Monday, February 28, 2011

Typography II - Journal Entry #3

Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design.

Sagmeister shares his thoughts on the difference between design the visually displays happiness and design that actually EVOKES happiness in the viewer. An example of visually happy design would be an image of a smile or of a physical act that makes people happy, but to actually evoke happiness without simply displaying it is more difficult. One example he used was from a designer in New York who replaced all of the warning signs in a subway car with new, "happier" ones that had cute little messages on them geared towards making people cheer up. Another example was from another New York designer who plopped blank speech bubbles onto random walls throughout the community and let anybody fill in text. How Fun!!

A question I would have for Sagmeister is how he goes about pulling his thoughts and work AWAY from the computer. Techniques? Habits? Anything...?

The man seems very organized and well-planned. A lot of his works are based off of lists he has made, which is an AWESOME exercise to do before setting out on a design. This organization leads to his spontaneous and intelligent creativity and, I believe, bolsters his popularity.

I watched the Theo Jenson and JJ Abrahms videos and they both had awesome stuff to offer. Theo's video displayed how a career in design can really have an impact on society and have a larger effect on people that I could have ever dreamed. His invention, "the next wheel" looks like it is going to go places and bring about new age technology! JJ Abrahms video showed how many different influences a designer can draw from. Talking about his youth and the fascinations instilled in him by his grandfather really got to me. It showed that the creative mind never stops creating, and it knows no age, race, gender or what-have you. :)

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