Research
Over this semester, in our Studio class, we’ve been watching talks (and listening to podcasts) by creators, and sharing them with each other.
As a class, we created a book where we were each given two spreads to share some things about one artist we are interested in/inspired by. These were my two spreads:
Here’s a video of the final piece. Thank you SO much for putting it together, James!Spring 2020: Research Collaboration Project from james j grady on Vimeo.
Here’s a list of the talks I reviewed and shared, by some of my favorite creatives:
Gail Bichler/NYT magazine "Not everyone is gonna like what you make."
Gail Bichler is the Design Director of The New York Times Magazine. This 2019 talk at the Walker Art Center gives a lot of insight into the process of creating a magazine with a high concept cover 52 times a year.
I loved this talk because editorial design/print are my favorite. It is a challenge to get a static design to say so much, and the NYT Magazine covers do it every week. It's a skill I'd like to work on in my own practice.
Her quote, "Not everyone is gonna like what you make" is such a freeing concept. Letting go of the need to be liked opens up a lot of space to create wonderful things.
Gail Bichler is the Design Director of The New York Times Magazine. This 2019 talk at the Walker Art Center gives a lot of insight into the process of creating a magazine with a high concept cover 52 times a year.
I loved this talk because editorial design/print are my favorite. It is a challenge to get a static design to say so much, and the NYT Magazine covers do it every week. It's a skill I'd like to work on in my own practice.
Her quote, "Not everyone is gonna like what you make" is such a freeing concept. Letting go of the need to be liked opens up a lot of space to create wonderful things.
Jessica Hische is an illustrator/lettering artist who has worked with a whole bunch of fun clients, making typographic compositions for advertisements, books, magazines, and more. In this podcast, she's interviewed by Debbie Millman. They discuss Jessica's process, covering different parts of her career; and how it has had to shift to accommodate her having kids. This is relevant to me, I have two kids, and I am still figuring out what this means re: my process and my work.
Stefan SagmeisterStefan Sagmeister is the master of breaking down an abstract thought (in this case, happiness) and turning it into tangible pieces. He can then easily explain each secondary thought, which leads him to discover actionable ideas towards design projects.
This presentation isn't visually interesting or complex, but it simply breaks down his different sources of happiness via design, and some other thoughts about measuring happiness.
This talk was the beginning of his 10 year exploration of happiness. He went on to create an exhibition about happiness, and a film on the same subject.
This presentation isn't visually interesting or complex, but it simply breaks down his different sources of happiness via design, and some other thoughts about measuring happiness.
This talk was the beginning of his 10 year exploration of happiness. He went on to create an exhibition about happiness, and a film on the same subject.
Jonathan HoeflerThough I'm firmly in the Frere-Jones camp in the Hoefler vs Frere-Jones case, this documentary is a great look into one person's design process. During the film (which also clearly showcases the detail work that goes into typeface design, along with some visual tricks that make type design work), we see Hoefler glean inspiration from old watch faces, study lots and lots of faces from that time, and sketch through his thoughts.
He is then shown working with his team of designers, iterating, and then showing the final face. It is interesting to note that the final typeface isn't a direct copy of any one actual typeface, rather a new typeface that evokes the feeling of these older watch typefaces.
In all, I'm inspired by Hoefler's level of focus.
He is then shown working with his team of designers, iterating, and then showing the final face. It is interesting to note that the final typeface isn't a direct copy of any one actual typeface, rather a new typeface that evokes the feeling of these older watch typefaces.
In all, I'm inspired by Hoefler's level of focus.
Dave Grohl"F*ck guilty pleasure! What about just pleasure? I can honestly say that 'Gangnam Style' is one of my favorite songs of the last 10 years."
In this talk, Dave Grohl talks about falling in love with music at a young age and devoting "every waking second" to it. He talks about becoming involved in the DC punk music scene, which taught him that he could make music without anyone's permission. He could write music, record it, distribute it, make a zine about it, make stickers, etc., all without direction or inhibition from anyone else.
He talks about the first commercial album Nirvana recorded, and how the studio was a "sh*thole", but the music that came out of there was incredible. (It was Sound City in LA; other notable albums: Neil Young's After the Gold Rush; Fleetwood Mac; many others.) It led me to think about how you don't have to have all the best tools; your beginning idea doesn't have to be perfect; the stars don't have to be aligned... just the passion and the voice behind a project can be all that you need.
He also talks about when you're a kid, and you're into something, you're just into it. You don't question why, or if you're doing it right, or what your motives are, or what you can do with it or how to make money off of it. You just like it, so you do it. "Remember when there was no right or wrong?" How can we incorporate that spirit into our work today?
In this talk, Dave Grohl talks about falling in love with music at a young age and devoting "every waking second" to it. He talks about becoming involved in the DC punk music scene, which taught him that he could make music without anyone's permission. He could write music, record it, distribute it, make a zine about it, make stickers, etc., all without direction or inhibition from anyone else.
