Journal Entry 2/28

Bruce Mau is Chief Creative Officer of Bruce Mau Design. Some of his clients include oca-Cola, McDonald's, MTV, and Arizona State University. His Incomplete Manifesto for Growth guides designers with his design strategies and motivations for creativity. "Mau seeks to prove that the power of design is boundless, and has the capacity to bring positive change on a global scale."





Coca-Cola: Creating a Global Green Platform for the World's Best-Known Brand.

Coca-Cola has help defined American Culture. BMD helped them transform into the 21st century culture through a campaign called "Live Positively." It represents Coca-Cola's commitment to making a difference through redesigning the way they work so that sustainability is a major factor in everything they do. They created tools for employee engagement and added an entire visual identity across all media.

Coke is one of the largest companies today, and one of the most famous brands of all time. I thought it was interesting that such a large company got such a HUGE makeover to stay true to the time and trends that are occurring in today's society.


I really responded to mantra number 41 : Laugh. Laughing is honestly one of my favorite things to do, and sometimes I just get too busy and wrapped up in my design work to remember to laugh. I need to laugh more! Bau says laugther is a "barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves."

The Four Lessons of Lou Dorfsman

by Michael Bierut

Lou Dorfsmand was responsible for everything at CBS from its advertising to the paper cups in its cafeteria. "Every bit of it was executed with intelligence, verve, glamour and taste. " His work was timeless. He had 4 lessons:

1. Mind the client's business.

When Dorfsman began working at CBS at the age of 28, he was working along side his hero and mentor, Bill Golden. After CBS was divided into two sections, Dorfsman was made art director of the radio unit, the company's "orphan child." He embraced this new position and did hundreds of ads for this seemingly fading media type. After Golden died in1952, Dorfsman was made the creative director of the CBS TV

2.Learn to identify opportunities.

Through his career at CBS, Dorfsman never sat around passively waiting for requests from his internal clients. He created a way to document technological feat of broadcasting multiple games each Sunday all over the country.

3.Assume responsibility.

He valorized every one of CBS's shows as if they were separate clients, each with individual importance. He advocated for programs he thought were great, and created ads that supported them. Dorfsman, who began his career as an exhibit designer for the 1939 New York World's Fair, never limited his ambitions to print and broadcast. He didn't worry about his job description, he did what needed to be done.

4. Define the company's character

1n 1965, CBS moved to a new building, a black granite skyscraper designed by Eero Saarinen. Quickly nicknamed "Black Rock," the tower was conceived as a defining symbol for the company by its leader. Dorfsman understood that this new building would play a role in how the company would be seen, and it's commitment to excellence. Dorfsman commissioned two new fonts from Freeman Craw, CBS Didot and CBS Sans, and these were deployed everywhere throughout the building, including door numbers, elevator buttons, and wall clocks, 80 of which had to be dismantled and reassembled with new faces installed. He applied his typographic skills to a 40-foot long blank wall that was covered in three-dimensional collage combining words related to food and culinary phrases. This art work was named "Gastrotypographicalassemblage."


There is no one today that can match the excellence of design work from Dorfsman designed in his years at CBS.


Main points: Dorfsman was an excellent designer, he took responsibility and initiative, he was responsible for all of CBS' design work, he created a piece of art called "Gastrotypographicalassemblage," he was proud of what he did.

Journal Entry 2/21

Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design:





Stefan discovered that he was happy while experiencing elements of design. He made a list of things that took his breathe away, and he then crossed off what wasn't related to design. Over half of the ones that weren't crossed off were about design. There is a scale of happiness--Comfort, contentment, joy, delight, bliss. He comically mentions how one way to see if a designer is happy, while they are designing, is to look at the photographs of themselves. A museum opened in Japan, and an exhibit in there was called "Happiness." The exhibit was sectioned off into 4 sections--Arcadia, Nirvana, Desire, Harmony. The exhibit showed different ways to write happiness, various paintings. What he took away from the exhibit was that the pieces were about the realization of happiness. One artist replaced subway procedure signs with signs of his own that were about how to be happy in life. Also, a room that has retractable ceiling that opens during dusk and dawn and allows viewers to see the subtle changes in light during these times. He ends talking about various ad campaigns he has done with various life sayings. I really enjoyed what he was saying when he talked about the different life lessons, and the list that he put up. I would ask him what makes him happy other than things in design, and what he thinks is sad design. I can tell why he is so popular; he is very humorous has interesting points of view on design and happiness.




