Hmmm...

I could see how this conversation could get unproductive quickly. So here are my most objective two cents I can bring myself to contribute on why it is that I am here:

I have been hanging out with both Tibor Kalman and J. Abbott Miller while researching for my DP. Both agree, as do I, that design/graphic design are "media" not "professions." In other words, a means to communication rather than a job. Somewhere within the subjective act of writing design/art history, (cough: Modernist Elitists) decided that design was really very separate from fine art, and graphic design particulary was pigeon-holed as a lower-art/applied craft.

This misconception is still common today, mainly because there hasn't been a whole lot of writing to its contrary by designers or otherwise, at least not that I have found. This myth or mentality is also perpetuated by the plethora of trade schools, and at least the community college that I've attended the during the summers). These institutions are most concerned with giving people job skills. What interested me about coming to the KCAI was that the major was medium.... "design" just like "painting" or "sculpture." Not the "visual communications" or whatever else that it was twisted into at nearly all the other art schools I applied to. It was design in the context of art. If that makes sense.

Okay... that's it. I hope it makes sense.

Poor and jobless with no portfolio

I actually value the findings and experiences I have accumulated over the years both within the institution and in the broader community. I look back at how I was (as artist and person) and evaluate how I have changed and grown in regards to both. The good and bad changes I have experienced through this trip are invaluable, ultimately making me better. Connections were made and a bridge or two were burned.

I fell into art as profession immediately after high school expecting to major in painting or illustration. Obviously I made the choice towards design. I changed and adapted. This pattern is one that will happen all throughout life, nothing stays forever and things change. The passions we have towards this field shouldn't be dictated or skewed by the inevitable consumerism and commerece. I still have passion and conviction (both rational and even unexplainable) for everything that I do and to be honest, i immoderately enjoy seeing my work within the community. It's self-indulgence at its best. Choose your battles and take on certain projects how you will; serious or light-hearted.

In the end, it's a way of life. Working is a component of that (capitalist society). High School gets you Hardees. College gets you shift manager at Hardees..just kidding. I mean, the idea of higher education is to improve our stations in life. I don't know about you but if I could create art (both dog biscuit ads and the occasional great project) I would certainly be content.

Design, as it applies to commercial use is odd at best...considering how we as students have approached our own projects within the last few years. I think there are ways to change and still keep your dignity in this industry. Through close direct client relationships and clear communication. I don't nessesarily think that EVERY client is after the $$$. We as designers have power to improve, enlighten, and inspire. These things are not disconnected with commerece. These often coexist.

"novices"

“I think I should have gone to community college”

… after today’s discussion, I wonder how many of use were thinking that,

Or “crap! The world of design has deceived me.”

Maybe I came into the world of art a bit naïve. I decided to study design initially because it was the logical course of study to satisfy my interests, which were form and typography. I wanted to make art using those elements to communicate beautiful ideas. It wasn’t until later in my education that I realized this world of design has an entirely different element involved that I wouldn’t willingly engage with. Commerce. Yuck! Why are we required to bow to the corporate machine and crank out work that can “yield profit”? Is this what we thought we were getting into when we had the dream of graduating with a degree in design?

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that attending a school of design has taught me to think conceptually and visually solve problems, it is an exceptional skill to possess, but I am really disillusioned about the commercial applications of our craft and how we will choose to engage with the inevitable questions that will arise as we are sent into the world. I wonder how many of us will stick to our guns. I certainly hope I do.

no convictions

wow.

it was pretty amazing to sit in class on monday and hear just how few convictions we have. i wonder if we are just a particularly apathetic group of people, or if we are a particularly apathetic generation. have we been taught to keep quiet because of the political-correctness campaign that has been thrown at us since a young age, or is it a response to the "tolerant" postmodern culture we are living in. it seems like everywhere we turn, we are told that tolerance is the most important quality - that no matter what our personal convictions are regarding a particularly controversial subject, we cannot voice our opinion for fear of being labeled “intolerant”. i hope my generation will be able to stand up one day and express our true convictions without fear of being labeled politically incorrect. my grandmother always said “the chicken that sticks its neck out gets served for dinner. i think it was in an attempt to quell my strong chutzpah – obviously it was a failure…

let’s think deeply about who we are, what we stand for, and what we can do with the power we have been given.

Design LAW

I found the Business and Ethical Expectations for Professional Designers to be quite interesting on a good level and also on a bad level as well. I feel as though it is very important that we as designers have something like this to fall back on when things get bad and also something to look up to as for expectations for ourselves. But should it be so business oriented, so to the book, so corporate? Does this make us more like business men and less like artists? Does this tie us down and eliminate the free spirits we have it in us to be? I feel as though there needs to be more of a happy medium. A little less business and a little more spirit...a mullet if you will...business in the front...party in the back kinda thing! We have the strong design compentencies now comes the time we promote ourselves as designers with the power to back it up!

Scary

Michael Bierut's "A Manifesto with Ten Footnotes" gave me chills while reading footnote #4. Bringing up the issue of shoes and dachshund owners, how could I not take this personally? I hate that he refers to products as gruesome. I don't believe that all designers should go protest and speak from a soap box. If that were the case then the world would be louder than it is now. There are those who take iniciative and fight back, and there are those who dodge the bullet and stay clear from certain issues that aren't as important to them as it is to others. I am that second person. I agree that dog biscuit boxes should be attractive to the consumer who is buying them, why not? Is it so wrong that I would rather create shoe boxes and ad campaignes for the Gap than to create anti-smoking ads? I am concerned for the consumers would buy cigarettes but they know what the results are in the end, its their choice, it's no secret that it causes cancer.

Fuck committees

I like this guy. Yes today there are so many rich people out there. And yes I agree that we should be nice to them in order to use their resources and we should use their help. I dont know i like what he wrote, straight to the point. That once USA was one way and now it's it the opposite and yes it is a corporate culture. And i can relate that to Russian too. When I was growing up it was one way did not see as much bright labels, fashion was more important then bright label. After visiting this summer, huge bill boards advertising smokes, ohhh on the huge building there was Bionce Knowls for L'oreal adveritising the lipstick, things like that are spreading out. Being from another country i can say that every other culture is trying to be like US. So, US should be proud and not change.

Once more

Oh yeah I like this one very much! He says, " What will happen when the best designers withdraw from that space, as First things first demands?....." Oh my gosh that is what they should do, because young people need a chance. He says we all are hypnotized about same stuff well because same people are working and working. Why not really leave and let the young people come in with fresh brains. Like I am really upset when I am looking at job postings and all I see 5 years of experience nessesary. That is so discriminative, because why am I getting this education? If I come out of college does that mean I am worth nothing, I cannot work at your company because I am young? People whom he calls great designers are great including himself but they are from another era, we are living the life that they didnt live, means we fit in better and need a chance. And who will benefit? The country will, the young generation will. So much ego it's insane! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Disagree with Michael

After reading his break down of first things first manifesto, I really got aggravated with some things that he wrote. I dont know if it was his intension to piss us off or he really thinks like that which is kind of arrogant. He is saying that we need to design work that will better the world we live in or possible United States, right? I think that it's not my responsibility to better it, yeah I can do some recycling and making sure i dont throw my cigarette buds on the streets but really that is the most things I can do because I have no money really to save the world. Educational institutions offers us so many degrees and those degrees are responsibilities. So, if I choose to design that means I will do my job and design that wrigley gum package whoever my client wants it, because It's my job to sell his product and make it work for the public. The president is the one who takes other responsibility which is taking care of the country. I am not a president I dont do what he is doing, just don't have what he has. Another thing Michael is saying that we should simlify design. I think that it's not right unless you are trying to push new ideas. I think that we are so advanced in technology today that it would be a waste of power, money and our brain to just not put it to work. I like to see bright labels and fun type on the shelves. It's the part of culture and millions want to come and visit America just to see the advertisement. I dont understand why you would want to change that, when you are being a spark.

Tibor Rocks My Socks!

I have a new design hero... I thought you might all like to know. I think that his very short article concludes in an incredibly consise solution for how to make a difference even if you end up working for corporate America. Essentially, screw the man by using there wealth and resources. If they don't go for that pitch you make for some advocacy snuck into their advertising campaign, consider I don't know: copying your zine on company time or paper, create posters with the latest software you pirated from the office, use their staples, plotter (you get the point... whatever you can get away with and not get fired). You could do more honest things like spec recycled paper for the annual report, or less harmful paper packaging over plastic packaging.

There is one point that I didn't agree with Mr. Kalman about. He said that corporations are creating things that people neither love nor hate. I think part of the problem is that designers are so good that we have the power to make people love things. I believe in the Saatchi and Saatchi Lovemark. I only hope that as a designer I can use this power to make people love things that are good for society, and the future, not the pocketbook of the man I aspire to steal staple from.

