Practicing Your Knowledge: PS Tutorial

Tutorial Poster

I took this blog's assignment as an opportunity to learn something new about design.  I've done a few photoshop tutorials in the past, but I haven't devoted time to learning anything new recently in Photoshop.  I found a tutorial on DesignInstruct.com titled How to Make a Funky Retro Music Poster in Photoshop.  I've always liked this warm, nostalgic look to posters and handbills like these, so I figured I could sit down and try it out for myself.  I wanted to stick with the same color scheme, so I tried to find a modern event that uses these colors.  Wakarusa Music Festival uses them, so I figured I could make a poster involving their 2013 festival.

     The tutorial walked you through how to drop opaque patterns into the background, how to create a vinyl record from scratch, and then superimpose the record onto a record player.  I took some creative liberties throughout the tutorial and used my own drawings for the background pattern, and used a photo from a previous Wakarusa for the label on the record.  

      There were a lot of things that I couldn't do according to the tutorial because I don't have the same version of Photoshop, I only have Elements.  There are ways to recreate the same effects, so it just took more time to get what I wanted.  There are a few things I learned from this tutorial.  I learned how to create a vinyl record from scratch through radial blur, noise and messing around with opacity and layers to create a glossy surface.   I also realized that I need to sit down and do a lot more design tutorials because they're actually really entertaining and very helpful because you can pick and choose what effects you want to use on future projects.  

       The act of actually recreating an image I see is what I love about design.  This can either be recreating something that has already been made, with my own little twist/remix on it, or taking a pen to paper and drawing what I see in my head. They walk you through step by steps, but they expect you have some prior experience with photoshop upon beginning the tutorial.Doing this tutorial instead of just reading about how to create something was a lot more effective.  I was able to have help (to an extent, since there wasn't actually a person showing me how to do it) yet still create the original vision I had in my head, which was pretty close to what showed up below:

My Poster

Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson: Iconic Album Designer

I was looking up iconic graphic designers when I stumbled onto the work of designer Storm Thorgerson.  He was a founding member of the art collective Hipgnosis, who designed a lot of rock album covers in the 1970's and 1980's.  He did everything for real, like the cover above for A Momentary Lape of Reason by Pink Floyd.  All 700 of those beds were actually set out along the beach in England for the cover shot.  If he couldn't get the lighting just right, or had more ideas than he could fit into a photograph, he would mess around with it using photo-developing tricks, airbrushing color in, or making a sort of collage.  Before I read about Storm, I didn't even begin to think of how labor-intensive it was for him to produce these images.  Photo editing programs aren't easy to use, but they sure do take a lot less time that the way he did it.  This, personally, is very inspirational.  His techniques were photoshop before photoshop.  From the perspective of a designer, there are many benefits from technological advances.  Saving time and money are some of the biggest benefits I can think of.  But it's really impressive to me that somebody can take a concept in their head, and then put in the effort of trucking 700 beds onto a rural beach just to realize his vision.  This man is passionate about his work and has a lot of record covers and a successful career to prove it.  

Noting Cultural Assumptions

It was pretty difficult to find portrayals of graphic designers in TV shows, movies, etc.  I could only find documentaries on graffiti, street art, and then just plain articles/editorials about some graphic designers and their style.  Nothing really stood out as representing how society views graphic designers, and how that's portrayed in popular culture.
I came upon an excerpt about the poster artist Emek from the documentary American Artifact directed by Merle Becker.

The movie is about the history of American rock poster art, from its beginnings in the 1960s, but focusing primarily on the resurgence of the 'art' side of posters that has been becoming very popular in recent years.  Emek talks about how he can express his own ideas and views on events/topics in popular culture subliminally into his posters to make them even more meaningful.  He portrays himself as a very intelligent designer, seeking out an abstract way to explain a message from a song or event, and then wrapping it up in some of the most detailed, precise work in the industry.  For graphic artists like Emek, people flock to his events to get a chance to get their hands on his artwork.  

      Art Chantry talks about how graphic design is a language.  "It's a language that everybody speaks but nobody knows they speak it.  And graphic designers are masters of that language form.  We're the ones who use this language to change the way you think about something... When we pick yellow, yellow means something... a ratty line instead of a straight line, that means something... round versus square, it means something.  And we use all this stuff to convince the viewer to go to the show" (American Artifact).  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q6364ddWdI

I also found an article titled 5 Unfair Assumptions Clients Make About Graphic Artists by Millionaire Hoy that talks about how graphic designers feel like their clients don't realize that their job is harder than it looks.  