J.J. Abrams' mystery box

J.J. Abram begins by talking about why his grandfather was such an amazing guy, and says he was the one that got him interested in crafts, like printing, book binding, etc. Abram loves boxes. At one point he went to a magic store, where be bought a box of magic. Over the years, he has never opened it, and he questioned why this was. It represents hope and potential. Mystery is sometimes more important than knowledge. Technology is very inspiring. Why are stories but mystery boxes? withholding information is mysterious too. What comes next? the creation of media is everyhwere. There is an amazing sense of opportunity. Technology allows people to create and express themselves. There is nothing stopping you from making something great. Don't need the greatest technology to do great things.

I loved his approach to talking about design and the mystery behind it. Being a fan of Lost, I enjoyed his references and clips from the show. This video was inspiring because it made me view things in a slightly different way--everything has a sort of mystery behind it.


Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity




The three themes of the lecture were that 1. there is extraordinary evidence of human creativity. 2.the world is a place where we have no idea what will happen 3rd- children have exceptional talents and creativity. He thinks that creativity has the same importance in education as literacy. If you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything creative. As children grow up, they are fearful of being wrong. He discusses that there should be more of an emphasis on the arts in school. He says that he thinks the whole purpose of education is to produce college professors. Some people were steered away from things they loved to do because others told them they'd never get a job doing that. People who are extremely talented don't think that they are because in school what they loved to do was not valued. Intelligent is diverse, dynamic, distinct.



How Good is Good?
by Stefan Sagmeister

In a year away from having any clients, Stefan realized that he wanted a part of his studio to move from creating cool things to significant things. There might now finally be room for content, for questions about what we do and for whom we are doing it. As Victor Papanek said about advertisement design, "In persuading people to buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, in order to impress others that don’t care, it is probably the phoniest field in existence today.” Bad design can harm our lives, but good design for bad causes can as well. He then discusses things such as why so many celebrities involved in charities--are they in it just to promote their own career?

When philosopher Edward DeBono talks about values, he puts them into four equally important sections:

Me-values: ego and pleasure
Mates-values: belonging to a group, not letting it down
Moral-values: religious values, general law, general values of a particular culture
Mankind-values: human rights, ecology

No matter who you are, there is ALWAYS room to be nice to people. The small simple things that make someone's day better.

Most of current graphic design done by professional design companies is used to promote or sell, which is fine, but design can also do so much more. Good design + good cause = good! Design can help us remember, design can simplify our lives, design can make someone feel better, design can make the world a better place, and design can inform and teach.

I am so impressed by how he views life and design. He is inspiring with his optimism towards both of these, and I think everyone, not just designers, can learn from him.

awesome negative space logos!

Cool!

An awesome video with beautiful type. I love the colors and feeling of this video.

Journal Entry 2/14

Dieter Rams: 10 Principles for Good Design

Dieter Rams became increasingly aware and concerned about the world around him. He asked himself, "is my design good design?" He developed 10 principles of good design.


1. Good Design is innovative. "Innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself."

2. Good design makes a product useful. Products are bought to work. They must work well and good design must emphasize the usefulness of the product

3. Good design is aesthetic. "The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being."

4. Good design makes a product understandable. It makes the product self-explanatory.

5. Good design is unobtrusive. "Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression."

6. Good Design is honest

7. Good Design is long lasting.

8. Good design is thorough, down to the last detail. Little details show a concern for the consumer.

9.Good design is environmentally friendly.

10.Good design is as little design as possible. Less is better.




Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy:

Norman's new life is trying to understand what beauty is about, and trying to make things fun and neat. Beautiful and functional objects are fun. He talks about many products that are fun, including a ping pong table that has fish and water projected onto it. Google's logo has as many O's as there are pages of results. It's clever, simple, and subtle. The subconscious mind notices it because it is pleasant.

He talks about the Mini Cooper. In a New York Times Revue, they said even though it has many faults, buy it anyway. It is still fun to drive. The inside is round, fun, and neat. He says "Pleasant things work better."

He moves on to discuss how if a plank of wood was on the ground, one would have no problem jumping on it, walking on it, etc. But if you put that plan 300 feet in the air, one would not go anywhere near it. Fear paralyzes you and how the brain works. Fear and anxiety cause the brain to focus.

