lynda.com presents: AIGAIntroduction| 00:00 | (Music playing.)
| | 00:10 | Ric Grefe: We have too much
information and too little understanding,
| | 00:13 | and design is the intermediary.
| | 00:17 | Steven Heller: We are not just decorators,
and we are not just framers of content;
| | 00:21 | we are creators of content.
| | 00:25 | Debbie Millman: I felt, as I went from
chapter to chapter, it was sort of one best-kept
| | 00:29 | secret after another.
| | 00:34 | Lynda Weinman: Does
anything else happen with this work?
| | 00:35 | Gabriela Mirensky: It travels.
| | 00:39 | Sean Adams: You could spend a week in here
and get the entire history of design from the
| | 00:44 | very best people, doing their very best work.
| | 00:48 | (Music playing.)
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Act IWhat is AIGA?| 00:01 | Lynda Weinman: Hello! I'm Lynda Weinman,
| | 00:02 | co-founder of lynda.com, an
educational Web site that offers computer skills
| | 00:07 | and design training.
| | 00:09 | I've also been a teacher at Art Center
College of Design, and I've authored many
| | 00:13 | books on Web design and graphics.
| | 00:16 | Last year, in 2009, I was elected to the
National Board of AIGA, and while it was
| | 00:22 | a great honor, I realized that
there was a lot I didn't know about the
| | 00:25 | organization, from its history, its
role as a national association, and the
| | 00:31 | benefits that it provides to members
and the design industry as a whole.
| | 00:35 | I was traveling to New York to attend
the annual AIGA board meeting and its
| | 00:39 | Design Legends gala, and decided I
would use this opportunity to learn more
| | 00:44 | about the organization and to
document and share my experiences.
| | 00:47 | I started at AIGA's National Design
Center on Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, where I
| | 00:54 | met with Ric Grefe, the executive director
of AIGA, to ask about the organization's
| | 00:59 | history and structure.
| | 01:00 | Well, tell us about AIGA and how it was
formed originally, and maybe a little bit
| | 01:08 | about its structure.
| | 01:09 | It's mostly a volunteer organization.
| | 01:10 | Ric Grefe: Absolutely, and it's a
fascinating story how it started.
| | 01:15 | In 1914, Woodrow Wilson received a
letter from the German government, asking if
| | 01:21 | he would send books to the Leipzig Book Fair.
| | 01:24 | He asked his Secretary of Commerce,
Herbert Hoover, to do something about it.
| | 01:30 | Herbert Hoover wrote to the National
Arts Club, which is just a couple of blocks
| | 01:34 | from here at Gramercy Park, and
said, "What are these graphic arts?"
| | 01:38 | And so 14 people got together to talk
about how they would put together a U.S.
| | 01:44 | entry for the book show in Leipzig,
and became the founding members of AIGA, the
| | 01:50 | American Institute of Graphic Arts.
| | 01:51 | Lynda: So AIGA no longer is an
acronym for something, correct?
| | 01:55 | Ric: No it isn't. I mean, it was the American
Institute of Graphic Arts, but in fact, as the
| | 02:00 | profession has morphed, so has the organization.
| | 02:02 | So now we're the Professional Association
for Design, which is much more inclusive.
| | 02:06 | Lynda: That's an exciting direction.
| | 02:07 | Can you talk a little bit about how
Design is changing and how AIGA is
| | 02:12 | changing along with?
| | 02:13 | Ric: When you think of it,
AIGA was founded in 1914,
| | 02:16 | so it's almost a hundred years ago.
| | 02:19 | And then it was people who
were in the graphic arts.
| | 02:21 | The graphic arts then were
typographers and the publishers and lithographers,
| | 02:25 | photographers. And as communication
design has changed over the years to include
| | 02:29 | editorial design, corporate identity,
interaction design, film and television,
| | 02:34 | clearly AIGA had to move along with it.
| | 02:36 | So the core, the DNA of AIGA is
really about communication design,
| | 02:41 | the purposeful use of words and
images to communicate messages, but in fact,
| | 02:46 | media had become less important in that,
so it's not so much graphic design as
| | 02:49 | it's around its core communication design.
| | 02:52 | And then, in the last decade or so, we've
added a whole new dimension to design,
| | 02:57 | which is design thinking, the idea that
designers see problems differently and
| | 03:01 | can be applied to many different problems.
| | 03:04 | So AIGA is moving along with
profession, as it has over the decades.
| | 03:08 | Lynda: And so how many members today,
and how is the organization structured?
| | 03:12 | Ric: It's 22,000 members today.
| | 03:16 | The chapters are interesting because
everyone becomes a member of AIGA with the
| | 03:20 | national organization, and then where
there are enough members to create a local
| | 03:24 | organization, we encourage them to do so.
| | 03:26 | So we now have 64 chapters, and we
are on 200 college campuses with student groups.
| | 03:31 | Lynda: So I am a little bit interested
in the governance, in the structure of
| | 03:35 | the organization.
| | 03:36 | It's clearly a non-profit, and there is -
you're part of a small, paid staff. Is that correct?
| | 03:42 | Ric: That's right. So there is a small staff
of 15 to 20 people here in New York, but the heart of
| | 03:49 | a professional association is
really the members, and I think that as a
| | 03:52 | philosophy, we don't believe that
there should be a large central staff
| | 03:57 | because frequently what happens in an
organization like that is that the staff
| | 04:00 | begins to think they are the
profession and acting like it.
| | 04:03 | And we believe really strongly that
the passion, the heart, the soul is in
| | 04:07 | the members themselves.
| | 04:08 | And so what the paid staff can do
is enable them to achieve their own
| | 04:12 | aspirations and successes.
| | 04:13 | And that's what we do. In a highly-leveraged way,
| | 04:16 | we encourage the volunteers, as either
chapters or as taskforces, to take on the
| | 04:22 | things that are important to them.
| | 04:24 | And we try to see that they not only
get achieved, but also that we can then
| | 04:27 | take them and give them greater voice.
| | 04:29 | Lynda: And to become active in AIGA, what
do you think the benefits are for those local
| | 04:36 | groups that are self-forming, in a way?
| | 04:38 | Ric: Well, for any of the members, over
the 15 years I've been here, whenever we
| | 04:43 | survey them, they always give us
four answers on why they joined.
| | 04:47 | One is that they want a sense of
community because designers tend to work alone.
| | 04:51 | So there is a sense of community
they gain out of being part of a
| | 04:54 | large organization.
| | 04:56 | A second reason is that they want to
share information, and they want to
| | 04:59 | discover what's going on around them.
Again, because they don't necessarily work
| | 05:03 | in large groups of designers, they may
in studios, but then they even wonder
| | 05:06 | what's going on beyond the walls of the studio.
| | 05:09 | The third reason is that they want
people to understand what they do, and the
| | 05:13 | fourth reason is they want respect for it.
| | 05:16 | So with these chapters,
why do they join a chapter?
| | 05:19 | They join a chapter for probably two reasons.
| | 05:21 | One, they want us to give voice to
their ambitions, with a louder voice.
| | 05:26 | And we can do it
collectively with 22,000 voices.
| | 05:29 | The second reason, though, is they do
want that opportunity for networking, to
| | 05:33 | come together and to share, not only the
experience they have, but also share
| | 05:37 | information.
