As is with most people, work has really picked up here, and I find I have less time to update as much as I’d like. I assure you that I’m still here, and I’m hunched over the electronic box cranking out work. Instead of boring you with the usual long list of things that have happened, I will simply post a few lines and an image or two, since images are now worth somewhere around 10,000 words.
In short, I have been traveling, and working on a lot of Notre Dame projects. One project in particular is a poster for a conference focusing on the notion of hybridity in Irish literature. I put together four comps, and went with the consensus of the client we moved forward with one option in particular. This is not the story of the one they picked, but rather the one that was killed. AIGA Wisconsin recently had a NoGo Logo competition, a show in which designers showcased designs that were killed and never saw the light of day. The point? Sometimes great work is left on the floor. For whatever reason.
Now I’m not implying that my killed designs were great, but they were good enough to show here to give you an idea of what gets left behind. For every successful design you see, there are probably two or three more that are just as interesting, albeit unpolished. The following are examples of stuff I’ve been working on that have been killed:
And with that I will now leave you and get back to work, designing twice the amount of things that most people think designers create.
Hey all,
Yeah, it’s been busy here @ Ganger Design.
Behold, a new project prototype that just came in yesterday:
I received some news from my good friends at Notre Dame. It might be a bit premature, so I won’t go into too many details here yet. But needless to say it was exciting and humbling at the same time. It is always feels good to be recognized for work that you’ve done, but it wouldn’t be possible without the trust and foresight of the client (which I like to refer to as a business partner.) The best relationships turn out to be the ones where you both share a common view. Milton Glaser was right.
In case you are curious, Mr. Glaser wrote a piece a while back called “Ten Things I Have Learned.” Here is #1, which applies to my relationship with Notre Dame:
“YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.”
Amen.
Oh, I almost forgot—I’ll provide an update on the big news once it’s official. Cheers, and have a great weekend.
I just finished reading an excellent article at Core77 with Dr. Michael Braungart about material shortages and how designers can lead the change to ensure that we live in a future that is ecologically and economically abundant. Dr. Braungart believes that “Designers must learn to expand their interests and responsibility beyond just aesthetics. I see it slowly happening. For example, in Japan, the designer truly understands the link between total quality and total beauty. It’s not beautiful if it is connected to child labor. It’s not beautiful if it poisons the oceans. It’s not beautiful if it perpetuates conflicts over precious resources. It’s not about only the right materials. There is also a social component. Clearly, there is an opportunity for designers to become pivotal players in the industrial transformation, adding immense strategic value.”
Clearly all designers have a role in all of this. The system of living we have created over the last 100 years will no longer do in a world of limited resources. When we finally come to terms with the fact that our way of life is based on materials that will disappear soon, we can turn the corner and lead the way to a smart and sustainable world. It takes designers, scientists, and business visionaries to lead this change. I have caught many glimpses of this over the past 5 years, and I can say that sustainability is definitely not a trend anymore. It has become a massive change, and an increasingly De facto way of life. The sooner we act, the sooner we profit from it.
Now in the Etsy shop:
Introducing Chicago Skyline 1, new for 2011.
Born from the mental images of my youth, the Industrial Print series provides glimpses of the industrial landscape of the well-traveled South Shore Railway along Gary and South Chicago.
These prints are created in Illustrator utilizing basic geometric shapes.
Prints are 8.5″ x 8.5″
Image area is 4.5″ x 4.5″
They are specifically designed to fit in Ikea Ribba frames (23x23x4.5cm)
Prints are unframed.
Printed on 100# NewPage Arbor Plus (a No. 2 coated paper that provides tri-certified (FSC,SFI, PEFC), chain-of-custody assurance, with 30% post-consumer recycled fiber, processed chlorine-free.)
At the basis of my aspirations lies a philosophy that can be summarized by the great Buckminster Fuller:
The things to do are: the things that need doing: that you see need to be done, and no one else seems to see need to be done. Then you will conceive your own way of doing that which needs to be done—that no one else has told you to do or how to do it. This will bring out the real you that often gets buried inside a character that has acquired a superficial array of behaviors induced or imposed by others on the individual…You have what is most important in life—initiative…You will find the world responding to your earnest initiative.
Great poster work by 777. Buy them while they last!
Preposterous Propositions:
Report from the Frontier of Contemporary Art
The need to solve environmental problems is inspiring some of today ‘s most adventuresome works of art. Artists’ unfettered imaginations are inventing strategies that exist outside the parameters of official design / science / technological / engineering protocols. They are propelling these professions into uncharted territories of energy, use, resource management, east cycling, and many other issues that will determine the future of life on Earth.
Writer. Curator. Educator. Artist.
LINDA WEINTRAUB
Author of In the Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art ,
and Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art’s Meaning in Contemporary Society
Monday, February 14 , 7:00pm
Eisner Museum, 208 N. Water Street
All are invited to this free lecture.
Excellent work being done at We Make Art.
Worry is an addiction that interferes with compassion
Worry is a problem that seems to be rampant. Perhaps it is due to to the nature of our overly advanced civilization; perhaps it is a measure of our own spiritual degeneracy. Whatever the source, it is clear that worry is not useful. It is a cancer of the emotions—concern gone compulsive. It eats away at body and mind.
It does no good to say, “Don’t think about it.” You’ll only worry more. It is far better to keep walking your path, changing what you can. The rest must be dissolved in compassion. In this world of infants with immune deficiencies, racial injustice, economic imbalance, personal violence, and international conflict, it is impossible to address everyone’s concerns. Taking care of yourself and doing something good for those whom you meet is enough. That is compassion, and we must exercise it even in the face of overwhelming odds.
-Deng Ming-Dao
