Wednesday, October 17, 2007

graphic design and a bang up time


"certain people get their energy from problems they bring to themselves. they become sculptors, painters... other people get their energy from solving problems that others bring to them. they become graphic designers. " - chris pullman

the baltimore musuem of art held a super cool symposium tonight called "design for community" as part of the free fall baltimore series. i had been looking forward to it for awhile... (and it was a much needed pick me up after spending the morning getting pieces of glass removed from my feet. long story... but it involves my shoes coming off while in a mosh pit at the gogol bordello concert. gypsy punks bring out a rough crowd.) this event was a chance to hear about graphic design in action, from a perspective outside of MICA and CAP. (even though everything said totally related to both... & reaffirmed my purpose here.)

it was so refreshing to see 5 designers setting the bar high for the design. there tends to be an assumption that the general public is unsophisticated, and graphic designers should lower themselves to their level. the designers presenting could not have been better examples of the fault in that generalization. each project they undertook was prompted the needs of others around them, and they evaluated what their design talent and passion could bring to the table. i don't think enough people use that process in their professions.... "what does the community need?" and "what can i do to make it better?" why can't the carefully selected font of a subway installation or clarity of composition in a census redesign contribute to a community?

i was giddy the whole night. it was just a fun, happy atmosphere. those are my kind of people.

check out some of their work below...

sheila levrant de bretteville: new york a train terminus
wendy brawer: green map
sylvia harris: information design strategist
chris pullman: WGBH boston
mark randall: worldstudio foundation, the urban forest project

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