This year's GD commencement exhibition is titled "Common Surfaces" We're exhibiting en masse -- Issac Gertman and I, the other faculty of Advanced Design that unfortunately couldn't be here, proposed the group format for several reasons -- we wanted to make installation easier; make the focus be each student's project -- not their installation; create an atmosphere of calm and order compared to much of the other buildings and spaces one would find themselves in over Artwalk... lastly; we feel that design is almost never experienced on its own, it is part of some other context, or adjacent other designs, intermingled with the other stuff of the world; so how could we bring some of that into the gallery as well...
We started in January, when everyone came back from break, with the students being polled to try and categorize each other's projects into a few groupings -- the groupings would give us an intiial way to start curating projects and spaces:
[NAME]: work dealing directly with content or with questioning the systems surrounding us … these projects are above us in the glass walled gallery between the stairs and the elevator [NAME]: work dealing with memory, personal experience, or with the senses in some manner … these projects were placed upstairs in Brown 413 and ended up being almost exclusively digital in their output [NAME]: work more focused on formal issues, abstraction in form and/or content, and projects that speculate on alternatives to given systems … these ended up right outside this room in the bronze gallery [NAME] & [NAME]: and lastly, works dealing with the Sustainable or with Social Justice or that had more of an Explanatory aim to them was our last grouping. these ended up in brown 307 and 308
We had a four seniors volunteer to help curate, design, and brand the exhibition (Katie H, Jenny R, Kevin G, Rachel Dunn ...). Kevin's project influenced where the design went... the main motivations were ideas surrounding challenging traditional forms of an exhibition -- things are on the wall? maybe they should be on the floor -- handling of wall text and graphics? no vinyl, minimal wayfinding, etc.
In extending the "group exhibition" idea, the direction led by our volunteers relied on the panels to create a uniform way to view all kinds of output -- and also an aid for a name...
Utilizing the shipping labels as a design element (ask kevin et al?)
We also used large posters that we asked all the students to make as a loose, liminal connector between the floors and spaces -- the posters line the paths one takes to get to the different galleries. The posters are then intermixed with the hope that you're led to a new gallery after having your attention caught by which ever poster you saw... (the name tags have the gallery space listed on them)
And, we also tried something new this year; sorry guinea pigs; that we think worked quite well -- a slightly early install! the show was able to be up for several weeks instead of several days; and while there were some bumps; this definitely seems like something to keep for the future.
So, that's the exhibition back story in a few minutes. (Kevin, Katie, etc. Do they want to add any tidbits of their own?)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You might not ever get another chance for a lecture from me. I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I'll give you one final opportunity -- indulge me; this is maybe more for your families.
I'm known around Brown for making up words; having counter-cultural views (richard stallman is the creator and founder of GNU and the Free Software Foundation -- he's a software libertarian); and going onto tangential conversations during class.
If your child (or nephew or grandchild or sibling or whatever) has been saying that they are going to become a farmer or a garbage collector or a neo-georgist land tax reformer or a marxist that only wants to listen to brian eno, it's probably my fault — you can yell at me or thank me at the end of this.
I still have to tell my own mother that no, I'm not an artist, I'm a designer. And I still field questions from friends and non-graphic design colleagues about what exactly we all do as "graphic designers" … I thought we could end your tenure's here with a reminder/refresher -- and also make sure your families all are on the same page moving forward to help spread the gospel.
Do you all have a definition for yourselves? if you're still figuring this out; well, maybe we didn't help you enough :)
Or at least making those things look nice; and putting them in nice boxes. This is a traditional way of defining designing; but its good; understandable; it is tied to the idea that designing is a service to commerce/industry...
This is getting more into a semiotics based definition; there are signs -- meaning something that we agree is standing in for some idea; and we put those signs onto things. Work that enters into a more speculative realm or less traditional medium is well suited by this definition.
Sometimes, desinging is problem finding -- not necessarily practical or pragmatic problem solving. Letting yourself be loose is good. As long as the "messing around" is directed by a hypothesis or something this is a good definition for personal practice or small scale high end ...### [Stewart Brand Quote]?
In general, we can do and make pretty much anything these days; so now it becomes important that as you move forward you keep that in mind -- is twhat you're making the best or the right fit or the most efective or whatever your metric or mindset is for such things?
There are a lot of "designer as [fill in blank]" conversations in the last couple of decades
I'll offer you one more: designer as connector.
That's the important part for our contemporary context -- the designer is the connector for whatever specialties whatever experts need to come together for a successful project. How cna you stay general AND specialized enough that you understand how things work; but don't get bogged down or stuck in a single track or format or tool???
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
My sustainable design class has heard me say "everything is connected" about 1000000 times in every conversation or critique we had. And yeah, I believe this. I also believe that as a designer we have the opportunity to really take advantage of this -- we can help in making connections; or at least recognizing them and helping the nodes SEE for themselves that they are connected...
Design is increasingly complex; or rather designers are brought in on increasingly complex problems. Even something as pedestrian as a small website is now a pretty monumental project with many layers of complexity and understanding from technical and visual and cultural perspectives ... (does this use vue.js? react? php? node or apache? virtual server? cloud app? squarespace? wix? kirby? what responsiveness break points do i use? do different devices get different experiences? can a user use/see this in Russia or Venezuela or China? Can you as a "graphic designer" be expected to actually be expert in all the possible areas and tools? How can designers start acting as a connector -- you understand this larger problem; and can then see who else you need to rope in. What other experts or specialists are really needed to blow this open -- you've discovered the problem, or started finding the edge of the problem; who can you bring in; who can you connect to really do something? Does this app need a behavrioal psycholgoist? does this identity need a ADA compliance expert and a materials scsientist? does this book really need its own editor and writer and curator and print production manager to help the clients with their content and scale?