Side Note: I'm not sure how successful I was in formulating my question for Tim Hamil the other day, but in short I was glad to hear that he didn't think that he was working for a company that was harming America (whether it is or not), and that he had several really amazing examples of what he liked about Walmart besides that they are cheap. This whole idea of being an ethical designer really is nothing except a personal issue. If you personally feel comfortable about the companies/accounts that you work for is what is going to count in the long run. I am just really happy that this class is making me generate my own limitations, and realize that I am not the only designer that is gung-ho about making a difference in the world (no matter how taboo that seems to be in the current / postmodern art scene). At the very least it has come to my attention that even if I can't work for some cultural force rather than a corporation, I regard it my responsibility to do no harm, if not improve the status quo.

Pentagram in KC version two

This one is for Landon

Landon, I agree with you on a certain level. Midwest design sucks. oh, sorry, sorry...being a midwest designer sucks. Having a firm/company located near the client or work seems logical. right?

Considering that people are far less conservative than those in the midwest, design groups on the coasts to do seem to capture the more radical clients in which more radical designs would be allowed and utilzed. I'm not sure this is a result of ease or reputation. However, we as midwest designers must prevail. There is a strong and growing force of more radical and progressive designers that are creating work right here in the midwest and are even getting international attention within the larger design community. Due to technology and the internet, midwest designers are allowed to compete with other coastal designers. There is more and more focus on midwest design, generally acknowledged for its clean, conservative, and even smart designs but those ideals have evolved. They have evolved into something more.

--------------------------------------------
checkout MikePerry : www.midwestisbest.com

this midwest designer is reponsible for the amazing artwork that is associated with the infamous Urban Outfitters.
--------------------------------------------
checkout MK12 : www.mk12.com

Kansas City based animation/motion/print graphic group recognized internationally.
--------------------------------------------

Pentagram in KC?

The whole time that Michael B. was talking i kept thinking, wondering, if that if Pentagram was base-stationed here in kansas city, if the success of the company would be the same. i feel as though they get these great design jobs because of the company location in NYC. It seems logical that they do the street directional signage for lower manhattan, because of the ease to see the actual location on demand. I feel that is what kansas city is lacking. right now i don't feel there is anything that would be drawing large companies to have there work designed in the midwest. i don't think that design is taken as seriously here in this area. It makes amanda's comment the other day that people really don't realize that EVERYTHING is designed. I feel that the design culture on the coasts is more respected mainly because of the large amount of coverage it gets.

Mao comes to town

If I remember correctly, we had a discussion last week about propaganda. As we gazed at a slide showing Mao’s face looming over a city square in communist China, Brockett made a comment to the effect of “We don’t really have a context for this type of propaganda in our culture – it’s pretty rare that you see a huge face on the side of a building in Kansas City.” Well Brockett, this is your lucky week!

If anyone has driven by the Plaza lately, you could not have missed the 8-story portrait of Lance Armstrong on the side of the American Century building. His face is accompanied by the tag line: “Put Your Lance Face On”… nobody really knows what it means or why it’s there… but suddenly we have someone watching over us.

Is this a type of propaganda? The Kansas City Star ran an article on the strange advertisement, revealing to its readers that the CEO of American Century recently beat cancer and felt an expression of solidarity was necessary – but does the entire city need to know? To associate Lance Armstrong and cancer with American Century doesn’t make too much sense to begin with – but we’ll have to assume it’s there for a reason. And until we find out what that reason is: we can rest in knowing that Lance is watching over us.

guerrilla advertising

Wow. Michael Bierut's lecture was amazing. As he spoke on Friday about the recent campaigns he has engaged in, I found it quite relevant when he brought up the issue of guerrilla campaigns (particularly the Ted fiasco). I noticed how the vibe in the room immediately became jovial as we all watched these unsuspecting people thank a fictitious man Ted was responsible for so many kind acts around the city of Denver. Advertising agencies seem to be resorting to these underground techniques more and more, probably in order to engage on a personal level with their audience. We are all so cynical about advertising, because it feels a lot like coercion - and guerrilla marketing seems to be a way to undermine those sentiments.
Furthermore, I am not sure if this technique is horribly sneaky, or brilliant. I know I would like Ted to buy me flowers, or a cup of coffee, but when I found out who Ted really was, would it make me feel more manipulated than a traditional advertising campaign? Who knows, we'll just have to wait for Ted to come to town.

visual advocacy

Internet banner ads are an instance of narrow casting. I’m not sure how many sites do this, but on my excite account there is always a small banner ad at the top
that changes between all the stores I shop at online.

If you’d like to read all about how banner ads
work go here:
http://money.howstuffworks.com/banner-ad.htm

visual advocacy

right on zeitler! i agree that we should push for the dirty work of advertising to be left to the "pr" people. a designer is not a copywriter or an advertising executive. we need to re-define our job description in this world of multi-tasking-do-it-yourself-ers. i beleive that we have been trained to design - which is essentially a vocational skill, and we are not responsible for the art of persuasion. or are we? i would like to believe that we are only resonsible for the visual elements of our work, but they are so closely linked with the message of the product, and the marketing strategy that we soon find ourselves in the slippery slope of the dangerous "gray area".
even today, as we were struggling to define luxury, it became difficult to differentiate between what was acceptable societal norms, and the extravagant items left for the elite. each of us had a different definition of luxury (based on the items we each described... socks, porche, estate planners, etc...) with the objects varying so greatly, it made me begin to wonder whether or not there is such a thing as luxury. are these things up to the designer to define? or is it the population? and why would we try to promote something as "luxurious" (for instance) if we do not believe ourselves, that it is such an item.

Not Cool

All of this talk about the impropriety of the advertising business makes me want to stay far, far away from its seductive prestige, money, and fancy offices. All that we have hashed out in regards to cause-related advertising is that it is socially "questionable" at best. Where does that leave the rest of advertising? Like Stef said in a previous post "designers are being hired", and in some cases it is to do the dirty work. Why has it become our job to stretch the small deeds of companies into saintly acts? Can we give this job back to Public Relations people? Is design advantageous because it allows companies to present a message into the public domain from a neutral entity? Like we talked about with our assignments on Wed. it's the ambiguity of the designer's voice/identity that allows us to believe the American Heart Association put their seal on the Cherrios box, and that it was CARE recognizing Starbucks, and not Starbucks boasting its deeds in Natasha's work. Whether it's a harmless fib or an out right lie to embrace such ambiguity I'm not sure. But, I'm pretty sure I don't want to walk that line with the goal of boosting profits in mind... maybe if I can be convinced that it will truly benefit the cause it would be a different story.

What target market are we?

Aaron and Erin are ages 18-24
They either attend college or are recently graduated.
They are searching for careers while working a part-time job.
They are searching for a prospective lifestyle while living at home, an apartment or a house/loft.

What this target market needs:
•Give me something new and fresh. Sell me an idea of a lifestyle that I find desirable for my near future.
•I want the best but only have the income for what's affordable.
•I want to be related to. And I want to relate to the great jobs and amazing downtown loft living.
•I want to be emersed in it all, be where it all is.
•I will buy into the ccreative, independent, and fast paced.
•I spend on things for myself that I may not need but find refreshing and beneficial to my lifestyle.
•I am always on the move and constantly have a list of things to accomplish.
•I like to hang out with friends, go to parties and drink occasionally.

Aaron and Erin's demographic is perfect for a new and innovative product, something to keep up with the fast paced life style they lead. They want color and sleek design, maximum user effeciency and something that makes a statement about who they are at the moment. They need something with all of these traits that will not break their budget and that will last. The product should last because at this influential stage we should be selling them on brand loyalty.

Socially minded advertising

Cause marketing can be a great thing as long as it is working for the good of both parties. As soon as a company, new or otherwise, is out of the red, they should begin to think of what sponsorship would be the correct pairing. I don't even disagree with the pairing of motor vehicles and breats cancer sponsorship. If motor sales need more women buyers and breast cancer research needs more funding then why is this relationship questioned? I do see, however that the seal of a worthy campain can be bought for a flat fee and then, basically, rented for each year following and how this relationship may not be fair. The major corporation renting the seal should be invested enough to the cause to want to give all that is possible. Although, if they give more money to the cause is it then coming out of the workers pockets? There is a definite beginning and end to these "good" deeds. And as Judith Schwartz says about large corporations, "the bottom line is profit and self-interest." This fact will never change but as long as both parties are benefitting and worthy charities are recieving more money than before their alliance formed, then I believe the pairing is valid and arguably great for charities that may have been overlooked. Judith is right in saying that these alliances must be well thought out so as each party can find comfort in a "win-win" situation.

