Stefan Sagmeister by Abbas Jamali

Stefan Sagmeister is an Austrian born graphic designer based in New York. After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1990 he lived in Vienna and Hong Kong before returning to New York City where he eventually established his own company Sagmeister Inc.

Sagmeister Inc’s first project – Its own business card

Sagmeister opened his company with hopes of designing music graphics (but only for music he liked), a goal which proved to be challenging at first as no record label seemed to be interested in his work. So in 1994 when he was presented with the opportunity to design the album cover for his friend, H. P. Zinke’s album Mountains of Madness he immediately seized the opportunity. The cover he designed for Zinke would exemplify some of the philosophies/strategies that have dominated his entire body of work throughout his career. Viewing the challenge of grabbing audience’s attention in a short timeframe as one of the most important obstacles graphic designers face in communicating their message, he employed elements of surprise, humor (which he sees as a variation of surprise), and most importantly, integration (some sort of interaction that would force the viewer into interacting with the piece) to capture the audience. [i] While designing the cover, he saw a schoolgirl on the subway reading a textbook through a red plastic filter, so he decided to place his CD cover inside a red-tinted plastic case. The complete packaging shows a close-up of a placid man’s face, but once the CD cover is slipped out from the red plastic, the man’s face appears furious in shades of white, red and green.[ii]

The album cover for H. P. Zinke’s “Mountains of Madness” which earned Sagmeister his first Grammy.

“…I think that, [these strategies] are all pretty logical; I mean you’d have to be pretty much an idiot as to not employ them since they clearly work and they clearly work in a short period of time.”[iii]

“Being Not Truthful” – Interactive installation by Stefan Sagmeister and Ralph Ammer

The album cover for Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylone

Sagmeister’s latest book, “Things I’ve Learned In My Life So Far”

Another concept that has heavily influenced Sagmeister’s work over the years is his belief that a piece of design should reflect the process. He deeply believes that when a final work has the ability to work as a narrative and “tell” the story of its production it will be enabled to connect with the audience on a deeper level. This is embodied in his 1990 poster for an AIGA lecture in Detroit that gained him notoriety. He explains: “At the time I looked at the other posters and sort of felt that they all say what a colorful and happy profession we’re in and I knew that I didn’t want to do that…”[iv]

1999 Poster for AIGA Detroit

And so to reflect the “fear and anxiety” that he viewed as a big part of graphic design profession, he asked an intern cut all the type on his skin. The photograph was taken with a large 8”x10” camera to make it clear to viewers that the poster is not retouched.[v]

2003 poster for Adobe Design Achievement Awards which was created using coffee in paper cups

A poster advertising design exhibitions in Osaka and Tokyo for which Sagmeister gained 23 pounds in one week by eating everything in the bottom picture.

More recently Sagmeister has been in the spotlight for creating what he calls generative, “chameleon-like”, identities for Seed Media Group, a science media company, and OMA’s Casa da Musica in Porto, Portugal.

Seed Media Group’s logo on employee business cards

Because of the diverse range of scientific subjects that Seed deals with, a phyllotaxis was chosen as the formal base for the identity, “it’s a form that is found everywhere from Seashells to Greek architecture” he explains.[vi] But the logo has the ability to take the form of the image it’s placed upon, and regenerate itself. (e.g. a flower for a botanical documentary or an employees portrait on their business card)

Further variations of Seed Media Group’s logo exhibiting its versatility

Similarly, a generator was created for Casa da Musica to “freshen up” the logo for each event. The unique architecture of the building that makes it identifiable allowed for more flexibility; the generator uses a 17 point “color-picking-mechanism” and randomly assigns them to the 17 facets identified on the building to create six logos from various angles. [vii]

The 17 point color selecting system used to generate logos for Casa da Musica

A customized software was created for the client for utilizing the identity.

Logo generating software designed for Casa da Musica

To further enhance the flexibility of the identity, the logo can be used in an infinite number of freeing ways.[viii]

Posters advertising various events at Cada da Musica

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[i] Designing Minds: Stefan Sagmeister. Directed by MagnetMediaFilms. Produced by Zio. 2008.

[ii] http://designmuseum.org/design/stefan-sagmeister

[iii] Designing Minds: Stefan Sagmeister. Directed by MagnetMediaFilms. Produced by Zio. 2008.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] http://www.sagmeister.com/work5.html

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] http://www.core.form-ula.com/2007/12/01/casa-da-musica-in-portugal-porto-by-rem-koolhaas/

[viii]] Ibid.