We maybe also don't need to be specialists in all tools either; when you know you need a motion graphic; you go find the right person or studio to execute it correctly; You know enough to know how its done better or worse; and have the taste to get what you want and need; but you don't have to know how to make it --- we don't take time learning to operate an offset printing press; why do we spend so much time ...
Something you've had here that I think you'll quickly miss is the fact that you have had a classroom of other interested, motivated peers to collaborate with; talk to; share work with; etc. You've also had faculty that want you to succeed and try to provide their best feedback and advice to you. This is something that isn't necessarily going to be true moving forward for you. Sometimes you end up at a great place; but that has a small inhouse design team; sometimes you end up in a big place with lots of great designers, but its super competitive and no one is interested in helping each other beyond getting whatever current project needs to get out the door; sometimes you end up with a bad boss or superior or whatever that doesn't want to help you succeed -- how are you going to keep finding that community of designers to help you, influence you, inspire you; encourage you? Stay in touch -- with us; with each other; with any future or past alumni... start your own design meetups in whatever places you end up in; anything! Design is a social activity; it helps to stay social!
And at the very least; you can at least signup for my reading club; I can at least send you some PDFs to read every month or two :)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...
[Gestures are utopian slide]
Design the design that belongs to the future that you want to inhabit. Create the world you desire. It doesn't mean that you eed to make a logo or website or poster or app that does that; for everything good thing you care about. But! you can use designing to make any action you do better --- either its more clearly communicated; it's taken seriously because it looks like the things you should take seriously;
designer doesn't have to be what you do; it can be who you are. An optimistic skeptic, a pragmatic, utopian, always looking for a better, clearer, more intentional way forward.
We see that in a lot of your projects this year: the design is the form your ideas take; but your ideas are all so much bigger and broader than just their visual, formal containers.
Don't forget that as you move through your careers. You're more than the software you know how to use; you're more than the objects or forms you can create.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
sync please
This year's GD commencement exhibition is titled "Common Surfaces" We're exhibiting en masse -- Issac Gertman and I, the other faculty of Advanced Design that unfortunately couldn't be here, proposed the group format for several reasons -- we wanted to make installation easier; make the focus be each student's project -- not their installation; create an atmosphere of calm and order compared to much of the other buildings and spaces one would find themselves in over Artwalk... lastly; we feel that design is almost never experienced on its own, it is part of some other context, or adjacent other designs, intermingled with the other stuff of the world; so how could we bring some of that into the gallery as well...
We started in January, when everyone came back from break, with the students being polled to try and categorize each other's projects into a few groupings -- the groupings would give us an intiial way to start curating projects and spaces:
[NAME]: work dealing directly with content or with questioning the systems surrounding us … these projects are above us in the glass walled gallery between the stairs and the elevator [NAME]: work dealing with memory, personal experience, or with the senses in some manner … these projects were placed upstairs in Brown 413 and ended up being almost exclusively digital in their output [NAME]: work more focused on formal issues, abstraction in form and/or content, and projects that speculate on alternatives to given systems … these ended up right outside this room in the bronze gallery [NAME] & [NAME]: and lastly, works dealing with the Sustainable or with Social Justice or that had more of an Explanatory aim to them was our last grouping. these ended up in brown 307 and 308
We had a four seniors volunteer to help curate, design, and brand the exhibition (Katie H, Jenny R, Kevin G, Rachel Dunn ...). Kevin's project influenced where the design went... the main motivations were ideas surrounding challenging traditional forms of an exhibition -- things are on the wall? maybe they should be on the floor -- handling of wall text and graphics? no vinyl, minimal wayfinding, etc.
In extending the "group exhibition" idea, the direction led by our volunteers relied on the panels to create a uniform way to view all kinds of output -- and also an aid for a name...
Utilizing the shipping labels as a design element (ask kevin et al?)
We also used large posters that we asked all the students to make as a loose, liminal connector between the floors and spaces -- the posters line the paths one takes to get to the different galleries. The posters are then intermixed with the hope that you're led to a new gallery after having your attention caught by which ever poster you saw... (the name tags have the gallery space listed on them)
And, we also tried something new this year; sorry guinea pigs; that we think worked quite well -- a slightly early install! the show was able to be up for several weeks instead of several days; and while there were some bumps; this definitely seems like something to keep for the future.
So, that's the exhibition back story in a few minutes. (Kevin, Katie, etc. Do they want to add any tidbits of their own?)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You might not ever get another chance for a lecture from me. I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I'll give you one final opportunity -- indulge me; this is maybe more for your families.
I'm known around Brown for making up words; having counter-cultural views (richard stallman is the creator and founder of GNU and the Free Software Foundation -- he's a software libertarian); and going onto tangential conversations during class.
If your child (or nephew or grandchild or sibling or whatever) has been saying that they are going to become a farmer or a garbage collector or a neo-georgist land tax reformer or a marxist that only wants to listen to brian eno, it's probably my fault — you can yell at me or thank me at the end of this.
I still have to tell my own mother that no, I'm not an artist, I'm a designer. And I still field questions from friends and non-graphic design colleagues about what exactly we all do as "graphic designers" … I thought we could end your tenure's here with a reminder/refresher -- and also make sure your families all are on the same page moving forward to help spread the gospel.
Do you all have a definition for yourselves? if you're still figuring this out; well, maybe we didn't help you enough :)
Or at least making those things look nice; and putting them in nice boxes. This is a traditional way of defining designing; but its good; understandable; it is tied to the idea that designing is a service to commerce/industry...
This is getting more into a semiotics based definition; there are signs -- meaning something that we agree is standing in for some idea; and we put those signs onto things. Work that enters into a more speculative realm or less traditional medium is well suited by this definition.
Sometimes, desinging is problem finding -- not necessarily practical or pragmatic problem solving. Letting yourself be loose is good. As long as the "messing around" is directed by a hypothesis or something this is a good definition for personal practice or small scale high end ...### [Stewart Brand Quote]?