-Amy Hubbard

i believe that the question of designing socially responsible works often contradicts the purpose of the graphic designer. we are an army of artists who hire ourselves out to produce work for others to benefit from. we have been likened to the "prostitutes" of the art world and i think it is time that we revisit the definition of our artform and admit that everything we produce has to be fueled by our personal convictions. the very suggestion that design can be objective is preposterous. as kathy mccoy states, "the ideal of value-free design is a dangerous myth. in fact, all design solutions carry a bias, either explicit or implicit." it is one thing to sell ourselves to the corporate giants for profit - it is another thing to live in denial of our own convictions for the sake of profit.

I agree that as designers we have certain responsibilities. First we have to give respect to the client cause he is the one that is paying you and try to design what he wants. But at the same time have the skill to advice the client on what would be right and more acceptable and succesful. Sometimes i think like designers are some sort of artistic shrinks, cause we listen to what client has to say and then we go and respond on that with a messege in which we can present many possibilities that are much greater than what the client expected.
I think that designers should have some idea what is going on in a government not nessesarily know everything cause this will not happen to me cause I dont watch CNN. And know what is going on in different countries. Like if you got a job overseas it would be nice to know what is up there and does it really worth it to do a job in a certain place? But I dont have to be a good citizen to be a good designer. The person could be the biggest piece of shit but also have great creativity and dedication to the work.

Sell Out

visual advocacy: January 2006

To sell out is to put aside one’s personal beliefs in exchange for some sort of reward such as prestige or the all mighty dollar. It is unfortunately easy to do in this society of wanting, and often the only consequence is the individual’s conscience and self worth. The betrayal of his principals may make his reward bittersweet.

Responsibility

I find responsibility to be a realization that personal action (or inaction for that matter) has consequences. Usually the choice to experience positive or negative reprocussions as the result of your actions is solely yours. Yet, given the fact that every person is part of a community, family, church, workplace, school, etc. personal actions can have consequences for others. So more than doing the right thing for yourself, it is also a matter of accountability, and thoughtfulness.

I agree

hey landon i can hear you - 10-4

After reading Kathy McCoy's article, I can't help but feel as if I am just another one of the soldiers marching one after the other, doing as I'm told, following the group. I would love to create work that spoke about politics, the environment, social classes, current events, economics issues and what-not, but when do these issues arise? I feel as if I create all my work out of self-indulgence and am ignorant about all other views. I need to work on this. back to you


Natalie

is this on? (tap, tap, tap)

OK, i joined....just seeing if i was doing this correctly....i'm new to blogging!

i'm sure no body looks at this anymore, but this is somewhat amusing. hey, some people use quotes for "blogs" i'll use websites. i'll keep posting until I get my e-mail affirming my "BIG 10".

http://www.adguystarterkit.com/

PLEASE LOOK AT THIS WEBSITE!

ok this is kind of scarey. garrett...this one is especially for you. code it dude.

http://www.lightover.com/epic/

Society for Responsible Design

The Society for Responsible Design, Inc was founded in 1989 by designers who wanted to be part of the solution -- not the problem. The aim of the SRD is to work towards a sustainable future through environmentally and socially responsible design practices. Objectives include the promotion and dissemination of information on responsible design among Australian designers, manufacturers and end-users. Fostering a market for environmentally responsible products and services is also a high priority.

A non-profit volunteer-based organisation, membership to the SRD is open to all persons and businesses with an interest in sustainable design. The SRD embraces all streams of design from architecture, interiors, furniture, industrial, apparel, textile, landscape, exhibition, graphic, packaging and more. An annual series of public SRD Talks brings together presenters from all these professions. A quarterly newsletter, Loose Leaves, keeps members informed on current issues and often includes transcripts of the SRD Talks.

Having collected 'green' design information for the past 10 years the SRD has a wealth of data that is being transferred to the digital form of the EcoInfoBank. A computer register of SRD members provides the SkillsBank referral service. The SRD has organised various exhibitions to further promote materials, products and services with an environmental or social benefit.

For membership and more information about the SRD's activities contact:

Society for Responsible Design, Inc.
PO Box 288, Leichhardt NSW 2040
T (02)9564 0721 F (02)9564 1611
Email: srd@green.net.au
Web: http://www.green.net.au/srd

check it!

http://www.serendipitydesign.com/green/responsibility.html

Citizen Designer

In reading book reviews for Citizen Designer I came across a group of questions that I thought might be good for us to look over once again. These are some good points that even if you haven’t thought about while reading this book you might question yourself before we enter the “real world” . All in all: read, think, regurgitate.

Can a designer effect political and/or social change?
What does it mean to be a responsible designer?
What does it mean to be design conscious?
What does it mean to be a designer in this corporate-driven, over-branded, global consumer culture?
Who are designers responsible to?
Who do these designers work for?
Are they researching clients, making sure these are not fraudulent, polluting or abusing? Do they still work for them?
Do they take a stand?
Or figure bills need to be paid?
What is responsible design?

Raise your voice...

We were the students yesterday,

We are the designers today.

We will change the world with design responsibility tomorrow.

Raise your voice.

For the greatness of Visual Advocacy

One thing that I noticed during the Degree Project presentation - that we all went through greatfully!, was that every single of us, stating designers are very aware of the importance of Design responsibility.
yes, the class with lots of readings and talking-almost gave me pressure, however the result is...SUCCESSFUL!
I learned a lot in class also personally, beacuse I did not think that deeply about designer with ethics before.
now I'm a lot fulfilled my self with my own resonsibility toward design.
I hope everyone felt same way. We are the great designers!!

From Lincoln

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
-Abraham Lincoln

The big ten

Blog number ten. Well, isnt this something. I just want to say that this has been a ride, and as hectic as things get, I enjoyed every bit of it. Im so glad to have met you all, and glad of the opportunity to get to know you for quite some time. I look forward to seeing what each of us contributes to the design world in the future.

Design is also persona

A persona can be designed, and can lure the public to want to have it. Why in the world would you want to act like Paris Hilton? She has branded herself so well, that young girls everywhere want to be her. Its a horrible thing. Your identity should never be a brand of someone else. Especially a very...non-role model-like person.

get excited about work

I feel sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile.
-Walter Chrysler

words from the man

I have always tried to show why art has to do with life. Only from art can a new concept of economics be formed, in terms of human need, not in the sense of use and consumption, politics and property, but above all in terms of the production of spiritual goods.

--Joseph Beuys

Thanks Brockett

Its hard to go to a class in the morning and be bright and alert and willing to learn, but Ill tell you what, Brockett puts up a good effort to put smiles on all of our sour faces. And I think thats pretty darn cool. And the chi, oh the chi.

accepting insanity

Its a new feeling for me...true near insanity. But you know what? The ol' saying is true. What wont kill you, will make you stronger. And this semester is proving that. Its sucks going nuts, but at the same time we will all have very good r&r after this journey.

Q & A's: They evolve as we do....

It has recently been brought up in class that our citizen design book offers more questions than answers. There are numerous examples of what people dont like, what is wrong, and how we as designers should fix it. But there are never too many solutions to the problems. But what is important to remember, is that the people writing these articles are designers who have solved many problems already. And now they face new problems/issues for our generation to provide a solution for. Then, once we get out into the world and start solving the problems that we discuss is class, we'll start publishing articles with questions for the next generation of designers to answer. And so on... Q&A's, they evolve as we do.

Crazy about Tibor Kalman

Check this site~ there are great qoutes!

http://www.undesign.org/glimpses.html

Saving the best for last.

Great words of wisdom about life from a man with a life time within design, Milton Glaser.


The following speech was delivered by Milton Glaser at the AIGA Voice Conference on 23rd March 2002. We thank Mr. Glaser for his kind permission to use the text.

This Is What I Have Learned
by Milton Glaser

Like all of us I was in a state of shock after September 11th. The trauma and madness of the event stirred up all the fears about annihilation and uncertainty of my earliest childhood. For six or seven weeks I could think of nothing else and spent my time trying not to feel powerless and impotent. I wanted to use my skill and training as a designer to affect the situation. I was not alone in this regard. Many designers in and out of New York, feeling they had a public responsibility, produced images and words to help us deal with this unprecedented event. I felt proud to be part of a profession where serving the needs of the public was considered appropriate and necessary.

All I ever wanted to do was to make images and create form. This instinct for form-making seems to be something that is very characteristic of our entire species. It's one of the things that almost defines humankind. I like the idea of cultures that do not have an idea of art as a separate activity from their daily life, such as many African groups, where there isn't a word that approaches the idea of art. They are very interested in containing magic but that is another thing. Among the Balinese, there is no word for art. They just say 'we do things the best that we can.' Which is a nice way to think about what we all do. I am going to tell you everything that I know about the practice of design. It is a sort of collage of bits and pieces that I have assembled over 50 years. It includes a lot of things I've said before but I've repackaged them rather attractively. This is what I've learned.

