LIVING BY DESIGN

This blog has moved!

2011-01-03T17:28:00.003-08:00

Please follow the new link:
http://tushargupte.posterous.com

Thanks.

2010-12-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

Chamber Music – Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal

2010-12-16T17:52:00.001-08:00

"While the return to idea-based design might have begun as a necessary attempt to purify design of self-indulgent noise that risked obscuring the message, the outcome today is a smooth and predictable set of visual procedures that pose few challenges to client or viewer. "

– Rick Poynor. Agency or Studio? The Dutch graphic design dilemma. Design Observer.

2010-12-08T13:25:00.000-08:00

Less Equals Peace – John Pawson

Plain Spaces Exhibition at the Design Museum
September 2010 to January 2011

2010-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

Ambiguity and Perception.

I'm starting to think that to remove ambiguity and demonstrate clarity, visually, is the single most challenge for a graphic designer. There will always be people who will interpret everything, in spite of given rationale and meaning. Something will always look like something it is not. People's mood, current state-of-mind etc will have it's effects. But a good designer would know how to reduce that gap, if not completely make it go away (that is also possible).

Ambiguity and Perception are human qualities, the designer must learn to work with them intelligently, and not be threatened by it.

2010-11-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

Notes from the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

1. Textured background, smooth surface for text area in a vertical rectangular block. Use of lines to communicate separation of two continuing or different messages/information. (Egyptian hieroglyph on stone)
2. African ritual sculptures - immediate, highly effective, powerful. Other worldly, of the spirit world, mythological
3. Greek / Early Roman sculptures - indulgent, sensual, appreciative, giving realism to mythological stories. Gods that look like perfect human beings.
4. Roman mosaic - stones with their inherently different colors are used to create color gradations, borders, forms. How many types of stones are being used? How do they all come together as one magnificent mosaic? They must love the stones as much as the images they created with them.
5. Ancient Greek terra-cotta domestic objects: vases, jars, plates.
Everything communicated with the use of only one color—black.

Sonya Dayakova

2010-11-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

2010-11-07T12:09:00.001-08:00

Design from the truth up.

2010-11-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Rethink, not redesign.

2010-11-07T09:24:00.001-08:00

The recognition and understanding of the need is the primary condition for the creative act. When people feel that they have to express themselves for the sake of originality, this tends not to be creative. Only when you get into the problem and the problem becomes clear can creativity take over.

— Charles Eames

2010-10-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - Hermés.

Menehould de Bazelaire, the present Director of cultural heritage at Hermés, told this story to Dana Thomas, who wrote it in her (brilliant) new book "Deluxe - How Luxury Lost It's Lustre"

In the late 1930s, Émile-Maurice bought Mi Colline, a villa in the hills above Cannes, not far from the Criosette shop. During the Nazi Occupation of Paris, most of the family fled to Colline. The Hermés store on Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré shut down for four days and then reopened to keep the employees working and receiving wages, however small. Émile-Maurice's son-in-law Jean Guerrand took over the store and distributed potato soup to the workers because de Bazelaire said "everyone was starving.". As in many stores that remained open during the Occupation, there were often signs in the Hermés window - "Nothing for Sale", due to shortage of not only material but also the will to sell to Nazis. General Hermann Göring ordered a big picnic trunk from Hermés, but there was no leather and no motivation and it was never produced. Paper, cardboard and other sorts of packaging were scarce as well; the only color available was vibrant orange. Hermés used it for boxes and bags. Almost overnight, it became the house signature color.

In 1945, Émile-Maurice adopted the company logo based on a drawing by nineteeth-century artist Alferd de Dreux of a groom standing before a horse and open carriage. The picture still hangs behind his desk in the museum.

—

This is how identities are born. It is the designer's job to find out what the identity of a company or an institution really is, and give it a honest, visual expression. It is always about "them" and less about "me". Designers' egos can only mess things us.

2010-09-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

"Technology, which reduces human exchange to an electronic signal, impoverishes and mutes this multifarious nonverbal language with which, when we are together in close proximity, we continually and unconsciously communicate. This unspoken language, moreover, the language of facial expression and minute gesture, is infinitely more sincere and genuine than the spoken or written one; it is far more difficult to tell lies without words, to conceal falsehood and hypocrisy."

– Ryszard Kapuscinski, Travels with Herodotus.

Giulio Cittato

2010-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

"I consider myself a visual communicator. Art should be the culmination of earlier graphic communications, after these communications have lost their initial utilitarianism. If it was art to begin with, when it loses it's function it will remain art. I also consider my work precise, yet emotional; geometric yet spiritual; mathematical yet feeling. I believe that the environment should be an expression of a higher, well ordered and complete dedication to the well designed. And by environment I mean all that surrounds us. Trains and roads, packages and toys, buildings, doorways, clothing and refrigerators."

2010-08-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - The North Carolina Museum of Contemporary Art.

On the surface, and by which I mean, by looking at it on a blog, this identity designed by Michael Bierut looks interesting, but one may quickly pass by it while browsing due to the amount of visual stimulation one receives each day through various design blogs that deliver eye-candy. I completely missed it. Until now when I read about it, and then saw it again.

This to me is a lesson in removing ambiguity from a design solution. There are far too many logos based on abstract forms that are "inspired" by something but communicate something else, if at all, that is, and leave a wide margin for personal interpretation. Perhaps this has to do something with graphic design's current obsession with contemporary art. I have designed some logos like that myself, so I'm as guilty as anyone else.

I'm just starting to think the Pentagram founders were onto something though, and I keep returning back to what they said, especially in a book called Visual Comparisons, by far one of my favorite books on graphic design:

"Unlike painters, who should have a personal handwriting, designers are often anonymous, but their work still achieves a vivid personality. Their identity is maintained by a consistently high standard of problem solving rather then by consistent technique or style.

Ofcourse there are always some impossible clients, but they know that the ultimate responsibility for a bad job rests with the designer and not with the client, however hardheaded and obstreperous. After all, they reason, there are many ways to solve a graphic problem. If one solution is rejected, another must be found.

Each job they do represent a search for new methods of making ideas and images come alive on the printed page; they have enquiring minds and they are not afraid to make mistakes.

They know their craft and use the technologies of the graphic arts creatively, rather than being subdued by it. But above all, they never limit themselves to current tastes, or to formal rules of layout, typography and color."

London, 1963

2010-08-17T22:40:00.001-07:00

"Good designers do something amazing and repeat themselves throughout their careers. Bad designers reinvent themselves every six months."

– Marcello Minale

2010-07-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

That the design approach should be towards
...

1. Being appropriate: The quality of being specially suitable.
(source: princeton.edu)

2. Being relevant: Relevance is a term used to describe how pertinent, connected, or applicable something is to a given matter. A thing is relevant if it serves as a means to a given purpose.
(source: Wikipedia)

3. Inherently imaginative: also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not (yet) perceived through sight, hearing or other senses
(source: wikipedia)

2010-07-08T09:22:00.001-07:00

2010-06-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Don't Think. Look.

Jules Bastien-Lepage at The deYoung

Les foins

en 1877

huile sur toile

H. 1.6 ; L. 1.95

musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

©photo musée d'Orsay / rmn

2010-06-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

For the love of stillness.

