“Embrace accidents.” and “Worrying solves nothing.”
– The two quotes that resonated with me after watching all of these short artist series videos.
Mark Romanek said the first quote when describing his process in the creation of music videos. He obsesses over the details when collecting the material (audio, video, planning each shot), and then when actually putting everything together, the end creation is not meticulously planned, but becomes more of a “journey”. I related to his process because I find myself often doing something similar…planning the details in the beginning, and then playing around with the small pieces almost like a puzzle, discovering where they fit along the way. I think it’s just as important to learn about artists’ processes in creating different works, as it is to learn about the end product and the its design components.
The second quote was from the Stefan Sagmeister video…Worrying REALLY doesn’t solve anything, and I think that it is a great quote that can be applied to all areas of life.
What I liked most about watching these different videos, were the little glimpses I got into these well-known artists’ lives and “natural” work environments. I felt that I got to know each of them a little (their personalities, what drives their designs, what inspires them). Although I can only learn so much in 5-10 minute videos, it’s great to put a face to the design, and it then prompted me to search for these artists online (and in particular, the Pentagram design firm).
Most of the time I look at a work I can only guess what the artist was trying to convey through the design. What I especially enjoyed about the Malcolm Gladwell piece was how the author and designers described the process of illustrating the books – starting with the need to create design that doesn’t “step on the toes of the words”, but instead is something that is able to enhance the story for the reader. It’s amazing to listen to how much careful thought, planning, meetings, and sketches actually went into the process before creating the end product. It gives a little perspective to my own work, and allows me to better understand what I should be paying attention to, what I should be doing, looking at, and thinking about in order to become a better designer myself.
The Pentagram office was inspiring to see…the idea that everyone is a partner of the business, there is no “head guy”, and people work in small teams and have the ability to create designs that they want to see done they way they want to make them. It looks like the kind of place I aspire to work at one day.
I really enjoyed Daniel Libeskind’s take on architecture – that it can’t be a pessimistic undertaking, because architects create to improve the community, and to bring people together. His process of design really stuck with me…to just begin, not knowing where it will lead you, and by doing so you will discover the ideas that are inside your mind.