I was speaking with a coworker today who is an architect, and she was confused when I didn’t have the knowledge / background about what she was talking about. I think it’s rather interesting that so many of my coworkers come from architectural, industrial or interior backgrounds, and therefore just assume that I do to. I don’t think our worlds could be further apart sometimes. Yet at the same time, they’re so similar. It still boggles me on a daily basis how one can look at these miniscule technical drawings and see the bigger picture.

In today’s world it seems as if most fields are beginning to meld together. For the most part, no one is a true graphic designer any more. Not in the sense of Paul Rand or Saul Bass. With all of the push in schools for students to cross collaborate with other fields. I wonder if maybe the push for graphic designers to pair up with multi media designers should be balanced with other fields such as interior design or architectural design. I mean… there’s so much exhibit work and environmental graphic work out there, that this has to make sense on some level.

Stanford’s d.school materials, Bootcamp Bootleg, is a pretty in depth overview of the design process. I must admit that upon beginning to read it, I instantly thought about passing this out to members of my team at work. I think the Mode section definitely points out parts of the process that I, and I’m sure others, tend to over look from time to time. I know for myself, I tend to jump right in and then begin to think about how I should’ve looked at this or studied that for a more clear understanding of the problem I’m setting out to solve.

For me the second page pretty much sums it up. If one didn’t read any further, I believe the illustrated chart and brief synopsizes pretty much tell you everything that you need to know. Though, they are kind of the Cliff’s Notes version of the Bootcamp Bootleg; good for the highlights, but not for an overall understanding.

I would say that, for me, the prototype mode is a definite. A lot of times things look great electronically or on paper, but you never know until you protoype it. By taking time to mock it up and walk it around, you’ll be able to figure out if it’s going to work at all.

As far as the Method section of of the Bootleg, I did agree with a great deal of the methods, but there were a few that I thought were a little contrived. I think the “stroke” method is one of those that sounds great in theory, but in practicality, at least in my experience, it seems that games like “sound ball” don’t really do anything other than distract. I do believe in the getting up and walking around, taking a break, or maybe tossing the ball around, but I’ve always seen it as a chance to mentally unwind for a moment, not prepping for a brainstorming meeting.

The method of Brainstorming is one that I can totally get behind, however. I don’t think that in the day to day of the office or in school enough of this is done. What a great way to discover and unlock new ideas and insights.

Overall, I’m pretty elated that I read this and now have a copy of it. I’m sure as I continue to read through it I’ll continue to discover applications that can help in various parts of my day to day discovery and problem solving.

I really wanted to share this with everyone. At work I have a client that I share links of cool design related whatever with. It doesn’t matter. It could be a link of houses made from shipping containers or a link of a surfing store in NYC that was created by SCAD graduates. It’s just a really great way to bounce ideas off of each other without actually having to do much interaction.

So the other day he sends me this… http://colossalmedia.com/. Holy smokes, they’re amazing. I think the reason that I as was so floored, wasn’t that this is a team of amazing painters, but that it’s truly another medium for graphic design. When most people think of graphic design, they think of photoshop and illustrator. (Side note: I don’t have sources to back that up, but according to our last unit I don’t need them.) Though here, they’re using paint to create these AMAZING murals on the sides of buildings. Sure, you see a lot of this around, but nowadays a lot of what looks to be hand-painted is actually an application. Anyway, please take a look. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

So last week I was still struggling to figure out a topic for our project in 701. My professor had a great idea after seeing a couple of my comments from our reading. She suggested using stereotypes as my subject matter. This actually seemed quite awesome at the time, and I believe it still is. However, going into the initial research I was under the impression that surely there would be countless peer reviewed articles and research already done on the subject at hand. I mean, we’re talking about everything from gender to race to dress to cultural setting and background and so on and so forth. Well, no. Sure there are plenty opinionated articles and blogs on the subject, but not as many scholarly or peer reviewed sources as one would think. However, it is quite amazing the breadth of information on gender in design; especially when it comes to women.

One thing that I did find quite interesting is that there are actually more women that enter into the field of design than me. However, by the age of 35 a large percentage of women have left for other careers or motherhood or various other reasons. I guess I never really thought about it. Though now that I do think about it… it does seem that outside of school and my office, most of the designers I do know are male. I never really thought about this before.

Another interesting topic I’ve found through my initial research is the still ever prevalent stereotypical role of women in signage. I still have a ways to go, but this too is something that I guess I’ve never given much thought to. It right there in your face on a daily basis, but at the same time so oblivious.

Now that I think about it, if my research continues to skew more towards the roles of women in design, it may not be such a bad thing. I’m actually quite fascinated by what I’ve found so far.

Friday morning around 7am I was sitting in a quiet lonely room atop Standard Press whilst waiting to be called down for a press check. While siting there I noticed a stack of Print magazines. Unfortunately, out of the 30 or 40 magazines, not a single one was newer than 2007. I’m not sure of the date, but I think it was from 2007ish, and the issues itself was entitled “The Consumption Issue.” That’s actually what convinced me to pick it up. In this issue was a great short article about James Harvey and Andy Warhol. I know what you’re thinking… Who is Andy Warhol?! Like probably 99% of the population I had never heard of James Harvey, and that was the point of the article.