Photography by Nadav Kander.

(via Booooom!)

2010-06-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

Intelligence in Lifestyle

This is an example (and a lesson) in authenticity in graphic design that can be achieved by combining the old and the new in a fresh, exciting way. There is no need to be "old school", there is no need to be obsessed about the "new" either.

The result is truly contemporary.

from OpenStudio:

"Under the creative direction of Francesco Franchi, Intelligence in Lifestyle, an Italian magazine and supplement to the Il Sole 24 ORE newspaper, uses a strong structured grid and nicely combines illustration, logo design, typography and plenty of amazing info graphics."

and from Mark Porter:

"...a combination of influences from the classic magazines of the 1950s and 1960s, and the best of contemporary news design. It’s a wide-ranging magazine full of serious writing and reporting as well as softer lifestyle and feature content. They use very intense typography, infographics and some lavish photography to create a really unique magazine with tons of personality; it’s a bit like a kind of Monocle on steroids, but infinitely more exciting (and with a sense of humour)."

(images via Colorcubic and Francesco Franchi's Flickr)

2010-06-06T22:49:00.002-07:00

Notes from the book Change by Design by Tim Brown.
HarperBusiness © Tim Brown. ISBN 0061766089
––
This was an excellent read. I have not taken so many notes from a book in a long time.
––
Pg 18
The willing and even enthusiastic acceptance of competing constraints is the foundation of design thinking. The first stage of design process is often about discovering which constraints are important and establishing a framework for evaluating them. Constraints can be visualized in terms of three overlapping criteria for successful ideas: feasibility (what is functionally possible within the forseeable future); viability (what is likely to become part of a sustainable business model); and desiresbility (what makes sense to people and for people).

Pg.27
Many designers who are skilled technicians, craftsmen, or researchers have struggled to survive in the messy enviornment required to solve today's complex problems. They may play a valuable role, but they are destined to live in the downstream world of design execution. Design thinkers, by contrast, cross the "T". They may be architects who have studied psychology, artists with MBA's or engineers with marketing experience. A creative organization is constantly on the lookout for people with the capacity and — just as important — the disposition for collaboration across disciplines. In the end, this ability is what distinguishes the merely multidisciplinary team from a truly interdisciplinary one. In a multidisciplinary team each individual becomes an advocate for his or her own technical speciality and the project becomes a protracted negotiation among them, likely resulting in a gray compromise. In an interdisciplinary team there is collective ownership of ideas and everybody takes responsibility for them.

Pg.37

Just as I am challenging companies to incorporate design into their organizational DNA, however, I want to challenge designers to continue the transformation of design practice itself. There will always be a place in our dizzying world for the artist, the craftsman, and the lone inventor, but the seismic shifts taking place in every industry demands a new design practice: collaborative but in a way that amplifies, rather than subdues, the creative powers of individuals; focused but at the same time flexible and responsive to unexpected opportunities; focused not just on optimizing the social, the technical, and the business components of a product but on bringing them into a harmonious balance. The next generation of designers will need to be as comfortable in the boardroom as they are in the studio or shop, and they will need to being looking at every problem — from adult illiteracy to global warming — as a "design" problem.

Pg.39
For design thinkers, behaviors are never right or wrong, but they are always meaningful.

Pg.42
The evolution from design to design thinking is the story of the evolution from the creation of products, and from there to the relationship between people and products, and from there to the relationship between people and people.

Pg.50
We build these bridges of insights through "empathy", the effort to see the world through the eyes of others, understand the world through their experiences, and feel the world through their emotions.

Pg.71
Individuals, teams, and organizations that have mastered the mental matrix of design thinking share a basic attitude of experimentation. They are open to new possibilities, alert to new directions, and always willing to propose new solutions.

Pg.77
A culture of optimism.

Optimism requires confidence, and confidence is built on trust. And trust, as we know, flows in both directions.

Pg.78
Rules of brainstorming;
Defer judgement.
Encourage wild ideas.
Stay focused on the topic.
Build on the ideas of others.

Pg.85
In the "The Opposing Mind", Roger Martin argues that 'thinkers who exploit opposing ideas to construct a new solution enjoy a built-in advantage over thinkers who consider only one model at a time'. Integrative Thinkers know how to widen the scope of issues salient to the problem. They resist the "either/or" in favor of the "both/and" and see non-linear and multi-directional relationships as a source of inspiration, not contradiction.

Pg. 91
Prototypes should command only as much time, effort, and investment as is necessary to generate useful feedback and drive an idea forward. The greater the complexity and expense, the more "finished" it is likely to seem and the less likely it's creators will be to profit from constructive feedback—or even to listen to it. The goal of prototyping is not to create a working model. It is to give form to an idea to learn about it's strengths and weaknesses and to identify new directions for the next generation of more detailed, more refined prototypes.

(hence) A prototype's scope should be limited. The purpose of early prototypes might be to understand weather an idea has a functional value.

Anything tangible that let's us explore an idea, evaluate it, and push it forward is a prototype.

Pg.94
Another considerable value of scenarios is that they force us to keep people at the center of the idea, preventing us from getting lost in mechanical or aesthetic details.

Pg.121
Four Seasons Hotels are famous for their quality of service as much as the luxury of their properties. They are also recognized within the industry for having a staff-training system in which staff members learn how to anticipate the needs of their customers and build on the ideas of their colleagues—essential qualities, as we have seen, of design thinkers.

Creating an experience culture requires going beyond the generic to design experiences perceived as uniquely tailored to each customer. Unlike a manufactured product or a standardized service, an experience comes to life when it feels personalized and customized.

Notes: things I remember of my experience of four seasons, which could otherwise may had been frustrating:

1. We were served dinner from the restraunt in the bar itself, because we prefered to eat at the bar.
2. I was given a drink at the bar even after they had officially closed the bar
3.I was given water when I sat on the pool bench (I was thirsty, yes) without me asking for it.
4.four seasons Miami was steeped in the culture of the city: miami art, Cuban staff. Very local.
5. Our bags were held after we had checked out, they knew we won't like to carry them around.
6.Taxis were arranged without us having to try too hard.
7. We were taken straight to our rooms, and since we reached in the morning, breakfast was sent to the room.

Pg.134
To design an interaction is to allow a story to unfold over time.

Pg.141
There are other reasons why 30-second spots no longer serve as an effective vehicle for new ideas, including what the Swarthmore College psychologist Barry Schwartz has identified as "the paradox of choice". Most people don't want more options: they just want what they want. When overwhelmed by choice, we tend to fall into behavorial patterns used by those whom Schwartz calls "optimizers"—people paralyzed by the fear that if they had only waited a little while longer or searched a little harder, they could find what they think they want at the best possible price. That was not a problem in the days when "automobile" meant a black Model T or "phone company" meant AT&T.

The other camp is populated by "satisficers" who have given up on making consumer decisions and will put up with whatever works.

Pg.149
Design can help to improve our lives in the present. Design thinking can help us chart a path into the future.

Pg. 177
An organization that commits itself to the human-centered tenets of design thinking is practicing enlightened self-interest. If it does a better job of understanding its customers, it will do a better job of satisfying their needs. That is simply the most reliable source of long-term profitability and sustainable growth.