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| The value and vision of AIGA| 00:00 | Lynda Weinman: After my informative chat with
Ric, I caught a cab across town and headed to
| | 00:04 | the Empire State Building to meet
with Debbie Milman, the current president of the
| | 00:08 | National Board of AIGA.
| | 00:11 | She is a dynamic force in brand design,
and also hosts a fantastic podcast on all
| | 00:16 | things design-related, called Design Matters.
| | 00:19 | I wanted to talk with Debbie about
her personal experiences, and how she got
| | 00:24 | involved with the organization, and
what she thought the value a professional
| | 00:28 | association could provide to its members.
| | 00:31 | Also, as a fellow board member, I was
curious to hear her ideas and goals for her
| | 00:35 | term as AIGA's national board president.
| | 00:39 | What drew you to AIGA and
what keeps you so involved?
| | 00:44 | Debbie Millman: I am a very social person, and
I love being connected to other people, and I
| | 00:51 | felt that AIGA was the best
organization of like-minded people that I could
| | 00:58 | learn from and be inspired by.
| | 01:01 | And so I always, throughout my entire
career, had the aspirations to be part of
| | 01:07 | the organization. But very early on in
my career I didn't feel worthy, or that I
| | 01:13 | could contribute anything, and didn't
really know what I was doing, and not that
| | 01:19 | that much has changed now,
| | 01:21 | but I think with age comes
a certain amount of courage.
| | 01:26 | And so because I'm so aware of that
feeling and because I'm so aware of that
| | 01:33 | need to be able to help others, I'm very
involved in trying to give other people
| | 01:39 | that boost up that they
feel that they might need.
| | 01:41 | And so for the last five years or so
I've been very involved with all the
| | 01:46 | local chapters.
| | 01:48 | So I visit the local chapters, and I
talk to anybody that'll listen about AIGA
| | 01:52 | and the value that the organization
brings to inspire community and to
| | 01:56 | inspire connectedness.
| | 01:58 | Lynda: As President of the Board,
what are your goals for your tenure?
| | 02:03 | Debbie: I have three big goals.
| | 02:06 | The first is what I call
the Connectivity Initiative.
| | 02:09 | So that comes directly out of what I
just talked about, in terms of really
| | 02:14 | being able to connect what the
local chapters are doing to the entire
| | 02:20 | organization. Over the course of the
last five years, and all of the visits that
| | 02:23 | I made to the local chapters,
| | 02:26 | I was constantly amazed by the level of
energy, by the level of programming, by
| | 02:33 | the level of output, by the level of creativity;
| | 02:36 | it was just incredible!
| | 02:38 | And I felt, as I went from chapter to
chapter, it was sort of one best-kept
| | 02:42 | secret after another, where there
was no way to announce all of the
| | 02:48 | extraordinary efforts that were being
made to all the other chapters and all the
| | 02:53 | other members, that there should be a
way for us to be able to capitalize on all
| | 02:57 | of this collective inspiration.
| | 02:59 | And so part of what I'm trying to do
now is provide a way for all of the local
| | 03:04 | chapters to feel that they are
really part of one big movement.
| | 03:08 | And so that's part of the AIGA Connect
Initiative on Twitter and on Facebook,
| | 03:13 | and its social media is so
wonderful for this type of sharing.
| | 03:18 | So the Connectivity Initiative is the first.
| | 03:21 | The second is what I'm calling the
Inclusivity Initiative, because part of what
| | 03:25 | I first experienced, and it might have
just been my own lack of self-esteem,
| | 03:29 | but part of what I experienced when
I first joined was a real fear that I
| | 03:34 | wasn't good enough or smart enough,
and I felt, probably of my own making,
| | 03:40 | excluded from things.
| | 03:41 | But because I think that that's
something pretty universal, and people feel
| | 03:45 | just in general about things, and it
has nothing to do with AIGA, but just
| | 03:49 | really human nature,
| | 03:50 | I want people to feel very, very welcome.
| | 03:53 | I want them to feel very accepted.
| | 03:55 | I want to encourage people
from all different disciplines.
| | 03:58 | This is not just a print design organization.
| | 04:00 | This is about every type of design:
| | 04:03 | design, cultural anthropology,
behavioral psychology and every discipline under
| | 04:09 | the sun of design, whether it's online,
offline, books, print; everything can
| | 04:15 | be accepted and admired and
respected it within our organization.
| | 04:19 | So that's the Inclusivity Initiative.
| | 04:22 | And then the third is to really
provide a strong support of our Mandate,
| | 04:30 | the AIGA Mandate, which is about
getting more information out to members,
| | 04:36 | providing better membership benefits,
providing ways to communicate and include
| | 04:42 | all areas of what we're doing for
everyone; so those three things: Connectivity,
| | 04:49 | Inclusivity, and the Mandate.
| | 04:51 | Lynda: I am glad that I am on the board
with you being the president, because those are
| | 04:54 | fantastic initiatives.
| | 04:55 | Lynda: They are really exciting.
Debbie: Thank you!
| | 04:56 | Debbie: Well, they are big and they are lofty,
but I also think they are grounded in
| | 05:00 | reality, and I think they are also
grounded in what people are really asking for
| | 05:04 | now, and what they expect
and demand of an organization.
| | 05:08 | We're 20,000 members.
| | 05:09 | We should be able to feel that it's
small enough and yet big enough to do
| | 05:16 | really big things.
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Act IIHow AIGA defines design excellence | 00:01 | Lynda Weinman: Beyond providing an association
for designers, AIGA plays an important role in
| | 00:05 | stimulating excellence in the field of design.
| | 00:08 | I went to the School of Visual Arts
to meet with Steven Heller, a longtime editor of
| | 00:13 | AIGA's Journal of Graphic Design and
the current editor of AIGA Voice, a blog
| | 00:19 | focusing on design.
| | 00:21 | I wanted to talk to him about the role
AIGA plays in fostering dialog among its
| | 00:26 | designers, through
publications, events, and competitions.
| | 00:33 | AIGA has, over the years, put out a lot of
different publications. Which ones have
| | 00:37 | you been involved with, and can
you tell us a little bit about that?
| | 00:40 | Steven Heller: Well, I have been involved with
the Annual, when it was Graphic Design U.S.A.
| | 00:48 | What I was interested in was having an
annual that wasn't just a record of the
| | 00:53 | year's so-called best work.
| | 00:56 | I wanted it to have an editorial entity.
| | 01:00 | So in some of those issues you will
find there are feature stories, but at the
| | 01:05 | same time, the content has expanded, on
one hand, to, at times, be more critical,
| | 01:13 | more broad, because, more than anything
else, design is broadening its scope.
| | 01:20 | It's not just graphic design anymore,
or it's at least not our grandmother's
| | 01:24 | graphic design anymore.
| | 01:26 | Lynda: So what do you think the role of
competitions and extolling certain design
| | 01:31 | excellence is within AIGA?
| | 01:34 | Steven: Graphic design follows stylistic trends.
| | 01:39 | Sometimes there are form givers
who actually lead those trends along.
| | 01:45 | AIGA is there not to ignite them, not
to trigger them, but to be a container in
| | 01:51 | which we can view them.
| | 01:54 | Sometimes it's a matter of just showing
other people's work to impressionable,
| | 02:00 | or even non-impressionable people and
letting them draw their own conclusions.
| | 02:05 | What AIGA has done through its
exhibitions, and particularly through 360, is
| | 02:11 | kind of define what is
excellent, from their perspective.
| | 02:16 | I think it serves an interesting role,
as all those competitions do, because
| | 02:20 | they are so subjective.
| | 02:22 | It's really based on who is there
at the time and who is submitting.
| | 02:25 | But it also sets up a touchstone
against which people can rebel.
| | 02:30 | And I think it's important to have
that rebellion, so that each generation
| | 02:35 | has its own voice.
| | 02:37 | I know when I was starting out, I
looked at the Art Directors Club Annuals -
| | 02:42 | there were no AIGA Annuals at that time -
and I would copy some of the work that
| | 02:48 | I saw, typographically and
conceptually, and then I would break the rules.
| | 02:53 | Now, I didn't necessarily break them
very well, but that's what I used it for,
| | 02:58 | and I think that AIGA has to serve
the purpose of putting some things on a
| | 03:02 | pedestal and then seeing them knocked down.