Number 1
YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
It took me a long time to learn this rule because at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism inferred that you didn't necessarily have to like the people that you worked for, and should maintain an arms length relationship to them. As a result, I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Some years ago I realised that I was deluded. In looking back, I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. Affection, trust and sharing some common ground is the only way good work can be achieved. Otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.

Number 2
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the radio and heard an interviewer ask 'Now that you have reached 75 have you any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?' An irritated voice said 'Why is everyone asking me about old age these days?' I recognised the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he was - the composer and philosopher who influenced people like Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him slightly and admired his contribution to our times. 'You know, I do know how to prepare for old age' he said. 'Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceeding well prepared for my old age' he said.

Number 3
SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties an old geezer named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the 'whole' before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn't matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible.

Number 4
PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
Early in my career I couldn't wait to become a professional. That was my complete aspiration in my early life because professionals seemed to know everything - not to mention they got paid well for it. Later I discovered after working for a while that professionalism itself was a limitation. After all, what professionalism means in most cases is limiting risks. So if you want to get your car fixed you go to a mechanic who knows how to deal with transmission problems in the same way each time. I suppose if you needed brain surgery you wouldn't want the doctor to fool around and invent a new way of connecting your nerve endings. Please doc, do it in the way that has worked in the past.

Unfortunately in our field, in a so-called creative activity - I've begun to hate that word. I especially hate when it is used as a noun. I shudder when I hear someone called a creative. Anyhow, when you are doing something in a recurring way to diminish risk or doing it in the same way as you have done it before, it is clear why professionalism is not enough. After all, what is desirable in our field, is continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. Professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.

Number 5
LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realised that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you cannot say that less is more because you realise that every part of that rug, every change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. 'Just enough is more.'

Number 6
STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED
I think this idea first occurred to me when I was looking at a marvellous etching of a bull by Picasso. It was an illustration for a story by Balzac called The Hidden Masterpiece. I am sure that you all know it. It is a bull that is expressed in 12 different styles going from very naturalistic version of a bull to an absolutely reductive single line abstraction and everything else along the way. What is clear just from looking at this single print is that style is irrelevant. In every one of these cases, from extreme abstraction to acute naturalism they are extraordinary regardless of the style. It's absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve your loyalty. I must say that for old design professionals it is a problem because the field is driven by economic consideration more than anything else. Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much of the same thing too often. So every ten years or so there is a stylistic shift and things are made to look different. Typefaces go in and out of style and the visual system shifts a little bit. If you are around for a long time as a designer, you have an essential problem of what to do. Incidentally, it's popular for designers to claim they have no style but this is generally not true. Most good designers have developed a vocabulary, a form that is their own. It is one of the ways that they distinguish themselves from their peers, and establish their identity in the field. How you maintain your own belief system and preferences becomes a real balancing act. As a career progresses the question of whether you pursue change or whether you maintain your own distinct form becomes difficult. We have all seen the work of illustrious practitioners that suddenly look old-fashioned or, more precisely, belonging to another moment in time. And there are sad stories such as the one about Cassandre, arguably the greatest graphic designer of the twentieth century, who couldn't make a living at the end of his life and committed suicide. But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn't want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn't violate your sense of integrity and purpose.

Number 7
HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
The brain is the most responsive organ of the body. Actually it is the organ that is most susceptible to change and regeneration of all the organs in the body. I have a friend named Gerald Edelman who was a great scholar of brain studies and says that the analogy of the brain to a computer is pathetic. The brain is actually more like an overgrown garden that is constantly growing and throwing off seeds, regenerating and so on. And he believes that the brain is susceptible, in a way that we are not fully conscious of, to almost every experience of our life and every encounter we have. I was fascinated by a story in a newspaper a few years ago about the search for perfect pitch. A group of scientists decided that they were going to find out why certain people have perfect pitch. You know certain people hear a note precisely and are able to replicate it at exactly the right pitch. Some people have relative pitch; perfect pitch is rare even among musicians. The scientists discovered - I don't know how - that among people with perfect pitch the brain was different. Certain lobes of the brain had undergone some change or deformation that was always present with those who had perfect pitch. This was interesting enough in itself. But then they discovered something even more fascinating. If you took a bunch of kids and taught them to play the violin at the age of 4 or 5 after a couple of years some of them developed perfect pitch, and in all of those cases their brain structure had changed. Well what could that mean for the rest of us? We tend to believe that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, although we do not generally believe that everything we do affects the brain. I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, 'Don't hang out with those bad kids.' Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behaviour. I also believe that drawing works in the same way. I am a great advocate of drawing, not in order to become an illustrator, but because I believe drawing changes the brain in the same way as the search to create the right note changes the brain of a violinist. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy.

Number 8
DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
Everyone always talks about confidence and believing in what you do. I remember once going to a class in Kundalini yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a more practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being sceptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between scepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one's openness to the world as passionate belief is. They are sort of twins.

Number 9
SOLVING THE PROBLEM IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING RIGHT.
Ultimately, if we're lucky, we begin to understand that always being right is a delusion. There is a significant sense of self-righteousness in both the art and design world. Perhaps it begins at school. Art school often promote the Ayn Rand model of the single personality resisting the ideas of the surrounding culture. The theory is that as an individual you can transform the world, which is true up to a point but as someone once said 'In the battle between you and the world, bet on the world.' One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty.

Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, in our work the issue is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know when compromise is appropriate. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad - the client, the audience and you.

Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable. But self-righteousness is often the enemy. Self-righteousness and narcissism generally come out of some sort of childhood trauma, which we do not have to go into. It is a consistently mischievous element in human affairs. Some years ago I read a most remarkable thing about love, that also applies to the nature of co-existing with others. It was a quotation by Iris Murdoch from her obituary. It read 'Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.' Isn't that fantastic! The best insight on the subject of love that one can imagine.

Last year someone gave me a charming book by Roger Rosenblatt called 'Ageing Gracefully'. I got it on my birthday. I did not appreciate the title at the time but it contains a series of rules for ageing gracefully. The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that 'it doesn't matter.' 'It doesn't matter that what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn't say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don't get that promotion or prize or house or if you do - it doesn't matter.' Wisdom at last. A week or two later I read a joke that I haven't been able to get out of my head. A butcher was opening his market one morning and as he did a rabbit popped his head through the door. The butcher was surprised when the rabbit inquired 'Got any cabbage?' The butcher said 'This is a meat market - we sell meat, not vegetables.' The rabbit hopped off. The next day the butcher is opening the shop and sure enough the rabbit pops his head round and says 'You got any cabbage?' The butcher now irritated says 'Listen you little rodent I told you yesterday we sell meat, we do not sell vegetables and the next time you come here I am going to grab you by the throat and nail those floppy ears to the floor.' The rabbit disappeared hastily and nothing happened for a week. Then one morning the rabbit popped his head around the corner and said 'Got any nails?' The butcher said 'No.' The rabbit said 'Ok. Got any cabbage?' My last rule is based on an article I wrote in the AIGA Journal some years ago and also refers to the sense of public responsibility I mentioned in my opening remarks.

Number 10
TELL THE TRUTH.
The rabbit joke is relevant because it occurred to me that looking for a cabbage in a butcher's shop might be like looking for ethics in the design field. It may not be the most obvious place to find either. It's interesting to observe that in the new AIGA's code of ethics there is a significant amount of useful information about appropriate behaviour towards clients and other designers, but not a word about a designer's relationship to the public. In daily life we expect a butcher to sell us eatable meat and not to misrepresent his wares. I remember reading that during the Stalin years in Russia that everything labelled veal was actually chicken. I can't imagine what everything labelled chicken was. We can accept certain kinds of misrepresentation, such as fudging about the amount of fat in his hamburger but once a butcher betrays our trust by knowingly selling us spoiled meat we go elsewhere. As a designer, do we have less responsibility to our public than a butcher? Our meat is information. Everyone interested in licensing our field might note that the reason licensing has been invented is to protect the public not designers or clients. 'Do no harm' is an admonition to doctors concerning their relationship to their patients, not to their fellow practitioners or the drug companies. Incidentally, if we were licensed, telling the truth might become more central to what we do.

I went to Las Vegas for the last AIGA convention. Someone once claimed that Vegas was the greatest single work of art the human species has yet produced. I was staying in a hotel called the Venetian, which had more clouds painted on the ceilings of the hallways than had ever been executed in 15th century Venice.

I went up to the reception desk and I said 'I understand that there is a Grand Canal here' and she said 'Yes we have one here.' I said 'Where is it?' She said 'One flight up!'

What a concept. The earth reeled beneath my feet when I thought about it. I took the stairs up and there indeed was the Grand Canal with gondolas and gondoliers who will cheerfully take you to St. Marco Plaza, which was just around the corner in perpetual twilight. If you sit in the plaza even though it is under a plaster ceiling, the waiter will ask you 'Would you like to sit inside or outside?'

