Christine's Design Blog

Confession: I don’t know a lot about graphic designers outside of the U.S. I don’t know a lot about graphic designers outside of New York, for that matter. But I do recognize that I’m lucky to be in New York, to be able to run around town and see all the talent and people that I’ve seen so far. Having said that, it’s so uplifting to see how my list of heroes is constantly growing like a preteen. There’s always somebody new to be in awe of, and so many kind souls to want to befriend. As a whole, I think that designers and creative people are very nice people.

Last night I met my first British designers at AIGA/NY‘s Small Talk (my first Small Talk, as well!) with Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy. Going into the Bumble and Bumble space in the West Village to volunteer, all I knew about the two was that Adrian had written How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, which was first recommended to me by my UCLA Extension teacher Jeff Aguila a couple years ago.

They started out by introducing their work individually. Tony (below) runs a studio in London called Spin.

The work that he showed was really beautiful with a modern edge. This is one of my favorites, for Channel 4 in the UK. Like many of Spin’s other works, it uses simple forms to create something great. I loved the way that Tony said the clients kind of thought that it looked like somebody holding up a middle finger, but they liked that aspect of it. (Note cultural difference. It’s great.)

But Tony really seemed to light up when he talked about the books that Spin has worked on. He is a big collector of books, and he said that he enjoyed working on books the most. Then he met Adrian.

Here’s Adrian talking with a slide up of How To Be a Graphic Designer. He explained that after years of working at Intro, a studio he co-founded in 1989, he grew more interested in writing and thinking about design than doing it. Since then, he’s branched out to work independently as ShaughnessyWorks. This book was a result of his growing interest in writing, as well as his desire to address less-discussed aspects of running a studio, such as how time find clients, how to deal with sticky situations like payment, and so on. He said he decided to not design the book himself, which made him a paying client (to his friends) for the first time. (I actually admire designers who take a step back to let somebody else design their books, because I feel like the content gets a better chance to thrive. I love the design of this book — I began reading it just this week, after sitting on my shelf for months, and I’ve spent hours admiring the layouts.)

So the two have combined forces to create publishing house Unit Editions. Well, I’m not sure to what extent it can be called a publishing house, but the focus of it is to create meaningful books in design. Tony told a funny story in which he took his business plan to the bank to get a loan, and the man looked at it and said, ‘I cannot give you a loan for this. But if you wish to buy a car, we can give you a loan.’ So Tony said, ‘I’d like to buy a car.’

Adrian recognized that it’s quite a time to consider going into publishing when technology and the internet is what it is now. But he said that there are two reasons to make books in this age: 1. Yes, you can find everything you need on the internet. The problem is, you can never find it a second time. 2. When you’re working in design, you’re more than likely to be working on your computer monitor. Because your monitor is busy with whatever you’re working on, it’s nice to have a book open beside you.

So the first book published by Unit is Studio Culture, which takes a look at the ‘secret lives’ of studios. Including images and interviews of designers worldwide (among which are Milton Glaser and Paula Scher), the authors gave a glimpse of the contents during their presentation. This project is also a good example of how these new publishers intend to find a way for their books to have a relationship with online content. People were asked to submit images of their studios online, and via WordPress and Flickr accounts, the process of creating this book became a chance for interactivity with readers and contributors. Adrian said that yes, he’d always heard about how wonderful the internet is and how much potential it has, but after experiencing it for himself, he’s amazed by the scope of it. Post-publication, the internet is also an advantage to create updates about studios in the books that may have changed, closed or relocated since, and perhaps such supplementary content can be distributed free online or offered for $5 for a small booklet.

The book’s special edition comes with three options of different colored jacket sleeves. The book itself is also beautifully designed, with no giant title or editors’ names, which is actually why the jacket is applied the way it is. I bought a copy at a discounted price of $25, and chose the sand color because when I asked the two designers’ wives which their favorite was (they were selling the books themselves), they said it was this.

The spine is so beautifully simple (Tony spoke praises of the spine as well).

The authors were kind enough to sign copies. I told Adrian that Nina and I thought they were the sweetest presenters we’ve heard speak, and he said to Tony, ‘Did you hear that? They think we’re the sweetest.’ Then he added, ‘We’re not. We’re not very nice really,’ to which Tony said, ‘Speak for yourself!’ I told Adrian I was reading his other book, and Nina and I got into a conversation with him about how the things in Studio Culture are such a dream for us at this point. He said, naturally, that the best thing to do is try to get into a studio first to see how it operates. When I asked him if he has any advice on how to actually get into a studio in the first place, he said to read the part in How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul that addresses this. He emphasized that it’s very important to do it right, to present yourself in the right way, and to approach people properly.