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| How AIGA evangelizes design | 00:00 | Lynda Weinman: One of AIGA's most prominent
competitions is called Design 365, an annual event
| | 00:06 | that seeks to honor the best
design entries from the past year.
| | 00:10 | The debut exhibition is held in the
gallery on the first floor of AIGA's
| | 00:15 | National Design Center.
| | 00:16 | Luckily, I was able to arrange a
sneak preview with Gabriela Mirensky, the Director of
| | 00:21 | Competitions and Exhibitions for AIGA.
| | 00:24 | We took a look around at some of the
entries, which helped me learn more about
| | 00:28 | how AIGA strives to stimulate
excellence throughout the design field.
| | 00:33 | So it looks like we have
some different categories.
| | 00:36 | For example, this is the
promoting category down this aisle.
| | 00:39 | Gabriela Mirensky: Right.
| | 00:40 | We actually have six categories.
| | 00:43 | The categories depend on the
intention of the piece, what they need it to do
| | 00:47 | in the marketplace.
| | 00:48 | You get things that go from posters -
| | 00:52 | lots of posters are in the
promotional category - to Web sites.
| | 00:56 | So we cover the whole
spectrum of applications of design.
| | 01:01 | It's a very tough category to judge,
just because of the sheer amount of
| | 01:05 | entries, but it's really fun stuff.
| | 01:08 | Lynda: So you have the physical show here at AIGA headquarters in New York.
Gabriela: Yes.
| | 01:14 | Lynda: And then does
anything else happen with this work?
| | 01:15 | Gabriela: It travels for a whole year around chapters,
Lynda: Oh, fantastic!
| | 01:20 | Gabriela: AIGA chapters and universities.
| | 01:22 | It's on demand, so we never know in
advance what the touring schedule will be.
| | 01:27 | But generally, it's booked a
couple of months in advance.
| | 01:29 | So we keep a list online, right
now, of what the next venues are.
| | 01:34 | Lynda: That's very exciting.
| | 01:36 | Do you have to be a member
of AIGA to look at this work?
| | 01:39 | Gabriela: Not at all.
Lynda: So it's online.
| | 01:41 | Gabriela: This is open to the public, and
it's available online, open to all on the Web at
| | 01:47 | designarchives.aiga.org.
| | 01:48 | Lynda: So I know that ties into the
philosophy of evangelizing design to the world.
| | 01:55 | Can you talk a little bit about that?
| | 01:56 | Gabriela: Well, we want to make sure people
understand, not just designers, but everybody,
| | 02:03 | understands that we live with
design and we interact with design 24x7.
| | 02:08 | It's through bringing pieces
that are extremely well designed -
| | 02:13 | and by well designed, we mean not just pretty.
| | 02:16 | It's not just the aesthetics, but it's
really the way they work and how well
| | 02:21 | they met the design objectives
and the communication objectives -
| | 02:25 | it's really through great examples that
we can explain to the public and kind of
| | 02:30 | educate the public about what design
can do, in addition to make things pretty.
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| How AIGA empowers designers| 00:01 | Lynda Weinman: The gallery opening that night
was a huge success, and there were streams of
| | 00:04 | people coming in all night to
check out this year's exhibition.
| | 00:08 | It was a living example of how
sharing great work can stimulate creativity
| | 00:12 | and foster dialog;
| | 00:15 | however, there is so much more to AIGA
than just showing exemplar work at its
| | 00:19 | gallery in New York.
| | 00:21 | AIGA has many programs and initiatives,
at the national and international level,
| | 00:25 | to evangelize the importance of
design across a wide spread of different
| | 00:29 | industries and disciplines.
| | 00:31 | I was curious to learn more about their
programs that encourage the development
| | 00:35 | and the education of designers
at all levels of their careers.
| | 00:40 | So what are the primary goals of the AIGA?
| | 00:44 | Ric Grefe: The primary goals are
stimulating thinking about design, getting designers
| | 00:48 | excited about design again, but
also those who aren't designers.
| | 00:51 | The second goal is demonstrating the
value of design, which is about getting a
| | 00:56 | shared voice that
articulates how design creates value.
| | 00:59 | Lynda: Can you give us some examples where
design is in effect that people who are not
| | 01:06 | designers might not realize?
| | 01:08 | Ric: Oh, absolutely! I mean, how can we use
design in a way that is important to every individual
| | 01:12 | in their real life?
| | 01:13 | So there are two areas where we have
explored that, and I think that we can make
| | 01:17 | a significant impact.
| | 01:18 | In one area, it's in the civic
experience. And there, in our Design for Democracy
| | 01:24 | Initiative, almost the entire
experience between the government and the
| | 01:27 | governed is about asking
for, or giving, information.
| | 01:31 | Now, if we could simplify that process
so that we can make the complex clear and
| | 01:36 | get people to trust their government, it
would make a huge difference, in terms of
| | 01:39 | their involvement in civic experience.
| | 01:41 | Another area where many people don't
think about design first, but in fact, it
| | 01:47 | can make a huge impact, is in some of
the global problems that face people
| | 01:51 | around the world.
| | 01:53 | They can be the problems that the UN
had adopted as the Millennium Development
| | 01:56 | Goals about education, access to
clean water, child mortality, those sorts
| | 02:02 | of things, or they can be
common sense things that we worry about, whether
| | 02:06 | it's disease or hunger.
| | 02:10 | But in each of those cases, what's
significant about designers is that they can
| | 02:15 | take a look at a problem and they
start, not with the institution that's
| | 02:19 | providing the solution, but they start
with what the human need is, and they can
| | 02:24 | focus on what real people need.
| | 02:26 | They can take a look at a problem
and lay out many different options.
| | 02:30 | And then they can come up with
innovative solutions that may be high-concept
| | 02:33 | and low-cost.
| | 02:35 | We certainly have examples of that where
we have challenged every design college
| | 02:39 | in the world to assign a problem on
fresh water, which is called the Aspen
| | 02:43 | Design Challenge, and there are any
number of different examples where whether
| | 02:48 | it's in an impoverished county in the
United States, whether it's in the CDC's
| | 02:55 | concern about early warning systems on
disease, whether it's on issues of food
| | 03:02 | or finance, where designers come
up with really innovative solutions.
| | 03:06 | The third area, which is the
traditional professional association's role, is
| | 03:11 | empowering designers
across the arc of their career.
| | 03:14 | People at different points in their
career have different needs, and certainly
| | 03:17 | in the earlier stages of their career,
it's fundamental coping skills and
| | 03:21 | learning tools and techniques.
| | 03:24 | Then as they reach their late 20s,
early 30s, what becomes really important is
| | 03:28 | practice management.
| | 03:30 | Lynda: Business.
Ric: Business.
| | 03:31 | Ric: You are right.
| | 03:31 | At that point, they are starting to
think about, how do I commit a lifetime
| | 03:36 | to this practice?
| | 03:38 | The area that they frequently
aren't taught is the practice management,
| | 03:41 | the business skills.
| | 03:43 | We have got a relatively rich resource
on the Web now, the Center for Practice
| | 03:47 | Management, that includes resource materials.
| | 03:50 | Another element of that, which gets
at the heart of AIGA, is developing
| | 03:55 | professional standards, so that
they can be used with clients.
| | 03:59 | And that really says the membership in
AIGA gives a designer a mark as being a
| | 04:06 | professional who meets
certain professional standards,
| | 04:09 | critical in terms of the
relationship with clients.
| | 04:12 | So the professional
standards are part of that, as well.
| | 04:15 | And then the real challenge is
what do people need at later stages in
| | 04:19 | their career?
| | 04:20 | It's interesting that when we serve our
members, we find that they are looking
| | 04:25 | for mentors who are younger than they are.
| | 04:28 | Lynda: Circle of life.
Ric: It is.
| | 04:30 | That's right.
| | 04:30 | AIGA can provide that, where you can be
enriched at the beginning of your career
| | 04:34 | or at the end of your career, and
it's by doing it with each other.
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Act IIIHow AIGA archives design history| 00:00 | Lynda Weinman: An interesting aspect of AIGA,
that I had no idea existed, was shown to me by
| | 00:05 | former AIGA President Sean Adams,
| | 00:08 | when he took me down to the basement
of the National Design Center into the
| | 00:12 | Adams Morioka Archives vault that houses
materials from AIGA's extensive library
| | 00:17 | of design artifacts.
| | 00:19 | Lynda: I never knew.
Now is this what I see online?
| | 00:21 | Lynda: Is this the same design archive?
