Sean Adams’ Talk

The talk by Sean Adams in WAH 105 last week was my first in-depth introduction to a career in design.

(this is my favourite:) 

Sean Adams is the founder of AdamsMorioka, a design firm in Beverly Hills. He has been designing as long back as in high school, when he used to design posters for school events. He gave up the opportunity to apply to Harvard and instead went to CalArts. After graduating, he dabbled in many heterogeneous projects, experimenting with different styles and genres. It was when he founded AdamsMorioka in the 90s with his college friend that he developed his signature style, which emphasises clarity, purity and resonance. Some of his notable work includes the rebranding of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a design campaign for his friend’s restaurant called Mexico, and a book on the demographics of graphic designers (which was a first of its kind and won many awards). Some of his regular clients include Disney, Nickelodeon, Sundance and USC. He has also served as the President of AIGA. He now also teaches design.

I picked up a lot of good advice from him, like keeping things minimal, the different ways that text that can be used in designing. His mantra of taking on work based on criteria like fun, fortune and fame (there must at least be two of these in each project) in his business decisions was interesting. ‘Fun’ is ultimately the most important, which is visible in his approach to design now, as he has reached a state where he is guided more by self-actualisation. Another thing that stood out in his career decisions was that everything was intensely thought out. It was clear that no matter how much designing you do for personal reasons, you still do need to keep practical strategizing in mind. 

The importance of communication showed through in his talk, in the importance of ‘clicking’ with clients, the rhetoric used to target different audiences, and the interaction among the people working in a firm or on a project. 

After attending the talk, I feel that my design-related goals are a lot clearer, and I have a more realistic perception of what being a designer entails.

PS: I have a really bad audio recording of his talk, if anyone is interested.

Images sourced for educational purposes from: AdamsMorioka 

Lessons from a Line Drawing

As an experimental exercise around a month ago, we did open-ended line drawings (well, the lines had to touch multiple sides of the frame, but you get the idea). There were relatively few requirements other than a limitation to ten lines per drawing. In this I found power in restrictions. Just as the artists of the French Revolution were inspired by the chaos around them, and just as the classical painters got by without Photoshop, so did the intentional simplicity bring out some interesting themes.

What was most interesting for me was not so much the general concept itself, but the individual iterations - we did a handful of sketches with sharply angular lines, and others using traced natural objects. Leaves are certainly not my thing - I don't do organic - but they did wonders in the paintings of others. The point is that in a diverse introductory class like this, you've got a lot of learning styles and thus should encourage experimentation.

Here you can see the finished product, the result of many sketches and some refined drawings:

Having completed a second, similar project, I've had a chance to reflect (more to the point, we got our first assignments back with grades, so I have something to scan and show rather than talk in abstractions). Here are some of the lessons I learned both through and during the project. You can number them in your head - I try to avoid top ten lists.

• As of yet, I have limited representational ability, but simply trying out realistic sketching is quite refreshing. It's a whole new paradigm I never gave myself a chance to explore yet. While this project called for quite the opposite of anything resembling coherent reality, taking liberties outside of class allowed me to develop personally.
• On a related note, there are very many talented artists out there. I was humbled by the quality of some of the results of my classmates. While I felt our group critique was quite critical of my work, I realize now that there are genuine areas where it can be tightened and refined.
• All of this discussion about talent makes me wonder how anyone really gets ahead. Clearly artistic merit, creativity, and networking form a healthy backbone, but there seems to be some inherent randomness at play. 
• As the second project unfolded, I began to discover that refinement in the planning stages really dictates the quality of the finished product. When you commit to inking in something that will use up your energy and your resources, you should have thought it through first. That will make the process not only easier, but also more intrinsically rewarding. With a thorough concept and style in mind, there's real motivation.
• I should really make it clear: worthwhile art takes a long time. A handful of presentable sketches takes a few hours, while the finished product in this case could take six.
• Career planning: I'm not so sure I want to go into a pure design field. It's not necessarily the main work I want to be doing, although I would love to incorporate design into the other things I do. I'm really into web design, and I've made it a goal to apply to these common principles in the work I do.
• Another life lesson: Procrastination and lateness can kill not only the work itself, but also the desire to keep it going. The feeling that you're falling behind puts you in a survival mode, where you wonder how you can get finished rather than how to make the best product. Getting things done the night before not only relieves you and gives you assurance about your work and yourself, but it also opens up opportunities for you to let your work evolve and grow over time. That hour before class where you're rushing could be used to find new and inspiring elements to incorporate into your work. As with most creative processes, inspiration rarely comes directly. Only through comparison and connection (and reverse osmosis, as they say) can you build upon a work that might be mundane but has real potential. (I'm really directing this advice at myself - giving myself more time and space to let out my artistic ideas is something I'm working on).

I've already written quite a bit and communicated my main concerns and triumphs, so I'll start to wrap it up. Looking back a lot of the lessons have relatively little to do with the project directly at hand. Whoops? I would actually say that's part of the beauty - learning how to be a more creative person, even if this field's not my main pursuit. Design, as I had hoped, is becoming a more central part of my life.

-Casey Penk

April Greiman Presentation

The transmedia art presentation from April Greiman was very interesting to me because it blended art and technology into one harmoniously. She began with a short biography of her life. She has a ton of teaching experience particularly in architecture and graphic design. She taught at USC for 20 years and has also taught at the Academy of Art University Graphic Design School. Her emphasis in graphic design revolves around always creating a visual hierarchy of info in space. Her most prestigious bodies of work include creating many branding identities for various companies, engaging in many projects as a colorist particularly a quarter million square foot building in Cerritos, creating video images particularly a 8200 square foot image on the corner of Vermont and Wilshire, and perfecting her fine art photography.

She had a demonstration that was captivating to watch. It included quotes from various artists including Mahatma Ghandi. It illustrated type as a narrative, type as an object and type as architecture. She explained her visual hierarchy through various projects that she had completed. She created a flash intro into a website titled SciArt. I was particularly interested in her explanation of the concept of transmedia: where one thing becomes another. 

My favorite of all her works was her branding identity for a 1400 square foot park in Irvine that used to be a military base. I really enjoyed hearing her thought process and how her final identity evolved. I was very impressed by her ability to expand on the project itself into a more abstract, text form. I really enjoyed her presentation and I was also very inspired by her work.