reaction 3. towards relational design.

"Good design should be available to all."
-Michael Graves

(click on quote for his website)

I thought this essay was quite interesting. I liked the author's link of the history of modern design and today's marketplace of everyday good design. I think more than ever clever design that marries with function can be found in the kitchen gadget isle in Target to the selection of desk lamps at Pottery Barn. The idea of form meets function (a timeless concept in general) not only as making good design sense, but it now makes good business sense as a consuming public is more and more education on design and is willing to pay for it. I know for myself I did indeed buy that cute little broom and dustpan from the photo posted of Michael Graves work for Target. Why? Well, as a consumer with an aesthetic eye, why not sweep up the crumbs plus have a little broom that fits together with the dustpan in such a delightful way?

I found this passage relevant: "...one can trace this evolution from the early Russian Constructivists' belief in a universal language of form that could transcend class and social differences." The idea of good design for the people. How fascinating in our capitalist society that concept would live on.

more image inspiration...to early ideas for map

The top of the honeycomb pattern reminds me of the top of a house. Honeycomb=hive=home. I started to use that as the interlocking shapes of the foreclosure/families on the street map. This is just an early idea dump. The color orange feels like a home color to a grey which feels like the transition to loss. Loss of home/job/living in the car/a place to call your own.

focus for mapping: families on the street.

Here is another map image that looks a lot like the mind map I scribbled in class today. I love collecting images when I'm beginning to work on a project. The more map "like" images I see helps to visualize the map of the data I'm collecting. I found this image on this website. All hail Pentagram! The work is amazing.

Further research concludes that the housing foreclosure crisis has created a deluge of families that are now homeless. Portland is included in several articles that having an unusually high percentage of entire families living on the street or out of their car. I started a mind map in class today of the families on the street in relation to the foreclosure crisis. I am currently looking over this document for information.

begin research..everybody needs shelter.

A few links for mapping info:

1. This one is really full of stats and info.

2. This one is county and policy based.

3. This one has interview. Personal story.

reaction 2. meredith davis

My initial reaction to her keynote was that it lacked very little cohesive structure. I had to re-read the article several times and it still could not understand the points she was trying to make. In the end I just thought of my own design education thus far.

What kept popping up in my head was the thought, 'What does the client want?" This, to me, is the mantra of graphic design as a profession. Now, how does a school go about teaching that as a complete curriculum and still address the my other mantra which is "Design is not happenstance."

I believe that the two mantras go along hand in hand. When you find out what the client wants you take to the task of finding out what is in their best interest based on research, thumbnails, sketches and such. This is where "Design is not happenstance." steps in. In a world where any image or photo is available in an instant, today's graphic designer must have had the educational background to be able to have the vision to begin to pull the project together. This means as a student it is imperative to learn the reverence of graphic design history, the importance of process as a discipline, how to utilize the technical operations (Adobe) and the ability to make thoughtful choices.

I am a transfer student from Lane Community College. The two year program shone in many ways. Most importantly I was taught by almost all my teachers that graphic design is primarily a service industry. During my tenure at an internship at a graphic design firm this last summer that was made very clear. I was set up to work on a logo/branding project for a non-profit agency. I had to meet with the client(s) and skillfully marry their ideas (not designers) and mine (the designer). This means being flexible and to create a slight of hand maneuver that says to them you're listening to my ideas and for myself the room to create good design. This would have not been possible had I not have had that background education of technical,marketing and artistic skills.

This is my first term at P.S.U. To date I'm not sure what I think of the program. Quite frankly, I don't feel like I've had sufficient instruction. I do not mind researching on the Internet and looking for outside sources to make what ever project I'm working on successful, but that does not take the place of a teacher coming to class to teach. To me this means lectures, examples, in class exercises and constructive crits. I must say that last weeks crit on the fashion project was much better than my other classes where the entire class just sits and stares at the crit board as the teacher repeats, "Does anyone have feedback or comments?" Cue the crickets chirping in the background.

The only links I could think to post for this reaction were a very small sampling of design history I learned in my classes that I use for reference in my work today. In my history classes we did not spend time just studying these particular designers/schools of design and the images they created, but we also looked extensively at their design processes. This is what I kept as a component of feeling successful in my design life. 

bauhaus

swiss!

mr. rand

Plus this movie. It forces me to really look very closely at typography.

wonderfully opinionated designers galore!

This list could go forever and is quite varied but in terms of education these links made a big impact. I frequently refer back to the images/designers on this list.

project 2. thinking about the concept of a map...

Mapping. You are here and you wish to be over here. Or, how does this point on the map relate to that point. It is both literal and figurative.

The first image is from this collage artist.

And i can't not think about the great massimo vignelli concerning the topic of maps. [The image at the top.] His maps of New York City's subway system are beautiful. I would hang them on my wall as well as use them to get around.

project 1. to sum up...

[Please refer to previous posts for the evolution of the handbill, program, dress image and sketches.]

Number one was rejected because it did not have enough texture for fashion. Luke:" It looks like a skin care line for women." Point taken. Number two was better but the button holes were too big and the orange color was too autumnal and not spring-like.
With the third and final phase I made the color part of the leaves stick out a bit more and made the button hole a cream color which softened the logo and the cream looked better against the brown.

The colors for the final logo became the basis for the entire branding project. I used this logo and variations on this for the program, handbill and banner and mini-catalog.The dress was a added image I made for this particular show since they had said they were featuring mostly dresses. The logo text that I did felt a bit thrown together. If I had more time I would have worked longer to develop a type that feels more creative.

This project was at once maddening and a learning process. It was nice to take on a challenge of a really quick turnover. And I was amazed by my groups ability to pull together a fairly cohesive branding considering we had extremely varied design ideas in the beginning. I think this was the information we were given on the parameters of the branding as a whole was quite thin. Because the project had the potential to go in a million different directions this added to the design stress for me, personally. I do feel each piece could use more fine tuning which did not seem quite possible with the short time frame and and not enough crit during class time. I only mention this because this project is for a real event and is going to be judged by a panel to determine the winner. I guess I'm not used to presenting a product that isn't quite fleshed out. Luke did point out that the panel knows we only had a small time frame within to work and this was not to be a finely tuned polished presentation. That communicated I feel even better about our groups presentation.

Here are some links where I found inspiration for the project:

simple

stig lindberg

andy goldsworthy

huset

twig

simply olive