Sean Adams: This is.
| | 00:23 | Sean: When you see the picture online,
and it's this sort of beautifully well-put-together room.
| | 00:29 | It's been incredibly
organized by the AIGA staff.
| | 00:31 | They keep it beautifully, you know, all
the pieces in place, new things come in all the time.
| | 00:36 | It's incredible.
| | 00:37 | You just walk around the room, and
I mean, look at that. It's a Paul Rand, original.
| | 00:41 | Lynda: Wow! Oh, my gosh!
| | 00:43 | Sean: The scary thing, of course, is if we
were in Smithsonian, they would insist we
| | 00:48 | have like funny gloves on, but here
you can simply call and set up a time
| | 00:53 | and come in and--
| | 00:54 | Lynda: Oh so that's how the
archives are used is you can book time?
| | 00:57 | Sean: You can book time.
| | 00:58 | You can say, look, can I have a couple of hours?
| | 01:00 | I want to come, and I just
want to go through materials.
| | 01:03 | It ranges from something
like the piece that Rand did to
| | 01:05 | this beautiful cover I think
that Tom Geismar did, which is great.
| | 01:09 | Lynda: Wow, that's gorgeous.
| | 01:11 | Sean: I am going to so steal this idea.
| | 01:13 | Sean: It's a good one.
Lynda: It is!
| | 01:15 | Sean: It's not just like older stuff.
| | 01:19 | Sean: There is like Kit Hinrichs' fantastic book.
Lynda: I have that book. Yeah.
| | 01:22 | Sean: Which every designer should have.
| | 01:24 | Sean: And then these flat files back
here are filled with medalist materials.
| | 01:28 | Lynda: Oh, wow!
Sean: So every medalist that -
| | 01:31 | Lynda: Okay, well back up one second,
because what we're looking at is AIGA materials
| | 01:37 | Lynda: that were created for AIGA, right?
Sean: For AIGA, right.
| | 01:39 | Lynda: Whereas we have another design
archive, which is filled with the
| | 01:44 | Lynda: competition submissions.
Sean: Right.
| | 01:46 | Sean: So if you've submitted something,
then that's in that competition archives.
| | 01:51 | And then we kind of have a third
ancillary archive, which is of course the
| | 01:55 | AIGA Medal, which is the highest
honor that a designer can receive in their
| | 02:00 | entire profession.
| | 02:01 | Lynda: And we are going to
witness that at the Gala tonight.
| | 02:03 | We're going to see three new medalists.
| | 02:05 | Sean: Tonight, three new medalists,
inducted then to college and so those materials
| | 02:09 | when a medalist is chosen.
| | 02:10 | So when I call you, no doubt in the
very near future, and say Lynda, you
| | 02:15 | are getting the medal.
| | 02:17 | I would then say, could you send me materials?
| | 02:19 | You would send it to us, and
they'd end up in these flat files.
| | 02:22 | So that fictional 24-year-old student
from Nebraska could come here and open
| | 02:28 | it up and say --
| | 02:29 | Lynda: So how old are the oldest
pieces here in the archive do you think?
| | 02:33 | Sean: The medalist
program goes back over 80 years.
| | 02:38 | So we should in theory have some examples.
| | 02:42 | Obviously, now we are far more uptight
about maintaining the history than they
| | 02:48 | might have been in 1923.
| | 02:50 | When I think they just sort of
thought it was like, well, we're just
| | 02:52 | commercial artists.
| | 02:54 | I came across this the other day
which I thought was miraculous.
| | 02:58 | It's Deborah Sussman's work for
the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
| | 03:02 | Lynda: I totally remember those.
| | 03:03 | Sean: So beautiful, and
even the signage guidelines.
| | 03:06 | Lynda: The colors - that is so cool.
| | 03:08 | Sean: It's beautiful, and every drawer is
filled with like these incredible wonderful
| | 03:16 | pieces, and I needed then up to
Stefan Sagmeister's Jambalaya poster, the
| | 03:22 | chicken head cut off poster,
right next to Herbert Bayer original.
| | 03:26 | Lynda: It's so gorgeous.
| | 03:28 | Sean: It's just -- it's this wealth of
richness in here that you could spend a week
| | 03:33 | in here, and get the entire history of
design from the very best people doing
| | 03:39 | their very best work.
| | 03:40 | Lynda: Right.
| | 03:40 | Sean: You have to be at the top of your game.
| | 03:42 | You have to do your best work, because
you know that the work that you are doing
| | 03:46 | on something is going out to of course
all of your peers, and everyone you know.
| | 03:51 | So everything is racheted
up just that little bit more.
| | 03:55 | I think that's when why you find some
of these materials that are the most
| | 03:58 | beautiful incredible
things that -- I don't know.
| | 04:02 | I have a special love for all of it.
| | 04:03 | I know these archives so well,
and I just love looking at them and
| | 04:08 | finding things.
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| The future of AIGA| 00:01 | Lynda Weinman: After Sean's inspiring tour,
I was really excited to attend the AIGA Design
| | 00:06 | Legends Gala to get a chance to meet
and interact with fellow AIGA members.
| | 00:11 | This event is held every year and
brings members from all the local
| | 00:15 | chapters together for one night, to
honor inspiring designers with the
| | 00:19 | coveted AIGA Medal.
| | 00:21 | This year's honorees included
typographic master Doyle Young, book and record cover
| | 00:27 | designer Carin Goldberg and
legendary film title designer Pablo Ferro.
| | 00:31 | Pablo Ferro: Because I tried to use that
letttering before and always got turned down.
| | 00:37 | After Stanley loved it,
then everybody loved it.
| | 00:41 | Lynda: It was such a treat to be
able to meet with so many interesting people and
| | 00:45 | honor these distinguished medalists.
| | 00:48 | The sense of community was astounding.
| | 00:50 | The broad spectrum of people I met made
me realize even more that the heart of
| | 00:55 | this organization is based around people
| | 00:58 | and providing an environment where they
can develop and thrive in all aspects of
| | 01:02 | their creative and professional lives.
| | 01:05 | It makes me very proud to be part of
such a wonderful organization at such an
| | 01:09 | interesting time in design evolution.
| | 01:10 | Debbie Millman: My hope and vision for the
future will be that no one will ever question what
| | 01:20 | type of design is
appropriate for members of AIGA.
| | 01:26 | Every type of design will be respected,
and every discipline of design will
| | 01:30 | be welcomed.
| | 01:31 | The other thing about AIGA that I
love is that there are so many amazing
| | 01:37 | designers working today that are
part of AIGA, and you kind of get inside
| | 01:41 | access to a lot of them.
| | 01:43 | You're suddenly in an environment
where you're surrounded by other designers,
| | 01:48 | some of which are less
experienced than you, some of which are more
| | 01:51 | experienced than you.
| | 01:52 | No matter where you're coming to the
organization, you're going to have that.
| | 01:54 | So it gives you the opportunity to
see the world from 360 degrees of all
| | 02:02 | different types of designers, at all
different places in their careers, and you
| | 02:06 | can learn from everybody,
not just people that are older.
| | 02:09 | You learn a lot from the
people that are younger.
| | 02:12 | So the older I get, the more
important it is for me to be able to really
| | 02:16 | listen to people that are just
coming into the organization, because I'm
| | 02:19 | learning from them every day.
| | 02:21 | Richard Grefe: The new mandate for AIGA is really
based on taking a look at the role that design
| | 02:28 | could play in the future.
| | 02:29 | We are approaching our centennial.
| | 02:32 | It seems appropriate at this point to
make sure that we have an institution that
| | 02:35 | responds to the younger generation
rather than the older generation.
| | 02:39 | There is so much change going on in society.
| | 02:42 | What is this world as they see it and
how can we empower them, because they're
| | 02:48 | the ones who will own the
institution and the profession going into the future?
| | 02:54 | So clearly we have to deal with the
issues of change in terms of the perception
| | 02:58 | of authority. Associations in the past
who were an authoritative voice, whether
| | 03:02 | it's on issues of design or
issues of professional practice.
| | 03:08 | Clearly, there has been a dispersion
of authority in a sense that every voice
| | 03:14 | counts in the newer generations.
| | 03:16 | I think that the association has to turn
itself on its head and realize that the
| | 03:21 | voice has to percolate up in the membership.