Pg.183
Service companies that use innovative technology but do not innovate to improve the quality of people's experience are destined to relearn the bitter lesson of the companies of the industrial age: that past innovation is no guarantee of future performance.

Pg.215
Aravind, IDE, and Acumen Fund offer examples not just of well-designed products but of design thinking applied accross the entire spectrum of a problem: the product, the service in which the product is embedded, the business model of the enterprise that provides the service, the investors behind the enterprise, and more.

Pg.223
The Ormondale teachers have now developed a set of tools based on a shared philosophy of "investigative learning" that engages students as seekers of knowledge rather than receivers of information.

Pg.227
The tools of the design thinker—getting out in the world to be inspired by people, using prototyping to learn with our hands, creating stories to share our ideas, joining forces with people from other disciplines—are ways of deepening what we know and widening the impact of what we do.

Pg. 237
Good design thinkers observe. Great design thinkers observe the ordinary. Make it a rule that you will stop and think about an ordinary situation. Take a second look at an action or artifact that you would look at only once (or not at all) as if you were a police detective at a crime scene. Why are manhole covers round? Why is my teenager heading off to school dressed like that?how do I know how far back I should stand from the person in front of me in line? What would it be like to be color blind? If we immerse ourselves in what Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morrision have recently called "Super Normal", we can gain uncanny insights into the unwritten rules that guide us through life.

Pg.238
Ludwig Wittgenstein was the most cerebral of twentieth-century philosophers, but his motto was "Dont think. Look."

—From the book: Change by Design by Tim Brown

2010-05-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

" a work of art is realized when form and content are indistinguishable. When they are in synthesis. In other words, when they fuse."

- another quote from Paul Rand

2010-05-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

"The vocabulary or the language of aesthetics.

order
unity
variety
contrast
symmetry
asymmetry
rhythm
harmony
disonance
rhyme
interval
regularity
coherence
tension
balance
proportions
scale
weight
texture
line
mass
space
shape
light
shade and
color

When you talk about form this is what you're talking about. and that's why form has nothing to do with style."

From an interview with Paul Rand.

2010-05-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

Goodbye United.

Designed by Saul Bass, 1965.

"Beneath theory and rhetoric, and well beyond technique and jargon, the reason for design is to speak to people in a language this is familiar, but also new, to entice people to understand an old thing in a new way, or grasp a new thing in an old way. "

From AIGA / Saul Bass

2010-04-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

What makes a Designer

Have you ever wondered, when given the same problem, why do some designers come up with brilliant solutions and some don't?

I wanted to really find out what the reasons may be and that led me to sketching this diagram on my notepad (and then into Illustrator).

There are various factors that influence/affect the quality of a designer's output, but I think there are four major areas: Understanding, Experience, Skill and Imagination.

Some designers are extremely good in one or maybe two areas (because that's where they've been focusing their attention towards) and hence below average in the rest of the areas.

Brilliant designers are the one's who are strong in in all four areas, while having a core foundation based on common sense, simplicity, visual elegance and clarity.

— click on the image to view a large size.

Although this may not be perfect and may even be incomplete, it helped me get some clarity towards my own growth as a designer. As with everything else, striking the right balance is what is important.

—

This was originally posted in November 2007, but somehow I felt the need to re-surface this particular piece as I've been thinking about it for some time now.

2010-04-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

"
How can we write about light, a thing so great that because of it's beauty is so close to the image of God?

How can we talk about something that to which our very existence, our birth and our death are linked?

How can we talk about light, when everything would be darkness, and perhaps is, in the places and in the time of time?

How can we talk about something that, when it varies, takes on all the gradations of feelings?

About something that crosses time and space, to arrive where human mind cannot arrive?

I cannot, I am too small and superficial and I do not have either the mental strength or the words to express a concept that makes me dizzy at the mere thought of it; the source of light lies in darkness, where life has it's origin.

In Sufi philosophy light has the same texture as the spirit; I can only, barely, understand that it is a thing so precious, so delicate, so high that it must be treated as the most sacred and transcendent thing that as humans we can perceive.

"

— Michele de Lucchi

- From the book "Dopotolomeo" by Silvia Suardi © Skira Editore, Milano, Italy. 2002.
- Image source - Faces of Design

2010-04-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

"To paraphrase Goudy, the problem is not any more that the old-timers stole all the best ideas, but that the old ideas are in danger of being re-discovered from scratch."

From an excellent, and rare, article of this caliber:
A Few Things I've Learnt About Typeface Design by Gerry Leonidas

2010-03-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

An Interview with Ettore Sottsass.

_____

what is your best moment of the day?
never or all day.

what kind of music do you listen to at the moment?
classical or pop.

do you listen to the radio?
no

what books do you have on your bedside table?
a book on the philosophy of the vedas. (ancient hindu texts)

do you read design magazines?
rarely.

newspapers?where do you get news from?
usually I read la repubblica, although in general I avoid reading newspapers because they scare me.

do you notice how women are dressing? do you have any preferences?
in order to understand a woman first I look at her eyes, and then how she is dressed. we all have our preferences, they correspond to our conception of life in general. for example I don’t like diamond jewelry, because I think that life is about other things.anyway, let’s drop it.

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
I never dress formally, and this "french" fashion is sort of snobby. during the beatnik years I used to go to new york often, we used to wear old clothes, but now those big department stores full of men’s clothes, military and sailor’s clothes don’t exist anymore, so I go to armani.

do you have any pets?
no.

where do you work on your designs and projects?I think of designs when I am in the bathroom, or on the phone, or sitting at any table. i don’t have any particular place. but everyone has a place they like more than others, where you feel calmer, which is home. I don’t design at my studio. there are too many people there.

who would you like to design something for?
for a while I have been describing myself as a designer/architect/theorist. I’ve been trying to understand what architecture can be. any subject is good, from a public bathroom, to a hospital, to a sky scraper. but nobody ever asks me to design a sky scraper, precisely because I am very interested in architecture, not in sky scrapers..

when you are working, do you discuss or exchange ideas with your colleagues?
outside the studio? no.

describe your style, like a good friend of yours would describe it.
I truly believe that our duty as an architect or a designer is to design things which attract luck, rooms which protect people... I don’t design things in any style, even less so in any fashion style, I design things for life states.

from 'poltronova' to 'olivetti' to 'memphis' to your latest works with sottass associati, can you give us an idea of the evolution of your philosophy?
at the beginning, when I was young, full of presumption, theoretical, very aggressive, I was very tied to turn of the century functionalism, to the idea of functional style. but gradually I left that behind, because I found a new source of inspiration. from then on I began to try to figure out what I could be in terms of this society, the people, the necessity which surrounded me. ‘memphis’ was a sort of exercise in design, so was ‘olivetti’. they asked me to set up the design of the electronics division. at that time, electronics meant big closets... it was impossible to understand. besides the functionality, which i am still interested in, there was this mystery of electronics. I wanted to show that electronics were mysterious, that is the relationship between design and functionality, a more extensive functionality... a description of a certain conception of existence. this relationship has been and still is central in my work.

which of your projects has given you the most satisfaction?
and which do you like the most?
I don’t know, life is a permanent project, its a passage from one thing to another.