One day the plumbing broke down and the ghastly smell started to fill the game rooms. Actually it was very much like Venice in the summertime. I wondered if they might be doing this intentionally. Is there such a thing as a virtual smell? I never found out but on the way back I took a flight that I thought might have been influenced by its proximity to Las Vegas. When I got on board a stewardess came from the back of the cabin carrying steaming towels, I had never seen towels steaming that much - they were billowing. I realised as she approached that the steam wasn't coming from the towels. The source was a wineglass she was balancing on her tray. 'What's in glass?' I inquired. 'Dry ice,' she replied. 'Is that for the drama?' I asked. She said 'yes.'

So I tried to imagine the meaning of all this and where the decision to do it was made. In the boardroom? The advertising agency or perhaps on the flight? Who benefits? I wondered. Could the thinking be that if the glass were steaming enough people would remember and next time they book a flight they would want to go with an airline that had steaming towels? Because if they paid attention to hot towels they might also be attentive to whether the plane was going to land or not. How about the man in the last aisle who put a steaming towel on his face that was ice cold and immediately thought that he had had a stroke. I don't know exactly why this modest misrepresentation bothered me but it did. For one thing, lies erode your ability to act. Ultimately the lie is an instrument of power.

One must start with the presumption that telling the truth is important for human survival, but at this moment of relativism and virtuality, I'm not sure how many would agree on what truth is or how important it is in our private and professional lives.

But we must begin somewhere. The question becomes a professional one, because as designers or communicators (the preferred current description), we are constantly informing the public, transmitting information, and affecting the beliefs and values of others. Should telling the truth be a fundamental requirement of this role? Is there a difference between telling the truth to your wife and family and telling the truth to a general public? What is that difference? We also cannot overlook the pervasive power of advertising, the activity that drives our economy and does more to shape our idea of truth in communication than any single thing.

Two years ago, as I was doing the illustrations for Dante s Purgatory, I got very interested in the Road to Hell and designed a little questionnaire to see where I stood in terms of my own willingness to lie. So here it is - 12 steps in the Road to Hell. I personally have taken a number of them.

1. Designing a package to look bigger on the shelf.
2. Doing an ad for a slow, boring film to make it seem like a light-hearted comedy.
3. Designing a crest for a new vineyard to suggest that it has been in business for a long time.
4. Designing a jacket for a book whose sexual content that you find personally repellent.
5. Designing a medal using steel from the World Trade Center to be sold as a profit-making souvenir of September 11th.
6. Designing an advertising campaign for a company with a history of known discrimination in minority hiring.
7. Designing a package for children whose contents you know are low in nutrition value and high in sugar content.
8. Designing a line of t-shirts for a manufacture that employs child labour.
9. Designing a promotion for a diet product that you know doesn't work.
10. Designing an ad for a political candidate whose policies you believe would be harmful to the general public.
11. Designing a brochure for an SUV that turned over frequently in emergency conditions known to have killed 150 people.
12. Designing an ad for a product whose frequent use could result in the user's death.

The range goes from making a package that seems a little bigger to somebody's death. The interesting thing is how slippery that slope is and how easy it is to move from stage to stage until you arrive at the ultimate human sin. But then again, why talk about it. This discussion has been going on since the dawn of history. But something occurred to me the other night. Imagine that the butcher goes out shopping one morning and before he makes his first purchase a vision of the rabbit's face comes to him. He thinks about how adorable that rabbit was, even though a bit of a pest, and at that moment he decides to buy a pound of cabbage instead of a pound of nails.

About the Author
Milton Glaser was born on June 26 1929, in New York City. He has been a seminal force in graphic design for over fifty years: co-founder of the Push Pin Studios in the '50s and New York Magazine with Clay Felker in the late '60s, as well as establishing his own multi-disciplinary design studio, Milton Glaser, Inc. in the '70s. His works include the I love NY logo, the quintessential Dylan image and more than 400 posters. Milton Glaser has been teaching continuously for 40 years at the School of Visual Arts. Mr. Glaser's new book on design, Art is Work, was published in November 2000.

Need Help Defining Yourself? Have No Fear Ford is Here!

I recieved a mailer from Ford today. It is an 05 college student purchase program. The headline says "define yourself". Just in the nick of time! The cover has an awesome rock poser guy whaling on the guitar in a back breaking pose, which is complimented by colorful and blury pictures of a rock concert and head bangin chic gettin down. I already have my credit card out.
I flip over the card and actually read further...

How do you define yourself?
A free spirit? Adventurous? Wild and crazy or simply laid back? whatever your personality - we have a vehicle to match your own unique style.

I'll spare you guys the rest but it goes on to talk about $500 cash bonus (which is foot noted for some fine print) and a chance to enter and win the ford "define your prize" giveaway (another foot noted event) I can get an itunes gift card, or an ipod photo, or $10,000. YAY! (I've never seen so many exlamation points on such a small piece of paper!)

I wish there where html tags for emotions cause I'm pissed and not sure if all the sarcasim is coming through my blog right now. How did they get my address? Why are they sending me this bullshit? And why are they wasting so much energy sending out this bullshit? Does it really work... ever... what the dilly yo? Someone please graduate and teach Ford some "truth in advertising" and not a bunch of new and shiny bullshit.

I have to say I do feel that your vechicle is an extention of you and your personality but not a definition of it.(Unless you're shallow and need a car to define you. Maybe the market Ford is targeting here?) Why is such importance placed on the things we own? I've heard many quotes about material things, ecspecially well designed material things having souls. I disagree, even in the case of well designed artifacts, they are still just things. I'm not tryin to slam design, but any importance/personality/"soul" that an object posseses is put there by us as owners, or an advertisements as sellsmen. It is rediculous to me that a car, house, t-shirt, etc. could define me or my personality. I think the opposite is true we, as owners/consumers, define it. We are the ones with the power to place impartance on objects.

OK my point... you're not you're fucking car you're something greater, have some self respect.

Russian Constructivism

I'm writing paper on the Russian Constructivism in Hitsroty of Modern Design class.

I was thinking about the designers back then and designers today.

I belive we, as today's designers have courage and willing-to-do-mind as much

as those constructivists in Russia in early 1920's.

But what is not really working is that whole groups of designers do not cooperate

each other, instead, they are making the other designers look bad.

The corporate designers trying to fight with each other in very nasty way - I think.

And It is all brought up by the consumers.

I wish there are someone or something who can bring all of designers together happily - not trying to hurt each other.

Will it be possible?

Germany

I saw the flyers around..called "What happens in Weimar, stays in Weimar"..hmmm..really?

After I was reading No Logo, and I think it is the second reading we are supposed to read,

I like to talk to you guys how the AMERICAN CULTURE effects Europe, specially in Germany.

I stayed in Swaebisch Hall, Sounthern Germany for almost six months and it was a really good experience.

Everyday when I turned on the TV - to learn some of the Deutsch..never ever really got it - but MTV was always playing American pop songs, always! and everyone that I got to know was talking about the American celebrities-how they live, relationships to whom. blah, blah~ even I noticed that every stores I go I only heard Britney Spears and Usher. Every young people were super excited to go to their concerts and I think Usher came to Germany almost once a month (the song 'YEAH" was really really popular!)

The point that I like to address is that the power of American Consumerism and Culture is bigger than we know.

And the design responsibility gets more serious..don't you think?...yeah!

Shame on Nike

On wednesday I wanted to talk about Nike and thier P.L.A.Y. program, but we didn't get to it (whata waste) Anyway it really really pisses me of that NIKE puts up the good guy flag of donating to ghetto basketball courts, when really they are getting tax deducted advertising space. I mean is it a win win situation or is it exploitation of poor communities and the people who live in them? The article tends to make feel more like it is exploitation... but that was kinda the overall tone.

Any ideas? I'd like to rant on this, but need more info.

P.S. In the tarvis power hour of news this week a kid was robbed on the street for his new jordans, however the robber let the kid keep his money for the bus fare. What The Fuck ? Perhaps NIKE should hook up the owners of high profile shoes (like the new jordans) with small bottles of mace for just such an instance. They could be part of program call D.E.F.E.N.S.E. and the bottles of mace will be designer colors with NIKE swooshes on them! Oh oh wait the mace canisters will be in the form of NIKE swooshes they'll give em out for free if you fill out a survey on coolness and give NIKE all your personal info. Yah Yah

get your war on too

well since the individual im doing for my magazine spread has an online comic i thought id leave the link to go at look at some of them. They are pretty funny and intellegent too. so if you need a break or something heres some stuff to look at.

old school link
http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war.html
you can fix that if you want garrett i dont care

Proud

I just want to tell all of you how proud of you I am. It has been such an opportunity to go to school with such talented individuals, I will miss all of you. I am so excited to see how each of us do in our futures, I really hope we can all stay intouch, e-mail works where ever we go. Good luck to everyone on our 40 min. presentations!