Bibliography

Curtis, Hillman. hillmancurtis :: film and video :: Artist Series: Sagmeister 05 :: 347 756 5049. 2005. http://www.hillmancurtis.com/index.php?/film/watch/sagmeister_05/ (accessed 2010 йил 9-May).

Design Museum. Stefan Sagmeister / Design Museum Collection : – Design/Designer Information. http://designmuseum.org/design/stefan-sagmeister (accessed 2010 йил 8-May).

Designboom. Stefan Sagmeister. 2006 йил 23-05. http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/sagmeister.html (accessed 2010 йил 7-May).

Designing Minds: Stefan Sagmeister. Directed by MagnetMediaFilms. Produced by Zio. Performed by Designing Minds. 2008.

Helvetica. Directed by Gary Hustwit. 2007.

Sagmeister, Stefan. Stefan Sagmeister on what he has learned | Video on TED.com. 2008 йил September. http://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_on_what_he_has_learned.html (accessed 2010 йил 05-May).

—. Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design | Video on TED.com. 2007 йил April. http://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_shares_happy_design.html (accessed 2010 йил 05-May).

—. Stefan Sagmeister: The power of time off | Video on TED.com. 2009 йил October. http://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_time_off.html (accessed 2010 йил 05-May).

TED. Stefan Sagmeister | Profile on TED.com. http://www.ted.com/speakers/stefan_sagmeister.html (accessed 2010 йил 3-May).

Michael Amzalag & Mathis Augustyniak – M/M (Paris) by Christophe Bollore

« An image never interests us as such. Its relevance lies in the fact that it contains the sum of preceding dialogues, stories, experiences with various interlocutors, and the fact that it induces a questioning of these preexisting values. This it what makes for us a pertinent image. A good image should be in between two others, a previous one and another to come.»

Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak

Through their work in art, fashion and media as Graphic Designers and Art Directors, French duo M/M, has become one of the most creative powerhouses of the contemporary Paris scene.

Michael Amzalag and Mathis Augustyniak first met on the benches of Parisian art school, the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. Upon graduation in 1992 they founded M/M and have worked together ever since, applying their talents as graphic designers and art directors through many medium ranging from fashion to contemporary art but also encompassing music, publishing and even interior design. They are known for their longstanding collaboration with fashion designers Yohji Yamamoto and Martine Sitbon, and photographers Craig McDean, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, but have since added Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, APC and Calvin Klein to their client’s list.

The M/M first started out working with the music industry in the early 90s. Indeed, thanks to Michael Amzalag who curate French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles from 1989-1990, they were able to get in touch with emerging French artists for whom they did album covers. This proved so successful that they have continued to this day to create unique sleeves and clips for artists such as Bjork, Madonna, Etienne Daho, Benjamin Biolay.

Intrigued by their work, art director Marc Ascoli casted M/M in the 1993 to work with him on projects for Yohji Yamamoto and Martine Sitbon, for whom they created all the invitations. The visual identity they created for Yamamoto and Sitbon was so successful that it attracted many other clients and that it is how M/M’s fashion adventure started. Today, they are most notably the known for collaborating with Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs, Prada and photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

In an interview they gave to Design Museum, they addressed working within the fashion industry in the following words:

“In fashion everything goes much faster, every six months you have to reinvent yourself. We have to keep a bit above and stay calm. It forces us to do bolder things, knowing that they will be copied and watered down. When we are working for fashion companies, we still try and mix in other projects in different fields. This is very important to our fashion work, which we see as looking at culture through fashion eyes. We always try and link one project to another. We want our work to be considered on a larger scale.”

Nonetheless, their contribution to fashion has recently spread to publication. From 2000 to 2002 they were “creative consultants” to French Vogue, in 2007 they were guest contributors to the A Magazine, they art directed Interview Magazine in 2009, and have been creative directors to the re-launched Purple Fashion magazine since 2006.

This year for example, they have released a special typography for Italian giant Prada, called the ‘Pradalphabet.’ Made of 26 ornament initials, it will be released as a collector’s edition of t-shirts displaying the letters P-R-A-D-A / M, or as a made-to-order service for customized t-shirts. They had previously created a special typography ‘The Alphamen’ in 2001 for the first issue VMan Magazine, which was photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

In addition, Amzalag and Augustyniak have also been involved in the contemporary art scene of this past decade, often creating posters with other artists, curating exhibits or even showing their own work. They were involved in the creation in 2002 of the Palais de Tokyo, creating a typeface called Tokyo Palace and have often designed the posters for the museum’s exhibits. In 2005, the Centre George Pompidou in Paris organized the show ‘Vision Tenace’ where the M/M showed 32 posters they had created since 1999 with various French and international contemporary artists such as, Carsten Höller, Pierre Huyghe, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Philippe Parreno, Melvil Poupaud, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Sarah Morris… They also created a sculpture entitled Tree of Signs in Urriðaholt, Iceland which was conceived with artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir.