is there any architect or designer from past you appreciate a lot?
le corbusier. the idea of functionalism with a mediterranean touch (a swiss who discovers the mediterranean): the walls are slightly sensorial, you can touch them (you can intervene), they are not like gropius’ german ones where you can’t do anything with them. he put toilets in bedrooms, you could see them, he understood that functionality was not only ergonomics, not only rationality, but something which went beyond them. it was functional to be a human being and to live. and then there’s also aldo rossi, certainly one of the most interesting architects.

what about colleagues, are there any particular ones you appreciate?
there are a lot of architects, we’re all good.

you have spent a lot of time in asia and you know the spiritual values of those cultures very well. do you think that they tend to fuse with our wasteful western culture, or do you think there is another possibility?
the thing about asia which interested me wasn’t so much the spirituality as the sensorial approach, the rituals...there is nothing spiritual in spirituality. the word spirituality was invented in the 19th century. I hate that word... it is finding a way to forget the existential disaster, it is a series of rituals, which correspond to the cosmos and they are rituals which depend on your social class, the weather, the relationship to animals-- this interests me. I think that any attempt to integrate into the modern world can only be "pay attention to life", existence, but not afterlife.

what do you think about the spreading of knowledge via internet? do you consider it as a tool for sharing knowledge, or do you think it is a sort of ‘big brother’?
I used to think of it as ‘big brother’: it is the most widespread form of colonization that has ever existed. internet in essence is western culture. anyone can have access to it... poor countries don’t even have the tools to enter into it. you sell the tools, who gains? and so on. the news is censored, it belongs to our idea of current western existence. the american way of life. if you put forward another idea, either they don’t listen or they don’t understand or they don’t tell you. on the other hand I’ve also thought that this is the destiny of an industrial society: to survive it is necessary to sell, to sell you have to create desire, you have to create a culture willing to buy that stuff... internet is there. what we can do is see to what extent we can use it, I think it is interesting that information is spread over large sections of society, but does the quality of this information change? ...the quality has always changed, from the great religious empires to... I’m sick of people making rhetoric about these machines. the future is going to be wonderful, shining, happy, because of internet.

on the news they said that italians are afraid of unemployment, criminality and pollution. what are you afraid of regarding the future?
I think that the future doesn’t exist. what we think of today as the future isn’t the future. people are always afraid of the future, and the future has always been a disaster. like the present is a disaster. but rhetoric about the future bothers me, because almost everything we do today we say we’re doing for the future. the future is here now, let’s try to get organized now. I don’t care about the future at all.

– from DesignBoom to include it in this collection. You can see the original post here.

2010-03-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

Just type is not enough

So much of graphic communication now seems to be about type and typeset on grids, especially with grotesk sans-serifs like Helvetica. While Joseph-Müller Brockmann's visual communication methods have been applied successfully to Corporate Design, it has also become a stylistic trend since the last few years. There is a need to question why one should apply the standard 6 or 8 column grid and heveltica to every conceivable design project.

With the new A5 Series by Lars Müller Books and 'newspapers' from Unit Editions, some of the brilliant and relatively unknown designers' works are now been brought to our attention. It's time to stop and take notice.

2010-02-26T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Zen principles of Aesthetics are derived from the Buddhism beliefs of Anicca or Impermanence where “everything, without exception, is constantly in flux, even planets, stars and gods”. (Wikipedia)

THE PRINCIPLES:

FUKINSEI (imbalanced)
Asymmetry, odd numbers, irregularity, unevenness, imbalance is used as a denial of perfection as perfection and symmetry does not occur in nature.

KANSO (simple)
Elimination of ornate and things of simplicity by nature expresses their truthfulness. Neat, frank and uncomplicated.

KOKOU (austere)
Basic, weathered bare essentials that are aged and unsensuous. Evokes sternness, forbiddance, maturity and weight.

SHIZEN (natural)
Raw, natural and unforced creativity without pretence. True naturalness is to negate the naive and accidental.

YUGEN (subtle profound)
Suggest and not reveal layers of meaning hidden within. Invisible to the casual eye and avoiding the obvious.

DATSUZOKU (unworldly)
Transcendence of conventional and traditional. Free from the bondage of laws and restrictions. True creativity.

SEIJAKU (calm)
Silence and tranquility, blissful solitude. Absence of disturbance and noise from one’s mind, body and surroundings.

via Swiss-Miss

2010-02-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

A Creative artist often reaches maturity only when he has learnt so to use his conscious craftmanship in the expression of his thoughts as not to silence the promptings of the imperfectly co-ordinated whole, which is called his personality.

- Graham Wallas, The Art of Thought.

2010-02-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

Wrist Watches are descendants of Clocks.

Sometimes it helps to state the obvious.

2010-02-23T05:28:00.001-08:00

If you can't find the solution,
you haven't found the problem.

— John McConnell

2010-02-15T22:44:00.001-08:00

But Does It Float
http://butdoesitfloat.com/

2010-01-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

Christian Liaigre

Website | Showroom (New York)

2010-01-25T21:49:00.001-08:00

Photography is a way of telling what you feel about what you see.

— Ansel Adams

2010-01-23T16:43:00.001-08:00

Old yet New
Masculine yet Feminine
Funtional yet Poetic

2010-01-17T21:46:00.001-08:00

Beauty is the universal in the particular

2010-01-04T10:42:00.001-08:00

City Hall Clock, Arne Jacobson, 1960

Months before his death in 1971, Arne Jacobsen reflected on his career. "The fundamental factor is proportion," he concluded. "Proportion is precisely what makes the old Greek temples beautiful...And when we look at some of the most admired buildings of the Renaissance or the Baroque, we notice that they are all well-proportioned. That is the essential thing."

2009-12-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

Do something you haven't done before...

Surprise Yourself

2009-11-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

The photograph does not fit to the book, the book fits to the photograph.

Irla Ó Lionárd on Tradition

2009-11-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

people observe tradition from different perspectives, some people see tradition as a very static thing. but the reality is that all tradition changes, and is changing. and when you relax about that and when you think that's okay, you can test the boundaries of the tradition, without feeling bad about your self.

2009-11-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

We beleived that we could acheive the outcomes that our clients desired by avoiding formulaic responses. What do I mean by this? If, for example, a client comes to us and shows us the work that their competitors were doing and suggested that we do 'something like this', we'd politely suggested looking elsewhere for a starting point. We explained that our philosophy was to find new ways of doing things. We'd point out that there was more leverage and greater benefit to be had by going for calculated difference rather than sticking with generic sameness.

—The editors of StudioCulture

2009-11-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

It would be so awkward having an intern in the studio. We really feel we have to do everything ourselves: DIY. To have somebody do all the "dumb" work for us would make us feel terrible, For example, if we came up with a solution that forces us to spend days on kerning, we feel we have to do kerning ourselves. We came up with the solution, so we have to suffer the consequences, even if it involves days of boring work.

— Experimental Jetset, From StudioCulture

2009-10-16T21:29:00.001-07:00

A design is a plan to make something. Something we can see or hold or walk into. Something that is two dimensional or three dimensional. It is always something seen or sometimes something touched. And now and then by association, something heard. It is often a single item and just as often a mass-produced product.