| | 03:25 | The association needs to finds a way to
simply channel what it hears and channel
| | 03:31 | where it authority lies.
| | 03:33 | There are no models out there.
| | 03:34 | What you do is you continue to try to
find those people who are looking at how
| | 03:41 | behavior is changing and how
organizations are changing.
| | 03:43 | And nobody has the answer, but they
certainly have a sense of what the dynamics are.
| | 03:47 | So that's actually the exciting part.
| | 03:50 | I mean, I actually look forward to
the change rather than find it daunting.
| | 03:55 | Sean Adams: I think that the population
is so much more design savvy than they were ten years ago.
| | 04:02 | Lynda: Ever have been.
| | 04:03 | Sean: Even have been, and ten years from
now it will be even more so, because of
| | 04:06 | course, anyone who has a kid now,
someone under ten, knows that you can ask your
| | 04:11 | child what Helvetica is, and they know.
| | 04:14 | And that certainly wasn't
the case when I was ten.
| | 04:17 | So I think a whole generation is
being raised designing things, using type
| | 04:21 | and image.
| | 04:22 | So it's ingrained into
their sense of communication.
| | 04:26 | I think to challenge then is
how do we maintain a community?
| | 04:30 | So, how do we keep all these
different mediums from splitting apart, and
| | 04:34 | becoming a million tiny tribes?
| | 04:38 | When we should be focusing and
allowing for differences, but at the same time
| | 04:42 | finding the values that tie
us together, and that bind us.
| | 04:45 | I actually think that's the
way we think as designers.
| | 04:49 | I think we think in a very unique way,
and regardless of whether you're working
| | 04:54 | online, or you're working in print,
or you're working in motion, we all have
| | 04:58 | the same sort of wacky thought
process to solve problems and get there.
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|
|
Bonus features & interviewsDesign 365 Gallery: Extended tour| 00:00 | Lynda Weinman: Okay so this
looks like the Packaging category?
| | 00:03 | Gabriela Mireasky: Yes, and the Packaging
category includes anything that has to do with
| | 00:07 | designing containers.
| | 00:08 | It can be designing containers for
gourmet products, for mass marketing or
| | 00:15 | really limited addition.
| | 00:17 | Lynda: Are people allowed to touch things?
| | 00:18 | Gabriela: Absolutely.
Lynda: Cool!
| | 00:19 | Gabriela: That's actually
a trademark of our show.
| | 00:22 | Sometimes you have to train people to
do this, because we are so used to not
| | 00:26 | touching when we go to a museum.
| | 00:26 | Lynda: Right.
| | 00:27 | Gabriela: But this is not a museum.
| | 00:29 | This is very hands-on.
| | 00:31 | Lynda: So these are limited
edition hair trimmings, very nice!
| | 00:35 | Gabriela: Yes, that's from Bumble and
Bumble who does a holiday-line every year, so
| | 00:41 | that's part of that.
Lynda: That's awesome.
| | 00:42 | Gabriela: That's another. Hand-made chocolates.
| | 00:46 | So you see how the packaging relates.
| | 00:50 | Lynda: It looks hand-made.
| | 00:51 | Gabriela: Right.
So it's letterpressed and done with a lot of --
| | 00:54 | Lynda: Looks like it's stitched.
| | 00:55 | Gabriela: It really reflects the qualities
of the product it contains, and that's one of
| | 01:01 | the criterion for being in the show.
| | 01:04 | Lynda: Here we are at another
category, Entertaining. What is this about?
| | 01:07 | Gabriela: Entertaining is about
work done to entertain the audience.
| | 01:13 | It's not for the entertainment industry.
| | 01:16 | Actually when we first started having
this category a couple of years ago
| | 01:20 | all of a sudden we received all this work
that was from the entertainment industry,
| | 01:24 | logos for HBO.
Lynda: Right.
| | 01:27 | Gabriela: That's not
entertaining. It might be for them.
| | 01:30 | But it's not what this is about.
| | 01:33 | This is a category where really the
only purpose is to make you have a good time.
| | 01:41 | So we have from animations.
| | 01:44 | We have some that was a
Christmas gift, for instance.
| | 01:48 | So again, the definition of
entertainment is not extremely strict.
| | 01:56 | Lynda: True!
| | 01:57 | Gabriela: But it's just things done for fun.
| | 02:00 | This is a great piece done by Stefan Sagmeister.
| | 02:04 | These are all little coins
that were sorted by color.
| | 02:07 | Lynda: Wow!
| | 02:08 | Gabriela: First by volunteers and then
Stefan had designed this, and they had this whole
| | 02:14 | bunch of volunteers putting them
together according to the grid on the floor.
| | 02:19 | Lynda: And you were telling me that
you give tours of the space and tell us a
| | 02:24 | little bit about that.
| | 02:26 | Gabriela: Yes, we actually have a lot of
student groups, both member student groups and
| | 02:30 | just groups of students who come to
New York to visit, and they are either
| | 02:36 | design students or interested in design.
| | 02:39 | So they call us. We have our Membership
Director who gives them a tour of the
| | 02:45 | whole building, explaining all the
pieces that we have in the building,
| | 02:48 | designed by a lot of people.
| | 02:51 | And then we do a tour of the
gallery, which is pretty much like this.
| | 02:57 | But we explain to the students what
design is, what AIGA does, what is the
| | 03:01 | importance of belonging to
a professional association.
| | 03:06 | All of the activities that we do
throughout the year and a little bit of
| | 03:10 | history, stuff like that.
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| Design 365 Gallery: Exhibition design| 00:00 | Lynda Weinman: Hi Mathew! I'm Lynda.
| | 00:02 | Matthew Moore: Hello Lynda!
| | 00:03 | I'm Matthew Moore. I'm Principal of
Hipbone Design and the exhibit designer of this space.
| | 00:07 | Lynda: Fantastic! Have you done other exhibit
designs for AIGA for this exact location?
| | 00:11 | Matthew: I have not done one for this exact
location, though I have seen many over here and in
| | 00:17 | doing so I saw many of issues that
I thought I could help them address.
| | 00:21 | Lynda: Excellent!
| | 00:22 | So talk to us a little bit about what
your goals were with the exhibit design?
| | 00:27 | Matthew: So our goals were to do something
that was sustainable and as carbon neutral
| | 00:34 | as possible, but mostly one of the
things it has not always worked for AIGA is
| | 00:38 | foot traffic.
| | 00:39 | So even though they have a great
space they have always been able to get people in.
| | 00:43 | So what we try to do is create
something that invited people into the space.
| | 00:46 | We have a bright green door that says
"Come in," as opposed to the gray steel door.
| | 00:51 | We've created a vista, pulling you in.
| | 00:53 | So visually we pull you in.
| | 00:55 | We've tried to use relatively
informal materials in interesting ways, and
| | 01:00 | we've created it so as you look in,
there are very specific things you can see
| | 01:04 | that give you hints,
| | 01:06 | a lot of hints that it's a
gallery, that it's public.
| | 01:09 | It's not something that you are not
allowed to come into but rather that you are
| | 01:12 | in fact invited into.
| | 01:14 | So judging actually by the number of
people who have tried to get in even before
| | 01:18 | the show is open it
seems like we are doing okay.
| | 01:20 | Lynda: It's a success.
| | 01:21 | Well, congratulations and beautiful job!
| | 01:24 | Matthew: Thank you!
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| AdamsMorioka Vault: Extended tour| 00:00 | Sean Adams: So for example I love this.
It's an Andy Warhol.
| | 00:04 | Lynda Weinman: No way!
| | 00:06 | Sean: Is that incredible?
| | 00:07 | I mean back, pre sort of Andy Warhol superstar.
| | 00:11 | When he really was an
illustrator, and asked to do these --
| | 00:15 | Lynda: Children's book.
| | 00:16 | Sean: Pieces and so he'd done this piece
for AIGA for about the children's books.
| | 00:19 | Lynda: Wow!
| | 00:20 | Sean: I have always loved this.
| | 00:24 | It's such a simple little piece by
Henry Wolf for the Paperbacks show.
| | 00:29 | Lynda: Wow!