In general, we can do and make pretty much anything these days; so now it becomes important that as you move forward you keep that in mind -- is twhat you're making the best or the right fit or the most efective or whatever your metric or mindset is for such things?
There are a lot of "designer as [fill in blank]" conversations in the last couple of decades
I'll offer you one more: designer as connector.
That's the important part for our contemporary context -- the designer is the connector for whatever specialties whatever experts need to come together for a successful project. How cna you stay general AND specialized enough that you understand how things work; but don't get bogged down or stuck in a single track or format or tool???
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
My sustainable design class has heard me say "everything is connected" about 1000000 times in every conversation or critique we had. And yeah, I believe this. I also believe that as a designer we have the opportunity to really take advantage of this -- we can help in making connections; or at least recognizing them and helping the nodes SEE for themselves that they are connected...
Design is increasingly complex; or rather designers are brought in on increasingly complex problems. Even something as pedestrian as a small website is now a pretty monumental project with many layers of complexity and understanding from technical and visual and cultural perspectives ... (does this use vue.js? react? php? node or apache? virtual server? cloud app? squarespace? wix? kirby? what responsiveness break points do i use? do different devices get different experiences? can a user use/see this in Russia or Venezuela or China? Can you as a "graphic designer" be expected to actually be expert in all the possible areas and tools? How can designers start acting as a connector -- you understand this larger problem; and can then see who else you need to rope in. What other experts or specialists are really needed to blow this open -- you've discovered the problem, or started finding the edge of the problem; who can you bring in; who can you connect to really do something? Does this app need a behavrioal psycholgoist? does this identity need a ADA compliance expert and a materials scsientist? does this book really need its own editor and writer and curator and print production manager to help the clients with their content and scale?
We maybe also don't need to be specialists in all tools either; when you know you need a motion graphic; you go find the right person or studio to execute it correctly; You know enough to know how its done better or worse; and have the taste to get what you want and need; but you don't have to know how to make it --- we don't take time learning to operate an offset printing press; why do we spend so much time ...
Something you've had here that I think you'll quickly miss is the fact that you have had a classroom of other interested, motivated peers to collaborate with; talk to; share work with; etc. You've also had faculty that want you to succeed and try to provide their best feedback and advice to you. This is something that isn't necessarily going to be true moving forward for you. Sometimes you end up at a great place; but that has a small inhouse design team; sometimes you end up in a big place with lots of great designers, but its super competitive and no one is interested in helping each other beyond getting whatever current project needs to get out the door; sometimes you end up with a bad boss or superior or whatever that doesn't want to help you succeed -- how are you going to keep finding that community of designers to help you, influence you, inspire you; encourage you? Stay in touch -- with us; with each other; with any future or past alumni... start your own design meetups in whatever places you end up in; anything! Design is a social activity; it helps to stay social!
And at the very least; you can at least signup for my reading club; I can at least send you some PDFs to read every month or two :)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...
[Gestures are utopian slide]
Design the design that belongs to the future that you want to inhabit. Create the world you desire. It doesn't mean that you eed to make a logo or website or poster or app that does that; for everything good thing you care about. But! you can use designing to make any action you do better --- either its more clearly communicated; it's taken seriously because it looks like the things you should take seriously;
designer doesn't have to be what you do; it can be who you are. An optimistic skeptic, a pragmatic, utopian, always looking for a better, clearer, more intentional way forward.
We see that in a lot of your projects this year: the design is the form your ideas take; but your ideas are all so much bigger and broader than just their visual, formal containers.
Don't forget that as you move through your careers. You're more than the software you know how to use; you're more than the objects or forms you can create.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
sync please
This year's GD commencement exhibition is titled "Common Surfaces" We're exhibiting en masse -- Issac Gertman and I, the other faculty of Advanced Design that unfortunately couldn't be here, proposed the group format for several reasons -- we wanted to make installation easier; make the focus be each student's project -- not their installation; create an atmosphere of calm and order compared to much of the other buildings and spaces one would find themselves in over Artwalk... lastly; we feel that design is almost never experienced on its own, it is part of some other context, or adjacent other designs, intermingled with the other stuff of the world; so how could we bring some of that into the gallery as well...
We started in January, when everyone came back from break, with the students being polled to try and categorize each other's projects into a few groupings -- the groupings would give us an intiial way to start curating projects and spaces:
[NAME]: work dealing directly with content or with questioning the systems surrounding us … these projects are above us in the glass walled gallery between the stairs and the elevator [NAME]: work dealing with memory, personal experience, or with the senses in some manner … these projects were placed upstairs in Brown 413 and ended up being almost exclusively digital in their output [NAME]: work more focused on formal issues, abstraction in form and/or content, and projects that speculate on alternatives to given systems … these ended up right outside this room in the bronze gallery [NAME] & [NAME]: and lastly, works dealing with the Sustainable or with Social Justice or that had more of an Explanatory aim to them was our last grouping. these ended up in brown 307 and 308
We had a four seniors volunteer to help curate, design, and brand the exhibition (Katie H, Jenny R, Kevin G, Rachel Dunn ...). Kevin's project influenced where the design went... the main motivations were ideas surrounding challenging traditional forms of an exhibition -- things are on the wall? maybe they should be on the floor -- handling of wall text and graphics? no vinyl, minimal wayfinding, etc.
In extending the "group exhibition" idea, the direction led by our volunteers relied on the panels to create a uniform way to view all kinds of output -- and also an aid for a name...
Utilizing the shipping labels as a design element (ask kevin et al?)
We also used large posters that we asked all the students to make as a loose, liminal connector between the floors and spaces -- the posters line the paths one takes to get to the different galleries. The posters are then intermixed with the hope that you're led to a new gallery after having your attention caught by which ever poster you saw... (the name tags have the gallery space listed on them)
And, we also tried something new this year; sorry guinea pigs; that we think worked quite well -- a slightly early install! the show was able to be up for several weeks instead of several days; and while there were some bumps; this definitely seems like something to keep for the future.
