Renowned graphic designer Michael Bierut claims that he's not creative. Instead, he likens his job to that of a doctor who tends to patients – "the sicker, the better." Digging into the 86 notebooks he's kept over the course of his career, Bierut walks us through 5 projects – from original conception to final execution – extracting a handful of simple lessons (e.g. the problem contains the solution; don't avoid the obvious) at the foundation of brilliant design solutions.
This piece of work reminds me of a conversation I had with Michel late one evening in Burbank about 15 years ago.
Understanding the value of time off.
The two week break is effectively useless, getting your head out of work and being happy with letting go takes the first week, followed by a couple of days of blissful relaxation before three days of anxiety about what will need to be done before getting back to work.
I have been very fortunate over the past ten years to have been able to take extended periods of time off. Two or more months off, puts your head in a different place and allows you to re-evaluate your life's priorities. The only other people I meet with these feelings are usually living with cancer. I love work, it enables me to live a life I enjoy.
Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. He explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali.
http://www.uistencils.com
These tools are great for the democratisation of design and for speeding up the communication of good ideas before they are lost to muddling over iconography and proportion. First on my list will be the iPad kit. Not that I have an iPad but I like the idea of using an iPadPad for every day notes and sketches.
Kinetic Sculpture for the BMW Museum, Munich 2008 from ART+COM on Vimeo.
The "Kinetic Sculpture" metaphorically translates into space the form-finding process of vehicle design. The interplay of mechanical and electronic components creates a dynamic art piece reflecting the precise exchange between a great number of individual elements and the single, coherent picture that emerges from them. Attached by thin steel wires to individually-controlled stepper motors, 714 metal spheres move up and down, seemingly levitating.
A really nice compilation of 60+ Vintage Automobile Ads | Psdtuts+ I was going to right an essay on how we have become so risk averse when it comes to typography and design. How the over emphasis on tools has moved is away from the craftsmanship of good typography, illustration and design. Then I read the copy on the ad below, wow we have come along way.
Or have we? As I explore what it is to be the father to twin girls, I am overwhelmed by the cultural acceptance of the pinkification of girls and the poor role models they are exposed to on a daily basis. It was refreshing while back in California to be able to by clothes that are colors other then pink, we don't have a choice here in Northern Ireland it's pink and or sequinned bimbo princess.
If an ad like this one was published today I am sure their would be mild uproar until the next episode of Xfactor starts.
Taken at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco© Conánn FitzPatrick 1971-2012