He lists five different common assumptions he has witnessed during his time as a graphic artist:

1) Designing on the computer is easy

2) Graphic designers can do anything

3) They're the only client

4) Graphic designers can read minds

5) Graphic designers assume all responsibility

5 Unfair Assumptions

He goes into more depth as to what these mean, but they're pretty self-explanatory.  There's no magic 'design' button that designers can press and just pop out the perfect logo/poster/website/whatever the person wants.  There has to be a lot of detailed communication between the artist and the client so that every little subliminal message, every color, every line, every shape, etc correlate to the message the client is trying to convey.   Designers can't automatically know what the client envisions in their head without a lot of communication.  Also, designers are (ideally) never working on just one project.  They're working on several at the same time, but they have to appear as though all their attention and focus is on that client's project.

Hopefully this post portrayed some of how people portray graphic designers.  Clients usually assume that the job will be done exactly how they want it to, which is possible, but only when there is strong communication, a realization that there are limits to what can be achieved in the specified time frame, and realizing that there are multiple projects being balanced at the same time.

Contemplating Controversy

     There are many controversies in the field of graphic design, mostly due to its artistic nature, and the wide-open mentality of creative expression.  The controversy I'm going to talk about lies within the amount of creative expression that can be displayed before a piece of work loses its beginning message.
      David Carson, one of the most influential designers of the 90's and today, whose work is described as continuing to be subjective and largely driven by intuition, with an emphasis on reading material before designing it, and experimenting with ways to communicate in a variety of mediums. Carson remains a hands on designer, keeping his studio small and mobile (DCD.com). 
      The controversial aspects of his work are based on his emphasis of readability vs legibility.  He experimented a lot with pushing the reader farther into the visual realm of the page.  He didn't speak simply to the reader, he spoke in an abstract language of scattered, layered, skewed, and at times absurdly composed text and images.  Examples of all of these aspects of his work appeared while he was art director of Ray Gun magazine.

Notice how you don't get fed the information on the cover? You have to seek it out for yourself.

Critics of David Carson's work mainly say that his design was accidental, just experimenting and not using the principles of typography and design.  They agree that it is indeed creative, and visually interesting to the reader though.

     The basic difference here has been stated well by David Carson himself in a TED Talk.  Don't mistake legibility for communication.  Just becuase something's legibly doesn't mean it communicates. More importantly, it doesn't mean it communicates the right thing.  So, what is the message sent before somebody actually gets into the material?  And i think that's sometimes an overlooked area" (David Carson TED Talk).

Interview With Chris Corneal

So after my interview, I realized that it didn't go exactly as planned, as most interviews do.  I didn't end up talking to him too much about his writing style, I focused more on the field itself because I was very interested in what he does as a freelance designer, and as a professor here at Michigan State.  He said a few things about things he has to write: he has to collaborate with his clients, which requires some communication through proposals, drafts, etc. That differs to what we do in class, or what we have discussed in class because it's not for entertainment purposes, or to be complexly written.  It's written to describe the process in which he designed the piece, or what it's supposed to convey.
As for the actual interview, here's some of what Prof. Corneal said (paraphrased):

• What's your favorite part(s) about the field (freelance design)?
• His favorite part about the field is the level of variety in his different jobs. He enjoys being able to mix it up, which keeps the job interesting because he's not doing the same thing every day.  This allows him to still have a rather high level of creative input with whatever the client wants, while still conveying whatever message they hired him to convey. 
• What's your least favorite part about the field?
• He said variety is just as much his least favorite part as it is his favorite.  Some clients fail to respect and trust his expertise, so when there's a broad window for creative freedom in a project, sometimes him and the client don't end up on the same page.  
• What did you struggle with in the field?
• He was talking about how graphic design in school was very much and individual process, so he got used to that, but when the real world came around, he had to quickly learn how to collaborate with clients and learn how to deal with different types of people.
• What does a freelance designer do exactly? 
• Most of his work consists of identity and branding projects, book covers, posters, and some web design.
• When did you know you wanted to pursue graphic design?  What triggered this decision?
• He said he has always drawn ever since he was a little kid.  He thought of it just as a hobby, then when he went into advertising in college, he wanted more creative freedom and found out there was a graphic design program he could get into.  Then it took off from there.
• Who did you look up to when you were just starting off? Did you have a certain professor or role model that really showed you that you wanted to do this?
• He said that one of the most influential designers during the time he was just beginning was David Carson.  He kind of defined "grunge typography" based on "readability vs. legibility".  
• What's a trend that's really taking off in design right now?
• With the big emphasis on technology and all of the digital graphics in the business, a lot of designers are trying to turn to hand drawn and handmade images/typography to give their work a more realistic, honest feel.
• What technologies/programs are becoming key in the field?
• Adobe Creative Suite basically has a monopoly in print work and image work for it's quality and user-friendliness.
• Do you have any words of advice for me if I decide to pursue my interest in the field?
• Take it seriously.  Some people don't look at graphic design as a serious field, but moreso as a hobby.  Come at design with a very serious, yet creative approach, then find a different hobby.  
• Do research.  See what other designers have done, and seek inspiration from what they've done.  You'll discover things you didn't even know were out there.  