The gist of article is this… James Harvey and Andy Warhol seemed to live almost parallel lives. Both were artist. James Harvey was an abstract expressionist painter, and Warhol a pop artist. Both were using commercial art to pay the bills while struggling to make their way as an artist. Although, it was easy to see from the article that Warhol was quite a bit more successful at this then Harvey. And here’s where the article really hit its point. Warhol created a name for himself with his recreation of the Brillo boxes and displaying the replicas during a show in which Harvey was in attendance. The kicker is that James Harvey was actually the commercial artist that designed the actual Brillo boxes that were out on the market at the time, and he was completely taken by surprise when he saw them. Personally, I would’ve loved to have seen the reaction on Harvey’s face when he first saw them.

One of the differences between the two men, the article pointed out, was that Harvey was a commercial artist when at work and completely removed from commercial art when in his own studio painting. However, as we all know, Warhol was the antithesis. I guess where this article struck me, and why I think it’s relevant is I struggle with this on in my own life. I’m not saying that famous artist are out copying my work and selling them for far greater than what their worth. It’s the struggle with being a commercial artist who works and works and works endlessly on a campaign or a package design that at the end of the day is overlooked by the majority of the population and will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere. I know, that sounds oh so dismal.

I think the greatest part of the article when the author mentioned that he had one of Harvey’s original Brillo boxes. One of the ones that actually was out in circulation. It’s not worth anything; especially compared to the Warhol replica. However, he prefers knowing that he has a piece of commercial art history by having one of these mass produced pieces. I guess that what makes it at the end of the day for me now. This article made me realize that sure… we put in countless numbers of hours as designers, but it is worth it in the end. We probably won’t get much recognition or much more than a high five, but there is someone out there who does appreciate it. And who knows… maybe one day one of our pieces may be recreated by an up and coming pop artist and sold for 100s more than what it’s actually worth.

So I’ve been really thinking about this since reading the about research in this unit. One thing that really stuck out was the mention that people rarely ever question statistics or findings in research. The example given here was about same sex marriage, and they proposed a number of supporters with no margin of error or number of people pooled. I began to think about how many times I hear people in my daily life throw around statistics that they’ve heard on the radio, news, or just from the everyday gossip train. I know I’m victim of it myself. I can hear my dad now just rattling off new statistics on this or that with nothing to back it up. A couple of months ago I heard the reports of a study on my way in to work. I believe it was on NPR or a local talk station. The funny thing is I can’t remember that part of the equation. The host mentioned that in a Harvard study nearly 11% of the population walks around with their cell phone up to their ear with no one actually talking to them. This is due to the people feeling social awkward and needing to withdraw and remain in an isolated bubble. In today’s society there is no need to verbally communicate. All you have to do is text or blog or email or maintain virtual friendships in a “safe” online environment. There’s no need to physically interact with humans anymore. Therefore, 11% of the population will just walk around with their phone up to their ear with no one on the other side just to avoid social interaction. And yet… I have no idea if this is even true or not. I was simply driving into to work when I heard this report. I’m not even sure if the percentage is correct anymore. All I know is I’m just like every other person in the short comment from our unit reading. I just blindly go by statistics through the acceptance of the data. I guess, in a sense, that makes me a statistic as well.

It’s interesting comparing this article to the world that we seem to live in post 2009 aka the year of the great layoffs for many in creative fields. Where I do believe and want to believe that there is a need for the traditional roles of the creative director, art director, graphic designer, junior designer, etc. it seems if seems as there was a shift in the market that was dictated by those hiring, but not willing to pay. Prior to 2009, I believe it was easier for specialization. Once an agency may have had a graphic designer, web designer, photographer, and copywriter. However, in the down economy many companies and agencies were seeking those who were slightly competent in parts of all of these, rather than seeking out multiple people of specialized backgrounds. I hate this, and I hope that it changes for the better. To this day I’ve yet to meet a graphic designer that was an amazing web designer or an industrial designer. I know that there are those who aren’t the norm, but there usually is a reason why one wouldn’t go to an interactive agency to have a stationery system created. Much like I wouldn’t expect a copywriter to create a environmental monument sign for a city’s gateway.

One thing I did find interesting was the ability to solve communication problems ranked number two in the list of designer competencies for 2015. I think that this should actually be combined with number one, the ability to “develop visual response to” communication problems. I’m not really sure as why they would be separated. I just think they should work in tandem.

Overall, I do hope that this article will hold true in 2015. Where I do believe that having knowledge of different areas of design can definitely make a designer more well rounded and help in the ability to solve problems and communicate the message, I also believe that specialization is key in so many different situations.

Defining graphic design isn’t exactly the easiest. Though, I would have to say that the core of graphic design is finding a way to communicate a message to the viewer. Be it a logo, environmental piece, advertisement, or any other format, communication is key. Graphic design goes beyond illustrations, imagery and typography. It’s also the process and the research that allows one to successfully communicate the message. I’ve always believed that designers think differently. Sure there are those that know how to operate the Adobe Creative Suite, but that doesn’t a graphic designer make. It’s the ability to think beyond that. It’s the ability to think beyond just mere sketches. It’s the ability to concept and to execute. It’s the ability successfully communicate the message at hand that defines graphic design and the designer. For as a designer one should be able to design anything; even when the client tries everything to destroy the design. It’s solving problems. I was just explaining this to a client a couple of days ago. We were discussing logos and how some logos were simply text. As I explained to them, just because a logo is simple text doesn’t mean that someone just typed the name of the company in and said, “voilà, it’s done.” No, there is the selection of the typeface, and wether or not it matches the personality of the company. It’s the careful kerning of the text and the balance and weight of the typeface. There’s actually a lot more that just typing out the text on a page. These are the kind of small elements that make up the art of graphic design. It’s these elements that when put together will help communicate the message and successfully represent the company. These are the things that define graphic design.

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