In my last post, I wrote a bit on finding inspiration. Every once in a while I’ll share projects I find by a variety of designers, not just in graphic design, that might help influence some great inspiration for a project you might be working on or in coming up with a new project. Each of these types of posts will be under the category titled inspiration.
This is a video created by Ross Ching, an incredible still photographer who has put his photos in motion by slicing series of shots into a video to create motion with his photos. So this video is comprised entirely of still shots. It’s actually quite similar to what Bart Benton did with type in the video from a previous post. It’s really very cool.
If there is one thing alone that could convince me of God’s existence it’s the world we live in and the creations on the face of it. After watching this video I feel pretty inspired. I hope you enjoy it.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been assigned a project and had no idea what I was going to do to solve the problem the given project presented. Actually maybe I can. Were I to count the number of projects I’ve ever had, that would probably be the number of times I’ve been stumped on finding a concept or topic to use.
For example, last year in my first visual media course, we each had to create a brochure for any company or organization we wanted. I wanted to create my own ogranization but I wasn’t entirely sure what the company would do, what they stand for, how to brand them, etc. And thus began a massive brainstorm. My concept eventually winded down to a theft reduction agency which I named pickpocket who wanted to increase the awareness of wallet theft. From there I had to formulate the content I wanted to present in the brochure, and how the visual presentation would work out. I ended up making the brochure itself resemble a wallet with the information including different facts on wallet theft, steps to prevent theft, and what to do if it happened to you.
This is a simple example, but like any project especially dealing with branding identity or conveying a message for or about an organization or their products, it’s easy to get stumped. So, here are some tips to keep in mind as your attempting to formulate your next big idea.
Last week, I turned in an ad redesign project for an outdoor Head and Shoulders Ad to one of my communication teachers. After the presentations and seeing the work that my classmates had done and comparing it to my groups’ redesign concept, I wasn’t so sure how to feel about the hours I spent stressing on trying to find a good idea, implementing that idea and then pitching that idea. It was only a week long project, groups of 3, naturally we didn’t come up with anything good until Wednesday or so, slapped it onto the paper and printed it Thursday night. Things went wrong, but overall it was a solid ad. The concept was targeting what I’ll call new age women, the ones who go out with their girlfriends to get pedicures and haircuts and lunch while their kids are at school. They are social, middle age, middle income, middle class, practical, reasonable, but fun loving women.
I’m discovering this is a trying process to get a good concept to look good on paper.
In a graphic design lecture last week, a BYU-Idaho professor shared an experience of meeting Paul Rand. Rand had come to the Art Center where this professor was studying graphic design to meet with an associate whom Rand was mentoring. When students gathered to meet Mr. Rand, the first question sputtered into the air and from what I gather, the conversation went something like this.
“Mr. Rand, what would you suggest designers do to come up with creative ideas?”
Disgustedly, Rand scoffed his reply, “This generation, always looking for an easy way out. I’m not even going to answer that.”
Just in case you didn’t already know, Paul Rand was an influential American Graphic Designer best known for his contribution to several company identities we still recognize because of logos and brand images created in part by Rand’s designs. Some of these companies included IBM, UPS, and ABC.
He is certainly someone worth looking into to gain additional history and insight into the process and life of Graphic Design. (You can start with his website at www.paul-rand.com/) No matter how grumpy he was that day at The Art Center. Continue reading ‘A Little Lesson I learned from Mr. Paul Rand’
This is an excellent display of what can be done with type. Each frame of this video was individual letters placed to form single frame images. After putting the images and playing them at a high amount per second we can’t detect the a group of single images one after another, instead we see what looks like film. Fabulous animation.