This was a very helpful interview that I had with Professor Corneal.  It was interesting to talk to someone in the field and get firsthand answers about the questions I haven't found answers for through other sources.  

Interview Questions: Chris Corneal

I am doing my interview with Michigan State Graphic Design professor, Chris Corneal.  In his profile on the MSU art department's website, a little bit of background is given about Prof. Corneal.
Chris Corneal is Associate Professor of Graphic Design in the Department of Art | Art History | Design at Michigan State University. In addition to his regular teaching duties, Prof. Corneal also serves as the Faculty Advisor for Design Center and the Director of Design Internships. He received his BFA in Graphic Design from Western Kentucky University and his MFA in Graphic Design from University of Memphis.
My interview isn't going to happen until this Monday, but here are some of the questions I've prepared to talk to him about:

• What's your favorite part about the field?
• What's your least favorite part?
• As a freelance designer, what are some of the best aspects of the job and some of the worst aspects?
• What did you struggle with?
• What came easily?
• What does a freelance designer do exactly?
• When did you know you wanted to work in this field? And what triggered this decision? Talent, passion, curiosity, etc?
• Who did you look up to when you were just starting off? Did you have a certain professor or a role model that really showed you that this was what you wanted to do?
• What's a trend that's really taking off in design right now?
• What technologies/programs  are becoming key in the field?
• What do you do here at Michigan State as a professor? How did that job come about?
• Do you have any words of advice for me if I decide to pursue my interest in the field?

I'll use these as a basis for the interview, then build on them through conversation which will end up giving me answers I wasn't even searching for.  I'm also talking to him about the graphic design major itself because I want to find out more information about it so I can begin to decide whether or not to pursue graphic design.  I'm very excited for this interview!

Delivery and Style: Considered

I found a blog by the design studio, DKNG, which consists of the artistic talents and visions of Dan Kuhlken and Nathan Goldman.  The specific post I read from last June about a triptych poster set they did for the band Phish's shows in Atlantic City.  The post consisted of detailed pictures along with a description of how many were being produced, where you could purchase the posters, and then they actually posted a process video of how the poster was created through Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.  Why would they take the extra time to create a video to show their audience how they made the poster and not just keep it as a secret?  They realized that their audience obviously has an interest in what they produce, or else they wouldn't be this deep into their blog.  They want to create a connection with the audience and show them that it does take a lot of talent and an IMMENSE amount of time to complete, but then they show them that the time spent was worth it in the end by showing the final product.  I've noticed that it really says something positive about a company when they're willing to let their audience in on a few secrets.

I had trouble finding a self-written trade journal or newspaper article by a graphic designer, but I did find a book by Adrian Shuaghnessy titled "How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul."  He goes through describing himself as a designer in the first few pages in a very honest tone.  He even cites this honesty when talking about how he was inspired to begin his own design studio.  He talks about one of his influences who inspired him to "just try to be open and forthright, and it will be interesting."  He then gets into stating his audience and purpose pretty openly.  "Designers are quick to tell us about their sources of inspiration... but they are much less willing to reveal tiresome matter such as how they find clients, how much they charge and what they do when their client rejects three weeks of work and refuses to pay the bill.  If you want to learn how to be a designer, you need to know about these and other messy matters.  It's as much a part of being a designer as knowing how to kem type or design the perfect letterhead.  In fact, how you deal with the grubby bits is how you learn to be a graphic designer" (page 11). This single paragraph reveals that he's speaking to aspiring graphic designers and he's intending to inform them that the little things are just as important as the skills related to actually creating a product.  

How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

The target audience and purpose of each is different than the other, but they both have a common theme among them: honesty.  They realize that being open to the reader will not only give them a better reputation, but it will help the reader in their future endeavors, whether it be gaining some insight into the poster making process through a process video, or learning the nitty gritty details of the little things you have to do to be successful in the graphic design industry.