typography journal 12. 13. 14.

Paula Scher "type is image." things are in order but something is off --> on making jazz a good logo. public theater graphics. typography looks like it makes noise. goes with instincts...goes with first or second instinct. she has never been a refiner. "illustrate with type." computer makes her feel cut off..."you don't type design."

David Carson typographic texture. overlaying. niaive fresh work. untrained. total freedom when designing his magazines so he "ran with it." he reads articles and his goal was to draw interest to these articles. interpreting the words is the key..not "making it pretty"


James Victore doesn't like designing on a computer either. its about immediacy of doing it by hand. graphic design is based on its fullest and most wielded form "its not meant to sell socks." its to show a message and make a point. seems like his work is based on a lot of anger and rebellion. He expresses himself through his hand generated designs.


Journal 14: I think what inspired me most this year were the designers that came and spoke in several different classes this year. Doing all these projects get me excited about future careers but after hearing real life examples of what I want to do eventually, it seems so much more possible and attainable. Their advice is helpful and things they did to get to where they are now kind of gives me a reasonable road map for a successful future.

'post chocolate' -yes please.

The DIE Line.com - Post Chocolate

lack magazine.

http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2011/3/23/lack-magazine.html

typography journal 11.

Debbie Millman is a partner and president of the design division at Sterling Brands, one of the leading brand identity firms in the country. Millman is president of AIGA, and chair of the School of Visual Arts’ master’s program in Branding. She is a contributing editor to Print magazine and host of the podcast “Design Matters.” She is the author of How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer,The Essential Principles of Graphic Design and Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design.

Design Matters is a series by Debbie Millman where she interviews influential figures in design. I listened to the audio interview of Steve Frykholm who worked for Herman Miller. Millman conducts lighthearted interviews and leads the listener through the life of these designers and leaders of design to give insight and background about where they began and what experiences influenced their careers and lives as creatives. 

Frykohlm began in Kansas; for college he went to school in Bradley. He taught primitive screen printing over seas and attended Berkley in the 60's. And now for 40 years has worked with Herman Miller. 

typography journal 10.

"What is GOOD?

GOOD is the integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good. We are a company and community for the people, businesses, and NGOs moving the world forward. GOOD's mission is to provide content, experiences, and utilities to serve this community.

GOOD currently produces a website, videos, live events, and a print magazine. Launched in September 2006, the company has garnered praise for its unique editorial perspective and fresh visual aesthetic and is quickly positioning itself as a significant new voice in our culture.

In 2010, GOOD started GOOD Projects — a new kind of agency focused on helping businesses and organizations do well by doing good. GOOD Projects works with clients to engage communities and bring great ideas to life."

http://www.good.is/company

I love this website. It is kind of like world news/general knowledge but fresh and refocused from traditional media sources. It isn't so dry or serious as "grown-up" news its interesting and is more interesting for a new interactive generation. 

walking billboards

"the great dictator" speech by charlie chaplin

Charlie Chaplin is the speaker of the speech I chose, his character was inspired by Adolf Hitler. Chaplin plays two roles: the barber with amnesia and Adernoid Hynkel the dictator of Tomania.

This film, The Great Dictator is a loosely veiled play on Hitler's dictatorship of Germany. As much of the rest of the world, especially the United States, was trying to ignore the German threat and the persecution of the Jews, Charlie Chaplin spoke out loudly against the injustice with his speech. 

I feel like this is an important speech because Chaplin's character speaks so freely and passionately for justice. The sound bite of this speech is so powerful and the words are very moving and meaningful. This speech is about 4 minutes long. At the beginning Chaplin speaks softly and eloquently then into the next few stanzas he speeds up his pace and rolls into the most passionate part of the speech which is the 4 - 5 next chunks of the speech. He abruptly ends his speech with the short phrase "soldiers, in the name of democracy. let us unite!" 

I chose this because the speech made me feel inspired. In the film, directly after the above phrase was said, the immense crowd of germans is shown cheering and elated. I am sure the audience in the theater had the same feeling as I had. 

bio: British comedian, producer, writer, director, and composer. Born Charles Spencer Chaplin on April 16, 1889, in London, England, to parents Charles and Hannah Chaplin. Famous for his Little Tramp character, the sweet little man with a bowler hat, mustache, and cane, Chaplin was one of film's first superstars, elevating the industry in a way few could have ever imagined. 

