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An illustrated guide for designing things that matter by Joonkyung Shin.In an effort to offer an intellectual retreat from the pragmatism of day to day projects, frog holds periodic frog forums, which give people in the studios an opportunity to explore a topic from an academic and theoretical perspective, without the constraints of client work and in the safety of fellow-frogs. The second frog forum was held in Austin, Texas, to discuss the question “What is the Role of Meaning and Behavior in Our Work?” After some discussion and much coffee, this group of frogs landed on several recurring design themes relating to the topic. Here is the visual reenactment of the conversations and explorations at frog forum.tx on the role of the designer in the meaning business.
for more information: http://designmind.frogdesign.com/
Altough there are many ways to transfer a message in visual communication, sarcasim is one of the best tool to do it. In my opinion illustration is one of the best ways to use this tool. It can be used with every mass media like magazines, newspapers, posters, album covers, books and so on. I thought some examples from Gürbüz Doğan’ s works would be proper. Here’s some information and works of the artist.
Gürbüz Doğan Ekşioğlu is a Turkish cartoonist and graphics designer. He has been drawing cartoons since 1977 and holds a total of 64 awards (23 of which are international). He participated in many national and international collective displays and also had nine solo exhibitions including one in New York. His cartoons and illustrations were published in various newspapers and magazines, such as Forbes, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and on five covers of The New Yorker, including the famous one dated 15 September 2003, a special edition for the second anniversary of 11 September 2001 attacks, and the “On the Edge” of the 5 October, 2009 issue, which features a signature Ekşioğlu cat motif.
and some other examples:
From the book, Social Justice 2008
Album cover of The Chemical Brothers
The Serif
Scientific illustrations of flora and fauna in the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Although photography is a very powerful tool of visual documentation, because we have an easy acess to every image we want I don’t think that we really understand the meaning of looking and observing something from every aspect. These realistic illustrations from 17th and 18th Centuries represent directly the idea of those periods. I can clearly see that, those people weren’t only looking but understanding, discovering the world around them. They were being illuminated and documenting what they are being witnessed at for other people. One discovering her/his self, studying carefully these plants, animals, the world around them is something that we don’t have today. People don’t pay attantion to the rest of the world being only occupied with themselves. It’s obvious that because of this lack of interest and curiosity we are becoming more trapped in our little, isolated lives and missing all the beauty.
Here some botanical illustrations by William Curtis (1746 – 1799) :
Some more names from the same period:
- Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741)
- Pierre Joseph Redouté (1759-l840)
- Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741)
- Sydney Parkinson
For more information:
http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/endeavour-botanical/
I just heard about this Japanese philosophy, Wabi-Sabi, and as I was doing some research about it, I found out that it’s being adaspted to the contemporary design objects. Before talking about the new use of this old philosophy I want to post a simple wikipedia description of what it is and how it transformed.
The source is according to Leonard Koren in his book Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers.
According to Koren, wabi-sabi is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty and it “occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West.” Andrew Juniper claims, “if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.” Richard R. Powell summarizes by saying “It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”
The words wabi and sabi do not translate easily. Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, remote from society; sabi meant “chill”, “lean” or “withered”. Around the 14th century these meanings began to change, taking on more positive connotations. Wabi now connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.
From an engineering or design point of view, “wabi” may be interpreted as the imperfect quality of any object, due to inevitable limitations in design and construction/manufacture especially with respect to unpredictable or changing usage conditions; then “sabi” could be interpreted as the aspect of imperfect reliability, or limited mortality of any object, hence the etymological connection with the Japanese word sabi, to rust.
A good example of this embodiment may be seen in certain styles of Japanese pottery. In Japanese tea ceremony, the pottery items used are often rustic and simple-looking, e.g. Hagi ware, with shapes that are not quite symmetrical, and colors or textures that appear to emphasize an unrefined or simple style. In reality, these items can be quite expensive and in fact, it is up to the knowledge and observational ability of the participant to notice and discern the hidden signs of a truly excellent design or glaze (akin to the appearance of a diamond in the rough). This may be interpreted as a kind of wabi-sabi aesthetic, further confirmed by the way the colour of glazed items is known to change over time as hot water is repeatedly poured into them (sabi) and the fact that tea bowls are often deliberately chipped or nicked at the bottom (wabi), which serves as a kind of signature of the Hagi-yaki style.
Wabi and sabi both suggest sentiments of desolation and solitude. In the Mahayana Buddhist view of the universe, these may be viewed as positive characteristics, representing liberation from a material world and transcendence to a simpler life. Mahayana philosophy itself, however, warns that genuine understanding cannot be achieved through words or language, so accepting wabi-sabi on nonverbal terms may be the most appropriate approach. Simon Brown notes that wabi sabi describes a means where students can learn to live life through the sense and better engage in life as it happens rather than caught up in unnecessary thoughts. In this sense wabi sabi is the material representation of Zen Buddhism. The idea being that being surrounded by natural, changing, unique objects helps us connect to our real world and escape potentially stressful distractions.
In one sense wabi sabi is a training where the student of wabi sabi learns to find the most simple objects interesting, fascinating and beautiful. Fading autumn leaves would be an example. Wabi sabi can change our perception of our world to the extent that a chip or crack in a vase makes it more interesting and give the object greater meditative value. Similarly materials that age such as bare wood, paper and fabric become more interesting as they exhibit changes that can be observed over time.
