visual advocacy

I agree (with Springer) that the Super Bowl commercials were lame. I sat through hours of football to watch them and was not impressed. I do not like football. I stare absent mindedly at the tv while the game is being played until a commercial comes on and grabs my attention. I "watch" the game for three reasons: to eat lots of food, have some good laughs, and gain some cultural awareness. This year, I only accomplished the first. I do feel that it is incredibly important to be aware of your culture in order to communicate ideas to it, and it is constantly changing and progressing. A designer has to be active and involved in the "outside world," and it's a fun way to research.

Meeting many professionals in the design community in my past few years at school, I have met many designers with quick, observant senses of humor, and if they don't have one, they appreciate others who do. They understand each other's jokes because they are culturally aware. It is also important to be passionate about the topics you're interested in and believe in, and be excited by them. If you're excited about something, you should have enough interest to stand up for it. The article discusses the competitive pitch. If an agency is proud of their work and they stand behind it, they should be able to prove they are right for the job by showing the client examples of their past work and how they solve problems. Giving away ideas for free is not fair to the agency, and is not a good partnership.

I also found the sidenote on album cover art very interesting. "It confirms album cover design as an enduring and substantial factor in design, and yet music graphics have not been treated by educators and the design establishment, with the same respect or degree of seriousness normally reserved for other forms of design." The only music graphic I have seen in an art history class was the day-glo cover for one of the sex pistols albums and possibly music posters from Hatch Show Print? Album art brings culture and design together in a direct way. Stefan Sagmeister's cd case for the Rolling Stones is an amazing piece. I once purchased a cd for its album art alone, and I went through a phase of nothing but Grateful Dead t-shirts in the 6th grade. I have always appreciated music graphics. They visualize interests from experiences that are not tangible, and people are able to express their interests through wearing them, or hanging them on the wall. My goal is to acquire enough prestige in the graphic design field to be invited to design a respectable and famous band's album cover.