glass half full

i was assigned this quote for a little alignment study in typography. the document had to be 8.5 x 11 with 2 inch margins, a standard red background, and only 24 point futura book. elements to play around with? the text can be black and white, and use different weights. i was bummed that i got a quote that seemed so negative. (and inaccurate. i like to think that all graphic designers love what they are doing.) but i went with it.

by the time i got to version 18, i was starting to loose my ability to distinguish between arrangements that worked well and arrangements that just work. cathy came over last night, so i snatched the opportunity to show them to another set of eyes. (it's important to seek the perspective of a sculpture major every once in a while...) and when i told her i didn't like the quote, she was suprised. she said that wasn't how she interpreted it at all. she thought it was really empowering. that it wasn't accusing designers of secretly hating design, but instead that they want their design to be doing bigger things. hmm. i hadn't thought about it like that. my glass was half empty.

after that i figured i should probably google scott stowel. (i don't know why that wasn't the first step. sometimes adobe just sucks you in and you forget about things like, say, research.) turns out he's the owner of open (um, internship! please!) the group responsible for the design of my favorite good magazine. (which, on a side note, now has mini good "field guides" each week at starbucks that you should check out...) and just like that, glass half full.