The work of M/M is rich by its diversity and all the challenges they have been taking up over the past 20 years of their collaboration, always applying their vision and signature graphic details to whatever medium they are asked to work with. When asked about why they chose graphic design they replied the following:

“We chose graphic design not just for the sake of being graphic designers. It was some kind of social commitment, a way to earn a living and also to disseminate our ideas. The activities related to graphic design are very suitable for us. We enjoy the thinking process, but we prefer that it be related to form and that ideas have tangible results. Also, we don’t create things out of the blue; we want to form a relationship with someone. But, as such, graphic design doesn’t excite us more than any other media, than film or books for example.”

This is exactly what makes the duo successful, they don’t create new graphics for the sake of it, but for the purpose of creating a dialogue between past, present, and future for their audience, hence creating each time a unique and complex universe filled with signs, organic symbols and bizarre characters to be deciphered. And that is why we love the M/M.

BIBLIIOGRAPHY

The Design Museum – http://designmuseum.org/design/m-m

Times Magazine – http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/michael-amzalag/

Wikipedia – http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/M/M

Centre George Pompidou – http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Manifs.nsf/AllExpositions/7F33BFC7ED49630EC125739A003B46B0?OpenDocument

Jonathan Barnbrook by Milutin Savic

“Jonathan Barnbrook is a craftsman with a conscience: passionately committed to making a difference in the world and to making work of extraordinary beauty.” – Michael Bierut

Jonathan Barnbrook is a British Graphic Designer and Typographer. Barnbrook was born in Luton, Bedfordshire in 1966, Barnbrook attended both Central St Martin’s and the Royal College of Art in London. Since graduating in graphic design from Central St Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art, Barnbrook has developed a number of versatile disciplines, which includes graphic design, industrial design, typeface design, film and motion graphics. He has worked with clients from Damien Hirst to the anti-corporate collective Adbusters.

Barnbrook produces copyright-free artwork that mainly highlights the political and social injustices’ of the modern world. He is unafraid to express his political viewpoint whether negative or positive, Barnbrook mentions ‘an inner anger which is a response to all the unfairness that is in this world’ is a major influence in creating his artwork and also states his ambition to use ‘design as a weapon for social change’. Barnbrooks most visible design forms are his typeface designs where he has produced his own social and political view to the world. Producing typefaces that are based on historical forms and titled in a provocative manner. Famous typefaces such as ‘Manson’ named after the American serial killer, ‘Exocet’ named after a French missile and ‘Bastard’ named after an English swear word have gained praises and criticism for his boldness of the relating the words to the letterforms. Barnbrook equally combines originality, wit, political savvy and bitter irony to make strong statements about war, international politics, corporate culture and consumerism. Jonathan Barnbrook also founded his studio in 1990 and Virus Foundry in 1997; Barnbrook Design Studios are based in Soho, London and consists of three designers and a coordinator.

Barnbrooks studio is divided between commercial work for museums, cultural institutions and non-commercial projects. Barnbrooks commercial collaborations endeavors include major corporate identities Roppongi Hills and Mori Art Museum. Barnbrook’s Design in the United Kingdom have become very well known due to collaborating with influential figures in the British art world, such as the Saatchi Gallery and he designed Damien Hirst’s book “I Want To Spend The Rest of My Life, Everywhere with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now.” Barnbrook also designed the cover artwork of David Bowie’s 2002 album ‘Heathen’ which featured the debut of his typeface ‘Priori’.

Barnbrook also collaborated in ‘First Things First 2000 Manifesto’, where graphic designers, aware of their power and influence that the message that they create can have a great impact in the mass media influenced world.

Designers, stay away from corporations that want you to lie for them;

on billboard, Las Vegas. (c) Jonathan Barnbrook, 1991

Barnbrooks non-commercial collaborations include producing artwork and art directing with ‘Adbusters’ the leading activist magazine. Barnbrook’s studio concentrates and puts great emphasize into developing and producing artwork which puts forth political and social injustices, which are offered for free and with no copyright restrictions.

Barnbrook’s collaboration with influential figures in the international art scene both commercially and non-commercially, such as the Saatchi Gallery, Damien Hirst and Adbusters, has helped him win several awards, two D&AD Awards, the Epica Grand Prix, The Tokyo Type Director’s Club Gold Prize, and the Art Director’s Club of New York Best of Show Award.His most celebrated and highly rated collaboration is his art directing in the leading activist magazine, Adbusters.

