Designer research project part 3: April Geiman

April Greiman is a trailblazer of graphic design. She boldly entered a field that was predominantly male and worked with the Mac and other revolutionary technology. Greiman was born in 1948 in New York City, but opted to move to LA after school. She earned her BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute and was a graduate student in Switzerland. She currently is the owner and principal for the design company Made In Space, Inc.

According to AIGA, Greiman was the director of the graphic arts program at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) in 1982. She initiated changing the name of the program from "graphic arts" to "visual communication", since she felt that graphic arts was "too limiting." This change showed Greiman's insight into the ever-changing design field. Upon reading this, I was reminded that OSU's department is named Visual Communication as well.

Greiman is a huge proponent of Mac use in design. She is only interested in hiring designers who collaborate, rather than work as "lone geniuses."

She claims to be "all for true meaning, where it can be excavated or found." I feel that this motto is relevant for designers who want to create meaningful works, rather than simply advertisements aimed to sell something, or work that is just meant to "look pretty."

I am extremely inspired by April Greiman's innovation and trailblazing. She is a fearless leader in design. By instigating the use of Macs and causing design to be seen as a communication technique and a collaborative effort, she has revolutionized the world of design.

Sources: Women of Design by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit, 2008, published by F+W Publishing, print.

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-aprilgreiman

mural by April Greiman

http://www.publicartinla.com/LA_murals/Hollywood/greiman_vermont.jpg

Stamp commemorating the 19th amendment by April Greiman

http://elizabethk.com/class4/stamp1.jpg

Does it Make Sense? by April Greiman 

http://idsgn.org/images/design-discussions-april-greiman-on-technology/design_quarterly__full.jpg

Designer Research Project part two: Moira Cullen

Coca-cola is a brand that we see everyday on vending machines, in supermarkets, on commercials, and on semi-trucks rolling down the highway. The mind behind this famous logo is Coca-cola's design director of North America, Moira Cullen. Cullen describes her design education as "never-ending". Prior to designing Coke, Cullen worked as head of the corporate design group at Hallmark. She recently began to work as the senior director of the Hershey Company as well. Moira Cullen says, "Ultimately, design-in its many incarnations-is my way of connecting with the world." Cullen values design as a form of communication, and Coke's omnipresence in the advertising world makes her extremely connected.
Sources: Women of Design by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit, 2008, F+W Publications, Inc., print. and:http://www.brandpackaging.com/Articles/Feature_Articles/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000604581

http://www.thedieline.com/storage/post-images/02_01_11_TD23.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1296603243745

http://www.brandpackaging.com/Articles/Feature_Articles/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000604581

Designer research project part one: Edith Head

When I started brainstorming ideas for this project, I was in the fine arts library after our tour and just picked up a random book about designers and flipped it open. It opened straight to Edith Head, a popular costume designer for movies. Later that week, I came across a book titled Women of Design that had short biographies, pictures, and interviews with women in design professions. After that, I knew I was going to choose three women designers to research. I chose Edith Head and Moira Cullen for my short research, and April Greiman for my more in depth research.

When I watch a movie, I'm always fascinated by the costumes the characters are wearing. The clothes say a lot about the character. Bad costumes are extremely distracting, and great costumes help transport me into the time period of the film (not to mention, they're great Halloween costumes ideas). Edith Head designed costumes for some of my favorite movies, including Roman Holiday (starring Audrey Hepburn) and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. Information from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372128/
  
Edith Head earned her education for the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford. She worked for Paramount pictures starting in 1923, and eventually became the head costume designer for Paramount. She was nominated for about 40 Academy Awards for best costume designer, and won 8. She left Paramount and worked for Universal Studios in 1967 until her death in 1981. Information from: http://www.fandango.com/edithhead/biography/p93857


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpk3AQKAnQjpcBFSM0wNrARw7uX3Y8-nRB5U5t2zX5WIt0ZIwsS6NJlYWzsS_2bZ5-NY1jjpx6iKAqZAVlkdktOZju7Wv6K1ckZm9wVpnFJemttucbPWjjz2urEZItOOjLjuUEUmL9jeMs/s400/audrey_hepburn_sabrina.jpg
This is Edith Head's design for Sabrina.

Edith Head's design for Vertigo.

http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/fashion-history/edith-head-dress-doctor

Edith Head's design for Rear Window.

http://www.colettepatterns.com/blog/fashion-history/edith-head-dress-doctor

RR01

I read the first six chapters of John Heskett's Design: A Very Short Introduction, and was able to pick out some of the main themes we've been discussing in class. The first few chapters were about the history of design and mentioned the "form follows function" (p. 24) and "form follows fiction" (p. 25) ideas. I find these ideas to be particularly interesting since in design it seems that the ideal goal is to have a product/graphic/space that's both beautiful and functional.

Additionally, I noticed that Design as Communication was a recurring theme throughout the text. Pgs. 34-35 discussed how design communicates cultural messages and values and how a design could take on a totally different meaning in a different culture.