So, that's the exhibition back story in a few minutes. (Kevin, Katie, etc. Do they want to add any tidbits of their own?)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You might not ever get another chance for a lecture from me. I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I'll give you one final opportunity -- indulge me; this is maybe more for your families.
I'm known around Brown for making up words; having counter-cultural views (richard stallman is the creator and founder of GNU and the Free Software Foundation -- he's a software libertarian); and going onto tangential conversations during class.
If your child (or nephew or grandchild or sibling or whatever) has been saying that they are going to become a farmer or a garbage collector or a neo-georgist land tax reformer or a marxist that only wants to listen to brian eno, it's probably my fault — you can yell at me or thank me at the end of this.
I still have to tell my own mother that no, I'm not an artist, I'm a designer. And I still field questions from friends and non-graphic design colleagues about what exactly we all do as "graphic designers" … I thought we could end your tenure's here with a reminder/refresher -- and also make sure your families all are on the same page moving forward to help spread the gospel.
Do you all have a definition for yourselves? if you're still figuring this out; well, maybe we didn't help you enough :)
Or at least making those things look nice; and putting them in nice boxes. This is a traditional way of defining designing; but its good; understandable; it is tied to the idea that designing is a service to commerce/industry...
This is getting more into a semiotics based definition; there are signs -- meaning something that we agree is standing in for some idea; and we put those signs onto things. Work that enters into a more speculative realm or less traditional medium is well suited by this definition.
Sometimes, desinging is problem finding -- not necessarily practical or pragmatic problem solving. Letting yourself be loose is good. As long as the "messing around" is directed by a hypothesis or something this is a good definition for personal practice or small scale high end ...### [Stewart Brand Quote]?
In general, we can do and make pretty much anything these days; so now it becomes important that as you move forward you keep that in mind -- is twhat you're making the best or the right fit or the most efective or whatever your metric or mindset is for such things?
There are a lot of "designer as [fill in blank]" conversations in the last couple of decades
I'll offer you one more: designer as connector.
That's the important part for our contemporary context -- the designer is the connector for whatever specialties whatever experts need to come together for a successful project. How cna you stay general AND specialized enough that you understand how things work; but don't get bogged down or stuck in a single track or format or tool???
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
My sustainable design class has heard me say "everything is connected" about 1000000 times in every conversation or critique we had. And yeah, I believe this. I also believe that as a designer we have the opportunity to really take advantage of this -- we can help in making connections; or at least recognizing them and helping the nodes SEE for themselves that they are connected...
Design is increasingly complex; or rather designers are brought in on increasingly complex problems. Even something as pedestrian as a small website is now a pretty monumental project with many layers of complexity and understanding from technical and visual and cultural perspectives ... (does this use vue.js? react? php? node or apache? virtual server? cloud app? squarespace? wix? kirby? what responsiveness break points do i use? do different devices get different experiences? can a user use/see this in Russia or Venezuela or China? Can you as a "graphic designer" be expected to actually be expert in all the possible areas and tools? How can designers start acting as a connector -- you understand this larger problem; and can then see who else you need to rope in. What other experts or specialists are really needed to blow this open -- you've discovered the problem, or started finding the edge of the problem; who can you bring in; who can you connect to really do something? Does this app need a behavrioal psycholgoist? does this identity need a ADA compliance expert and a materials scsientist? does this book really need its own editor and writer and curator and print production manager to help the clients with their content and scale?
We maybe also don't need to be specialists in all tools either; when you know you need a motion graphic; you go find the right person or studio to execute it correctly; You know enough to know how its done better or worse; and have the taste to get what you want and need; but you don't have to know how to make it --- we don't take time learning to operate an offset printing press; why do we spend so much time ...
Something you've had here that I think you'll quickly miss is the fact that you have had a classroom of other interested, motivated peers to collaborate with; talk to; share work with; etc. You've also had faculty that want you to succeed and try to provide their best feedback and advice to you. This is something that isn't necessarily going to be true moving forward for you. Sometimes you end up at a great place; but that has a small inhouse design team; sometimes you end up in a big place with lots of great designers, but its super competitive and no one is interested in helping each other beyond getting whatever current project needs to get out the door; sometimes you end up with a bad boss or superior or whatever that doesn't want to help you succeed -- how are you going to keep finding that community of designers to help you, influence you, inspire you; encourage you? Stay in touch -- with us; with each other; with any future or past alumni... start your own design meetups in whatever places you end up in; anything! Design is a social activity; it helps to stay social!
And at the very least; you can at least signup for my reading club; I can at least send you some PDFs to read every month or two :)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...
[Gestures are utopian slide]
Design the design that belongs to the future that you want to inhabit. Create the world you desire. It doesn't mean that you eed to make a logo or website or poster or app that does that; for everything good thing you care about. But! you can use designing to make any action you do better --- either its more clearly communicated; it's taken seriously because it looks like the things you should take seriously;
designer doesn't have to be what you do; it can be who you are. An optimistic skeptic, a pragmatic, utopian, always looking for a better, clearer, more intentional way forward.
We see that in a lot of your projects this year: the design is the form your ideas take; but your ideas are all so much bigger and broader than just their visual, formal containers.
Don't forget that as you move through your careers. You're more than the software you know how to use; you're more than the objects or forms you can create.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
sync please
This year's GD commencement exhibition is titled "Common Surfaces" We're exhibiting en masse -- Issac Gertman and I, the other faculty of Advanced Design that unfortunately couldn't be here, proposed the group format for several reasons -- we wanted to make installation easier; make the focus be each student's project -- not their installation; create an atmosphere of calm and order compared to much of the other buildings and spaces one would find themselves in over Artwalk... lastly; we feel that design is almost never experienced on its own, it is part of some other context, or adjacent other designs, intermingled with the other stuff of the world; so how could we bring some of that into the gallery as well...