Bibliography

1. “Jonathan Barnbrook.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Barnbrook>

2.”Barnbrook.” Barnbrook Design. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://www.barnbrook.net/archive>

3. “Barnbrook.” Barnbrook. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://www.barnbrook.net/>

4. “Jonathan Barnbrook” Design Museum. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://designmuseum.org/design/jonathan-barnbrook>

5. “Jonathan Barnbrook” Identifont. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://www.identifont.com/show?1HU>

Johnathan Ive by Alex Wilson

Jonathan Ive was born in Chingford, London. He went on to study graphic design at Nothumbria University. After a short time working in London he went to the US to work at Apple Inc. One of his first collaborations with Steve Jobs was the eMate 300. This was a period called translucency where the computers started to loose the dark and mucky colors that the previous computers had and started to get a clear and transparent shell. The colors of these computers were fruity and there were 5 fruit colors after the original “bondi blue” color blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime, and strawberry. These colors also transferred to the ibook. Ive’s team designed the original iMac, which seemed to resemble a gumball shape. He then went through a period of minimalism where all of his designs became very clear and straight with aluminum. The minimalist designs started with the iBook G3, which has some of the same similar translucent surfaces like the iMac but featured a white glossy finish, the iBook G3 was nicknamed “clamshell” for its appearance. The first minimalist design was debuted with the power book G4.  This line was the first that did away with all of the bold lines in other computers and came with the smooth and minimal lines that the Mac still has today. The iPod has a very clear white front and was his most popular creation. The iPod is now a very big symbol of Apple and was the influence for many other apple projects to come. He then designed the Macbook pro line, which was very popular and was designed simple and clean. He then went through the aluminum phase where he developed the concept of the unibody, which was first, used on the Macbook Air then on the macbook pro lines. The unibody was invented to create a smoother surface on apples computers. It allowed the computers to have smoother edges. The iphone and ipod touch were also his designs, he designed the electronics to be simple so focus could be given on the content of the material instead of the actual hardware of the product. The ipad now exhibits the same features of his previous designs. Jonathan Ives designs are a benchmark in designs for electronics and design.

Bibliography:

1. “Jonathan Ive.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive>.
2. Press Info – Bios – Jonathan Ive.” Apple. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/ive.html>.

Jonathan Ive / 25/25 – Celebrating 25 Years of Design: – Design/Designer Information.” Design Museum London. Web. 5 May 2010. <http://designmuseum.org

Zaha Hadid by Alexandra El Khoury

Zaha Hadid was born in Baghdad in 1950. She studied math at the American University of Beirut and continued on to complete her studies in Architecture at the Architectural Association School in London. She is now an architectural designer whose versatility ranges from products, to interiors, to architecture, and urban planning.

Her work has been very influenced by Russian Constructivism and Kazimir Malevich. While designing she tries to think about the relationship between the part and whole and seeing her work as fitting into the greater whole.

Zaha Hadid has an office in London but says that she works anywhere, that she is not tied down to a desk to realize her ideas. She does not use the computer while brainstorming and instead does series of many sketches to begin with as part of a projects research process. Her sketches have a calligraphic style to them allowing her lines more freedom of movement. Even for presenting developed ideas, Zaha prefers to represent her works in painting. She uses her paintings to demonstrate forces, patterns, and rhythms existing in the site and intertwining them with her work.

While developing her ideas she likes to explore all of the potential design options for a space. If it is an apartment, for example, she says she will spend days and go through hundreds of sketches to understand the range of the space trying to explore every possibility. She says that this helps her to define the way the space will later be organized. She studied math in school and mathematical elements such as fractals play a large part in her work. Zaha sees the organization of an apartment as a code that when enlarged equals the code for a building, which equals the code for a city on a larger scale and so on.

Zaha is very interested in thinking about a space in terms of carving and erosion. She prefers is cast and mould models instead of the piece by piece construction technique. She thinks in terms of sculpting and carving out space in an attempt to achieve fluidity and movement. This technique also allows for greater light to enter a space. While designing, she is also concerned with a reactionary type of effect; how one object or building in the middle of a space or landscape can morph the space around it and so on outwards. This way of thought is the reason for the strength of fluidity and motion in her projects.

She prefers to use concrete in innovative ways for her building projects and often works in fiberglass or plastic for furniture and interiors. She is very interested in re-defining the codes of use set for furniture and space in our society. As a result, when she is designing she strives to create works that are multifunctional; that fit into our current society but have potential to be used in new ways.