Chaplin's rise was a true rags-to-riches story. His father, a notorious drinker, abandoned Chaplin, his mother, and his older half-brother, Sydney, not long after his Charlie's birth. That left Chaplin and his brother in the hands of their mother, a vaudevillian and music hall singer who went by the stage name of Lily Harley.

The Great Dictator  

I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor, that’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate;

has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in:

machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.

Our knowledge has made us cynical,

our cleverness hard and unkind.

We think too much and feel too little:

More than machinery we need humanity;

More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.

Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish. . .

Soldiers: don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate, only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers: don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written:

“The kingdom of God is within man”

Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men; in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power, let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!

typography journal 8.

Type Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry is an article that talks about young design students who do all of these great time consuming projects but fail to know the history behind it. Most students don't know the background of the typeface they choose hence affecting how it is read through their project. Futura is specifically critiqued in this article. After reading this other typefaces that may work better than Futura are: Univers, Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, or perhaps Gotham Book. 




I also read Designing Under the Influence by Michael Bierut. This is similar to the prior, Bierut interviews a newly graduated designer who has a cd packaging project done in Futura Bold Italic done in a style directly a mimic of Barbara Kruger. This young person, first had no idea who Kruger was and had been directed by a professor who decided to ignore the peculiar resemblance. There is an ignorance of typeface and designers that needs to be addressed.


But as the article says "is it possible for someone to 'own' a graphic style? Legally, the answer is (mostly) no." A designer may not own a certain style but young designers need to be more knowledgable and design intentionally and intelligently. 

"helvetica"

Helvetica by Gary Hustwit was a great film showing how today’s culture uses type, both successes and failures. The typeface that consumes the majority of today’s typography is Helvetica. This film shows this typeface in the most uncertain of places and emphasizes its timeless quality through its over usage and by interviewing several notable designers. Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Hermann Zapf, Stefan Sagmeister, David Carson, Alfred Hoffmann, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, and Lars Müller are only a few of the designers who give their opinion of Helvetica and how they define their own design. I found it interesting to see the old, charming Haas Type Foundry in Switzerland and its transfer to the big business Linotype.  

I thought this was a really great film. I am so much more aware of typefaces in everyday life. A lot of the designers from this movie talk about how there are so much horrible signage and the only thing they need is to change their type to Helvetica. Design needs to be simplistically timeless. Max Miedinger designed Helvetica in 1957 and in 2011 it is the most used typeface in everyday signage. This shows how good design is timeless and has no expiration date. Its helpful to reemphasize these foundational concepts in my own work and by using Helvetica it can strip away any distractions and shows only the big ideas that need to be communicated. 

typography journal 6.

#1 "Contemplation" Augustin Garza
Augustin Garza chooses a small statue figure that has sat on his desk for years as his inspiration. It has a gesture of pointing to the earth and on the back it suggests giving offerings to the universe. This simple piece incorporates good design, function and meaning. The biggest problems design needs to touch on are water, energy and health problems. Garza says that designers have an insight that can be valuable for finding solutions for these problems. Design will make the world a better..more efficient place.

#2 "Bound Together" Ami Keolatia
Ami Keolatia chooses rubber bands as her item of inspiration. They hold everything together. They are thrown away, randomly found, and she is always re-buying them. Rubber bands are all about the material - rubber - they are multipurpose not designed for a specific purpose. The biggest problems that need design help are noise and light pollution; she also mentions that general health needs smart design.

#3 "The Heart" Deborah Adler
Deborah Adler picks the Pieta in Rome as her inspiration. She was struck with emotion and felt empathy for this figure of Mary holding the crucified body of Christ. She thinks design should be all about the person you are helping and their needs and what is the best possible solution. She says there needs to be a "love affair" with the project. Then when you continually think about people's problems it will become a habit which will lead to better design...but without this love affair you will never reach this second step.

#4 "Do More with Less" Emily Pilloton
Emily Pilloton chose the process of design as the most inspiring thing for her.  She says inspiration started early and she only realized this when she became a designer. The childhood fictional character Macgyver was and is her inspiration for good design. Macgyver was the original design thinker. He always had minimal materials but came up with a genius outcome that always solved the problem at hand. Pilloton says that design needs to affect the public education system. K-12 specifically needs help. She says that learning is all top down. Design can offer the best parts of design to reform education system and the experience and positively affect how children learn and maybe spark more success in the education system.