We started in January, when everyone came back from break, with the students being polled to try and categorize each other's projects into a few groupings -- the groupings would give us an intiial way to start curating projects and spaces:
[NAME]: work dealing directly with content or with questioning the systems surrounding us … these projects are above us in the glass walled gallery between the stairs and the elevator [NAME]: work dealing with memory, personal experience, or with the senses in some manner … these projects were placed upstairs in Brown 413 and ended up being almost exclusively digital in their output [NAME]: work more focused on formal issues, abstraction in form and/or content, and projects that speculate on alternatives to given systems … these ended up right outside this room in the bronze gallery [NAME] & [NAME]: and lastly, works dealing with the Sustainable or with Social Justice or that had more of an Explanatory aim to them was our last grouping. these ended up in brown 307 and 308
We had a four seniors volunteer to help curate, design, and brand the exhibition (Katie H, Jenny R, Kevin G, Rachel Dunn ...). Kevin's project influenced where the design went... the main motivations were ideas surrounding challenging traditional forms of an exhibition -- things are on the wall? maybe they should be on the floor -- handling of wall text and graphics? no vinyl, minimal wayfinding, etc.
In extending the "group exhibition" idea, the direction led by our volunteers relied on the panels to create a uniform way to view all kinds of output -- and also an aid for a name...
Utilizing the shipping labels as a design element (ask kevin et al?)
We also used large posters that we asked all the students to make as a loose, liminal connector between the floors and spaces -- the posters line the paths one takes to get to the different galleries. The posters are then intermixed with the hope that you're led to a new gallery after having your attention caught by which ever poster you saw... (the name tags have the gallery space listed on them)
And, we also tried something new this year; sorry guinea pigs; that we think worked quite well -- a slightly early install! the show was able to be up for several weeks instead of several days; and while there were some bumps; this definitely seems like something to keep for the future.
So, that's the exhibition back story in a few minutes. (Kevin, Katie, etc. Do they want to add any tidbits of their own?)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You might not ever get another chance for a lecture from me. I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I'll give you one final opportunity -- indulge me; this is maybe more for your families.
I'm known around Brown for making up words; having counter-cultural views (richard stallman is the creator and founder of GNU and the Free Software Foundation -- he's a software libertarian); and going onto tangential conversations during class.
If your child (or nephew or grandchild or sibling or whatever) has been saying that they are going to become a farmer or a garbage collector or a neo-georgist land tax reformer or a marxist that only wants to listen to brian eno, it's probably my fault — you can yell at me or thank me at the end of this.
I still have to tell my own mother that no, I'm not an artist, I'm a designer. And I still field questions from friends and non-graphic design colleagues about what exactly we all do as "graphic designers" … I thought we could end your tenure's here with a reminder/refresher -- and also make sure your families all are on the same page moving forward to help spread the gospel.
Do you all have a definition for yourselves? if you're still figuring this out; well, maybe we didn't help you enough :)
Or at least making those things look nice; and putting them in nice boxes. This is a traditional way of defining designing; but its good; understandable; it is tied to the idea that designing is a service to commerce/industry...
This is getting more into a semiotics based definition; there are signs -- meaning something that we agree is standing in for some idea; and we put those signs onto things. Work that enters into a more speculative realm or less traditional medium is well suited by this definition.
Sometimes, desinging is problem finding -- not necessarily practical or pragmatic problem solving. Letting yourself be loose is good. As long as the "messing around" is directed by a hypothesis or something this is a good definition for personal practice or small scale high end ...### [Stewart Brand Quote]?
In general, we can do and make pretty much anything these days; so now it becomes important that as you move forward you keep that in mind -- is twhat you're making the best or the right fit or the most efective or whatever your metric or mindset is for such things?
There are a lot of "designer as [fill in blank]" conversations in the last couple of decades
I'll offer you one more: designer as connector.
That's the important part for our contemporary context -- the designer is the connector for whatever specialties whatever experts need to come together for a successful project. How cna you stay general AND specialized enough that you understand how things work; but don't get bogged down or stuck in a single track or format or tool???
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
My sustainable design class has heard me say "everything is connected" about 1000000 times in every conversation or critique we had. And yeah, I believe this. I also believe that as a designer we have the opportunity to really take advantage of this -- we can help in making connections; or at least recognizing them and helping the nodes SEE for themselves that they are connected...
Design is increasingly complex; or rather designers are brought in on increasingly complex problems. Even something as pedestrian as a small website is now a pretty monumental project with many layers of complexity and understanding from technical and visual and cultural perspectives ... (does this use vue.js? react? php? node or apache? virtual server? cloud app? squarespace? wix? kirby? what responsiveness break points do i use? do different devices get different experiences? can a user use/see this in Russia or Venezuela or China? Can you as a "graphic designer" be expected to actually be expert in all the possible areas and tools? How can designers start acting as a connector -- you understand this larger problem; and can then see who else you need to rope in. What other experts or specialists are really needed to blow this open -- you've discovered the problem, or started finding the edge of the problem; who can you bring in; who can you connect to really do something? Does this app need a behavrioal psycholgoist? does this identity need a ADA compliance expert and a materials scsientist? does this book really need its own editor and writer and curator and print production manager to help the clients with their content and scale?
We maybe also don't need to be specialists in all tools either; when you know you need a motion graphic; you go find the right person or studio to execute it correctly; You know enough to know how its done better or worse; and have the taste to get what you want and need; but you don't have to know how to make it --- we don't take time learning to operate an offset printing press; why do we spend so much time ...