Zaha has described the evolution of her work and design process to have begun with a focus on drawing, abstraction and fragmentation. This later turned into larger emphasis on the development of new ideas which brought her to a place where she is mostly concerned about fluidity and organization in her designs.

Department of Architecture

Departmental Papers (Architecture)

University of Pennsylvania Year 2006

The Modernity of Zaha Hadid

University of Pennsylvania, mertins@design.upenn.edu

Zaha Hadid: Reading Her Biography Through Her Metaphors In Design, September 20, 2006; Zaha Hadid: Reading Her Biography Through Her Metaphors in Design by Christine Wonoseputro; http://transmaterialasia.wordpress.com/2006/09/20/zaha-hadid-reading-her-biography-through-her-metaphors-in-design

http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/hadid.html

Matali Crasset by Djinane Alsuwayeh

Born in 1965, Matali Crasset is a French industrial designer, who also works on interior architecture, micro architecture, and graphic design (3). Her main goal is to make people question the way they live their daily lives (1). According to Matali, “A designer can be ‘multiple’, and this is inevitably reflected in his or her projects. Before, there were boxes in which we were neatly arranged. Today, we fit in all the boxes… In the past, people were specialized in one subject, today we want to be present in a whole range of sectors.” (2) She doesn’t work on the object equals function but rather the object that can resolve a life’s scenario (4).

Matali first started her career in Milan in 1991, with an Italian designer Denis Santachiar (2) right after graduating from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creation Industrielle in Paris. When she got back to Paris, she then worked with Philippe Starck for five years before opening her studio in Paris called “Matali Crasset Productions.” During the period from which she began her career and the opening of her studio, Matali established a strong approach to her design (2).

Without a formal approach Matali Crasset defines a purpose to everything she does- “There must be a purpose; if there isn’t a purpose or something interesting to bring into every day life, I won’t work on it”. She first goes for an intention; proposing hospitality, order, generosity, and the idea of sharing, which can be integrated in an interior or even the community. She then takes the scenario and reconfigures it for people to start using their surroundings differently. Matali wants to attract curious people that have already realized that they could live differently.

One of her oldest and still most famous pieces- “When Jim Came to Paris” is a combination of a mattress with a night-light and an alarm clock. It rolls up into a clean simple vertical column, and can be stored easily. Her scenario is of an unexpected guest that arrives in an apartment with no guest bedroom to accommodate him. She reconfigures this live scene with this object that is multi functional, saves space, and is hospitable, mobile and modular.

Her method is not one of inventing new form, nor is it to decorate (4). Matali is interested in the search of new typologies that deal with the fundamental needs of daily life as well as the extra ordinary, the mobility, and the freedom. She pays special attention to the object itself (5), and its functions in order to enable people to use them and their spaces as they please. It is about the objects “plateforme” in which everyone can use his or her imagination to use it in different ways having the option to “finish” the object in their own way (5).

Matali has a ludic attitude, which allows her to experiment with the world that surrounds her. She’s extremely observant, how she feels in a space and how people interact more natural which she then translates this feeling into her spaces and objects. Her goal as a designer is to fill each project with this sense of generosity and sharing (5).

Some of Matali’s works are exhibited in contemporary art museums around the world (3). She holds a unique personality, being one of the most creative and active French designers today, imposing herself as an industrial designer in a masculine environment. Refusing all standardization, her projects always contain a similar axis of sharing and flexibility.

Bibliography:

(1) “Design Museum”. 8th of May 2010 <http://designmuseum.org/design/matali-crasset>.

(2) Pante, Derek. “Matali Crasset”. 8th of May 2010 <http://www.sfu.ca/italiadesign/2008/pretrip/Papers/MataliCrasset_DerekPante.pdf>.

(3) “Matali Crasset”. Design Boom. 18th of May 2010 <http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/crasset.html>.

(4) Holl, Patricia. “Matali Crasset”. Letudiant.fr. 18th of May 2010 <http://www.letudiant.fr/metiers/metiers—portraits-de-pros/matali-crasset-designer.html>.

(5) Devaux, Alexandre. “Matali Crasset, Dans Le Vent Du Design”. 8th of May 2010 <http://www.artnet.fr/magazine/portraits/DEVAUX/crasset.asp>.

Terry Jones by Veronica Maitin

Terry Jones is the founder and creative director of i-D magazine. Since 1977 his Instant Design studio has produced catalogues, campaigns, exhibitions and books; including, Smile i-D[1], Fashion Now 1[2], Fashion Now 2[3] and Soul i-D[4].