Visceral level of Processing: There is an amazing amount of stuff programmed into the brain. In design, you can spread the visceral level through type faces, color choice, etc.

The middle level of processing is the behavioral level.This is where most of our stuff gets done. Subconscious thought process. Most of what we do is subconscious. The feeling of being in control. Emotion is about interpreting the world.

Reflective super ego. does not control senses, but looks over, and watches. Little voice in your head.

20 Rules of Good Design

(*) Most Important
(#)Practice More
(x) Ignore


1. Have a Concept (#)
2. Communicate, Don't Decorate (*)
3. Speak with one visual voice
4. Used two typeface families max. Okay, maybe three
5. Use the one-two punch
6. Pick colors on purpose (#)
7. If you can do it with less then do it (*)
8. Negative space is magical - create it, don't just fill it up (*)
9. Treat type as image, as though it's just as important
10. Type is only type when it's friendly
11. Be universal (x)
12. Squish and separate
13. Be decisive- do it on purpose or don't do it at all (#)
14. Distribute light and dark
15. Measure with your eyes: Design is visual
16. Create images- Don't scavenge
17. Ignore fashion (x)
18. Move it! Static=Dull
19. Look at history but don't repeat it
20. Symmetry is the ultimate evil (x)

love the look of these!

I love the type and texture of these posters! These are so great.

Audience Personas

Hannah is a 20 year old college student who is from Kansas, but currently lives in Portland and attends the Portland University. She lives in a house with five other girls from other parts of the coutnry.

Hannah has been a vegetarian since elementary school, ever since she saw a movie about meat factories. Most recently, she has become a vegan. Her parents are divorced, and her mom is her best friend. She has one younger brother who is into photography. Hannah has always been a free spirit, and has always partaken in activities such as dancing, painting, and cooking. She has traveled to many other countries, including New Zealand, France, and Spain. She plans to one day move to another country.

While living in Portland, Hannah has enjoyed taking and teaching yoga classes, along with other on-campus jobs. She has switched her major a few times. Originally, she was planning on a career in elementary education but has recently switched to special education.

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Linda is a 64 year old woman who lives in Boston. She has been married for 42 years to her husband, Jim. Linda is a nurse at the nearby middle school. Somedays, she can’t stand her job because of the school’s administration, but she continues to work there regardless. One day she is going to quit her job or retire.

Linda has 4 grandchildren, six year old Ben, 9 year old Lucy, 2 year old Addy, and 5 year old Ella. She adores her grandchildren and spends as much time with them as possible. They all live in Boston as well, so she spends a good amount of time baking cookies and sewing clothes for them. She also loves to read books to them whenever she gets the chance.

Linda shops at the local Wal-Mart. She thinks that they have the best deals in town. When she isn’t spending time with her grandchildren or husband, she likes to take their dog Samantha for walkes around the block.

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Cindy is a 9 year old girl who loves to go to school. Her favorite part of the day is lunch time, and free time. During free time, she alwayas chooses to draw. She draws everything she sees. She draws her classroom, her best friend Jack, and even her teacher, Ms. Brewer. She wants to be an artist when she grows up. Her favorite snacks are Goldfish, chololate pudding, and apple juice. Halloween is coming up, and Lucy is planning on dressing up as a black cat. Her mom is a secretary at a law firm and her dad is a dentist. They live in a nice house and occasionally take trips to visit family across the country.

Journal Entry 2/7

This section of Writing for Visual Thinkers: A Guide for Artists and Designers, by Andrea Marks, helps guide and focus the thoughts that artists and designers have.

When thinking of and developing ideas for projects, it is both important and helpful to write. Many techniques, such as mind mapping, concept mapping, freewriting, brainwriting, word lists, outlines, and reflective writing, allow the writing to reach far thoughts and develop ideas to their fullest.

Some techniques, such as mind mapping and words list, would are very helpful to designers. A mind map gives visual form to ideas and is good to initiate ideas. The goal is to create the map quickly, and then question its content.

To create a mind map, start with a sheet of paper, and write a word in the middle of the sheet that you would like to represent the main idea of your chart. From this word, draw multiple branches and write one word associations that relate to the center word. Keep repeating this and extending the branches further. The words on the outer limbs of your web will have a weak connection with the center word, but this will allow you to form new ideas.

Word lists allow us to create a concise list of associated words.

I thought that some of the things in this section were useful tips. I think that think that some techniques probably wouldn't be as helpful as others, but they are all good tips to get the brain working.