Mothers

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer weiners, and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "its okay honey, Mommy's here."
Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.
For all of the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their shirts and diapers in their purse.
For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.
For all of the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors
for the mothers who froze their ass off on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from their warm cars, so that when their kids asked, "did you see me, Mom?" they could say, "Of course, I would not have missed it for the world," and ment it.
This is for all of the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat. For all the mothers who read "goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year. And then read it again. "Just one more time."
This is for all of the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from war.
Appriciate and respect your mother, she is a precious gift. Remember mothers day!!!!!!

First, an apology for clogging bandwidth.

But my ADD makes it almsot impossible for me to keep thoughts in a coherant manner without writting or drawing them. I was thinking about the auto industry, and how technology (generally respected as a good thing as far as innovations go in other industries) has infiltrated the way cars, drivers, and the road all work together. In my opinion, there are a lot of technologcial advances like ABS and Airbags which can really save drivers in bad situations. But is there and over-techno-gizmo obsession here? is the over-design of cars becoming a platform for technology to be the selling opint, ie: our cars have more gadgets to keep you on the road (allowing you to be less focused on driving the car, because the car makes up for your distractions) so buy us not them!

It bothers and scares me to see people bragging or instilling such confidence in a microchip while they drive a 5000 pund vehicle. Personally, and this is probably the enthusiast talking, I like to feel the vehicle in my hands and at my feet, and its that feeling which gives me confidence as a driver, not knowing that my car will (if i bought one of these cars) can apply the brakes or counter steer the tires when it gets out of control. If the car gets out of control with me behind the wheel, its not up to the car manufacturer to take responsibility and load me up with numbing safety deevices. I say if you can't keep a car under control in all forseeable circumstances, you shouldn't have a driver's license, which should truly be the measure of safety on the public roads. Not the computer controlled aspects that your car may posses.

OK, i hope that made sense. Thanks for putting up with my rants.

Bill Hicks

I have a Bill Hicks CD with many funny and insightful rants. I used to just think he was funny but recently I have see a little more than just jokes in his work. He talks about Bush, anti-war, marketing/advertising, arrested development, even semiotics (in the form of a fetus ---- see Me & Saddamm last half of the track) Anyway I will make a copy and pass it round the studio for anyone interrested.

On Running in packs...

I'm reading the "No Logo" excerpt for tomorrow's class, and I find myself wondering where I was during my teen years and this atom-bomb of teen/youth marketing. The quote: "If you sell to one, you sell to everyone in their class and everyone in their school" makes me think about how I responded to marketing in those days.

I don't think I'm one of these people who would pay up for brand-name products, or image-related goods, or anything like that. Are you guys those kinds of consumers? Were you in highshool?

I'm not sure if it's just the kids who spend their parent's money, or kids who went to big schools, or what. But I don;t recall ever buying something out of lust or popularity of the item over it's function/use/benefit in my life. Sure, I wanted to buy cool things, be one of those kids, but this idea of selling to everyone in my highschool is way off for me. Nothing I ever spent money on became a commodity within my peergroup, nor vice versa, except maybe our Powerbooks (and my iPod, but I'm talking about highschool here). Maybe I'm thinking too highly of my purchase-making decisions, but I really wonder how those kids at the big suburban schools in Denver got their grubby hands on all that shit. I mean shit, too, like whatever was in the movies or on TV could be located at these places, but nowhere near me. What's the deal? Money? or Personal taste differences within income-tax-brackets? ok, now I'm ranting...

How about this. Were we included in this demographic that the big brands appealed to? I say no. But we should be, since it's not the product (the thing you actually spend money on) that holds the brand's importance. But if not the product that I don't buy, then how does the brand stay afloat? Basically I don't grasp how a brand sells itself without selling products. I mean, I probably do, but I can't see the basic, fundamental element of business in this new branding wave. Money. Someone tell me EXACTLY how a brand makes money if its not products they are promoting. I can get emotions from more than one place, thing, or person. Not just Nike Stefania, but anybody. ... Man, I'm more confused now than I was when I started typing.

HEEEY YOOUUU GUUUYS

is responsibility subjective?

Tears,fears,and cheers

I think Jenks is on to something, and Im going to follow up. This may get a little emotional and sappy, but just go along with me for a sec. Tears for the four years of crazy, happy memories, fears for getting that 'first job', and cheers to all of us for being run through the mill, and emerging with a BFA. We are all so different, and our talents swell in such diverse areas. I cannot wait to see what our class will contribute to the world in the comming years. The sky is the limit for all of us. What will the future hold...Godwin guitar Co.,....Jenks Industrial Design Inc......McNary NeoPress.....Ross Entertainment.....Porter Print&Fabrication......so on and so on....Well, gotta go get a tissue now.

You guys ROCK.

I don't know what is making me say this, or why I feel so happy right now (could be the fact that this is my 11th blog), but damn, having this kind of interaction with you guys is truly awesome, and I hope never to forget it. I think that being among a group of people who are so motivated, inspired, enlightened, opinionated and talented has made my experience here truly unique. I'm not saying corny shit like "I'm going to miss my years at KCAI". What I'm saying is that I hope that in our futures as peers, contemporaries, competition, and friends, that we are ever-growing in our abilities to share our opinions, and articulate our emotions about everything we feel passionate about. I know its hard for some of us to feel like putting our "feelings" on the internet is corny or a load of crap, especially when commanded to do so, but to those I say this: If we can spend hours with MySpace, Friendster, or VWVortex (my vice), why can't we put some effort into a well of communication that has the potential to truly inspre for change? and if not change, then isn't inspiration alone good enough?

I hope that there is still this kind of thing available to us after we graduate. I think we need this kind of rant-friendly, goal-oriented, anything goes environment for us to release our ravings upon the "collective" as T-Diz would put it.

Ok, there. I'm a dork. I like BLOGS. But please look past it and see why.

A Quote for Molls

“The power of the golden section to create harmony arise’s from its unique capacity to unite different parts of a whole so that each preserves its own identity, and yet blends into the greater pattern of a single whole.”
Gyorgy Doczi

This quote makes think of our class, a single whole made of different identities.
�(deep sigh) I get so wistful sometimes.

Visual Advocacy

It has been interesting to read how everyone feels about our readings. The way I see it sort of the same as Travis. The bottom line is that as beginners we , or I know that I need to make money to pay my student loans, and raise my family. Not that I do not care about being a responsible designer, but I have to put my family first, and the fact is is that there are bills to be paid. Picking and choosing responsible design, is risky. I wish there was something in the readings that gave us a point of view on this, being a freshly out of school, new designer, with horrendous debt from school. How did they go about being so responsible. I think there are a lot of opinions with no answers, while we are all facing the scary reality of making it, and paying these loans off. I don't want to sound cold hearted, but this is where my reality is is sort of like the story goes, the guy who is kind, and does all he can for others, is the first to be taken advantage of and so on. So where is the answer to all of this? Am I supposeds to feel bad for trying to make it and feed my family while designing cigg packaging. I mean the fact is is that we all are going to get a job, and before we have a strong understanding of the design profession as professionals, we are all going to need a paycheck!

A quote for Molls

"As a designer I simplify the complex, as an artist I beautify the simple."

GKP

Ultimately it comes down to taste?

I know you guys are probably sick of looking at websites (cutting, pasting, and whatnot) but if you haven’t visited any of them yet, take the time to check this one out!


http://ifindkarma.typepad.com/relax/good_design_makes_me_tingly_bad_design_makes_me_physically_ill/

citzen designer bloooogs

hey, i thought since i got so many responses about the reivew of our book this site would be fun to look at! These people are all blogging their thoughts on the book and what they thoight of it. its good to read. so enjoy it people.
heres the link i forgot to put on
http://www.underconsideration.com/mt-static/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=2160
cmon speak up

just in case you forgot the Principles of Graphic Design like me

Take pleasure in these “tidbits”, they might help with your magazine layouts.

leading the viewers eye
A composition may be broken down by reads.
+
What is the viewer going to read first, second, third, and so on?


design elements
Line , Shape, Texture, Space, Size

composition and layout principles
Emphasis, Balance, Rhythm, Unity

formal composition systems
Using grid, root rectangle construction, The Golden Mean

proffesionals who are responsible

so this site features proffessionals whoa re responsible too. Its some award that is given out to do gooders.