#5 "Something For All" Georgia Christensen
Georgia Christensen says its impossible to find just one source of inspiration because there are so many beautifully created things in the world. But she chooses a chimney which her father constructed. She thinks design needs to affect transportation. Everything from lighting, the overall experience, accessibility and style need to be changed to fit with the 21st Century lifestyle.

typography journal 5.

Jonathan Harris - "Cold & Bold"

Harris speaks about how to make art and simultaneously write his own code and if this is possible. (Physical + Digital)

He spent months and months are elaborate oil and water paintings within his sketchbook until he was held at gunpoint and his sketchbook was stolen. He moved to digital work that couldn't be taken away from him.

He worked on websites such as "we feel fine" and "universe iraq" and his most recent finished project "matchmaker" which was exhibited in MoMA.

This project took over 28,000 lines of codes which he wrote himself. This is where his struggle begins with  trying to escape dehumanization while writing code.

He says that "we have to live to work...to work boldly we have to live boldly.." he goes on to say that he felt that by living boldly through these codes he became cold - his mind was inside the machine and he removed himself from physical social life.

People stare into technology rather than talking and communicating because the technology does it better and more efficiently.

-We are smart and ambitious but not wise.

-We are not seeing what technology is doing to us...its like the fast food crazy. we immerse ourselves into the latest fastest technology without thinking about the underlying consequences.

-We live our lives online

Harris goes on to give 8 points:

#1 EMPATHY - once we fill up our minds with technology code there is no more room for people. It is finding the mix between our work while maintaining life with people and the outside world.

#2 RATIONAL BEINGS - there can be a bug messing up code just as there can be things that make a relationship go awry.

#3 THE ACT OF EXPRESSION - how can you be an artist and write code - its not possible - by writing endless hours of code you forget how to express yourself.

#4 HOUSING CRISIS - people don't know how to make their online home so these "homes" are being mass produced while having tons of ads being shot all around.

#5 OUTCOMES OVER IDEAS -the goal is the goal not the idea...everyone has ideas but the outcome determines the greatness

#6 SOCIOPATHS - small groups of men who technologically dictate how we as people evolve and grow...do we need more involvement and voice?

#7 INDIVIDUALITY - is it possible to be entertained by technology --can it help with self reflection instead of just self promotion

http://weddinggawker.com/

typography journal 4.

Bruce Mau is the Chief Creative Officer of Bruce Mau Design. Clients of his Chicago and Toronto studios include Coca-Cola, McDonald's, MTV, Arizona State University, Miami's American Airlines Arena, New Meadowlands Stadium, Frank Gehry, and Herman Miller to name a few. Since founding his studio in 1985, Mau has used design and optimism to originate, innovate, and renovate businesses, brands, products, and experiences.

Mau is also recognized as an author and publisher of award-winning books. His latest book, The Third Teacher,  features a collection of 79 ways that design can transform teaching and learning for children to thrive in tomorrow's world.

I chose mantra #4 - Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child)
Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

This mantra is important to me because sometimes I try to make my initial sketches and concepts perfect and fully thought out. On my current project for graphic design I came up with my final concept through a series of thoughtless sketches I had done.
Great ideas can happen when we are simply doing not over thinking..

typography journal 3.

Stefan Sagmeister whole talk was about real moments of happiness and proceeded to talk about happiness when experiencing design or about being happy when designing.

So should a designer value happiness just as much as simplicity and functionality when designing an object?

Theo Jansen had an amusing presentation on these creatures he is designing to self sustaining, wind energy eating beach creatures. They are made of piping tubes; they have feathers which fuel them by catching wind and have feelers which show them where to go when they touch sand or the water. 

Jansen creates these creatures with his "new wheel." It can carry heavy loads and will soon be able to fully function themselves. One of his beach creatures can detect a storm and hammer a post into the ground so it will not blow away due to the storm. 

J. J. Abrams was the most amusing of these designers. His presentation was on the "mystery box." When he was young he got this box at a magic store and hasn't ever opened it. This is where he began to think about the mystery of the box and how there are mystery boxes everywhere. They give a "sense of possibility."

In design our blank page is a mystery box. The blank space is a challenge; it gives us a sense of possibility to what we could design. 

J.J. Abrams created shows such as Lost and the new Star Trek series. He talked about how stories are nothing but mystery boxes. They give you little cues and hints and they create hope and possibility in the viewers mind. 