Sean: Which is perfect.
| | 00:30 | It's paper. It's a back.
| | 00:31 | Lynda: And it's someone's
back, and it's torn, wow!
| | 00:33 | Sean: Yeah, just such a
smart combination of things.
| | 00:35 | Lynda: Yeah.
| | 00:36 | Sean: This one was designed by Ellen
Raskin in 1961 who is a remarkable women
| | 00:42 | designer, at a time when there really
weren't that many women in the industry.
| | 00:46 | Sean: And just beautiful work, and I
mean AIGA was the place where everyone was
| | 00:52 | given an opportunity, and everyone
was asked to be part of this community and
| | 00:56 | do the best work they could,
and promote excellence.
| | 00:59 | We go back to 1931.
| | 01:02 | This is the ninth annual exhibition for
the 50 Books show, which I don't know if
| | 01:07 | you know, but every year when we do the
50 Books/50 Covers show, that's almost a
| | 01:12 | 100-years-old as an exhibition.
| | 01:13 | Sean: So it truly is basically the
history of publishing in the United States.
| | 01:18 | Lynda: 1931.
| | 01:21 | Sean: Something I think actually I
think we designed this early on in our careers
| | 01:25 | in 1994 or something for sort of the
next iteration of this which was about
| | 01:30 | CDs and video.
| | 01:32 | Lynda: Well, what's so
extraordinary about this is it's all AIGA-focused.
| | 01:36 | And so in terms of the rights, clearlu
AIGA owns the rights to this material, and
| | 01:41 | that becomes so complicated in the digital age.
| | 01:44 | Sean: Right, exactly.
Oh, right.
| | 01:45 | Lynda: And it's so simple here, and
this is such an incredible archive--
| | 01:50 | Sean: Right. It was done by AIGA, which is
one of the wonderful things about the idea of
| | 01:54 | if we do this book.
| | 01:57 | How easy?
| | 01:58 | I've got the rights already here ready to go.
| | 02:00 | Lynda: Yeah, yeah.
So talk a little bit about the book project.
| | 02:02 | Sean: Well, the book, Steven Heller did a
wonderful history of AIGA about 15-20 years ago.
| | 02:09 | And it's a great little document, and
I've used it for years when I've either
| | 02:15 | gone out and spoken to chapters about the
history or talked to students of mine
| | 02:19 | about the history.
| | 02:20 | And I just realized we have all this
ephemera, all this material, and such an interesting
| | 02:27 | history, and beyond simply Henry
Wolf designed this beautiful thing,
| | 02:32 | there is wonderful anecdotes throughout the years --
Lynda: Yeah.
| | 02:35 | Sean: -- of things that happened, and who
did what, and how the profession was sort of
| | 02:39 | moved forward a long way.
| | 02:41 | And so I think this idea of doing a book
that's not only about the beauty of the
| | 02:47 | materials created, but
cataloging at the same time
| | 02:50 | what was happening societally.
| | 02:52 | Why did culture change and was AIGA
ahead of the curve, or behind the curve?
| | 02:56 | Lynda: Probably ahead.
| | 02:58 | Sean: Yeah, usually ahead.
| | 02:59 | I think we actually are usually ahead
which is pretty nice, but there is --
| | 03:03 | Lynda: Like here I see
computer. Is this April Greiman?
| | 03:06 | Sean: I am not sure that --
| | 03:07 | Lynda: But you know it looks like her work,
but anyway sort of the computer influence
| | 03:11 | of just on design even in the 1980s.
| | 03:14 | Sean: Right, yeah.
| | 03:15 | Lynda: This is a very new
concept, to show the pixels.
| | 03:18 | Sean: Yeah, exactly.
| | 03:19 | Like reveal the artifact and let
it allow it to be what it is.
| | 03:22 | And at the same time this piece
designed with just woodcut, and sort of
| | 03:30 | retracing back. I mean a sort
of Luddite concept at the time.
| | 03:34 | Sean: I especially always loved this.
| | 03:36 | I always loved this for such a sign of
the times, the love piece and graphic
| | 03:40 | communication piece from 1970.
| | 03:43 | If you ever have a chance to spend time
down here and just pull through things.
| | 03:48 | I mean just print ephemera, it's all organized,
very carefully and beautifully, and it's easy
| | 03:53 | to go through. I mean, Design Legends
Gala, which we're doing tonight of course.
| | 03:56 | Sean: Back to the first one which was in 2004.
| | 03:59 | Lynda: Wow!
| | 04:00 | Sean: And just keeping track of these
things, the original letter by Frederic
| | 04:04 | Goudy for when the
organization was incorporated in 1914.
| | 04:09 | Lynda: Unbelievable.
| | 04:10 | Sean: There is great stuff in here.
| | 04:11 | Lynda: Ah! Well, I can't wait to read
your book and have this material unearthed
| | 04:18 | for everyone.
| | 04:19 | Sean: Well, it will be great.
Don't wait too long.
| | 04:22 | It will take me awhile to write.
| | 04:23 | Lynda: Okay, don't hold my breath.
| | 04:24 | Sean: Yeah, it's a complicated long story.
Lynda: Oh, no kidding!
| | 04:26 | Sean: But we are going to get there, and
it's going to be -- I am so excited by that.
| | 04:30 | Lynda: Yeah, great project.
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| Doyald Young: AIGA Medalist interview| 00:01 | Lynda Weinman: So Doyland, I'm so glad that
you could join us, and congratulations on being
| | 00:05 | honored tonight at the AIGA
Gala and being a medalist.
| | 00:07 | Doyland Young: Thank you very much!
| | 00:10 | Lynda: Could you introduce
yourself to our audience?
| | 00:12 | Doyland: Well, I'm a teacher at Art Center.
| | 00:15 | I have been since 1955.
| | 00:18 | Tink Adams hired me, the founder of the school.
| | 00:19 | Lynda: Wow!
| | 00:20 | Doyland: I taught there until 1978 when I
took a hiatus and did a lot of work for Japan.
| | 00:28 | I came back in 1997 and have
been there off and on ever since.
| | 00:33 | Also in the meantime,
I started writing books in 1990.
| | 00:38 | My first book was called Logotypes &
Letterforms where I have 169 of my logos in it.
| | 00:44 | Once I got through with that, I started
writing a new one called Fonts & Logos,
| | 00:48 | which is all about typography, 75% typography.
| | 00:53 | What a letter truly is and how it's shaped.
| | 00:56 | Then once I got through with that, I
started writing another one, which is called
| | 01:02 | Dangerous Curves is my latest book.
| | 01:04 | Lynda: It's a great title.
| | 01:05 | Doyland: And it's now sold
in 30 different countries.
| | 01:09 | So I'm delighted about that, and
also during that time, an old friend, Tim
| | 01:15 | Needham of SMART Papers, said, Doyland,
would you like to do a book for us
| | 01:20 | with your work in it?
| | 01:21 | And he said there are about 40
pages from both of your books.
| | 01:25 | It turned out to be 90 pages, and
it's the world's most fancy book.
| | 01:31 | It's printed on outer edge folded sheets.
| | 01:35 | It's got six colors of foil in it,
four colors of engraving, three colors of
| | 01:41 | litho, three blind-embossed images,
and there is nine divided pages, and
| | 01:45 | it comes boxed, and we gave it away to
37 events of AIGA all over the country,
| | 01:51 | a tour that I did.
| | 01:53 | So that's what I do.
| | 01:54 | Lynda: Ah. So you've been involved with AIGA before?
| | 01:57 | Doyland: Yes, probably for 10-12 years.
| | 02:00 | Lynda: What does AIGA mean to you?
| | 02:03 | Doyland: Well, AIGA really has great
focus on education, and it's a great aid for
| | 02:10 | students, for teachers, for designers,
and for the business world at large.
| | 02:17 | Lynda: With everything moving into the
digital age so rapidly, a lot of this is
| | 02:24 | becoming a lost art, but how do you
think that people in the future will have
| | 02:28 | an appreciation for the
art and craft of type design?
| | 02:32 | Doyland: Someone must draw a font to begin with.
| | 02:37 | It all starts with drawing, no matter
how you draw it, whether it's with the
| | 02:42 | pencil or with the cursor.
| | 02:44 | But before you do that, don't you have
to have some understanding of what the
| | 02:50 | letter form is and what a font does?
| | 02:52 | Lynda: You would think.
| | 02:54 | Doyland: Yes, so you have to bring
that knowledge to a font design program.
| | 03:00 | Hermann Zapf, my great hero, says,
spend 600 hours on the board then go to your computer.
| | 03:07 | Lynda: Wow!
| | 03:08 | Doyland: I think that I am blessed that I
can draw a letter quickly and then scan it
| | 03:14 | and then digitize it.
| | 03:16 | Did you ever start trying to
digitize a letter without a drawing?
| | 03:20 | It takes a lot of time to do all of that.
| | 03:22 | Lynda: To clean it up.
