Journal 12

Paula Scher stood out to me the most out of the three designers that I watched. She said that after 34 years she still gets excited once she finally grasps her thought and then treats the type as a sculpture. She did a lot of work for Shakespeare in the Park and took a different spin on the idea. A European designer said that she was the first one to create an American Shakespeare poster.

One thing that really surprised me was that she said she operates on instincts. She will try to make an idea one or two times and if she is not happy with it, she said that it can't be done. We are taught to make many variations of the design and refine, refine, refine. Her work looks great but part of me wants to think that it could be even better if she would do my process. I know that my stuff changes drastically from the beginning to the final product.

David Carson gives many important tips but the thing that really hit me and I though related to the Speech in Motion project was, "the starting point is interpreting something, don't try to make it look pretty, try to understand what you just read." This relates to nearly everything we have to do as a graphic designer. What is the point in making a great poster that is beautiful and eye catching if it has nothing to do with the article, group, or company?

Another point that he made dealt with how everything we do now is on the computer. He said that he would not want to work for or with someone that did not allow him to put his personality into the piece he was creating.

The last designer I watched was Sagmeister. He had a very different view and it was almost depressing and not as inspiring but this could just be because of his views. At the end of the interview he said that you have to live in the now, keeping a diary supports personal development, complaining is silly, dreams are meaningless, and that everyone thinks they are liked. The last couple seem very negative and I like to keep a positive view on life so maybe that is what struck me wrong.

I do think he made a strong point when he says that worrying solves nothing. Seeing that my external hard drive crashed on me a couple days ago and it is almost the end of the year, I was freaking out. I figured out that by doing so, I just cause myself more stress and I do not need that. He also said that he has to "make himself jump over the wall" and push himself to the limits or towards something he would be afraid to try. I think I am going to try to start trying this approach and see what happens to my work...