He talks about the first commercial album Nirvana recorded, and how the studio was a "sh*thole", but the music that came out of there was incredible. (It was Sound City in LA; other notable albums: Neil Young's After the Gold Rush; Fleetwood Mac; many others.) It led me to think about how you don't have to have all the best tools; your beginning idea doesn't have to be perfect; the stars don't have to be aligned... just the passion and the voice behind a project can be all that you need.
He also talks about when you're a kid, and you're into something, you're just into it. You don't question why, or if you're doing it right, or what your motives are, or what you can do with it or how to make money off of it. You just like it, so you do it. "Remember when there was no right or wrong?" How can we incorporate that spirit into our work today?
Lisa CongdonThis podcast is from Design Matters, Debbie Millman's series where she interviews different designers, asking about their careers and their process.
Lisa Congdon is an illustrator who got her start a little later than other artists.
She talks about her first career as an educator, where she used art-making as after-work stress relief/a hobby. (But! Her mother is an artist and so she grew up with access to lots of materials and exposure to art making.) She started sharing her work online in the early 2000s, kind of before that was a thing. She started making money on the side, after work, before she made the jump to full time illustrator.
She talked a bit about feeling authentic and not feeling like she 'deserves' the title of creative person, having not gone to art school and not had years of training like others around her.
I like learning about people who have changed careers or become more focused as they get older. I hope to become more focused through my time here at BU.
Lisa Congdon is also an author, creating books about how to make a living with your art, and finding your voice as an artist.
Lisa Congdon is an illustrator who got her start a little later than other artists.
She talks about her first career as an educator, where she used art-making as after-work stress relief/a hobby. (But! Her mother is an artist and so she grew up with access to lots of materials and exposure to art making.) She started sharing her work online in the early 2000s, kind of before that was a thing. She started making money on the side, after work, before she made the jump to full time illustrator.
She talked a bit about feeling authentic and not feeling like she 'deserves' the title of creative person, having not gone to art school and not had years of training like others around her.
I like learning about people who have changed careers or become more focused as they get older. I hope to become more focused through my time here at BU.
Lisa Congdon is also an author, creating books about how to make a living with your art, and finding your voice as an artist.
Mo Willems
“I think with the grown-ups what I’m trying to do is encourage a full shame-ectomy. Embarrassment is a learned disease that begins to manifest itself in early adolescence. By adulthood, it can have ossified your entire spirit. A saving grace of having kids is that for
the first time—in maybe a very long time—there’s permission to be silly. I encourage that.
If you claim that being creative—by writing, drawing, or singing songs—is important, then you have to do those things. Otherwise, you’re lying and kids smell a lie. A lot of my work over the last couple years has been trying to create situations that allow the grown-ups in kids’ lives to be sillier by doodling, drawing, and demonstrating the joy in the creative process. If I’m doing a drawing demonstration, it’s for everyone, because drawing is a physicalized form of empathy—and who can’t use a bit more of that?”
“I think with the grown-ups what I’m trying to do is encourage a full shame-ectomy. Embarrassment is a learned disease that begins to manifest itself in early adolescence. By adulthood, it can have ossified your entire spirit. A saving grace of having kids is that for
the first time—in maybe a very long time—there’s permission to be silly. I encourage that.
If you claim that being creative—by writing, drawing, or singing songs—is important, then you have to do those things. Otherwise, you’re lying and kids smell a lie. A lot of my work over the last couple years has been trying to create situations that allow the grown-ups in kids’ lives to be sillier by doodling, drawing, and demonstrating the joy in the creative process. If I’m doing a drawing demonstration, it’s for everyone, because drawing is a physicalized form of empathy—and who can’t use a bit more of that?”
David Pearson came up through Penguin Books, starting as a text designer, and moving up into designing covers. He now has founded his own small studio for book cover design. He shows and discusses some fascinating things:
- pointed out Penguin's classic formula of marrying contemporary and classic design (for example, pairing a traditional patterned cover with a triangle overlay to house the title information, instead of the classic rectangle).
- he talks about the importance of sketching not only as an initial design step, but also creating hand drawn roughs to supply to production and print people to get across your total idea. "it is ok to push for quality"
- upon arriving at Penguin, he studied their enormous archive and became an expert in the styles and evolution of their iconic cover designs. The designs are elemental and systemic. The 70th anniversary box set is a beautiful example.
- started by using type as the main draw for covers. This was on brand, but he also mentioned that it's his skill set and comfort level—not an illustrator or photographer
- think about "what is OFF of the book cover? just to the side, that we can't see?"
Forest Young"A quintessential design thinker, Forest Young is both global principal and head of design at Wolff Olins, the acclaimed branding firm named “one of the most innovative companies of 2018” by Fast Company. At the opening night of Insights 2019, Young discussed projects from work for Uber, Google, and Microsoft to a commemorative poster for Nelson Mandela."
My favorite points:
My favorite points:
- Young says "I just try and pursue what interests me. Don't overthink it."
- "It is important to be critical of narratives."
- "I choose to see the world as something that can be negotiated/altered."
- When branding Uber, he took into account where the company might be going in the future: considering brand applications for drones, for example.