– Living By Design, Pentagram

2009-10-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I had noted this from a book on Graphic Thought Facility:

"one visual problem has infinite number of solutions; that many of them are valid; that solutions ought to derive from the subject matter; that the designer should therefore have no preconceived graphic style."

I have been working consistently in this approach, and it has not only lead to client's that are happy, but I too have felt very happy by the outcomes. Because in this approach there is least resistance, less or no ego, and more understanding and clarity to really create distinct and unique solutions.

Fletcher/Forbes/Gill were onto something. and GTF is one of my favorite design agency.

2009-09-09T13:00:00.001-07:00

Magnificent Photographs from LIFE magazine archives, now free to access on Google Images.

search criteria: french fashion source:life

2009-09-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old fims, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, lights and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don't bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said:

'It's not where you take things from– it's where you take them to.'"

– Jim Jarmusch

2009-08-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

FORA.tv, the site I designed, is TIME Magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2009

2009-08-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Avoid going for the glaringly obvious solution. For example: if you are to use a photograph (even if it is a good photograph) use painting instead. Create new surprise.

2009-07-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

Style Follows Substance.

2009-06-18T15:14:00.001-07:00

Massimo Vignelli Canon

2009-06-08T22:37:00.000-07:00

DJ Derek was born & raised in Bristol, & during the late 50's & early 60's fell in love with the music & culture of the West Indian immigrants moving to Britain. He picked up the lingo by hanging around in barber shops & listening, & picked up the groove by buying & selling reggae records around the country.

Now in his late 60's Derek tours the country armed only with a backpack full of killer tunes, his bus pass & an unquenchable thirst for real ale.

Watch Dj Derek Pt. 1

DJ Derek pt. 1 from Grand Finale on Vimeo.

Dj Derek Pt. 2

DJ Derek pt. 2 from Grand Finale on Vimeo.

2009-06-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - Moderna Musset

The Museum of Modern Art's identity designed by Stockholm Design Lab.

Project background From their website: Two main requirements were applied when creating the identity: to meet high standards of originality and aesthetics, and that all identity components should reflect the key values of Moderna Musset - excellence and access.

Needless to say, it meets the requirements with sophistication and relevance to contemporary times.

2009-06-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

Stockholm Design Lab Founded in 1988 by Architect Thomas Eriksson and graphic designer Björn Kusoffsky, they share the conviction that good design can be an important tool in creating better life for people, companies and societies. They also maintain that surprising is more interesting than expected, that content always rules form, and that results is the sum of its details.

* From an interview on +81Plus Eighty One issue

2009-06-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

When design supersedes content, it starts to call towards itself an unwanted attention, that often distracts the users from what they are originally there to do. Style should follow substance.

2009-05-16T10:14:00.001-07:00

I wonder - Is green design an acquired taste?

As designers we need to create mass-produced products that are truly sustainable without making it the only criterion for purchase. An aesthetically satisfying experience is an inherent human need. That is still a design problem. and that still needs to be addressed.

2009-05-13T15:50:00.001-07:00

Henry Dreyfuss — Rise In The Level of Public Taste (1955)

Most people have inherent good taste, but they can't be expected to use it if they can't find good things. Many persons are intimidated by what the stores and advertisements tell them is the proper thing. Many want what their neighbors have. But given an opportunity to have fine things, people will generally choose them. As a result, the American home and office have become standards of good taste throughout the world. To get back to our hypothetical European who loves opera and art and disapproves of our so-called gadget economy. there's probably more bad taste in the form of ugly furniture and hideous decoration in London and Rome than in Pittsburgh and Detroit. But this, too, is changing. As more products of American design find their way into shops and homes of Europe, or are imitated by European manufacturers, the same metamorphosis will occur there as has taken place here. At last we are repaying the debt of culture to the Old World with well-designed, mass-produced goods. Someday, the housewives of the world may join American women in keeping house with less physical effort — surrounded by objects that will sharpen their over-all taste.

Who can say that the lengthening of the life span of the average American is not owing in part to the contributions of the applied arts? Or that better health may not be attributed partly to lessen fatigue and freedom from concern and toil with old-fashioned methods of work in the home?

The same unshackling has taken place in factories and offices. The job of making a living is easier, safer, and more efficient, and pleasanter than it was a quarter century ago. The applied arts have made it possible for average people not only to surround themselves with orderliness and beauty, but to organize their lives so that they have more leisure to devote to other things.

It would be fatuous to assume that every man is constantly aware of the details of his surroundings. I do not believe this to be true. But I am convinced that a well-set dinner table will aid flow of gastric juices; that a well lighted planned classroom is conducive to study; that carefully selected colors choosen with an eye to psychological influence will develop better and more lucrative work habits for the man at the machine; that a quietly designed conference room at the United Nations headquarters might well help influence the representatives to make a calm and just decision.

I believe that man achieves his tallest measure of serenity when surrounded by beauty. We find most serene moments in great cathedrals, in the presence of fine pictures and sculpture, on a university campus, or listening to magnificent music. Industry, technology, and mass-production have made it possible for the average man to surround himself with serenity in his home and in his place of work. Perhaps it is this serenity which we need most in the world today.

- From the book Designing for People / Allworth Press

2009-05-10T00:33:00.001-07:00

... it's not only my dreams, my belief is that all these dreams are yours as well ... and the only distinction between me and you is that I can articulate them. That is what poetry, or literature, or painting or film making is all about ... it's as simple as that ...

— Werner Herzog from the documentary Burden of Dreams

2009-04-24T17:32:00.001-07:00

"If you see it, you missed it."

– Annie Leibovitz on the one rule of photography.

From the book "Olympic Portraits", Little Brown and Company 1996.

2009-04-19T19:02:00.001-07:00

Survival Form

Almost without exception, our designs include an ingredient we call survival form. We deliberately incorporate into the product some remembered detail that will recall to the users a similar article put to a similar use. People will more readily accept something new, we feel, if they recognize in it something out of the past. Most of us have nostalgia for old things. Our senses quickly recognize and receive pleasure when a long-forgotten detail is brought back. It may be an old tune, a taste of old-fashioned pudding, the odor of a particular flower, the patina of an antiquated table, or, as in most cases the remembrance of what something looked like. Somehow these recollections from the past give us comfort, security and silent courage. By embodying a familiar pattern in an otherwise wholly new and possibly radical form, we can make the unusual acceptable to people who would otherwise reject it.

– From the book Designing for People by Henry Dreyfuss

2009-04-19T11:15:00.001-07:00

Speaking Likeness

"People gave themselves away in it's most likeness either [just] before or after they spoke."

- Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

(From Simon Schama's Power of Art Series)

2009-03-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Life Lessons by the amazing, Stefan Sagmiester:

1. Helping other people helps me
2. Having guts always works out for me
3. Thinking that life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
4. Starting a charity is surprisingly easy
5. Being not truthful works against me
6. Everything I do always comes back to me
7. Assuming is stifling
8. Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on
9. Over time I get used to everything and start taking for granted
10. Money does not make me happy
11. Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life
12. Keeping a diary supports personal development
13. Trying to look good limits my life
14. Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses
15. Worrying solves nothing
16. Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
17. Actually doing the things I set out to do increases my overall level of satisfaction.
18. Everybody thinks they are right.
19. If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself first.
20. Low expectations are a good strategy.
21. Everybody who is honest is interesting.

