessig made is that, because of the obsession with piracy, we live life knowing that we are breaking the law. All the time. All of us. Is that damaging or helpful to the democracy we strive to create?