On Design.

Lately (well, for the last two and a half years) I've been subject to a growing interest in design. Sure, you can call it graphic design if you want. But to me DESIGN is much more than that. It's not just the physical flyer, poster, or ad. It's how those tactile manifestations of the concept of "design" represent the values of an entity, its collective dreams and desires, its foibles, efficiency, even its rapport with others.

I know this sounds like its heavily influenced by four long years at a university as a student in a graphic design curriculum, but it's not. There's a harsh reality:

I don't know shit about design. I've not had training in it. I feel like I'm constantly pestering my designer friend about all sorts of details about design.

Sure, I've got an interest in good design. I realize that there's a ton of meaning silently lurking beneath the surface of any advertisement, and I've been striving to figure it out. I could go to school for it, but to be honest, I'd rather finish my engineering degree.

Yet I still have a yearning to know more, the same way that I want to understand all the grimy details involved in making beer. I don't really want to be a professional brewer, but I do want to make beer as well as a real brewer. I want to be able to have a conversation with a professional brewer about brewing without sounding like a total novice- yet I still want to learn something.

I am striving to approach design in the same manner. I want to, more than anything else, UNDERSTAND. I want to know why Helvetica is so inspiring. I want to be able to lift the hood on a vintage VW ad and see- understand- why it's so appealing. I want to be able to create a piece of art that conveys the sense and the feeling that I feel about something. And I want the viewer of that art to feel a stirring, a desire- without knowing why they feel that way.

I feel that since having that awakening of attention- since the point that I started to see and try to get it- my skills have progressed. I'm well on my way to design geekdom: at a recent party, faced with no Sharpie with which to mark my cup, I cut my name out of a red plastic beer cup (i put another one inside, duh). I tried my hardest to use all lower case Helvetica...and it turned out okay. Dork.

Anyway, here's a progression. Any criticism, complaints, hints, encouragement and especially suggestions of reading material please put in the comments. Thanks in advance.

Template for pint glasses for winners at Rockysprints, our version of roller racing:

One of my earliest, a shirt design on Cafepress. It's unspectacular but a few people bought one:
One Version of the header for a blog I started and sporadically write for:

A spoke card for an alleycat we put on last year (note not very good GIMP work):

Poster for Rockysprints, roller racing a few of us put on in a local bar. This is where I feel like I started to "get it" (even if it is a blatant rip-off of NYC subway signage). FYI, the final version had red behind the 3, since that's what it is in New York.

And the latest version of the Rockysprints poster. Getting better!


-John

Mailbox Surprise: Depth

A month and a half ago (or so) I threw my name and address on a form on some site that had something that looked interesting. After entering the requisite details, I remember thinking to myself "Hm, it's coming from the UK. Doubt it'll get here."
Yesterday in my mailbox along with some cheap Chinese electronics there was a biggish envelope with stamps that said "45p". Hm, what's this?
It was my copy of Things Our Friends Have Written On the Internet 2008. Number 800 out of a run of 1000, to be exact.

So, what's the big frikkin' deal?

Well, on its surface it is nothing more than parts of websites, blogs, and Twitter feeds printed on newsprint. So? Well, aside from those posts, tweets, and photos being really interesting it also demonstrates the extent that the internet has changed how many of us choose to get our information, the way we read, the way content gets displayed , and the way syntax has developed. That's not really a surprise. What I find fascinating is that when I think about it while reading I find my experience more like reading something online. I've only had a little bit of time to check it out, so I've been skipping from article to article to picture to the Mars Lander twitter feed and back to another article and then on to something else- and it's the same as how I "read" online. That's what I find interesting. Something that read online, I'd probably get through a paragraph or two and then skip to something else but the same thing on paper seems so much more permanent. Sure, I'm still skipping around but a lot less than I usually do. And the format combined with interesting content and a nice design make it seem so much...deeper. Or something.

Anyway, it's time for me to go back to work.

EDIT: Try to get you own here.

-John