2009-03-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

Contemporary Landscape Practice

Contemporary Landscape Practice is a Tokyo, Yokohama, Utsunomiya (JPN) based a photographer group for researching the modern expression Methodology in landscape photography.

f l u x on Flickr.

2009-03-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

"It is only when man is not accepted as the center of human concern that it becomes feasible to create a system of production which values profit out of proportion to responsible public service..."

— From Paul Rand's Essays in Thoughts on Design at PaulRand.com

2009-03-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

I like this phrase -

"An aesthetically satisfying whole".

From a review I read for a CD - Voices of a Rainforest on Amazon.

2008-12-26T21:57:00.000-08:00

Don't Think...
Look.

2008-12-07T12:56:00.001-08:00

Quick Notes to myself.

note.1

Material speaks for itself. But it does not always need to be the message itself. For example, the renewed interest in using recycled materials, and that itself becoming the communication. In fact, recycled material should never be the message. By using an interesting printing /process /technique with the given material, the work must deliver impressive results. The intent is not to celebrate the use of recycling - that is a given - the intent is to make the result interesting.

*image from Cartlidge Levene

note.2

There are those designers that spend most of their time doing something else. Instead of sitting in front of a computer and start designing (as most of us do these days), they seem to be spending most of their time exploring. Getting the right idea, the perfect visual message: sometimes using wit and humor as the tools of communication. They seem to worry less about the execution (they are good at that), but more about thinking of the right the idea or the right ideas.

2008-12-04T02:01:00.000-08:00

Leaving no trace.

You erase your traces as designer by not asserting your own ideas. When the product synchronizes with its users, they feel as if they’ve found the product they were looking for all along. At that moment, the name of the designer of the product becomes irrelevant. I am not a celebrity designer, and I would not want people to enjoy the “signature” of myself as designer before enjoying my actual products. If users enjoy the products, the question of who designed them is relatively unimportant. Naturally, they may be curious about who designed it."

- Naoto Fukasawa (Interview - Dwell Magazine)

Reminds me of the chapter in the book 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind' about No Traces.

2008-12-04T01:32:00.000-08:00

The English Butler

Dieter Rams once said, "Design should be like an English butler, always available but never intrusive" and that "Quiet is better than loud".

These are some very simple thoughts to live by:

Good design is innovative.

Good design makes a product useful.

Good design is aesthetic.

Good design helps us to understand a product.

Good design is unobtrusive.

Good design is honest.

Good design is durable.

Good design is consequent to the last detail.

Good design is concerned with the environment.

Good design is as little design as possible.

Back to purity, back to simplicity.

2008-11-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

From Lascaux to Brooklyn

'The great lesson of the cave paintings of Lascaux is that art is an intuitive, autonomous, and timeless activity and works independently of the development of society.'

'Like mathematics, the principles of aesthetics involve the abstract formal properties of things and applies to everything - to apples, and to oranges, to ideas and to things - regardless of one's feelings, opinions, or emotions.

'.. it is well to remember that "a great poet or painter may hold the wrong theory, an array of conflicting theories, or no theory at all. Who cares? The work is the thing.'

'I believe what determines the status of art is not genre, but quality.'

- Paul Rand

Audio: Johann Sebastian Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

2008-10-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - California Academy of Sciences

Designed by Kit Hinrichs and his team at Pentagram, the identity of California Academy of Sciences is distinct, evolutionary, evolving and most importantly, designed to last for a long time.

The color system is kept to a basic palette, orange to represent the Golden Gate Bridge, green to represent life and natural world, and gray to represent the San Francisco fog and the concrete building. This does seem to work well for a public museum by being extremely approachable and friendly - for kids especially.

2008-10-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Jost Hochuli on Detail

Typography involves 'the selection of the right typeface, readability, order, the logical positioning of the components', as well as 'meticulous attention to detail'— a reminder of an oft-quoted remark by Rodin:

"It's the detail that makes the masterpiece"'.

...

Typography is not an art. Typography is not a science. Typography is a craft. A craft not in the sense of blindly following some poorly understood rules, but rather in the sense of the precise application of tried and tested experience. The typographer must know how the book will read, what purpose it serves, in order to develop it's concept. The typographer is as little responsible for the content of the book as is the interior designer for the thoughts of the person who sits on the chair he designed. The chair must be comfortable and sufficiently robust — no more than that.

From the book - Detail in Typography

2008-10-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Some advice for young designers, but it can apply to anyone:

"You have to be very selective about what you do and be very confident about it and then push it. Consolidate all your efforts into one thing and go from there and don't spread yourself too thin," says Houtenbos. "If you really focus on every aspect of the one thing… you will have a much better chance of succeeding."

2008-09-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

The value of seeing

To create unique, memorable visual experiences.. one needs to stay open to seeking new, visual experiences.

While traveling to Sikkim in the Eastern Himalayas, I stopped over for a few days at Darjeeling, the tea capital of India, where some of the finest teas are sold. While walking the town center one evening, I stopped by a store that sold some of these teas. After an informative discussion on teas with a knowledgeable, soft-spoken shop owner, I purchased a small pack of graded darjeeling tea. There was a peculiar, hand wrapped way in which they packaged, which I thought was quiet beautiful. I moved on with my travel, and then returned to Bombay and then back to work. After a few months I had a new project to design a tea packaging for a local tea distributor. After understanding the company's need to be differentiated from the saturated market of low quality "branded" teas from large CPG companies, the idea to design the packaging in that elegant way I saw in Darjeeing came to my mind, and SpringFresh was born.

It is one of the best works that I truly enjoyed creating.

What is the point of this? The point here is that ideas come later. Experience comes first. A rich visual experience is is like food for the brain. There is a great value in constantly exposing one's self to new visual experiences. One needs to stray out of the regular path, wander into a curious shop or a new town, find something that sparks your interest, collect, perhaps even sketch like Alan Fletcher. To be actively aware of your surroundings and to push yourself in a new place is the secret that surfaces at odd times while pondering over design brief at 1:00 in the night.

2008-09-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

What is art? What is design?

"Art serves an inner necessity.

Design serves an outer necessity."*

* Quote taken from Studio Christan Johnson from the book Swedish Graphic Design 2

2008-09-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

The man who's work has inspired my first type face.

The great, Adrian Frutiger.

2008-09-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

GTF

"GTF takes a systematic approach to design. The firm often works with brands and institutions over a number of years, developing a portfolio of projects that build on each other in strategic and creative ways to help strengthen their design. GTF regularly incorporates distinctive elements as the defining feature of the project, weather it'd be strong photography, the integration of illustration, a particular typeface, an unusual printing process, or in the case of Stealing Beauty catalogue, for example, an unexpected compilation of materials and binding."

Notes from the book: Graphic Thought Facility, A+D Series.

2008-09-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Another Thought for the Day

"If you need to compromise (on quality),

change the idea."

-- This time it's my own quote.

2008-09-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

Thought for the day

Fletcher/Forbes/Gill, established in London is 1962 by Alan Fletcher, based it's work on the thesis that

"one visual problem has infinite number of solutions; that many of them are valid; that solutions ought to derive from the subject matter; that the designer should therefore have no preconceived graphic style."