Something you've had here that I think you'll quickly miss is the fact that you have had a classroom of other interested, motivated peers to collaborate with; talk to; share work with; etc. You've also had faculty that want you to succeed and try to provide their best feedback and advice to you. This is something that isn't necessarily going to be true moving forward for you. Sometimes you end up at a great place; but that has a small inhouse design team; sometimes you end up in a big place with lots of great designers, but its super competitive and no one is interested in helping each other beyond getting whatever current project needs to get out the door; sometimes you end up with a bad boss or superior or whatever that doesn't want to help you succeed -- how are you going to keep finding that community of designers to help you, influence you, inspire you; encourage you? Stay in touch -- with us; with each other; with any future or past alumni... start your own design meetups in whatever places you end up in; anything! Design is a social activity; it helps to stay social!
And at the very least; you can at least signup for my reading club; I can at least send you some PDFs to read every month or two :)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...
[Gestures are utopian slide]
Design the design that belongs to the future that you want to inhabit. Create the world you desire. It doesn't mean that you eed to make a logo or website or poster or app that does that; for everything good thing you care about. But! you can use designing to make any action you do better --- either its more clearly communicated; it's taken seriously because it looks like the things you should take seriously;
designer doesn't have to be what you do; it can be who you are. An optimistic skeptic, a pragmatic, utopian, always looking for a better, clearer, more intentional way forward.
We see that in a lot of your projects this year: the design is the form your ideas take; but your ideas are all so much bigger and broader than just their visual, formal containers.
Don't forget that as you move through your careers. You're more than the software you know how to use; you're more than the objects or forms you can create.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
sync please
This year's GD commencement exhibition is titled "Common Surfaces" We're exhibiting en masse -- Issac Gertman and I, the other faculty of Advanced Design that unfortunately couldn't be here, proposed the group format for several reasons -- we wanted to make installation easier; make the focus be each student's project -- not their installation; create an atmosphere of calm and order compared to much of the other buildings and spaces one would find themselves in over Artwalk... lastly; we feel that design is almost never experienced on its own, it is part of some other context, or adjacent other designs, intermingled with the other stuff of the world; so how could we bring some of that into the gallery as well...
We started in January, when everyone came back from break, with the students being polled to try and categorize each other's projects into a few groupings -- the groupings would give us an intiial way to start curating projects and spaces:
[NAME]: work dealing directly with content or with questioning the systems surrounding us … these projects are above us in the glass walled gallery between the stairs and the elevator [NAME]: work dealing with memory, personal experience, or with the senses in some manner … these projects were placed upstairs in Brown 413 and ended up being almost exclusively digital in their output [NAME]: work more focused on formal issues, abstraction in form and/or content, and projects that speculate on alternatives to given systems … these ended up right outside this room in the bronze gallery [NAME] & [NAME]: and lastly, works dealing with the Sustainable or with Social Justice or that had more of an Explanatory aim to them was our last grouping. these ended up in brown 307 and 308
We had a four seniors volunteer to help curate, design, and brand the exhibition (Katie H, Jenny R, Kevin G, Rachel Dunn ...). Kevin's project influenced where the design went... the main motivations were ideas surrounding challenging traditional forms of an exhibition -- things are on the wall? maybe they should be on the floor -- handling of wall text and graphics? no vinyl, minimal wayfinding, etc.
In extending the "group exhibition" idea, the direction led by our volunteers relied on the panels to create a uniform way to view all kinds of output -- and also an aid for a name...
Utilizing the shipping labels as a design element (ask kevin et al?)
We also used large posters that we asked all the students to make as a loose, liminal connector between the floors and spaces -- the posters line the paths one takes to get to the different galleries. The posters are then intermixed with the hope that you're led to a new gallery after having your attention caught by which ever poster you saw... (the name tags have the gallery space listed on them)
And, we also tried something new this year; sorry guinea pigs; that we think worked quite well -- a slightly early install! the show was able to be up for several weeks instead of several days; and while there were some bumps; this definitely seems like something to keep for the future.
So, that's the exhibition back story in a few minutes. (Kevin, Katie, etc. Do they want to add any tidbits of their own?)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You might not ever get another chance for a lecture from me. I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I'll give you one final opportunity -- indulge me; this is maybe more for your families.
I'm known around Brown for making up words; having counter-cultural views (richard stallman is the creator and founder of GNU and the Free Software Foundation -- he's a software libertarian); and going onto tangential conversations during class.
If your child (or nephew or grandchild or sibling or whatever) has been saying that they are going to become a farmer or a garbage collector or a neo-georgist land tax reformer or a marxist that only wants to listen to brian eno, it's probably my fault — you can yell at me or thank me at the end of this.
I still have to tell my own mother that no, I'm not an artist, I'm a designer. And I still field questions from friends and non-graphic design colleagues about what exactly we all do as "graphic designers" … I thought we could end your tenure's here with a reminder/refresher -- and also make sure your families all are on the same page moving forward to help spread the gospel.
Do you all have a definition for yourselves? if you're still figuring this out; well, maybe we didn't help you enough :)
Or at least making those things look nice; and putting them in nice boxes. This is a traditional way of defining designing; but its good; understandable; it is tied to the idea that designing is a service to commerce/industry...
This is getting more into a semiotics based definition; there are signs -- meaning something that we agree is standing in for some idea; and we put those signs onto things. Work that enters into a more speculative realm or less traditional medium is well suited by this definition.
Sometimes, desinging is problem finding -- not necessarily practical or pragmatic problem solving. Letting yourself be loose is good. As long as the "messing around" is directed by a hypothesis or something this is a good definition for personal practice or small scale high end ...### [Stewart Brand Quote]?
In general, we can do and make pretty much anything these days; so now it becomes important that as you move forward you keep that in mind -- is twhat you're making the best or the right fit or the most efective or whatever your metric or mindset is for such things?
There are a lot of "designer as [fill in blank]" conversations in the last couple of decades
I'll offer you one more: designer as connector.
That's the important part for our contemporary context -- the designer is the connector for whatever specialties whatever experts need to come together for a successful project. How cna you stay general AND specialized enough that you understand how things work; but don't get bogged down or stuck in a single track or format or tool???
