Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Warning: May Contain Non-Design Content

Is the opening article to a design book I purchased on one of my many Amazon design book binges. The book, 79 Short Essays on Design, is a compilation of blog posts from Michael Bierut, whom we all have inadvertently encountered at one time. He was the President of AIGA for some time, he is in the movie Helvetica (watch out for him tomorrow for everyone in history of graphic design!) and he is the founder of the Design Observer website, where all of his essays come from in the book.

Bierut, who I like I think of as the John Kass of the design blogosphere, opens his book up with this essay on how people get upset when he blogs about non-design related topics. To sum up his article- Bierut explains his early days as a designer starting up the AIGA New York branch amongst the bigwig design names and also finding the same disappointment with their lack of interest in the design world. They were instead trying to introduce him to other interests of theirs. By the end however, he finds that all of their other pursuits were actually related to design, for example a composer these well-known designers raved about, had an album cover designed by Milton Glaser.

He says "graphic design wasn't enough. It never is-- The great thing about [it] is that it is almost always about something else." This being said I think that design is anything you want it to be. As broad as that statement is, I think that the universality of design gives anyone the opportunity to be involved with what he or she is passionate about. We are lucky in that design can be construct of everything else. And I think that our job has an open invitation to explore—to form our own interests and passions to issues that concern us and need a voice. The best work that I have done is when I have a personal interest, so it makes sense that our career and interests would be interchangeable.

Here is the article, still on designobserver.com:
http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/warning-may-contain-non-design-content/4137/entry.html?entry=2597


Also, wanted to mention to anyone looking for something to do over the summer, this sounds extremely rewarding. It is a summer immersion seminar from Foresight Design, who consults businesses on sustainable practices. But they have a track for graphic design that discusses socially conscious design, methods, and experiences.
http://www.foresightdesign.org/education/immersion-summer/curriculum.php

17 comments:

  1. Your comment: "I think that design is anything you want it to be" is very relevant to this class. Graphic design can consist of so many different elements that I find it hard to pin point what it truly is. Its like trying to define the term "art"...

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  2. I changed my major to Graphic Design because it offered a more broad avenue of career prospects.

    And, please, BIGGER on the fonts. :)

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  3. Yes! Design can be anything you want because it is an expression, dependent on multiple factors including emotion, audience, and perhaps money (if you are getting paid for it). And good point, Tony, it was a bit hard to read.

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  4. Art stretches across so many mediums, it's sometimes hard to nail down. This goes for design too, but graphic design in particular seems a little easier to pinpoint. That being said, I think it's very important to have hobbies and interests outside of art and design in order to broaden horizons and help shape your mind differently.

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  5. The more and more I learn about Graphic Design and take classes for it, the more and more I see it pretty much everywhere I go. That being said I feel like we have freedom to design anything we want because we all approach it in different ways. Design is something that is both rewarding and fun and is a reason why I (like Tony) switched my major from pre-med to Graphic Design because for me it was an outlet from stress as well as a career path that I would overall be happier with.

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  6. I also changed my major to Graphic Design for the opportunity to lead a more creative, exciting life. I was a political science major and found that there was little room for creativity and lots of room for boredom. Graphic design allows for constant expansion and exploration of the mind and self expression.

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  7. I loved that you said design can be anything you want it to be. I always feel like people are trying to put design in these specific categories and doing that just gives design all these rules and I feel like at some point design should just be. It is whatever you create and whatever it means to you and that might not always be something that is as important to someone else, but that doesn't mean it should be considered design because someone has a varying opinion.

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  8. Just like Stephanie's post, it's good that we're discussing that design can be whatever we want it to be. Last summer I worked for a baseball team, and everybody's initial question was - "what does a designer do for a baseball team?" The answer is EVERYTHING, and sometimes advertisements, coupons, press releases, etc. Every company, business, team, organization needs a graphic designer, whether they know it or not, so we really can do whatever we want.

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  9. Design can benefit from everything, and everything can benefit from design. Artists/creators of all stripes need to have the ability to be able to live in the world and outside of it. We're on the outside looking in and on the inside looking out at the same time, which I think is part of the challenge of being a creator.

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  10. Design can be anything we want and it does offer more career possibilities!

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  11. I agree with Lili and I came across this phrase from an artist that stated, "Design can change a person, a place, a situation, an experience, an emotion."

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  12. I also agree and think that design is anything you want it to be and can be anything if you look at it in the right state of mind.

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  13. Amazon's design book section is dangerous territory... my wish list probably costs my rent right now.

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  14. i agree with all of this. couldnt have said it any better myself.

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  15. This makes a lot of sense to me because I feel that what we are interested in essentially will show through our designs, or any other art or creation for that matter.

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  16. I love the statement "This being said I think that design is anything you want it to be". As long as you have a reason behind your design, it will always be valid to you.

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  17. I also believe that design can be anything you want it to be. When I first came to DePaul I did not have a major and after taking some design classes I realized I could use my design skill in many different fields.

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