Doyland: Yes, of course.
| | 03:24 | Lynda: Are there any other resources
that you would recommend to up and coming type
| | 03:28 | designers or people
interested in learning more about type?
| | 03:30 | Doyland: Well, there's
always the history of type.
| | 03:34 | There is the great classic one, which
is written by Daniel Berkeley Updike in
| | 03:40 | 1923, and it's called Type
Forms, Their History and Usage.
| | 03:45 | And it's a two volume book, and it's
really the history of classical types.
| | 03:52 | That gives you really a great background.
| | 03:55 | Nothing is original these days.
| | 03:57 | It's all been done before, and what we
are really doing is redrawing the past
| | 04:04 | with our aesthetic applied to it.
| | 04:06 | Lynda: Well, it is indeed an honor to get
to meet you, and I'm so grateful that you
| | 04:12 | came and spoke with us
and congratulations again.
| | 04:14 | Doyland: Well, thank you very much. Okay.
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| Carin Goldberg: AIGA Medalist interview| 00:01 | Lynda Weinman: Hi Karen!
| | 00:02 | Thank you so much for joining us and
congratulations on being a medalist.
| | 00:05 | Karen Goldberg: Oh, it's fantastic!
| | 00:07 | Lynda: Could you introduce
yourself to our audience?
| | 00:09 | Karen: My name is Karen Goldberg.
| | 00:11 | And I've been a graphic designer since
I graduated from Cooper Union in 1975.
| | 00:18 | My first job was at CBS Records.
| | 00:21 | No, that's not true.
| | 00:23 | My first job was at CBS Television,
and it was really there that I was
| | 00:29 | introduced to what it was to
work with pros and to be around the best
| | 00:36 | people possible.
| | 00:38 | And it was in the 70s when CBS
Television was really the place to be.
| | 00:42 | When I left CBS Television,
I moved on to CBS Records.
| | 00:48 | It's really where I think my whole
life changed, my whole perception of
| | 00:55 | design exploded.
| | 00:56 | And then from there, I think
I'd had enough of corporate life.
| | 01:02 | I mean I've said this so many times
in so many interviews, but it's really the truth.
| | 01:06 | So I went in and started my own studio.
| | 01:09 | It seemed like the logical move to do,
to go from record covers to book
| | 01:13 | jackets, and frankly, that was the
work that was out there for a freelance
| | 01:16 | person like me.
| | 01:17 | I've still done record covers as an independent.
| | 01:20 | I actually did Madonna's cover which was,
looking back on it, now it's kind of
| | 01:26 | bizarre because who knew?
| | 01:28 | What's a Madonna?
| | 01:29 | You know I mean --
| | 01:30 | Lynda: Oh, it's before she
was -- it was her first --
| | 01:31 | Karen: It was her first cover, first album.
| | 01:35 | So there were things that I had done
outside of CBS Records, but really the lion's share
| | 01:41 | of a lot of my work for
many years were book jackets.
| | 01:45 | And I also think that book jackets
were under the radar. As soon as they --
| | 01:49 | anything, anything, whether it's
record covers, book jackets, whatever you're
| | 01:51 | doing, as soon as it becomes trendy
or chic or sexy to do them, eh, it's over
| | 01:58 | to some degree.
| | 02:00 | Then everybody is watching.
| | 02:01 | There are too many cooks, too many
people at meetings, too many people with
| | 02:06 | opinions, and then you kind of have to
move on to the next thin, the under
| | 02:09 | the radar thing, which is
hard to find, not always easy.
| | 02:14 | I think that I was lucky.
Right place, right time.
| | 02:18 | Lynda: And talented.
| | 02:19 | Karen: Yeah, I mean hopefully, but I
think that it is about really just curiosity,
| | 02:27 | wanting to do it, just genuinely
wanting to learn, and to be in love with
| | 02:33 | the challenge and to be in love with
design and art, and not think of it as
| | 02:39 | two separate entities.
| | 02:40 | And it's just I liked being there.
| | 02:43 | And I still do, and I search all the
time for that next inspiring, motivating --
| | 02:51 | Lynda: Project.
| | 02:53 | Karen: -- project or group of people or --
| | 02:55 | Lynda: Challenge.
| | 02:56 | Karen: Yeah, which is few and far
between, frankly, and not only because I'm older
| | 03:01 | and wiser and established,
but because times have changed.
| | 03:06 | And I do think that I really was at the
right place at the right time with the
| | 03:12 | right energy, the right interest, or
curiosity, or fire in my belly, or whatever
| | 03:19 | you want to call it.
| | 03:21 | One of the things about book jacket
design and especially because I was doing
| | 03:25 | so many books, I was doing like 45
books a list, sometimes three and four times a year.
| | 03:30 | Lynda: Wow!
| | 03:31 | Karen: That it really was like being an
artist in a studio, where you were really
| | 03:36 | working not only on individual covers,
but you were really working on a
| | 03:40 | body of work where you could make a mistake.
| | 03:45 | You could make a clunker, but you knew
that you had the opportunity to make five more
| | 03:50 | and five more after that, and now
when I have little things here and there,
| | 03:56 | or I don't have this constant flow,
I get really frustrated and I'm not happy.
| | 04:01 | I'm spoiled.
| | 04:04 | It's like sitting in first class.
| | 04:06 | You can't sit in coach anymore, and
when you've had that opportunity, you want more.
| | 04:12 | It's just -- it tastes too good.
| | 04:15 | That's one of the things that I think
few young designers, or maybe designers
| | 04:19 | in general, I don't know,
don't have these days.
| | 04:21 | Lynda: Why do you think today it's
less possible than it was before?
| | 04:26 | Karen: It was a much smaller world
then, and there were fewer people.
| | 04:30 | And I was just one of those fewer
people and you're kind of discovered,
| | 04:35 | you know.
| | 04:36 | Lynda: What role did AIGA play in your career?
| | 04:39 | Karen: For me, AIGA is it, and this is
why getting this award is so amazing for me
| | 04:45 | because this is the one I've always wanted.
| | 04:48 | This is it.
| | 04:49 | This is the Oscar of graphic
design, and I did get a call.
| | 04:55 | I guess it was in like the year 2000.
| | 04:57 | Janet Froelich was president of
AIGA chapter, she called me up.
| | 05:01 | She said, "Would you like to be on the board?"
| | 05:04 | And I went, "No. I don't do boards," and she said,
| | 05:07 | "Oh! Come on!"
| | 05:08 | And I said, "No, leave me
alone," basically. Like click.
| | 05:12 | And then she faxed to me the list of
people who were going to be on that board
| | 05:16 | that year coming up, and it was just a
list of people that I either wanted to
| | 05:22 | become friends with, didn't know well,
but wanted to be know them better, people
| | 05:28 | I admire, and I thought, "this is nuts."
| | 05:30 | I'm doing this.
| | 05:31 | We had a ball, and I like tasks.
| | 05:36 | I like to bite right into something.
| | 05:39 | Even though I think I don't, when
you give me the challenge I do it a zillion percent.
| | 05:45 | So I was very active.
| | 05:47 | And then two years, there was a gap of
two years when Alex Isley was president,
| | 05:51 | and then Alex asked me to be president,
and I wanted the job because I was very,
| | 05:59 | at that point, entrenched and I had a
lot of ideas and I really wanted to do it,
| | 06:07 | and I did it and it was
absolutely everything and more.
| | 06:12 | I really love the organization
because when it's good, it's great.
| | 06:16 | Lynda: Yeah, it's really kind of an
honor to be a part of it and to be able to
| | 06:23 | influence people and give back and
share and inspire and educate and all the
| | 06:28 | great things that --
| | 06:29 | Karen: It is.
| | 06:29 | It's a very holistic way
of approaching what we do.
| | 06:35 | The most important part of being a
president of AIGA, in the chapter, was to bring
| | 06:42 | in the notion of inclusivity.
| | 06:45 | I wanted members to feel like they mattered.
| | 06:48 | Lynda: Well, I know, on behalf of everybody,
congratulations again, on being a medalist and--
| | 06:52 | Karen: Thank you!
| | 06:54 | I can't think of anything more fantastic! Really!