Jones is recognized as one of the most important creative directors of his generation. He studied Graphics at the England College of Art in Bristol, his first job was as Ivan Dodd’s assistant, which then lead him to what is now his main field — the publication world. He started as an art director for Vanity Fair and Vogue UK, then becoming an art consultant for various international publications. After leaving Vogue, he developed a design style that had a handmade quality to it. His designs came together through graphic devices such as, handwriting, stencils, typewriters, collage layouts and hand-drawn sketches; creating the illusion of what he refers to as “instant design”. “I wanted the physical side of design where it was made with a sense of urgency and the idea that it was made just before you picked it up and read it…Conceptually I wanted it to reflect that moment in time. And by using hand skills, we could do that.” [5]

In 1980 he launched i-D, a magazine in which graphic style and focus matter has had a huge influence in magazine and advertising design. The magazine started out as a rough home produced booklet that was clamped together, it portrayed the British subculture and took inspiration from the street style of the time. The first issue of i-D sold no more than 50 copies; mainly because of to the way it was presented. Jones then began the process, with the help of Tony Elliot (Time Out publisher), of turning i-D into a more commercial newsstand product. Subsequently, he spent several years focused on the advertising and art direction to bring the magazine’s original visionary concept of innovation and style, to an instant design-led monthly base for fashion.

“The idea was to break down the pigeon-holing of identity and fashion; to go beyond the façade of fashion so you could play it as a game. So you could have more fun with the codes of fashion,”[6] explains Terry Jones about the concept of taking “on the spot” photographs of people on the street, clubs and bars. Where the street style concept was raw on the shot, with the idea that anybody could wear anything with attitude. While the magazine came along way from being stapled, it maintained its theme of creativity and self-expression, rather than focusing on more commercial aspects like money; which is why he refuses to print the prices next to the garments shown in i-D.

In an interview for AIGA with Steven Heller, Terry Jones explains his innovative design concepts and principles. “I responded to structured design by attempting to deconstruct. I was more inspired by Dada, Russian Constructivism and Pop Art than a rigid, geomantic structure. I followed a gut instinct that still had behind it a rationale based on Gestalt design. I applied the grids in a more dynamic and anarchic system. By applying the ideas of controlled chaos I used a different set of rules. Chaos follows a cyclical pattern, so my design ideas continue to work in the same way that a circle works as in the chaos theory.”[7]

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[1] http://www.schaden.com/book/JonTerSmi01060.html

[2] http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/fashion/reading_room/16.fashion_now.1.htm

[3] http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/fashion/all/05411/facts.fashion_now_2.htm

[4] http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/popculture/all/04432/facts.soul_i_d.htm

[5] The Independent. “i-D magazine: Identity parade.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/id-magazine-identity-parade-510928.html

[6] The Independent. “i-D magazine: Identity parade.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/id-magazine-identity-parade-510928.html

[7] Steven Heller, “Defining Style, Making i-D: An Interview with Terry Jones.” AIGA. http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/defining-style-making-i-d

Marc Newson by Nia Beazer

Marc Newson Product + Furniture Designer (1963-)

Marc Newson, one of the most accomplished and influential designers of his generation, was born in Sydney, Australia in 1963. Having spent his childhood travelling in Europe and Asia, he studied jewellery and sculpture at Sydney College of the Arts. The career of Marc Newson has been remarkably successful. He has had studios based in in Sydney, Tokyo, Paris and, more recently, London, designing over 200 objects from furniture and interiors to watches and homewares; from a bicycle to a car and even a private jet. Marc Newson is known for his experimental and innovative approach to design, and today he is known as one of the world’s most progressive, versatile and high-profile designers.

Lockheed Lounge, 1986

Embryo Chair - The first Newson chair to go into production, through the Japanese company Idee in 1988

Through his furniture, particularly the Lockhead Lounge of 1986, Newson began to build a name for himself. This accelerated when he moved to Tokyo, where he was working, developing prototype furniture and designing resturaunt interiors, for Japanese design entrepreneur Teruo Kurosaki. In the mid-1990s, Newson began experimenting with CAD software, which brought his career to a new level. He then began to take on commercial projects, like designing mass-produced products for Alessi and Magis. These projects made him a superstar in the design world, leading to work on cars with Ford and airplane interiors for Quantas. Meanwhile, he also juggled jobs for Nike and The Gap. In 1997 Newson moved to London, where he and partner Benjamin De Haan set up Marc Newson ltd. As a larger studio they were capable of tackling more ambitious industrial projects.