Another part of this magic mystery box is how it withholds information. In some movies we love a part because of what we may not have been told or cannot hear. 

Abrams tells us that there is a mystery box in all of us. The mystery is what comes next. There is so much opportunity, no longer is the technology open to just the elite. Everyone can create something impressive; there is so much possibility.

character personas.

Christian Jacobsen is a 22 year old male. He likes to listen to a large variety of music and is really dialed into his creative abilities. He is very outgoing and friendly but still likes the grit and gore of life in movies and books. He likes to hand out at hidden urban chic venues. Christian embraces his retro vintage style and creates it from secondhand clothing stores; he really celebrates his own individuality.

Ashley Barrack is a 27 year old female. She has a degree in psychology and enjoys the human psyche and studying how people work and change over time. She doesn't have one style but tries out several different looks; she feels like a rounded individual and connects with a lot of different people. She likes to try new things, in an effort to experience the unknown. Ashley has a fiance and is very introspective about the future and making big changes.

Kerry Cumberland is a 50 year old female. She has two children, one is a high school senor and the other a college sophomore. She has a full time job, along with an extra money side job as a consultant for a popular beauty supply company. She tries to relax and read whenever she has a moment of downtime for herself. Kerry is very involved with her high school son's basketball team and senior year in general.

typography journal 2.

Dieter Rams : 10 principles for good design


#1 good design is fresh and presents a new way to solve a problem
#2 good design is purposeful and intentional
#3 good design is visually pleasing 
#4 good design helps show function
#5 good design is not excessive or distracting from personal expression
#6 good design gives no false facade -  "it is what it is"
#7 good design is timeless
#8 good design is carefully thought out
#9 good design is green
#10 good design is includes its essential structures, no extra flourishes 


Don Norman : 3 ways good design makes you happy
good design but ugly
...trying to understand this concept of beauty


beauty + function 


when your happy your more susceptible to interruption and do more out of the box thinking
when your happy you can more easily solve problems
-designs control consumer happiness
-we can create happiness through visceral experience: typeface, color, etc. 
-behavioral design = feeling in control while using a design


emotion - communicates
-reflective design

"20 rules of good design" article.

3 rules which are most important: 

- be decisive; design with a purpose (don't just fill space aimlessly)

- have a concept

- speak with one visual voice (cohesive design)

3 rules to practice more often:

- communicate don't decorate (use economy-less is more)

- measure with your eyes (step back and look at work)

- treat type as image (it is just as important)

3 rules to ignore:

- pick colors purposefully (clearly! this should be obvious decision)

- ignore fashion

- distribute light & dark

typography journal 1.

people you should know.

Saul Bass
I really enjoy the texture Bass creates.

Paul Rand
Rand's logos are timeless and memorable.

Alexander Girard
This is a shot of one of Girard's fonts shown on his website. They are all very expressive and fun. Check them out!
http://girard.houseind.com

Alan Fletcher
Fletcher does several pieces similar to this. The majority of the picture plane is white with pops of bright vibrant color.

Alvin Lustig
I love these classic vintage designs. They are so unique and fun.

Alex Steinweiss
Steinweiss creates amusing and intricate album illustrations.

The Eames
Charles and Ray Eames created this success out of molded plywood. It is extremely comfortable and at the top of the chair chain!

Maira Kalman
Kalman has a really unique style. I thought this was a fun look at how she thinks and tweaks design.

Steven Heller
These designs feel Saul Bass-esk. They break up text in fun and visually appealing ways.

good/bad book cover designs.

 like. this is very simple yet communicates well.

like. the font is fun & continued with heart composed of dots..versus using a solid line.

 like. simple. empty space mimics attitude of title. the space feels comfortable.

 dislike. i think the red font really disrupts; maybe the red is okay but the placement is wrong.

"this means that" recap.

Signs are everywhere.

Signs are formed through the society that creates them.

Signs are always produced and consumed in the context of a specific society.

Societies have two basic sources of signing: the first source is natural, while the second is conventional.

Signs are often though: to be composed of two inseparable elements: the signifier and the signified.

Many of the signs we use to communicate are arbitrary in the sense that they are not immediately transparent to us.

When one thing is closely associated with- or directly related to- another, it can be substituted for it so as to create meaning.

When one thing is substituted for another in a piece of communication we call it a metonym.