This is clever.

What is design?

Always an interesting question, with always a plethora of alternative answers...some of which I will discuss another time. But for now, here is this...

Rant of the day

In light of the recent publication (well, sort of recently anyhow), Things I have learned in my life so far by Stefan Sagmeister, I have a gripe that I would like to vent. Why do "famous" designers feel the need to share their words of wisdom on the world? And who exactly is their intended audience? Well, I assume that it will be designers because no one else in the public would know nor care about who Stefan Sagmeister is. Sagmeister is clever....I give him that. He is smart in knowing how to brand himself and advertise himself. And in many ways, why not write a book about things you have learnt so far. I guess then, my real problem is the people who buy the book. And that amount is only getting bigger by the day. Why would you want to read about what Sagmeister has learnt in his life? Sure, I may be curious but to buy the book...I think it goes too far. Perhaps so his words of wisdom rub off on you and you too suddenly become a designer that is renowned for his ability to shock. Probably not going to happen. To do this, you would have to escape your own comfort zones to produce something that is not conventional. And conventional these days seems to be the safe options designers are taking. In addition to this, I am reminded of an interview I went to with Jonathan Ellery at Browns. Apart from telling me that my designs seemed to lack "passion" - of which I am still trying to work out where and how this is lacking - he then left me with a parting gift of his book 136 points of reference. To this day, I still haven't opened it and when I was given it, I was tempted to create my own with 137 points and send it back to him. Perhaps I should still? Anyhow, my point in relation to this is: Why would you want to look at pictures Jonathan Ellery has collected over a period of time? And why did he feel the need not to just keep his collection in iPhoto? Why publish a book showing them to the world? Again, I am left wondering why would you want to buy this? Perhaps, his point was for people to get their own points of reference to draw upon in their own designs? I just don't think a book needed to be published to get that point across.

Typography...

TYPOGRAPHY EXISTS TO HONOUR CONTENT - penned by the great Robert Bringhurst in Elements of Typographic Style. Anybody with even a vague interest in design, and therefore, undoubtedly uses type should read this. I would call this mandatory reading. 

On the subject of typography, here's just a small selection of type related phrases...

12 in 12

I came across this today, written by Craig Oldham, who shares his thoughts on the 12 things that recent graduates should know about design... 

The twelve things are:

Understand what Graphic Design means to you.

Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses.

A portfolio is for life, not just for an interview.

Placements matter. Do them.

The Design industry is small, everyone knows everybugger else.

Participate with other people and share your ideas.

Graphic design is just a job, but being a designer is different.

Fall off your bike. If you don't fail then you are not trying.

Life and work exist outside of London.

Designing is only, about, 20% of your job.

Have a life outside of Design.

Work hard and be nice to people.

I think I am quite inspired to write my own and also contribute to the ongoing fascination the world has with lists. So check back shortly...

Fashion magazines - Fashionation

Fashionation showcases the best editorials from fashion magazines... here are some samples that I love...from this source and others...

Interesting layouts

Magazine Design - Dedicate

Benjamin Savignac has always done great work...

Wall Decals

Wall decals are seemingly everywhere these days... with their versatility and ability to change the appearance of an environment quickly and affordably, I understand why. For those who know me personally, I have a strange and peculiar interest in fake birds and cages... so for this reason of course I like these decals that I found on etsy.com...

More Magazines...

Magazine Design

Magazine Design - As I have been looking at numerous editorial/publishing related positions lately, I thought I would post some of the more interesting pages I have come across...