Pg. 52 mentioned how the ADA and recycling place constraints on designers and require them to be more creative with meeting the needs of clients and creating designs that are both functional and good for the earth. I also found it interesting that evolving technology is extremely important for designers to keep up on. Pg. 53 describes how technology plays a pivotal role in designing and how many designs have been completely revolutionized due to innovative technology.

The text did a good job of relating design to advertising and marketing. Designers constantly have to be aware of what the public wants and what is the best way to present a product, space, or visual communication to their audience. The goal of many designers is to get the public to "have what they never knew they wanted" (pg. 42). Much of the products and conveniences we have today we never would have missed if we didn't know about them before, but since they are here and available, we feel we can't live without them. That is the mark of a truly great design, in my opinion. A product that is so convenient, beautiful, and functional, that we would feel lost without it.

J03

After browsing through a few of my peers' blogs, I realized we have a lot more in common than I originally thought. It turns out that almost everyone whose blog I read expressed some nervousness about going into Design, whether as a major or minor, and also expressed some uncertainty about what exactly they want to be when they "grow up." I can definitely relate to that. It's good to know I'm not alone with being unsure about my future, considering changing my major multiple times, and wanting to be involved in a career that's both practical and creative.

I enjoyed Payton's patterns blog. I liked how the patterns used were from buildings and places around campus that I see every day, but don't stop and look at very often. It's cool how Payton was able to stick to a theme and turn something that's easily passed over into an interesting blog post. Payton's blog is here: (http://paytondsgn200.blogspot.com/)

I agree with Kylie when she said "I was amazed at how much work and creativity goes into the design of products that I never really thought much about." (http://kkyylliiee.blogspot.com/) That's exactly how I felt on the first day of class when we were discussing the history of design and particularly the different types of chairs. I usually just sit in a chair and don't think about how much work and creativity went into the design of the chair. Product designers are constantly brainstorming on how to make our life more comfortable, yet we rarely realize it unless something isn't working right...then we just get pissed at them for being bad at their jobs.


I'll be looking forward to seeing what everyone else posts on their blogs for the rest of the quarter :)

Found Patterns: Around the House

Found: on my bedspread. I like this because it looks Victorian. I like how the pattern is intricate, yet it only uses two colors.

Found: on a dress in my closet. I like that it's simple, yet pops because of the bright turquoise color.

Found: on a shirt in my drawer. I like that it's black and white. The pattern is seemingly random, yet works together to form a coherent whole.

Found: on a chair in my mom's room. I love that it has flow-y, organic flowers alternating with a symmetrical pattern. Also, it's got a great '70's ish vibe (I have a sneaking suspicion it really is from the '70's, but who knows.)

Found: on my sister's bedspread. Once again, this pattern only uses black and white, yet still remains interesting. I love music, too, so it's just a great overall pattern.

Found: on my sister's pillow. It's wild, and uses neutral colors to form an interesting pattern. It's a man-made version of a pattern found in nature.

Found: on a folder. Black and pink is a sweet color combination, and I like that the pattern moves together to form a large pattern in the middle.

Found: in the coat closet. Houndstooth is classy, interesting, and uses only black and white.

Found: in the coat closet. This plaid pattern is cool because it looks rather vintage. It uses a pop of light blue to balance out the neutral brownish color.

Found: on my sister's dress. I like that it's colorful paint splatters set against a plain white background. I also like that it's random but still forms a pattern (similar to my black and white paint splatter pattern). 

CR01

     Coming into Design 200, I was looking forward to getting an basic overview of the design field. So far, I have gotten what I expected, along with some surprises.

     The first lecture class was a brief history of the design field. We discussed issues surrounding design such as large scale and small scale. Particularly, how designers of the past were mainly concerned with large scale products such as trains, while designers of the present are mainly concerned with "black turtleneck sweaters and glasses" or rather, small scale. The video we watched focused on the large scale vs. small scale issue. It made me think: what are we doing in the present design field that is life-changing? What could we do to better people's lives? We appear to have all the modern conveniences, which is perhaps why design has scaled down. But there are many more large-scale tasks designers could undertake. One was mentioned in the last class regarding medical tools for obese patients. While small scale designs are important, designers can't forget the "big picture" of design.

     The next lecture class discussed "what do designers do?". After reading the title of the lecture, I must admit I was less than thrilled to listen to the lecture. I thought, "well duh, they design stuff". I was ignorant, however, with the sheer amount and variety of products they design. I never would have considered medical tools as the work of a designer, or so many of the common logos and advertisements I see on a daily basis. The video we watched showed a designer in action and describing his works. What particularly struck me about the video was that he had changes he wanted to make to his past designs, such as the UPS logo. I realized then that design is a constantly evolving field and that a design is never exactly "finished". There is always room for improvement and innovation. Design is a field of great creativity, more so than I imagined going into the class. I am interested to learn more about what designers do and particularly, how they do it.