The other night I had the opportunity to attend a lecture given by legendary modernist designer Massimo Vignelli. It was very interesting to hear this guy who’s been in the industry for over 50 years now talk about all the projects he’s been involved with, from when he worked with Venini in Milan to his work with Bloomindales, the National Park Service, American Airlines, and The New York Subway System.

Massimo divided his lecture into groups of 5 years, and the beginning of each section he had a cute little black and white of his wife and himself. Massimo really injects a lot of humor into his stories; his pretty strong Italian accent and old-man behavior lend to some funny on-stage happenings.

Over the two hours of lecture I jotted down some things that Massimo had said here and there. Here are a few of the notes I took; things he said, advice, and a few random out-of-context sentences. It should be noted though that Massimo is an unapologetic, opinionated, modernist and some of the things he says definitely aren’t for everyone.

I see graphic design as the orginization of information that is semantically correct, syntactically consistant, pragmatically understandable, visually powerful, intellectually intelligent, and above all timeless.

Don’t trust market research, do what you want.

How can people judge design if [they don't know|it never existed before].

If you can’t find it, design it.

Have imagination, have courage, be fast.

If you listen to the manufacturer you’ll still be making mickey mouse trays.

Stay away from miserable design.

The grid is a lion, and you are the grid tamer. If you stay too long in the grid, the grid will eat you.

Look at my pants!

Luck is very important, you should be lucky.

Never work with middle management, work with the president. Middle management is afraid of losing their jobs.

Adding is stupid, subtracting is genius.

At the end of the lecture I stayed behind for a few minutes to have a short word with Kely Salchow, the AIGA Detroit Education Chair, and of course, Massimo. I had also brought along Massimo’s book, Vignelli: From A to Z, which I had a copy of in my library in the hopes that he’d be so nice as to autograph it, which he did.

As much as I like looking through portfolios all walks of designers, I find it a bit lacking sometimes. I like knowing about the designers, their hobbies, their process, their setups, their work spaces. I feel it lets me see a little more into how their work comes to fruition. So from time to time I like to browse Apple’s Pro Profiles Archive. There’s all sorts of nifty information lurking in the profiles that tells us a bit about their work, their setup, but more importantly we get little (and sometimes big) hints at their processes.

Core77 has a back to school guide up for all you designer type students out there. I especially like the “Classmate Designertypes” section, because it’s just too easy to stereotype art students.

Even with the silly content they still do have some good advice, this most of all:

If you’re not serious about documenting your work from the get-go, don’t even go to school. Hell, don’t even read this feature. Okay, you can read this feature, but then go buy a camera. A good one. You know, with f-stops and everything.

Seriously, you’re spending like $75,000 on this education; surely you can spring another $600 to keep a record of it.

The Helvetica DVD just went on pre-order a few days ago. In addition to the regular DVD, which comes with two little “I hate/love Helvetica” buttons, there is the “Deluxe Limited-Edition” version which is limited to 1000 copies and comes with the buttons, 3 letterpress prints, a signed C-print, and an actual letter of Helvetica metal type.

Also, check for screenings of the film near you.

In addition to sketching and working on personal projects as part of my daily, between classes, ritual at the art building I also take some time to browse design related websites such as Computerlove, NTMY, k10k, The Ad Feed, and Netdiver. With all of this daily information to digest I’ve come to find more and more designers and illustrators out there that I’m absolutely envious of the work they produce. I thought I’d share a few of these folk and mention a thing or two about them.

I had seen an illustration by Karl Kwasny aka Monaux about a year ago and immediately saved it to my folder of photos that visually inspire me, although at the time I had no idea who actually was the artist. Somehow more recently I stumbled upon his website and I was struck by his illustrations. There’s something about his style that grabs me; his use of line and color is superb and his illustrations appear soft and full of fun things to look at.

Si Scott has some of the most stunning type treatments I have ever seen. Ever. The fluid text style he employs is quite mesmerizing. I don’t know what else to say about him other than his text based illustrations are hard to beat.

The only other designer I’ve run across that has type to match that of Si Scott is Marian Bantjes. Marian’s attention to detail and the complexity of her designs are absolutely stunning. From vectors to ballpoint pens, Marian’s calligraphic stylings are at the top of the list. Also, her work is avilable in tshirt form from Veer (all profits from the shirts go to American Red Cross and AIGA’s Disaster Relief fund).

Matthew Woodson runs his portfolio on his website called ghostco which has fantastic examples of his illustrative prowess. I’m not sure where I first encountered his work but I was immediately attracted to his bold figures with high contrast. I really enjoy the effect he achieves when he combines traditional media, such as india ink, with digital artistry. His images remind me of dreamlike thoughts and a feeling of longing.

Steven Harrington is another one of my current favorite artists/designers. His silkscreens are reminiscent of 60s and 70s design aesthetics, if for no other reason than the his color choices. I’m also enjoying the halftone he integrates with his screens instead of just going for solid splotches of color.

Another designer I’ve been watching as of late is Fiodor Sumkin; a designer from Belarus with a thing for type, illustration, and ballpoint pens. Fiodor’s typography takes heavy inspiration from 1960s era rock-posters, and his illustrations commonly involve imagery of the 70s and 80s. I find his style (somewhat nostalgic) is refreshing in this era of vectors, bitmaps, and bright shiny colors.

So those are my current favorite designers? Who’s are yours (not that anyone really reads this though)?

A few weeks back I got wind of the annual Art & Design Career Expo. I have been interested in getting a summer job or internship in the local area for a while now but haven’t had much luck finding a place to apply or actually securing a internship for the summer which is why I was particularly interested in this expo.

As far as having a portfolio to show in person I didn’t exactly have anything of significance, which is a problem when that’s what everyone wants to see if you can imagine. I had a few drawings from studio classes, a poster or two from random projects, and this-and-that lying around. But what I did have was a week; one week to get my work together and get it in some sort of presentable fashion. Luckily time was on my side, barely, though it’s not like I was in some life or death rush, I just wanted to be prepared as well as I could be. (more…)

So you want to go to school for art do you? Why? Perhaps you want to be an art major because in high school you were the artsy kid, always getting attention for you paintings, doodles, or whatever. Or perhaps you like drawing in your spare time. Or maybe you think you’re “so deep” that people can only understand you though your art. Maybe it’s just because you have a unquenchable desire to create.

Art and design is a weird major; the nights you would spend studying biochemistry, engineering, or history are replaced with nights spent with a brush in hand, knee deep in Photoshop or Maya, or even pulling some fresh prints in the print studio. Your professors spend less time obsessing over your written papers and spend more time obsessing over your use of color, your use of form, and your composition.

For whatever reason you decide to pursue art for a career, these following words I have for you are things you should take into consideration if you are thinking about becoming an art major.

1) The art major should enjoy spending the night in the art building after staying late to work on projects till 3am. The art majors art building will become a second home.

2) The art major should love color (and what effects colors can have on the viewer) and obsess over composition.

3) The art major should not care about having money because they’ll be throwing it away on art supplies and lord knows they won’t be making a terrible amount in their profession.

4) The art major should enjoy building and polishing their portfolio.

5) The art major should relish the fact that they’ll be taking no fewer than 13 credit hours but spending 23+ hours in class each week plus putting countless more hours into assigned projects.

6) The art major should put themselves into their work.

7) The art major should have personal projects in addition to the assigned projects.

8) The art major should always be able to explain their reasoning for their work.

9) The art major should always have a sketchbook within arms reach.

10) The art major should never become complacent.

11) The art major should be decent at creating art.

Does that list describe you? If so, then smile, for you probably have what it takes to be an art major.