The wabi and sabi concepts are religious in origin, but actual usage of the words in Japanese is often quite casual. The syncretic nature of Japanese belief systems should be noted.
Wabi-sabi in Japanese arts
Many Japanese arts over the past thousand years have been influenced by Zen and Mahayana philosophy, particularly acceptance and contemplation of the imperfection, constant flux, and impermanence of all things. Such arts can exemplify a wabi-sabi aesthetic. Here is an incomplete list:
honkyoku (traditional shakuhachi music of wandering Zen monks)
ikebana (flower arrangement)
Japanese gardens, Zen gardens, and bonsai (tray gardens)
Japanese poetry, particularly haiku
Japanese pottery, notably Hagi ware
Japanese tea ceremony
Bonsai the Japanese art of miniature trees
Western use
Former Stuckist artist and remodernist filmmaker Jesse Richards employs it in nearly all of his work, along with mono no aware.
During the 1990s the concept was borrowed by computer software developers and employed in Agile programming and Wiki to describe acceptance of the state of ongoing imperfection that is the product of these methods.
On 16 March 2009, Marcel Theroux presented In Search of Wabi-sabi on BBC Four as part of the channel’s “Hidden Japan” season of programming. Marcel travelled throughout Japan trying to understand the aesthetic tastes of Japan and its people.
This year at Milan’s Furniture Fair, designers are rebelling against the notion of pristine objects. Altough it looks like a new notion, it has the same kind of approach as the ancient philosophy of Japane; wabi- sabi. That sensibility used to be absent in the west–Modernism being the exact antithesis of wabi sabi–but today, it’s refuge for young designs. Which makes a certain sense, if you’re a cutting-edge furniture designer: There are only a few ways to make a a product look perfect, but a million different routes to making it look messed up. With that in mind, here’s some of the pieces from Milan:
Designed by Tjep for Droog, a clearinghouse for conceptual design, the designs for these vases were borrowed from famous designers–the bubbly form is from a work by Marcel Wanders; the pink vase is by Hella Jongerius, for Ikea. But Tjep lined them with rubber, so that they don’t don’t break when dropped. Instead, they accrue cracks like a hard-boiled egg:
This table by Peter Marigold, looks haphazard, and in a way it is: The leather comes from remnant scraps, salvaged from the Fendi factory floor. But the willynilly shapes in the table come from the precise shape of a bisected square:
matt greene, ‘pictures of women’, poster
matt greene – pictures of women
deitch projects, new york
april 11 – may 02, 2009
American artist Matt Greene presents his second solo show at deitch projects exploring representational art
in contemporary culture. ‘pictures of women’ features a collection of large-scale works that deal with
‘sexual fetish, the female figure and forms of nature’. the works depict multi-layered images superimposed
one on top of another. drawing and photography are both used atop textured surfaces that have been coated
with thick layers of varnish. green creates the artworks from photographic thumbnails which are glued onto
the canvas. he adds lines of perspective and builds up the work in layers. as he progresses, green cuts the
glued images peeling them off the reveal previous incarnations of the work.
‘zone of ambiguity’ by matt greene, 2009 (collage, acrylic and oil on canvas)
For more : http://www.deitch.com
untitled work from the graphic objects series by mira schendel, 1972
The museum of modern art in new york is currently showing an ‘tangled alphabets’ which
juxtaposes the work of argentinian artist león ferrari and the late swiss/brazilian artist
mira schendel. Their works address language as a major visual subject matter: the visual
body of language, the embodiment of voices as words and gestures, and language as
a metaphor of the worldly aspect of human existence through the eloquence of naming
and writing.
untitled work from the graphic objects series by mira schendel, 1972
(left) ‘P4CR’ by león ferrari 1979 (right) ‘letter to a general’ by león ferrari 1963
The new york times has published a review of the show: here
The work of pablo picasso, vincent van gogh, charles eames, cindy sherman and andy warhol may be
commonplace in a gallery, but definitely not on the subway, until now. from february 10 to march 15,
brooklyn’s atlantic avenue/pacific street subway station, is being filled with reproductions of over
50 works of art thanks to the MoMA. for 24 hours a day seven days a week, images of work from the
MoMA collection will be on display inside the subway station. the special promotion hopes to raise
awareness of the new york museum’s collection of artwork and design.
photogprahy by jeff baxter
For more: http://atlanticpacific.moma.org
‘oh, the farmer & the cowman should be friends’, 2008
stainless and corten steel (138 3/8 x 224 5/8 x 15 7/8 in. / 351 x 570 x 40 cm)
Grouped around a freestanding star of interconnected walls designed by ron arad,
the show unveils a number of highly sophisticated experimental pieces,
many only recently produced and on display for the first time.
the show runs from april 8 to may 9, 2009.
http://www.timothytaylorgallery.com
‘thumbprint’, 2008
bronze (74 1/8 x 62 5/8 x 55 7/8 in. /152 x 159 x 142 cm)
The thumbprint is composed of multiple bronze rods.
it is a jewel-like object that shimmers as the light shifts, revealing
subtle gradations of colour.
in editions of six – their seductive contours inviting the viewer to
touch, explore and climb into the
curved centres they create.