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
My sustainable design class has heard me say "everything is connected" about 1000000 times in every conversation or critique we had. And yeah, I believe this. I also believe that as a designer we have the opportunity to really take advantage of this -- we can help in making connections; or at least recognizing them and helping the nodes SEE for themselves that they are connected...
Design is increasingly complex; or rather designers are brought in on increasingly complex problems. Even something as pedestrian as a small website is now a pretty monumental project with many layers of complexity and understanding from technical and visual and cultural perspectives ... (does this use vue.js? react? php? node or apache? virtual server? cloud app? squarespace? wix? kirby? what responsiveness break points do i use? do different devices get different experiences? can a user use/see this in Russia or Venezuela or China? Can you as a "graphic designer" be expected to actually be expert in all the possible areas and tools? How can designers start acting as a connector -- you understand this larger problem; and can then see who else you need to rope in. What other experts or specialists are really needed to blow this open -- you've discovered the problem, or started finding the edge of the problem; who can you bring in; who can you connect to really do something? Does this app need a behavrioal psycholgoist? does this identity need a ADA compliance expert and a materials scsientist? does this book really need its own editor and writer and curator and print production manager to help the clients with their content and scale?
We maybe also don't need to be specialists in all tools either; when you know you need a motion graphic; you go find the right person or studio to execute it correctly; You know enough to know how its done better or worse; and have the taste to get what you want and need; but you don't have to know how to make it --- we don't take time learning to operate an offset printing press; why do we spend so much time ...
Something you've had here that I think you'll quickly miss is the fact that you have had a classroom of other interested, motivated peers to collaborate with; talk to; share work with; etc. You've also had faculty that want you to succeed and try to provide their best feedback and advice to you. This is something that isn't necessarily going to be true moving forward for you. Sometimes you end up at a great place; but that has a small inhouse design team; sometimes you end up in a big place with lots of great designers, but its super competitive and no one is interested in helping each other beyond getting whatever current project needs to get out the door; sometimes you end up with a bad boss or superior or whatever that doesn't want to help you succeed -- how are you going to keep finding that community of designers to help you, influence you, inspire you; encourage you? Stay in touch -- with us; with each other; with any future or past alumni... start your own design meetups in whatever places you end up in; anything! Design is a social activity; it helps to stay social!
And at the very least; you can at least signup for my reading club; I can at least send you some PDFs to read every month or two :)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...
[Gestures are utopian slide]
Design the design that belongs to the future that you want to inhabit. Create the world you desire. It doesn't mean that you eed to make a logo or website or poster or app that does that; for everything good thing you care about. But! you can use designing to make any action you do better --- either its more clearly communicated; it's taken seriously because it looks like the things you should take seriously;
designer doesn't have to be what you do; it can be who you are. An optimistic skeptic, a pragmatic, utopian, always looking for a better, clearer, more intentional way forward.
We see that in a lot of your projects this year: the design is the form your ideas take; but your ideas are all so much bigger and broader than just their visual, formal containers.
Don't forget that as you move through your careers. You're more than the software you know how to use; you're more than the objects or forms you can create.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This year's GD commencement exhibition is titled "Common Surfaces" We're exhibiting en masse -- Issac Gertman and I, the other faculty of Advanced Design that unfortunately couldn't be here, proposed the group format for several reasons -- we wanted to make installation easier; make the focus be each student's project -- not their installation; create an atmosphere of calm and order compared to much of the other buildings and spaces one would find themselves in over Artwalk... lastly; we feel that design is almost never experienced on its own, it is part of some other context, or adjacent other designs, intermingled with the other stuff of the world; so how could we bring some of that into the gallery as well...
We started in January, when everyone came back from break, with the students being polled to try and categorize each other's projects into a few groupings -- the groupings would give us an intiial way to start curating projects and spaces:
[NAME]: work dealing directly with content or with questioning the systems surrounding us … these projects are above us in the glass walled gallery between the stairs and the elevator [NAME]: work dealing with memory, personal experience, or with the senses in some manner … these projects were placed upstairs in Brown 413 and ended up being almost exclusively digital in their output [NAME]: work more focused on formal issues, abstraction in form and/or content, and projects that speculate on alternatives to given systems … these ended up right outside this room in the bronze gallery [NAME] & [NAME]: and lastly, works dealing with the Sustainable or with Social Justice or that had more of an Explanatory aim to them was our last grouping. these ended up in brown 307 and 308
We had a four seniors volunteer to help curate, design, and brand the exhibition (Katie H, Jenny R, Kevin G, Rachel Dunn ...). Kevin's project influenced where the design went... the main motivations were ideas surrounding challenging traditional forms of an exhibition -- things are on the wall? maybe they should be on the floor -- handling of wall text and graphics? no vinyl, minimal wayfinding, etc.
In extending the "group exhibition" idea, the direction led by our volunteers relied on the panels to create a uniform way to view all kinds of output -- and also an aid for a name...
Utilizing the shipping labels as a design element (ask kevin et al?)
We also used large posters that we asked all the students to make as a loose, liminal connector between the floors and spaces -- the posters line the paths one takes to get to the different galleries. The posters are then intermixed with the hope that you're led to a new gallery after having your attention caught by which ever poster you saw... (the name tags have the gallery space listed on them)
And, we also tried something new this year; sorry guinea pigs; that we think worked quite well -- a slightly early install! the show was able to be up for several weeks instead of several days; and while there were some bumps; this definitely seems like something to keep for the future.
So, that's the exhibition back story in a few minutes. (Kevin, Katie, etc. Do they want to add any tidbits of their own?)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You might not ever get another chance for a lecture from me. I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I (maybe you think of them more as "professorial rants?); so I'll give you one final opportunity -- indulge me; this is maybe more for your families.
I'm known around Brown for making up words; having counter-cultural views (richard stallman is the creator and founder of GNU and the Free Software Foundation -- he's a software libertarian); and going onto tangential conversations during class.
