I'm a young designer, and I don't really want to get too in depth into my personal life but I've spent the last few weeks really critiquing the art world.
My first two posts were sports related and I don't really want to isolate a particular field, I want to have free roam to speak (hopefully non-offensively) about whatever I choose to harbor thoughts.
With that said, I want to dive into something I thoroughly enjoy doing... Graphic Design or Visual Communication. Art is dead. I've spent the last 5 years studying art, though I'm far, innumerable light years, from mastering the craft I've come to realize the fine arts (drawing, painting, sculpting, etc.) are a joke. And graphic design isn't even art half the time.
I walk down isles at the grocery store and I constantly analyze packaging, logos, grid layouts, how well fonts match images. It's a constant thing. My lady friend often sighs when I point out how awful a layout or typeface looks. Learning design is one thing, learning good design is a whole new thing. People make brochures, pamphlets, posters for whatever reason with no idea of what looks good artistically. She and her roommates ask me to critique their attire when they are going out because there are certain things that people like that we can't explain. The Minnesota Vikings color scheme as well as the Denver Broncos color scheme both look outstanding. The colors used are compliments of one another. It's the same reason 'Got Milk?' ads look so great. It uses a lot of contrast. That contrast looks good together. We don't know why, and yes it is purely subjective. This is why we all have a different favorite color. Even if you color is green, what tint (add white), tone (add gray), or shade (add black) is your green. Is it forest green or lime green or baby puke green?
Now dive into another form of media. I love comics. I love the way different artists take over a series and draw the Joker differently in Batman issue 40 than issue 1 and much different in issue 680. I love the way coloring has changed from pure inking to an in depth field of computer generated color schemes. Some pencilers and inkers use real shading, others use cross hatching to shade in areas. Don't believe me? Go find an old issue of Spider-man and look closely at how shitty the illustrations are. No one expected that sort of media to stand the test of time. It was drawn on newsprint for gosh sakes.
Art has expanded from 1400's with true masters of their crafts through many many eras of change, some to evoke emotion, others to use the most minuscule amount of anything imaginable. But nothing holds or attention anymore. We are face paced global market. If I go to Japan, I want to know what a Coke is without having to burst a blood vessel to figure out the squiggle on the red can looks like it's a Coke. That's where good art and design have taken precedence.
Do you know what the logo for Burger King is?? I drive past one everyday and I have no idea. I know what the logo for Duff beer is on 'The Simpsons'. I'm pretty sure Burger King changed their logo a little while back but I only remember the two buns squishing the words "burger" and "king" into one another. People want simple stuff. I don't have to have to read 4000 pages to understand where I'm getting my next Whopper.
Likewise, when was the last time you looked at the lay out of a news paper or a magazine. Ever notice that all the good articles are spread out between pages of crap? It's to make you the consumer sift through it all so that you'll stop on the ad for cologne or perfume. Even within the page, things are broken up into headings, sub headings, and text. This layout is so good, Microsoft Word has all its resume templates in the same fashion; it's all relative. It makes things simple, easy for the consumer, but it also looks GOOOOOOD.
In addition, have you ever purchased an item simply because the packaging looked good? Don't lie, somewhere there's some shitty movie or God-awful video game in your collection that had an awesome cover to it. Or that bottle of wine or beer, or that box of candy that no one has ever touched because it looked so awesome that you wanted to preserve it.
Art is dead, make no mistake. Design is a misunderstood art form. This is why when your company advertises with those big black blocks with fluorescent letters no one EVER stops in to give you business. It looks bad, it's poorly thought out, yea it's cheaper and that's what driving people to stop at the guy's place 2 building's down who's product is half what yours is, but his marketing is twice as good. I'm by no means saying to redesign the world, the economy is far too bad for that, but I am saying to keep your eyes open. We can change the way design is done and weed out the crappy ones.
Design is delicate, it's fun. It makes your world livable. You don't have to open 80 cans in your fridge to find a Coke because someone took the time to design a can and have an image printed on it. Now you aren't drinking beer with breakfast or popping Tab at a party because some lovely people decided to distinguish these items. So next time you open your eyes in the grocery store take an extra second to notice the little things that make your world, and mine, function-able.
