Sunday reading

Today I've been perusing through a several months-old issue of Print and have ran across some interesting items, however random. I looked through an article about a recent redesign of Weekly Reader done by Alexander Isley's multidisciplinary design firm. Then name sounded familiar, and the article mentioned his crew is renowned for its work in children's publications. I checked out their website, but unfortunately they don't have a huge amount of work done for children up, but there were a few pieces. There's a kooky book, 'Trick or Treat', that mixes oddball cutouts from victorian era halloween greeting cards with playful typography - an quirky idea, simply and deftly executed. I saw a promotional poster for Target's and AIGA's collaboration on teaching kids about design. And there was an impressive packaging, merchandising and marketing program put together for the launch of the Animal Planet line at Toys "R" Us. It would be interesting to get ahold of an old Spy magazine - his art direction there apparently informed a whole generation of magazine layout designers. They mentioned how within the layouts some of the most hilarious jokes would be in extremely small type and compared this to the design of the MAD board game. I LOVED this game. It was pure goofyness. I remember how smug and satisfied I felt when I ran across one of those tiny jokes in the corner, it was like discovering a little gem.

Here are a couple quotes I stumbled onto by Isley:

"The ability to communicate and be persuasive is therefore a crucial part of the process. I’ve personally found that designing is actually the easy part; the hard part is getting others to invest in your vision. To be a good designer you must therefore be honest and convey a sense of trustworthiness. If you don’t, no one will believe in you, and as a result, nothing you design will ever be made. It’s as simple as that."

"...start a project by writing out a long list of what you want it to do. Then figure out how to make it work. Then decide what it should look like."

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Another article highlighted work by a designer, Erik Adams, who happens to be Mormon. They mention his thesis project involved compiling stories from 100 Mormon missionaries and combining them creating a mythological tale. The final work consisted of 3 bound research volumes, 3 bound sketchbooks and the final book titled 'Divine Identity.'

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Nik Hafermaas was quoted frequently in an article about design education. This one seems especially fitting to discussions of late!
"Graphics designers have to find new ways of translating the world around us into messages that are relevant emotionally and intellectually – we are way beyond mere ink on paper. In a sense, we have to become visual engineers, and our tools are surprise, empathy and beauty."