14 NOVEMBER, 2011
Play at RE:DESIGN / Creative Directors, 11.07.2011 (part 2)
“There is ecstasy in paying attention.” —Anne Lamott
Some of the interrelated themes we explored at the RE:DESIGN / Creative Directors conference earlier this month were notions of detail, craft, and tempo. In both our studio practice as well as in our classes at California College of the Arts, we strive to create and foster work that is the result of disciplined focus. Angie’s class, in particular, stresses attention to typographic detail.
In the act of reading, all of us are accustomed to seeing letters (and words) as discrete units of meaning; as a result, we are unaccustomed to paying attention to the nuanced details of individual letterforms. (And for good reason! Paying attention to these details impedes the process of reading.) Angie’s second assignment requires her students to create abstract compositions with the dissected forms and counterforms of letter anatomy. The nature of the assignment leads her students to focus on the very details of letterform design that are typically overlooked. These small, revelatory moments of seeing—fulfillments of Josef Albers’ teaching dictum “I want the eyes to open”—are essential to the development of any competent designer.
The images above show Jeff Lin at work and a finished composition by Constance Smith, two students in Angie’s Fall, 2011 class. See more examples of abstract typographic compositions under Design is Play Classroom Letters.
1 JANUARY, 2011
Man Ee Wong: As It Is Written: Project 304,805
For my Fall, 2010 Graphic Design 1 class at CCA, student Man Ee Wong designed this museum exhibit poster based on a show at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. As It Is Written: Project 304,805 is an exhibition featuring a specially trained scribe who writes the entire text of the Torah over the course of one year. The completed Torah is in the form of a scroll, and is comprised of 62 connected sheets on which are written 10,416 lines of text and 304,805 individual letters.
To design her poster Man Ee photographed a Torah at Congregation B’nai Emunah in San Francisco. (Thank you, Rabbi Melamut!) Man Ee is especially interested in the scroll’s physical seams, what might be thought of as the document’s “connective tissue.” As a result, her photograph is cropped to highlight a seam which bisects the poster on the right. Using a negative of the photographic image adds drama and challenges our preconceptions about how a Torah should be presented. In brief, she makes the Torah “new.”
Concurrent with her efforts in my class, Man Ee worked with Angie in Typography 1 and it is clear to me that the finished poster is a synthesis of Man Ee’s learning experiences in both classes. Man Ee recreates Theo Van Doesburg’s experimental alphabet of 1919 for the exhibition text and sets it in a justified block to echo the Torah’s justified columns of text. Van Doesburg’s letterforms provide a contrasting voice to the Hebrew: geometric versus organic; modern versus ancient; minimal versus complex. The placement of the colorful text block, bridging one of the Torah’s seams, suggests both reinforcement—a strengthening of tradition—as well as continuity. The Torah will live as long as it is read, and written. [MF]
See more examples of student poster design under Design is Play Classroom Posters.
12 JULY, 2010
CCA Steve Reoutt Memorial Scholarship
We had the pleasure of knowing and working with Steve Reoutt as his colleagues in the Graphic Design program at California College of the Arts for many years. (Steve was Angie's first Graphic Design instructor at CCA in 1993.) Steve taught at the college for 41 years and retired in 2008, shortly before his death.
We have been working to permanently endow a scholarship in Steve Reoutt’s name and are thrilled to report that we have met our initial $25,000 goal. We are also proud to note that community support for this scholarship is broad: over 80 faculty members, alumni, family, and friends have contributed so far. As a result, the Steve Reoutt Scholarship will provide financial support to talented graphic design students in perpetuity.
Our commitment is ongoing, however, as the more funds we raise, the greater the number of students we can assist. If you knew Steve or attended the Graphic Design program at CCA, please consider joining us in this effort. (Photo by David Asari.)
Contribute to the CCA Steve Reoutt Scholarship.
14 JUNE, 2010
Fox at Landor, 06.03.2010
Courtney Reeser, Managing Director of Landor Associates in San Francisco, invited Mark to exhibit and speak about his work “at Landor.” The exhibit encompassed work from Design is Play and BlackDog, and included logos, identity systems, posters, book covers, prints from Mark’s Erotikon series and, for the first time, seven of Mark's personal sketchbooks. Mark had the honor of being introduced by his friend and colleague Michael Schwab. (Photos by Michael Friel.)
Watch excerpts of Mark Fox’s conversation with Courtney Reeser:
Fox at Landor 1 (2:09)
On Michael Schwab, clubbing baby seals, and perfection as the default.
Fox at Landor 2 (1:49)
On the “filter” of the computer and the homogenization of design.
Fox at Landor 3 (3:37)
On teaching Graphic Design 1 and hand-inking.