The amazing organizations that received the Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards have found a better way to do good: They're using the disciplines of the corporate world to tackle daunting social problems. In our second exclusive ranking, we used a similarly hard-nosed approach to find the 25 best social entrepreneurs.

you should tke their example if you end up doing the corperate thing.

go here man.
http://www.fastcompany.com/social/2005/

thoughts on goooood design

We who are clay blended by the Master Potter, come from the kiln of Creation in many hues. How can people say one skin is colored, when each has its own coloration? What should it matter that one bowl is dark and the other pale, if each is of good design and serves its purpose well.
Polingaysi Qoyawayma, Hopi


Good design is serious business.
A.G. Lafley, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive, Procter & Gamble


The urge for good design is the same as the urge to go on living.
Harry Bertoia


Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beautry to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing.
Paola Antonelli


The difference between good design and great design is intelligence.
Tibor Kalman


Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful.
Dieter Rams


Good design is innovative Gives a product utility Is aesthetic Makes a product easy to understand Is unobtrusive Is honest Is long-lived Is consistent down to the smallest detail Protects the environment Good design is as little design as possible.
Dieter Rams


Rather than overpowering nature or limiting human impact, good design will affirm the possibility of developing healthy and creatively interactive relationships between human settlements and the natural world.
William McDonough and Michael Braungart, Buildings Like Trees, Cities Like Forests


Good design doesn’t cost, but it pays.
Richard H. Driehaus, Chicago Money Manager and Philanthropist, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation


I love the idea of slowness. It took thousands of years to come to the conclusion that we think of as a chair. Vitra moves fast in comparison to that, but I do think that every object has a natural evolutionary pace. If Charles Eames had said, “We have to finish it fast fast fast!” his chairs wouldn't be relevant a half-century later. I believe in getting things right. In our industry, you can’t force something if you want it to be good. It has to become. Every object is a being with a soul. Our work is to find that soul. Sometimes we can’t manage to find it, and we have to abandon the project or try again. We’re not worried about being first to market, because what we do is unique by its very nature. Good design is relevant for decades; a year matters little on that scale.
Rolf Fehlbaum, CEO, Vitra


Good designers relentlessly generate lots of ideas and open-mindedly consider alternative solutions. At no time are good designers frightened to entertain a crazy, competing, or uncomfortable idea.
Karl Ulrich, CEO, Nova Cruz Products


When you feel the architecture just click, as though it couldn’t have been anything else, it’s due to a true understanding of the site and the plan and section.
Stephen Kanner, Architect


Good design is a visual statement that maximizes the life goals of the people in a given culture (or, more realistically, the goals of a certain subset of people in the culture) that draws on a shared symbolic expression for the ordering of such goals.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Author of Flow


Good design today requires more vision (a larger point of view versus the single brilliant idea), more consistency (a deeper underlying structure of language and form versus the simple, uniform application of visual elements) and more patience (persistence over time versus creative authoritarianism).
William Drenttel, partner, Jessica Helfand/William Drenttel design


Good design is a form of respect—on the part of the producer for the person who will eventually spend hard-earned cash on the product, use the product, own the product.
David Brown, editor of Gain


Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition.
Freeman Thomas, Automobile Designer, DaimlerChrysler


The good designer aims at a perfect fusion of the various considerations which enter into his design. He aims at an untortured unity—a direct whole. He arranges his levels consciously or subconsciously, adhearing to the requisites of the problem he is asked to solve or to his own inclination. Some designers see total act through a disc of aesthetic considerations—others, more practical minded, may put economic considerations at top level.
Leo Lionni, Graphic Designer

Now Travis, for my book of quotes...

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."


Douglas Adams

Here's another...

"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination."


Robert Fulghum

And another...

"Contentment: The smother of invention."


Ethel Mumford

Do your Doodle!

I think one of the biggest ways to impact responsible living in modern society is by first re-evaluating and re-designing everyday items. In example: a plastic bag. Sure, it is boring and may not make you a part of pop fame history, but it just may change the world for the better.

Here is the wave of the future:
Doggy Doodle!

greenmap

Okay so this site is wierd too. It says greenmaps are locally created maps that chart the natural and cultural environment. Using adaptable tools and a shared visual language of Green Map Icons to highlight green living resources, Green Maps cultivate citizen participation and community sustainability. wuh?i been looking at the site for 5 minutes and i still dont know what they are talking about.
and i think the icons they use are butt ugly.
http://greenmap.org/

the meatrix

funny AND informative...
http://www.themeatrix.com/

Citizen Designer review

So uh i was looking at this web site and read this review of the book weve been reaing this semester. I think its pretty good, it points out stuff i thought were pretty weird. I liked reading the book anyways though, but sometimes the articles left me with a weird feeling. I do agree with the author of the review when he says alot of the essays in the book reduce social responsibility to acts of personal salvation. That seems to be right i guess.

http://www.backspace.com/notes/topic/print/2
thats the link duh

I'm so tired...

Being creative on demand is rough.

'Sucking up' the learning experience

Is it not possible to simply sit back, take in a teachers lecture, apply your skills to class work, actively participate, and come away from the class with new knowledge? If you are doing anything more than this, what are you trying to prove? And who are you trying to prove something to? We are all our own person, or so we should be anyway. So when you try your hardest to impress someone, say whatever you think a peron in a superior position wants to hear so you will feel accepted, or make it clearly known that you are all knowing, then who are you? You are no longer your own person. You are a puppet who allows superiors to command your strings. Plus, when you think you are gaining acceptance, you are not. Sure everyone around you will smile in your face, and acknowledge your skill, but everyone also knows you are hollow. My point is, true happiness comes from acceptance on the inside, not from the outside.

very pretty books

"Uberdog hopes to satisfy a niche of severely deprived urbanites languishing in the murky depths of unfulfilled book fantasies. Let us find that book you covet."

I'm sure many people know this site, but just in case I will spread the word like wild rice. Plus, they have a phat design section. Bookmark-it, you might find something you like.

www.uberdog.com.au/ <--- copy and paste.. sorry guys. (GKP, you should code a link for me, aight?)

what's with all the "quotes"? i guess i'll do one then

A significant proportion of graphic design in recent years has been more concerned with the means of production than the content it expresses.

Ian Noble, Picture Perfect

yikes... that was BRASH (ha)

Before my post mysteriously evaporated (5 bucks to anyone who has news of its disappearance, 10 bucks for recovery)I, very inarticulately, attempted to voice my frustration and confusion with the point of Visual Advocacy. I would never suggest that the class is not enlightening, but is it realistic? Are theses manifestos, articles, experienced designers, and debates informing the baby designers of how to realistically deal with cornering situations? It's so simple to pick a cause or idea during class debate. However, in the end it’s a matter of choice and it’s ok if you choose the death ciggies and monster SUVs or the recycled ciggies and SUVs that run on water. Because, Visual Advocacy won’t tell us what the answer is.

Seriously though...

I have realized that if our class, if Visual Advocacy were the entire political body, were divided into left and right wingers, I'd be on the right. However, in the world beyond the classroom I'm way left. What does that mean? Is this revelation pointless? I suppose then, that my status quo is not the average status quo. That means no ciggies and no SUVs. Ok. I've cornered myself (insert a shrug, a grimmace, and furrowed brow)! I dunno what I am trying to say. It's just that all of our debates in class, though they draw "battle lines," make pretty vague distinctions. I'm so frustrated. All this gray is too blurry. I think I want black and white. Distinctions make me comfortable. So, where is that graphic design security blanket? I sure need it.

I'm on a roll. Let's just keep going...

"There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite."



Paul Gauguin

I'm all about quotes...

For Garrett. Just because I can.

"Designing pages in HTML is like having sex in a bathtub. If you don't know anything about sex, it won't do you any good to know a lot about bathtubs".



Unknown Web Guru

Another zinger...

"Water which is too pure has no fish".



Ts'ai Ken T'an

This makes sense...

"What a disappointment to learn that this revolution is aimed at replacing mass manipulation for commercial ends with mass manipulation for cultural and political ends".



Michael Bierut | To The Barricades

Design for what?

In one of my liberal art classes "The American Dream", we discussed about the America's great consumption culture. And of course, who designs all of those products? yeah. it is the DESIGNERS!! Since US is one of the top countries which has the excessive exports - it automatically tells that there are excessive amount of designers also.
According to the fact, the top first consumer in US is teenagers, and they spend over couple hundreds every weekends. Many of entertainment companies are also targeting teenagers - it is huge! Even elementary school students have cells and ipods, and watching MTV and VH1.
So as designers we sure have more pressure over what we are designing for and against. Is it so true?

Putting off...in all aspects, never good

I was having trouble getting my blog account to work at the start of the semester, but I just kept saying 'I'll take care of it later'. And then later turned into later, and so on....But since the purpose of blogging this semester is to discuss issues in design, putting things off raises a good point. If designers keep putting off the fact that design needs to be more ethical, and 'leaving it up to the next guy', then are we ever going to progress? Focus needs to be put on more environmently car parts, instead of how many dvd players and chrome exhaust systems we can cram into the next monsterous sized suv. More emphasis needs to be put into showing people how smoking is bad, and not putting a new friendly, well illustrated camel into every magazine. But without someone saying 'we need to change this', nothing will change. Especially when a company shoves big dollar signs in designers faces. I pose the question, will money always cause designer tunnel vision, or will someone be 'the next guy'.