021C concept car, 1999-2000

Marc Newson incorporates the use of organic shapes into his various designs. His typical style calls for smooth flowing lines, translucency and transparency, tending to have an absence of sharp edges. Some of his furniture is positively squat. He smothered his designs in color back when most designers avoided anything that was not white or stainless steel, which isolated his designs further for attention. His design process is heavily influenced by both the type of environment he is in and the kind of product the company wants of him. When working on a new project for either private or corporate clients, Newson has a fixed design team which he works with. This team consist of; Marc himself as the head designer; two or three design assistants; an architect and, on occasion, some freelancers will be hired to consult on the project. Also in the studio are several administrative staff, a PR person, and many interns. Although Newson has a fairly large team working under him, in general he works the best when he is on his own, isolated in a perfectly silent design environment and, most importantly, with no form of stressful situations in the proximity. When being interviewed by Hazal Gumus and Koray Ozsoy of Designophy, in November 2009, Marc stated: “I don’t design in my office ever. I answer the telephone, I read emails. I work. I develop designs, I engineer designs on a computer, but that’s not where the ideas are born.”[1]

Falcon 900B long range jet, 1999

Sports footwear for Nike 2004

For Marc Newson, as a designer, it is vitally important that he create objects that people can form a bond with. Objects that we love to have around and yet could not really explain why; objects that we would keep and guard for the rest of our lives. He maintained the following during an interview in 2009: “I like the idea of high quality products that you never want to replace or need to replace. Objects that will be repaired and continue to work and be current and classic. An object like that is a successful design.”[2] The work of Marc Newson has fetched amongst some of the highest prices in auctions, his work has also infiltrated the ‘ultra-hip’ world of pop culture, appearing in Madonna’s videos, the “Austin Powers” film and many other movie sets. Many of Newson’s unique creations are now held in well known Museums such as; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Vitra Design Museum in Weilam Rhein, the Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Design Museum, London, and the Powerhouse, Sydney.

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[1] Designophy.com “Marc Newson (Designophy – Interview, www.designophy.com)”; available from http://www.designophy.com/interview/design-article-1000000019-marc-newson.htm; accessed 08 May 2010

[2] Ibid.

Bibliography

 http://designmuseum.org/design/marc-newson

http://www.gagosian.com/artists/marc-newson/

http://www.ikepod.com/

http://www.designboom.com/portrait/newson/newson_biography.html

http://www.kettererkunst.com/bio/marc-newson-1962.shtml

http://metroartwork.com/Marc-Newson-biography-artwork-m-142.html

Karim Rashid by Pavlina Penlidi

Background History

One of the most prolific industrial designers of the 21^st century, born in Cairo, 1960 with a bachelor from Carelton University in 1982 and then completed his studies in Italy where he got inspired for his future work. His product line ranges from everyday products, to installations, fashion, art and music. Having designed a lot of interiors for hotels, restaurants and houses including the “Semiramis hotel”, in Athens and the “Morimoto restaurant” in Philadelphia[1] he has achieved to create a very characteristic profile as a designer. His work is featured in more than 20 art galleries around the globe and he has received several awards for his designs like the ubiquitous Garbo waste can and the Oh Chair for Umbra, also from the I.D magazine and Good Design award, to name a few. As a result, he is now recognized as a versatile and very passionate designer whose work touches every aspect of our physical landscape.

Working process

Karim R ashid has expanded his work to a countless mass produced items as mentioned previously. He is an industrial designer who works with the culture of the company and then  produces his work by creating functional ideas in recyclable and modern materials. Currently he is particularly engaged with laminate (plastic), which is an extremely durable and sustainable material that is high performing, democratic and can be used in various different ways as they are seen in his work. Due to technology, plastic has enabled him to create more interesting and extreme decorations. One of the basic examples of his work with this material is “The Digitalia Collection” that has been designed by Karim Rashid for Abet Laminati[2]. It is a new collection of 28 digitally printed decorations of high-pressure laminate. It is a very inviting and comfortable space made from ceramic, plastic and glass. Another really important aspect of Karim’s work is the way he uses color.

The various colors he has used in different combinations together with the engagement of technology in his work, is probably what characterizes his work. He loves colour, “Colour for the eye, is what taste is for the mouth” [3]as he said in one of his  interviews and he believes that we should celebrate color since it is an amazing quality we have as human beings.