They really were the sweetest and most understated designers I’ve heard speak to an audience. Perhaps it’s their innate Britishness or maybe it’s something else, but they were such a joy to hear and speak to. Their next project with Unit Editions is going to be a book about super graphics, which we learned are giant graphics that go on buildings and other large structures. I can’t wait to see that!

-edit-

I forgot to include one of my favorite stories that Adrian told. He said that Erik Spiekermann said that he wished to build his ideal studio setup, which would be circular. Anyone who visited the office would have to walk through everything else to the midde of the circle to get to the receptionist and common areas, like a kitchen/break room. Then in the next level of the circle you’d have the workers and on the outside would be the idea-makers and conceptualizers. Spiekermann would sit in this outer part, and you’d be able to see everything, so that he can yell to anybody from where he sits. The way Adrian described it, it was very funny and sounded highly controlled. Imagine all the staring you’d get when you walk to the middle!

Nina and I attended the AIGA event, ‘Stories from the Front: My Dog and Pony’ on Wednesday as volunteers. It was held in a cool venue called Galapagos Art Space.

Nina and I got to check in volunteers and watch the show for free, which is just a lovely part of being a volunteer at AIGA events. Highly recommend it for students and all others who feel that paying to be a member is out of the question. Mark Byron, who coordinates volunteers and such for these events, has a remarkable memory. My first time volunteering, I was surprised when I introduced myself as Christine and he said, ‘Oh, Christine Park?’ and rattled off everybody else’s last names as they arrived. This time, he remembered me and which event I first helped out with back in October or November, and remembered Nina’s last name. I don’t know how he does it.

We watched the first session before we were both too exhausted from class and a long day, not to mention the homework we had yet to do, to stay for the second session. We did get to watch Michael Gericke from famed Pentagram present their pitch for the Arizona Cardinals Stadium, Karin Fong of Imaginary Forces reenact the pitch they did in LA for the Pink Panther 2′s opening animation (they love the bomb in the pants), and James Spindler of Radical Media talk about 19 20 21. My favorite was the Pink Panther opener. It’s too bad we missed the West Side Story presentation, but alas, we are mortal students.

Oh, but another perk to checking people in is that you get to glimpse graphic design ‘celebrities’ checking in. I spotted Gail Anderson and Tina Roth Eisenberg (Swiss Miss), and even recognized two students from the SVA MFA Thesis Forum — Areej Khan (whose project was We the Women — fighting for women’s rights to drive in Saudi Arabia) and Kimiyo Nakatsui (Brink — a space-saving packaging system for drug store products). We also saw another attendee of Steve Haslip’s Dirty Weekend workshop, which is also an SVA MFA thesis project. The design world is a surprisingly small community.

Our general drawing class yesterday got a last-minute e-mail from our instructor, Dean Dalfonzo, informing us that class would be a field trip to the opening at a gallery for Ugallery.com. Ugallery is a place for students and other emerging artists to be able to sell their work, and conversely for people to be able to buy art at a reasonable price.

We saw some cool things, drank some weak drinks, and were given a nice break from drawing still life. My favorite part of going to the opening, though, held at Openhouse Gallery, a cool space on Mulberry Street, was stumbling upon the original St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the way, as well as McNally Jackson, the independent bookstore I’ve been meaning to check out. We also saw very cute golden retrievers on the sidewalk, who were so soft and sweet.

I arrived home to discover that AIGA had tweeted about their new article, about dress code, a studio consisting of two guys in their twenties who have just released a book about transitioning from school to the professional world of design. The book’s title, Never Sleep, is somewhat troubling to me, since I already never sleep, and figured I’d get a tad bit more when I am a professional. Alas. Anyway, these two also teach at Pratt, but I am assuming they teach undergraduates at the Brooklyn campus, because we certainly have not heard of nor seen them at the Manhattan campus. It’s always interesting to hear about designers who are so young, because it certainly gives you something to strive for, or at least think about.

Today my Communication Design II class is going to Potential Energy, the School of Visual Arts MFA Designer as Author students’ graduate thesis forum. With an opening keynote by legendary Milton Glaser, each student is given 20 minutes to present his or her masters thesis. The presentations will run all day, from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Our friend Steve Haslip, at 10 a.m., will be presenting his Dirty Weekend workshops, which Nina, Stephanie, Jessica and I were lucky to participate in for its kick-off workshop in March. Steve has guest taught at our Communication Design I class, as he knows our instructor, Lara McCormick, from the MFA program. Lara is also one of the coordinators of the Potential Energy event, which is actually being held at the Visual Arts Theater on West 23rd Street that SVA purchased for the school’s use. This is the first such MFA thesis forum, so it should be interesting.