How low can you go?

After I read this article by David Vogler, I realized that wow! there are really bad designs of "Oops!" situations.

I just want to mention out that "who controls what" in design fields.

If even with the good design, without audience's agreement it is nothing - or worse than nothing.

Designers tend to seek out the most outstanding solution for everyone in their basic need or even luxury life.

One example in "The round imac mouse", I thought the design was pretty, (as one of those "Awww~it's cute!! people) but in its functionality? I don't think so.

So, did the designers of this cute mouse targeted only for the "Awww~" effect to draw more consumers into? for their pleasure?

yes, there are still so many unneccesary designs for the wrong product, but hey! we are the next generations -we can change it!

can I afford advocacy ?

After seeing how much I am in debt I seriously question how ethical I can afford to be. Right now I feel like I need to get out of this huge hole I'm in as fast as possible. And if selling cigarettes is the way out, so be it. People know how bad cigarettes are. But it's their choice to smoke, not mine. How will I sleep at night? In an air conditioned room on a comfortable matress with a full stomach. Why should I feel bad? No one feels bad about me being in debt... it's a choice I made. And after I'm out of debt and I start to feel bad about all those teen smokers, I might just do some pro bono non-smoking ads to even the odds.

Genre Design.

Okay, I guess you could kind of expect me to have this opinion, but I don't care what you think of me. This is about being a designer.

We were talking in class a few weeks ago about "genre design" which stemmed from a reading in Citizen Designer.
What is "genre design"?

I am under the impression after digesting our readings and conversations that it means the different classifications of design. Much like contemporary music is divided into genres of rock, hip-hop, jazz, indy, vocal, etc, etc, we can divide design into similar categories. Those categories are commonly known as fields like Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Architecture, and so on.

But honestly, what is the point?

Musicians are all musicians, who appreciate the music others make, and most of the music-savvy people I know tend to frown upon genre-classification. I think it has to do with creative expression, which is truly present in music. But in design, it seems (at least in my limited experience) that there need to be labels for some reason or another. I don;t want to talk about the reason for that right now, maybe later. In Design, Graphic Designers are so quick to label themselves as such because of the fancy ring it has to it, or the 'respect; they might recieve. I can see more significant divisions in the field of design when it comes to licensing, like getting a license to practice architecture in your community. But why else do we need to clarify what kind of designer we are? why does someone else have to?

It's bullshit.

Say I call myself a graphic designer. "I am a graphic designer". What does it infer in the minds of the people listening to me? It infers that I can set type appropraitely, use color, shape, image, message and content in a way I think appropriate for the project. Does it mean that I can not understand how a building is designed and how it contributes to culture? Or, on a more personal note, does "Graphic Designer" mean I don't have a good sense of scale, physically, and relationship issues in the physical realm? Does it infer to my audience that I don't care about my surroundings, my environment, my world?

I think it does.

I've met several people during my time at Architectural Metalworks that don;t understand why a (graphic)design student is interning at a design/build firm. Even architects don't get it. I like to think that I have a firmer grasp on the 3Dimensional world in my head than I do on print work, even if my portfolio or educational background says otherwise. I can blog on that later. But I think the important part of being a designer, which gets clouded out by the word always preceding it regardless of what word it is at the time, is that we can think in a largely visual way, using any means necessary to solve the given problem. Tyler introduced design as 'creative problem solving' during our sophomore year. I still feel like that is the most accurate description of what I (want to) do in life. Fuck if it is a printed poster for some concert or an identity system for a company I am passionate enough about to support, or a beautiful staircase, coffe table, DESK, or otherwise. If it serves a cultural, commercial, personal, aesthetic, or any need I deem valid, then why not pursue? Certainly not because I can't weld with a GD degree, but I could if I were, say, holding a degree in architectural design.

Okay, its late now. My concusion is this: Why label the way we think? It will inevitably effect the way we work, which effects our 'effectiveness' as cultural communicators, beauty providors, or whatever else I can't give a name to. Peace.

The bottom line is...

that there is no bottom line. You know, I've been hesitant to blog this semester because there isn't too much to say that can truly make lucid to me not only who designers are, but likewise, where our efforts in the field should be focused. I compare Visual Advocacy to my Philosophy of Religion class. The readings are similar. At least, my interpretations of the texts are pretty congruent. Basically, being Agnostic is the way to go. Everyone is happy then, right? There isn't evidence for belief or disbelief. So, everyone is covered, and there are no wrong answers. It's whatever floats your boat, and that's almost a bottom line. It's as close as I've gotten: a little corporate here, a little challenging my ethics there, throw in a couple freebies and there's your career. It's a giant compromise; and for now at least, I'm okay with that. If I'm too accepting of the status quo, then so be it.

Cravings.

Ran across this quote. What do you guys think?

“What students have in mind when they (inevitably) describe themselves as ‘creative’ is someone who challenges the status quo…To set out to design ‘change’ is also to crave attention. The concerns that initially lead many students to design–humane, political, social, and practical–are, too often, later replaced by design at its most intrusive, short-lived, and disposable form. The very idea of design being a public service could not be further from most students’ minds. The celebrity status that too many consider a representation of success does not easily equate with the concept of service.” (David Jury)

Styles of teaching and Critiques

Responding to styles of critiques. This subject was brought about during our conversations in class in reference to the article "teaching". I found it interesting how different people respond to different techniques, whether it be teaching or critiquing. I think it is such a special thing that so many different minds come together in these forms. We all have our pet peeves, and our enlightens, but what an opportunity we all are having being able to come together in an environment like this, and find ways to set aside out pet peeves, our likings, our weaknesses, and our strengths, and learn from each other with open minds.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, this was an exciting conversation in visual advocacy. It was interesting to hear the views of others on the subject. Looking back in history, artists such as Matisse, Gauguin, and many others took inspiration from other cultures such as Oceania, Africa, Japan, and many more. Many of the paintings we study today, has a clear influence of these inspirations. Some of them are not changed much, is this considered plagiarism, I am curious. I am curious because in our discussion in class, it was said that inspiration like this is plagiarism in some opinions.
I have noticed how we as a team of students inspire each other and ones work influences another's. Is this plagiarism? Ones idea develops another students idea within their own work or dp project, should one be offended or flattered? Is it plagiarism or is it collaborative inspiration?

Apply Colors

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music." Joan Miro (1893-1983), Spanish Surrealist artist.

"Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions." Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist

"Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul." Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), modern Russian painter

Take time to enjoy the colors, and smell the flowers!

"Soccer Mom"

Yes I am going to tackle this one. I have listened quietly to the "soccer mom" being brought up in reference to design. I suppose as advertisers on their"station wagons", or supporters of "cult advertising". I have to say first for the "soccer mom" who has either sacrificed her career to stay at home and pull the equivalent of 2 full time jobs by raising children and keeping a house, or put her career and dreams on hold because her priority became her children. I have listened for four years now to negative commentary from young adults who are naive to the reality of raising children, what it takes etc... If you think college is hard, waite until you become a parent. I praise the woman who has time to be a soccer mom, and a supporter and advertiser of her kids and what they believe in, whether it be the pink ribbon on her car or the yellow one. Which if we were truly to read this "cult" of the yellow ribbon, it reads "Support our troops" not "support our War"!!! Possibly this "soccer mom", has a son or daughter in the war, or has lost a child in the war. My point with all of this is that maybe we as students and professionals , may have a tendency to criticize before we really get the message. We can be to ready to judge what is wrong with a design or trend, before we understand it, and I think that this is something we as designers should be conscious of and careful, because as designers we must learn to understand trends, reasons behind them, a multitude of audiences, and so on.

The things we can not see

" I stepped out onto the porch and stared out in wonder and amazement at the beauty of the things we can not see". Albret Einstein
I love this quote, it is loaded with food for good thinking.

on our relationships to brands

i was reviewing the photocopy pieces over the weekend (create a photocopy piece that demonstrates your relationship to a brand) and thought of a few ideas. i thought i might post three questions in relation to the assignment, with hopes that you might blog back.

> these pieces mostly demonstrate relationships to P R O D U C T S.
how do you define "brand"?
(as demonstrated by your approaches to the assignment, it is easy to demonstrate your physical relationship to a product using a photocopier, but not as simple to communicate the relationship to a brand.)

> moira spoke on friday about designers' ability to create value and meaning for the user.
How does the brand change the value or meaning of a product?
(i think molly took this on in her discussion of why it is *coke* rather than *pepsi* that she chose to demonstrate.

> how is a *brand* represented on a photocopier?
(does it look like a cup, a package, a logo, etc.)