If your child (or nephew or grandchild or sibling or whatever) has been saying that they are going to become a farmer or a garbage collector or a neo-georgist land tax reformer or a marxist that only wants to listen to brian eno, it's probably my fault — you can yell at me or thank me at the end of this.
I still have to tell my own mother that no, I'm not an artist, I'm a designer. And I still field questions from friends and non-graphic design colleagues about what exactly we all do as "graphic designers" … I thought we could end your tenure's here with a reminder/refresher -- and also make sure your families all are on the same page moving forward to help spread the gospel.
Do you all have a definition for yourselves? if you're still figuring this out; well, maybe we didn't help you enough :)
Or at least making those things look nice; and putting them in nice boxes. This is a traditional way of defining designing; but its good; understandable; it is tied to the idea that designing is a service to commerce/industry...
This is getting more into a semiotics based definition; there are signs -- meaning something that we agree is standing in for some idea; and we put those signs onto things. Work that enters into a more speculative realm or less traditional medium is well suited by this definition.
Sometimes, desinging is problem finding -- not necessarily practical or pragmatic problem solving. Letting yourself be loose is good. As long as the "messing around" is directed by a hypothesis or something this is a good definition for personal practice or small scale high end ...### [Stewart Brand Quote]?
In general, we can do and make pretty much anything these days; so now it becomes important that as you move forward you keep that in mind -- is twhat you're making the best or the right fit or the most efective or whatever your metric or mindset is for such things?
There are a lot of "designer as [fill in blank]" conversations in the last couple of decades
I'll offer you one more: designer as connector.
That's the important part for our contemporary context -- the designer is the connector for whatever specialties whatever experts need to come together for a successful project. How cna you stay general AND specialized enough that you understand how things work; but don't get bogged down or stuck in a single track or format or tool???
A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
My sustainable design class has heard me say "everything is connected" about 1000000 times in every conversation or critique we had. And yeah, I believe this. I also believe that as a designer we have the opportunity to really take advantage of this -- we can help in making connections; or at least recognizing them and helping the nodes SEE for themselves that they are connected...
Design is increasingly complex; or rather designers are brought in on increasingly complex problems. Even something as pedestrian as a small website is now a pretty monumental project with many layers of complexity and understanding from technical and visual and cultural perspectives ... (does this use vue.js? react? php? node or apache? virtual server? cloud app? squarespace? wix? kirby? what responsiveness break points do i use? do different devices get different experiences? can a user use/see this in Russia or Venezuela or China? Can you as a "graphic designer" be expected to actually be expert in all the possible areas and tools? How can designers start acting as a connector -- you understand this larger problem; and can then see who else you need to rope in. What other experts or specialists are really needed to blow this open -- you've discovered the problem, or started finding the edge of the problem; who can you bring in; who can you connect to really do something? Does this app need a behavrioal psycholgoist? does this identity need a ADA compliance expert and a materials scsientist? does this book really need its own editor and writer and curator and print production manager to help the clients with their content and scale?
We maybe also don't need to be specialists in all tools either; when you know you need a motion graphic; you go find the right person or studio to execute it correctly; You know enough to know how its done better or worse; and have the taste to get what you want and need; but you don't have to know how to make it --- we don't take time learning to operate an offset printing press; why do we spend so much time ...
Something you've had here that I think you'll quickly miss is the fact that you have had a classroom of other interested, motivated peers to collaborate with; talk to; share work with; etc. You've also had faculty that want you to succeed and try to provide their best feedback and advice to you. This is something that isn't necessarily going to be true moving forward for you. Sometimes you end up at a great place; but that has a small inhouse design team; sometimes you end up in a big place with lots of great designers, but its super competitive and no one is interested in helping each other beyond getting whatever current project needs to get out the door; sometimes you end up with a bad boss or superior or whatever that doesn't want to help you succeed -- how are you going to keep finding that community of designers to help you, influence you, inspire you; encourage you? Stay in touch -- with us; with each other; with any future or past alumni... start your own design meetups in whatever places you end up in; anything! Design is a social activity; it helps to stay social!
And at the very least; you can at least signup for my reading club; I can at least send you some PDFs to read every month or two :)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...## Design is like writing (maybe this is a good conclusion?)
You are a "graphic designer" now — You can let this become your identity; or you can think about "graphic designing" moving forward the way we think about writing! writing is something we all do all the time -- emails, texts, cover letters; instagram captions; branding guidelines... etc. Its a skill that yes, some people speciailize in; but in general we all need it and use it no matter our professional choices. Graphic Designing -- designing generally -- can be that for you; anything you do after this graphic designing can help you be better at it; or at least taken more seriously or listened to more effectively... Because "Applying signs to substrates" or "messing around with a goal" are both useful in pretty much every endeavor...
[Gestures are utopian slide]
Design the design that belongs to the future that you want to inhabit. Create the world you desire. It doesn't mean that you eed to make a logo or website or poster or app that does that; for everything good thing you care about. But! you can use designing to make any action you do better --- either its more clearly communicated; it's taken seriously because it looks like the things you should take seriously;
designer doesn't have to be what you do; it can be who you are. An optimistic skeptic, a pragmatic, utopian, always looking for a better, clearer, more intentional way forward.
We see that in a lot of your projects this year: the design is the form your ideas take; but your ideas are all so much bigger and broader than just their visual, formal containers.
Don't forget that as you move through your careers. You're more than the software you know how to use; you're more than the objects or forms you can create.
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A note: All design is ideological. How I try to use design hopefully I've made clear to you over our time together -- what I hope from you over your careers is that you keep asking yourselves what your motivations and intentions are; and how do you make design work for you in those capacities …
The status quo is still an ideology; it isn't ideologically neutral. So, if you are going to be practicing design to suit an ideology no matter what, you might as well be one that you've intentionally chosen.
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sync please