Anti-Rand
- Started
- Last post
- 164 Responses
- Mimio0
The article isn't about anti-commercial design en masse. Look at the designers he's listed as being vital... Zwart, Schwitters, etc. they all had commercial/educational careers too.
- capsize0
kurt schwitters?
- effort0
Right, but all of those people to my knowledge (and I'm not an expert) identified more as artists than commercial artists or graphic designers. Correct me if I'm wrong on that one.
I think that sentence about Rand being a pygmy raised on the backs of giants like Zwart, et al, is a reference to Rand being influenced by them.... but since when is it a crime to be influenced by art? Where would any designer (or artist) be without great art?
Paul Rand brought modernism to commercial art, and I think that's a good thing.
I guess in the end, I just feel like it's an unfair attack; and to make matters worse, his argument is incoherent and stilted. That, and this lecture was given at a freaking ad school. I know he covers his ass by disclosing that, but that doesn't make it any less ironic -- even if the students were duly engaged.
- capsize0
oedipus schmedipus
- oldelpaso0
the more faceless a client the better filled my bank account.
fucking weeeeee..
wunderbra
(Nov 13 07, 12:28)its funny cause its true
- Mimio0
Piet Zwart worked as a designer for the Dutch PTT and other industrial companies. Schwitters was a publisher and basically an ad-man for a time until he became painter/printer maker.
- johannes0
Elliott Earls put a roofie in my drink
- NeinPattern0
I am actually doing quite well for myself by being a corporate huckster, thank you very much. I live quite comfortably.
--------------------
So you might not be creating shit thats worth something.. doesnt mean no one else is.. surely
oldelpaso
(Nov 13 07, 11:49)Please reference these people or these works. Please tell me examples being created where people truly give a shit about design. Not "Oh, that looks nice" but something they truly feel for the way we do Photography, Music, Film.
- NeinPattern0
A lot of you are forgetting that art isn't just paintings of Jesus smeared with shit.
- ukit0
- ukit0
- NeinPattern0
Ukit, those are beautiful.
- gramme0
aaah.. so its personal issues...
lack of talent? opportunities? money? lost a girl? gained some weight? computer crashed? didnt get the comission?
So you might not be creating shit thats worth something.. doesnt mean no one else is.. surely
oldelpaso
(Nov 13 07, 11:49)hahaha
+1
- gramme0
Everybody hucks something for a living, or they don't live. It's that simple. Some people justt have authority complexes...I know I sure did for a few years. Right now I'm paying my dues until I can run my own shop and pick my own clients. I even get to work on the odd meaningful project. Not a bad gig.
- NeinPattern0
So gramme, are you going to step up to the plate and try to provide an example of these people creating Design with worth?
- NeinPattern0
If you think accepting money for your work is what I'm railing against, you completely miss the argument.
I don't care that you're getting a paycheck. I don't care if what you make generates money.
But design beyond a purely functional scope (road signs, et al.) is to put this gloss, this fake veneer....it is an excercise in deception and banality.
Design is, by nature, pretentious.
- GT_10
Neinpattern, take a look at gramme's portfolio. It's filled with yellow flying skulls, paint drips, 45 degree patterns, and all sorts of bullshit decoration.
Sorry gramma but you are part of the problem, not the solution.
- gramme0
Well, I can provide examples of design for a good cause in my opinion, but we are discussing subjectivities here.
That being said, I can think of several things I've worked on that were meaningful for me and for others.
I designed a capabilities brochure for a family-owned engraving company. They are meticulous, discriminating, and highly skilled to a man. The brochure pulled in new business for them and increased their profile among the people they wanted to work for.
I designed the identity for a young adults ministry at my church. I have seen the ministry grow and have received enthusiastic responses.
I designed the identity and stationery for a woman whose father, a celebrated Polish artist named Jerzy Kajetanski, had passed away several years ago. She had hundreds of valuable paintings lying around the house and had decided to share the work with the world. She needed an umbrella under which to do this. His images are politically charged, beautfiul and poignant. When I showed her the finalized logo, which was a rough rendition of a hand holding a frame, fingers slightly flexed, she started to cry – she said "that's my father's hand. Whenever he used to declaim against injustice, he would hold up his right hand head-high, just so."
When I proposed to my wife, I wanted to use my abilties to create a keepsake. I combed through hundreds of emails that had passed between us when we lived in different states. I typeset them in book form, scattered throughout with illustrations of meaningful things or events in our lives. I presented the finished product to her in a lacquered rosewood box. The last letter was one I had just written, a proposal letter. She said yes.
Those are just a few meaningful projects I've worked on, off the top of my head.
- gramme0
FYI that portfolio is from 2005, most of the work is from 2004 or earlier...I'm no Paul Rand, but I do think I've gotten a lot better since being at the current gig. I haven't done anything with paint drips or skulls in quite some time, I actually cringe at that stuff now.
- gramme0
GT_1, where, might I ask, could one find your portfolio? All I see is a link to designiskinky, famous hucksters of Semi-Permanent...which is ironic in light of your last comment.