Another project he was en gaged with rec e ntly is, the sustainable housing concept, which he designed in collaboration with Dupont Corian and they presented it in Milan design week 2010. It is a home that is decorated with organic shapes and undulating walls. Karim used recycled materials and also he didn’t miss to p ut colors in all of his designs. The space around you is not just about to create furniture with high end design, he believes as it is evident also from his latest project that it is more about the whole physical experience that make your living easier. This is done by having for example automated things in the house that make your, to have no sharp corners anywhere or  a house that hinders and creates obstacles.

Methods and Goals

“I have about 40 projects going, so I manage to get to each project every other day. The projects cross over so much. One minute we’re working on a lamp, and suddenly I realize the concept is perfect for the hallways of a hotel in Germany”[4]. As it is evident from his work, Karim Rashid is identified as a high-profile industrial designer who has gained a very esteemed reputation for communicating a contemporary view of the world through its unique designs. He is trying to make design a big part of the social discourse in peoples’ lives and through his works and  he successfully managed to spread this message to all of his clients so far. He believes that design is a “full time profession” however he doesn’t need inspiration from other designers because when you create something new you don’t follow trends. Finally, he uses organic and sensual lines in his work and he works on his sketchbook on a daily basis.

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[1] “Semiramis Hotel” Athens, available from: http://www.splendia.com/en/hotel/?hotel_id=30677&cpse=google&gclid=CO3lt4bsvqECFRBk4wodmTAQAW accessed 7 April 2010

[2] “The digitalia collection”, available from: http://www.abet.ch/blog/?tag=kasa-digitalia&lang=en accessed 8 April 2010

[3] “Interview of Karim Rashid with Icon magazine”, available from: http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?option =com_content&view=article&id=2350:karim-rashid–icon-005–september-2003 accessed 8 April 2010

[4] “A Revealing Look at Karim Rashid’s Design Process”, available from: http://www.residentiallighting.com/A-Revealing-Look-at-Karim-Rashid%E2%80%99s-Design-Process-article10832 accessed 7 April 2010

April Greiman by Charlie Clark

Born in 1948, April Greiman is a contemporary designer. She is a pioneer in the use of computer technology as a design tool and one of the proponents of the New Wave aesthetic in the United States.

Greiman began her career as a designer in New York City in the mid 1970’s. However, she soon decided to leave the then heavily European influenced design community of New York to move to Los Angeles, where there was no entrenched artistic aesthetic. When the Macintosh computer made an entry into the design market in 1984, most designers were opposed to the idea of using it as a tool for design. April Greiman was not so skeptical, and she quickly established herself as a visionary pioneer of digital communications design.

Greiman was introduced to the principles of Modernism at Kansas City Art Institute, and later the International (or Swiss) style at the Basel School of Design. While at the BSD she was taught by Wolgang Weingart, who was at the time experimenting in developing a new design aesthetic that was less reflective of the modernist heritage and more representative of a post-industrial society. This aesthetic, which is now called the New Wave, was an eclectic departure from the grid based design structure so deeply rooted in the International Style. New Wave typography made use of wide letter spacing, changing type weights and unusual angles. In her work, Greiman followed New Wave ideology by continuing to explore typographic mean and experimenting with ways to alter the two dimensional space of a page.

In 1892, she was invited by CalArts to direct its graphic design program. There, she began exploring design education and also gained access to state of the art video and digitizing equipment. She began using video and analogue computers to combine different elements through the new media. She was aware of the rapid changes that were occurring in the field of graphic design and in 1984, she was able to convince the university to change the name of the department from “graphic design” to “visual communications.”

Also in 1984, Greiman completed a poster titled “Iris Light” that was extremely innovative in its use of a still frame of video imagery and its integration of New Wave typography with more formal design elements. In 1986, Greiman undertook a major assault upon the design community’s preconceptions. After being commissioned to design the 133 issue of Design Quarterly,   Greiman saw an opportunity to defy the design community and to question the work and the medium. Design Quarterly #133 challenged existing notions of what a magazine should be; instead of the standard 32 page format, she redesigned the piece as a poster that folded out to almost 3 by 6 feet. On one side, a life-size digitized image of Greiman’s naked body amid layers of interacting images and text. On the other, atmospheric video images are dashed with notations on the digital process. Entitled “does it Make Sense?” the piece questioned the objective, rational and masculine tendencies of modernist design. Designed with the MacDraw application on Macintosh, the process of integrating digitized video images and bitmapped type was a painstaking process; the size of the files was so large and the equipment so slow that it could take whole days to send the data from the computer to the printer.

After the publication of Design Quarterly #133, many designers felt compelled to rethink the role of the computer in the design practice, and today most designers couldn’t imagine the practice without them.