Weekly Video:
David Carson on design and discovery
Article: Bipolaratic Art
Living with Bipolar can be tough on everyone. Not only does it leave me feeling exhausted from day to day, but it also has a profound effect on my family and friends. A lot of the time they end up wearing a lot of my pain unfairly as I lump all my emotions on their already overloaded lives. From experience I have only found two ways to deal with this problem, the first is to isolate myself thus keeping all my feelings deep down bubbling away until a great explosion errupts. The other is to convert all my pain and emotions into something positive. Thus my art and my goal to educate the world on Bipolar and societys construct of the world was born.
It is true, I can't change the world. The meer thought of this is irrational in itself, however I can try to influence a few. By creating thought provoking art, emotional relfections and strong social comment, I am able to share my thoughts on the construct of the world with everyone who is prepared to listen.
In my mind, art is not about just creating images of beauty, or well executed images. It is much more than that extending in to pushing the boundaries of that which we perceive as rational and sane. Art should convey emotion, make the observer think, challenge their perception while saying something profound about the artists unique perspective on life.
My work is by no means art in the tradional sense. Most artists have a unique style and a way of expressing themselves. I have no specific style, rather the style is dictated by the message I am trying to communicate. As such, a lot of my work often looks like it has been done by different people. Perhaps this is becuase when I create a piece I can often be in a very specific state of mind. None of my pieces are the same, nor visually or the message trying to be communicated. They all act alone, and need not be viewed together in the same place or context.
To me, art and bipolar are intrinsically linked. By releasing my emotions and feelings into my artwork, I am somewhat freed of whatever weight I am carrying.
Article: When it's good to be bad
Could it be that bad design is in fact a contradiction? Before you get angry and ask, what is he on about, lets consider this statement in more detail. Is indeed, badly constructed graphic design, as bad as it sounds, or in fact does it have a hidden agenda.
In this age of computers and technology, the ability to create technically accurate designs has become as easy as setting up a few page rulers, typing in a few grid co-ordinates, and clicking the mouse. Indeed anyone with computer experience and an eye for detail can achieve it. Herein the problem lies; since the ability to produce attractive design is so common these days, and practiced in such large numbers, have we become so accustomed to it that it no longer has an impact on us? Is in fact good design loosing it's ability to capture the imagination of the masses?
By creating large amounts of technically correct designs, are we in fact boring the people viewing the work. In a sense it could be argued that good design is about distinguishing oneself from the rest. By adopting a design style that matches that of the majority in a particular genre, are we not contradicting the whole point of design? We are no longer identifying the design as an individual, but rather as one of the sheep. From an advertising perspective, producing commercials that fit in is in many ways providing the client a dis-service. We are no longer identifying the product as an individual, and as such run the risk of blendig in with the rest.
Is the answer to the numbing of good design, to produce bad design? What do you notice more, a page that has been technically well designed, or something that is a bit out of whack? This is a question worth posing, especially if design is to remain innovative and progressive when it comes to capturing the attention of society.
Article: Breaking the grid
In this article, I thought I would look at one of the designers most loved or hated elements when it comes to editorial design. To some it is a blessing and allows them to arrange their page elements in some predictable kind of order. To others, it is a over ruling dictator that pulls in the designers individual creativity. What ever way you may feel about grids, they are part of the day to day practices of most editorial designers. Is it really possible to live with them and not end up feeling like a clone, or are we doomed to be stuck in a predictable mathematical certainty.
When I have been involved in editorial design I have always treated the grid as just a "guide". I use this term pretty loosely, because when I have often followed the grid to closely, my work has ended up feeling quite stagnant. Other people in my office have verbally condemned me for breaking the grid on a number of occasions. From my point of view as a designer, I have always felt it is our job to push the boundaries and break the rules. Clearly this opinion is not shared by all, and many designers still feel we should stick to such blatant traditions.
When I was first introduced to the grid system it initially made my job as a page layout artist incredibly easy. It gave me rules to work within, hence in my early days I became somewhat creatively lazy. All my work looked the same, and there was this terrible sense of predictability in all my projects. Today I still use them, but don't follow them so closely. Since I have being doing this my work now has a level of creativity I am happy with, as well as that extra punch to impress the client.
I am the first to admit, that without some order and rhythm in design, there would be very little point in designing anything. Of course with to much order we run the risk of removing the human part of design. Imperfections and slight oddities are in their own way beautiful. If we follow the grid to closely we run the risk of removing these intriguing elements. Therefore we need to strike a balance between following the grid and knowing when to break it. So the next question is, when it it technically "OK"?
As with all things related to design, there is no clear defining situation when a certain technique or rule should be followed. It all depends on the brief, the target market, as well as the clients own personal tastes. As a general rule of thumb, a grid based page layout is best applied to corporate jobs like annual reports and other related publications. This is for the simple reason that the information contained within needs to be put into some kind of logical order. This is not to say you can't be experimental with this type of media, but rather it is good to provide the client with something familiar and "safe".
There is no doubt that the page grid will always be with us, and there will always be those designers that swear by its reliability. On that note, I think it is important to stress once again that the grid is but a guide, and not so much a rule as has often been pushed by arts educators. Go forth and experiment, and break out of the page rulers!
Videos brought to you by TED: Ideas worth exploring.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