- From Graphic Thought Facility, A+D Series book

2008-08-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - The Scribble

The identity of Minale Tattersfield Design, simply called "the scribble", still stands as one of the most distinctive and memorable identities I have ever seen.

It is to say that a simple expression like a scribble can also be a logo and satisfy the functional (and emotional) requirements.

From their website:

Established in 1964, Minale, Tattersfield emerged early on as a major force in the design world. Combining exceptional innovation with the use of sound commercial principals as the basis of our ideas, and with the ability to talk to clients in a language they understood, we quickly became famous from London to Tokyo for being creative and effective.

.. fashions, trends and influences have come and gone, but our original philosophy and principles remain the same today as they have always been. They are based on our firm belief that true originality can only stem from the recognition that each client and every assignment is unique and that only by seeking to fully understand a problem is it possible to achieve a truly creative solution.

Their design approach, stated in a deceptively simple language, can be easily overlooked in a world filled with a lot of talk. But it is the one that works, and endures.

2008-06-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - Biba

2008-06-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - Intro

To put together logos and identity systems that are conceived and designed in way that they fully satisfy the emotional, cultural as well as the functional aspects. It is necessary to look into those exceptional identities now, to see how their designers might have imagined them, and approached them.

It is not a surprise that much of the great works are works done in the past. But I have found identities designed in contemporary times, that strike me as unique. This makes me want to look for more examples. I have tried to put forward my thoughts about them, but there is really no need for a lot of explanation. These works speak for themselves. The sense they they have been carefully crafted with precision and detail, is evident and also self explanatory.

And lastly, as Paul Rand said in his interview -

"...a logo could be anything, but it has to be recognizable."

2008-06-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

"Myths, are public dreams.

Dreams are personal myths."

- Josef Campbell, From the TV Show - Sukhvati: A Place of Bliss.

2008-04-02T08:53:00.001-07:00

Three Approaches to Design*

1:

The one that solves problems

This type of an approach is often seen in environments that can be called - functionalists. It is repeatedly associated with Modernism, which has a larger and more deeper context, than pure function. These solutions "work". What might seem like a good solution for places such as Hospitals, where even a small functional consideration can save someone's life, it is often applied to all other aspects of our lives, from food to furniture. It attaches itself closely with the business objectives of cost effectiveness, durability and low maintenance.

There are things to be learnt from the functionalists, mainly their amazing sense of practicality.

2:

The one that solve problems beautifully

A common pitfall for the functionalist based design is that it attaches itself entirely to business needs and business requirements. It can be unappealing, to most eyes at least, and it leaves one without a sense of satisfaction. As a result, there are those who believe in the "form follows function" approach where visual aesthetics have a part to play in the solution, and is considered important, but not necessary. Designers work within the constraints set by business, which mostly means "cost effectiveness", yet deliver results that are beautiful to look at. This kind of an approach might mean at its worst, "beautification" of something that is already built, or at its best, presenting concepts to the marketing and business leaders (and in turn developers and engineers) towards creating something that results in beautiful execution. There are times when the designers have the last say in the final out come.

This is not to say that there aren't many beautiful, functional design solutions out there. There are. You will find that these solutions have a long standing "brand loyalty" associated with them. I don't need to name the brands, you know it.

There is something about working in constrains that has its own appeal. It is to work within a given framework and deliver exceptional results is what most of us strive for. But the results often last for a short duration, until some thing more beautiful comes along. New technologies are creating room for a lot more flexibility than before and much remains to be explored.

3:

The one that give meaningful experience to everyday life

This is what painting, music, poetry, literature, sculpture, dance, does to our lives. It gives meaning. It makes us stop and take notice. It reminds us of a deeper beauty that lies in the human experience. It is what separates true masters from the rest.

The masters are often well known in their fields. Their work stand the test of time. Their books are part of people's personal libraries. Their work has a sense of timelessness and one never gets bored of it because it completes our experience with it. They evoke our senses, and we never return unsatisfied.

Can design deliver a complete, satisfying experience? Or is it only the virtue of the arts?

As Charles Eames said, "The design is the expression of the purpose. It may (if it is good enough) later be judged as art."

Perhaps when the purpose is not based on the profitability of a given business alone, but instead based upon human experience, we may be able to create work of lasting value. Perhaps its time now to look again, with new eyes, at the the visual arts and crafts of the world both past and present, and find out for ourselves, what it really means to complete the human experience in everyday life.

* DISCLAIMER:

These approaches are not part of some academic 'Design Theory' as such. They are also not something that is agreed upon by everyone in the design industry, although most designers work in these three areas knowingly or unknowingly. These are only my (novice) observations and should be treated as such.

This is also not an attempt to make scientific classifications, and it's intention is not to put designers in appropriate "boxes" based on what they do, so that we can all sit back and make sense of the world. No. It is quiet the contrary.

By becoming aware of these three approaches, and by looking at them calmly and objectively, I wanted to gain a deeper, and clearer understanding of the place a designer (of myself) in the world.

...

2008-03-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

- Professor R.K. Joshi (1936-2008)

2008-03-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

Identity breeds Attraction

Anything that is superb will be discovered, without fail.

- Kenya Hara

2008-03-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Distinctive Identities - Abu Dhabi Culture & Heritage

I have been thinking about my approach to visual communication, especially in designing identities (what it should or should not be) and that has taken me towards finding authentic, and sincere expressions.

Here's an example I found where a visual communication is expressed through authenticity, and at the same time fully satisfied the practical and the functional requirements.

The identity for Abu Dhabi Culture & Heritage (designed by The Brand Union).

Eastern cultures need to embrace such approach to their visual communication, by working within their own visual vocabulary.

2008-03-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

Material speaks for itself

The most interesting, and often overlooked aspect of the Taj Mahal is not just the impeccable carving, the proportion, the scale, the elegance.. but the choice of material -- Marble. And that particular marble, called The Makrana White that was quarried from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

2008-02-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

Exercises in Color

Objective: Form a swatch book of local colors.

Form a color palette that is based fundamentally upon the local geography, local culture and local sensibilities. Find hand pick materials, textures, from local areas and extract color value from it. Label it based on the source of the color. Add notes/photographs where some contextual explanation would be helpful. Where possible, attach a copy of the actual material along with the swatch. It might be okay to find a Pantone equivalent, but this exercise is not about finding a Pantone equivalent of local colors. Further more, explore color relations of the found swatches.

While this research will eventually become a reference book of local colors, this exercise is about gaining a deeper understanding of its subtle distinctions.

... to be scheduled

2008-02-11T22:45:00.001-08:00

Super Normal

"The appeal of SuperNormal lies in the idea that our relationship with things we aren't usually aware of is richer than with things that are viewed in terms of design."

Designers generally do not think to design the "ordinary". If anything, they live in fear of people saying their designs are "nothing special." Of course, undeniably, peopel do have an unconscious everyday sense of "normal", but rather than to blend in, the tendency of designers is to try to create "statement" or "stimulation". So "normal" has come to mean "unstimulating" or "boring" design.

It's not just designers; people who buy design and clients who commission designers do not see "normal" as a design concept or even entertain the idea of creating the "new normal". To dare, then, to design something "normal" within this prevailing scheme of design common sense raises the stakes; it makes for consciously designed normal above and beyond normal that what we might call "Super Normal." Why super? Well, if our senses of normal falls within the realm of non-design, then the unthinkable attempt to undercut all the excesses and bold, brash statements recognised as design must conversely transend them. "Normal" refers to things as they've come to be; this "Super Normal" is the designing of things just as "normal" as what we've come to know, albeit in no way anonymous. There's a creative intent at work here, evenif that intent may be regarded not so much as designing, but simply not going against the inevitable flow of things as they come to be.

"Super Normal" is less concerned with designing beauty than seemingly homely but memorable elements of everyday life. Certainly nothing "flashy" or "eye catching"; yet almost always somehow appealing. As if, with viewing something with expectations of a new design, our negative first impression of "nothing much" or "just plain ordinary" shifted to "...but not bad at all." Overcoming an initial emotional denial, out bodily sensors pick up on an appeal we seen to have known all along and engage us in that strangely familiar attraction. Things that possess a quality to shake us back to our senses are "Super Normal."

When people hear the word "design" they think "special"; creating "special" things is what everyone, designers are users like, assume design is all about. When in fact, both sides are playing out a mutual fantasy far removed from reality.

...

from Naoto Fukaswa and Jasper Morrison's book "Super Normal"

2007-11-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

Lessons I have learnt in Communication Design

It took me 9 years to get to this:

Be Honest.
Nothing is more important than honesty in visual communication. Be honest in your intention and in your communications. Avoid cover-ups, and the song and dance that take you away from what it really is. But first, be honest with yourself.

Say it clearly.
Say one or two things that really matter, put them in words. One or two words that capture the essence of what you want to say. Ensure that it gets communicated through your work without any bias or prejudice.

Do it with Simplicity.
With clarity comes simplicity. Avoid many layers of meaning that add to the complexity on the message. Make it beautifully clear.

Make Common-Sense.
Nobody has time to decode too much information. To communicate simply, means to say it with that which makes "common-sense".

Create Surprise.
By removing that which does not make sense to you anymore, and by adding something of your own to the process, the work truly becomes contemporary. Question everything- why should we use this size, this color, this material, this typeface, this format, this photograph, this printing, this sequence, this method - do it in a positive, constructive way. Don't take anything for granted. Re-Design. Re-Think.

Use Wit.
I leant this late, and can't say enough to stress its importance. It is about the "smile in the mind". Wit acknowledges the intelligence of the communicator and the receiver. It makes communication a dialogue, not just a single sided message. Wit can make it memorable. Because it is engages the user and gives delight. Always try an approach that takes wit into play.

Involve the craft.
Nothing seems as good as something that has been done with care and attention. Know your materials, know the technologies. Never settle for the mediocre, always know that it can be executed in a better way. Design is not just form and color, it is also texture and material. It is not just about form and function, it is also about evoking the senses. It is a subtle sense of quality.

2007-11-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

A Simple Design Brief

How can a designer justify what he or she is doing for a specific package design? (or any design for that matter)

This is how I would approach it.

Start with a clean slate.

Begin with writing a really short and crisp design brief that answers three fundamental questions.
What is it?
-- Name of product / its identity --
What’s the story?
-- The product and its benefit --
Who is it for?
-- Intended audience --
Sometimes, a product's benefit needs to be called out loud and clear, at times its the brand name, and almost all the time it needs to communicate to the intended audience.

A designer needs to debate what he thinks should be the basis to his or her design direction that brings forward the very essence of the product's identity.
Now start designing an elegant and unique package that communicates the products qualities in the best way possible and does the job extremely well.

Then leave it to the market to decide.
This can also be validated in a qualitative research, but I haven't seen any research (yet) conducted that actually helps a given design direction (I'm sure it can) and makes it stronger, instead of dictating it to the smallest detail.

If it hits the spot, the package is successful. It will then take away the subjectivity from the clients, brand managers, marketing mangers, sales force, CEO etc. about a design solution, and have a measurable output. Further communication channels, such as advertising (if the company feels the need for it) or just plain word-of-mouth will do the rest.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By answering these three questions does not end a brief either, but it should pretty much get the work started.

The following understanding will further help the design direction:
- Category understanding
- Priority audience understanding
- Brand understanding (if the brand is not new)
- Product understanding
- Contextual setting

Users immediate environment (physical)
Users mental space (psychological)
Users cultural environment (physiological)

- Business objectives
- Product/brand expansions (future possibilities)
- Print/Packaging Technology understanding
What kind of brand is it? If it is part of a larger brand? e.g. Is it monolithic, endorsed, or branded.

What difference does it make to the customer's life? What is its purpose?

Where does it live in the users life?

Who else might be influenced?
-- Define a tertiary audience, if the priority audience is narrowed down to a group --

This will help define a outer limit to the design direction.

2007-11-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Update: A Simple Design Brief [From John Rushworth's Interview]

After written the brief above, I read an inteview with John Rushworth in the book, Profile: Pentagram. I love how he brings such amazing clarity to the process, pure genius!

so, here's the design brief approach, with quotes taken from the interview.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To begin with start with a clean slate. Spend time asking lots of questions and getting an understanding about the product.

66
Rushworth sees the role of designer, as almost akin to that of a psychoanalyst, people who can come in and get to know a product better than the product knows itself and thereby help it to come to a sense of its own identity.
99

now answering this fundamental question.

Who are you?
-- What is your identity --

What is special about this product?
What gives this particular ready-made meal or brochure or restaurant charm or uniqueness?

this is the most important part. Defining the product's personality, what are the product's distinctive virtues.

66
there is clearly a strong and identifiable philosophy behind all of Rushworth’s work. That philosophy is one that places responsibility to the personality of the product way above the promotion of any individual stylistic quirks.

Rushworth has a firm faith that every product, like every person, will have something special that one can say about, but he’s under no illusion that the distinctiveness will be easy to find. And yet a good designer will have to make the eventual design solution seem easy, natural, and inevitable.
99

The Dog and the Gramophone

2007-08-28T19:49:00.001-07:00

Some excellent reading on the history of HMV's classic identity at designboom - the nipper saga and why nipper is disappearing from the record labels - as well as wikipedia.

Chema Madoz

2007-08-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

"Hidden among daily things arises new worlds. New dimensions led by metaphor alters the perception of an immediate reality. The absurd, the paradox, the humor – why not the wittiness – are to be found at the photographers studio."

- from chemamadoz.com. See his work at the Gallery.

2007-08-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

“I happen to believe that the visual environment.. improves each time a designer produces a good design – and in no other way.”

- William Golden, 1959 (CBS)
Noted from the book Profile: Pentagram

2007-08-10T03:44:00.000-07:00

"I have been accused of being a revolutionary, yet my only teacher is the past and my only subject of study is the study of the past."

- Le Corbusier

problem solution

2007-06-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

"A problem is simply the difference between what one has and what one wants."

– Edward de Bono from the book Lateral Thinking.

Strange Books for Poets

2007-04-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

From Amazon's Recommendations List:

Strange Books for Poets