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| Pablo Ferro: AIGA Medalist interview| 00:01 | Lynda Weinman: Pablo, thank you so much for
joining us and congratulations on your 2009 AIGA
| | 00:06 | medal, a very great honor.
| | 00:08 | Pablo Ferro: Oh, thank you!
| | 00:09 | Lynda: What did the award mean to you?
| | 00:10 | Pablo: I'm so happy that they are able to
recognize artists all over the world, and I
| | 00:18 | think that's a great thing to do, because
artists like Vincent van Gogh never got
| | 00:25 | appreciated and he was great.
| | 00:27 | Lynda: So true.
Pablo: Yeah.
| | 00:29 | Lynda: Have you been recognized very often?
| | 00:32 | I mean is this happening to you
more-and-more later in life or has it
| | 00:36 | always been the case?
| | 00:37 | Pablo: It's been happening since I
went into the industry, in the 50s.
| | 00:41 | Strangely, you know, when I was going
to high school, I picked up a Preston
| | 00:45 | Blair book to know how to animate, and
I shot my own little film to show how I animate.
| | 00:52 | So when I went to the animation studio
with the commercial, they didn't want to
| | 00:57 | see anything that I did, and they
said, have you got anything else?
| | 01:01 | So I pulled out a comic book that I did
with real design, real people, which I
| | 01:09 | was challenged to by my students
saying that I only could draw a cartoon.
| | 01:15 | I said I could draw the other stuff too.
| | 01:18 | So they looked at that, and
they said, did you do the inking?
| | 01:22 | I said I did the writing,
the pencil, the inking.
| | 01:24 | They said, okay, you're hired.
| | 01:26 | And I went into the ink and paint department.
| | 01:28 | But I showed Stan Lee the comic
book that I did, and the ending was too
| | 01:35 | shocking for him.
| | 01:37 | He said he couldn't print that.
| | 01:39 | But will I illustrate
some for him? I said sure.
| | 01:42 | But my interest wasn't
really in doing realistic comics;
| | 01:48 | it was more in motion.
| | 01:50 | But I did three stories for him, and I
took the money and I bought equipment
| | 01:56 | to do animation.
| | 01:58 | Lynda: What cinematic
styles are you most known for?
| | 02:02 | And talk about how you came
up with them and what they are.
| | 02:05 | Pablo: Being an animator, that's 24 frames
per second and that taught me about movement
| | 02:16 | and I put that experience into still
photography which -- that's the first time I
| | 02:23 | used the quick cut. I made a still photograph
looked like it was live, in the movement and
| | 02:29 | quick cutting to it, in the animation
stand. Then I took that stuff further and
| | 02:35 | I started doing it with topography,
then I started doing with live action.
| | 02:40 | And that's when it became very popular,
when I did it with live action, because all
| | 02:45 | the commercials, which mainly shot live.
| | 02:47 | So that's when they took off.
| | 02:50 | And I was able to take a minute spot
and make it into 30 seconds, which I did
| | 02:57 | for England. England had 30
seconds; they didn't have minute spots.
| | 03:00 | So then America then became 30
seconds, no more minute spots.
| | 03:05 | Lynda: So how did you migrate a career
from working in advertising into working on
| | 03:10 | feature films with someone like Stanley Kubrick?
| | 03:12 | Pablo: Well Stanley, he saw my
commercials and he liked the style.
| | 03:17 | It was completely different than
he has never seen before.
| | 03:22 | Then he called me up to meet him
because he wanted me to do the trailer for
| | 03:28 | Strangelove, he wanted that style.
| | 03:30 | And of course he
being such a charming person,
| | 03:36 | he talked me into staying there for
about seven months, working in the movie,
| | 03:42 | because he had other ideas for me. Not just
the trailer, which I didn't realize until I
| | 03:46 | started working with him.
| | 03:48 | Well, Stanley is a wonderful person and
very caring and he cares about you and
| | 03:58 | he likes-- like me he likes to work.
| | 04:02 | So when I first met him it was easy.
And I heard people complaining about him,
| | 04:08 | but I said I never saw it.
| | 04:10 | People don't like to change things
because sometimes we work on an idea and
| | 04:16 | we put it together and we clayed it,
and we look at it and said, "That's not such a good idea."
| | 04:22 | "Let's change it," and then
we go through and change it.
| | 04:25 | Lynda: So, you've been an innovator in so
many different ways throughout your career,
| | 04:32 | and it seems like almost every project
that you do, you have a very original
| | 04:36 | kind of perspective and
original flavor that you bring to it.
| | 04:41 | Where do you get your inspiration and
why do you think you have been able to
| | 04:45 | constantly work outside the box like that.
| | 04:48 | Pablo: Well, I am not afraid to make a
mistake, because usually the mistakes are really
| | 04:53 | the best things that could happen to you.
| | 04:56 | You just have to
recognize it and think positive.
| | 05:01 | Because we all make mistakes
| | 05:03 | when we get involved in doing things.
So you have to pay attention to those.
| | 05:08 | Don't throw them away.
| | 05:12 | To me, I always like to do something
different that I haven't done before.
| | 05:17 | Lynda: It's great advice about making a mistake.
| | 05:21 | I think a lot of people get very --
they might get successful at one style and
| | 05:26 | then kind of stay stuck in that style,
but that's never been in your career.
| | 05:30 | Pablo: No, I have to have fun.
| | 05:32 | If it's not fun, I'm not
interested in doing it and repeating myself,
| | 05:36 | it's not a fun.
| | 05:38 | Lynda: Exactly.
| | 05:40 | Do you have any advice for young
people who are starting out -- young or old
| | 05:44 | people who are starting out today?
| | 05:46 | I mean, you can start out at
any age, which is the beauty of --
| | 05:49 | Pablo: Oh yeah.
Lynda: -- the arts, but --?
| | 05:51 | Pablo: Right, well, one thing is that,
like children, like my son Allen, they
| | 05:57 | always start --
| | 05:58 | They draw in the beginning,
but they stop after a while.
| | 06:04 | I never stop, so I think whatever
you like to do, don't stop doing it.
| | 06:12 | Because it's going to get you
places that you couldn't imagine you would be in.
| | 06:18 | Like myself, I remember in the 60s
I would be listening to the Rolling Stones.
| | 06:23 | I never thought that
I will do a movie with them.
| | 06:27 | Lynda: Wow! That's right.
| | 06:30 | Pablo: And there I am talking
to Mick Jagger and all that.
| | 06:32 | So this is amazing, and
a filmmaker like Stanley Kuberick.
| | 06:41 | To me, it's still a mystery that I
still enjoy because I don't know what's coming next.
| | 06:47 | Lynda: That's the best
advice at all. Do what you love.
| | 06:50 | Pablo: Yeah, because when you come up
with an idea that nobody has seen before,
| | 06:57 | it's quite a feeling.
| | 06:59 | Lynda: You sound like you've always
experimented with different setups and mediums and
| | 07:04 | media, but do you utilize computer
technology at all with your work now?
| | 07:10 | Pablo: Oh yeah, yes, my son and I'd --
he has been working with me since the 80s.
| | 07:16 | We work together on and
off and things like that.
| | 07:21 | Well, with me the money that I make,
the same thing I did with comic book
| | 07:27 | for Stan Lee.
| | 07:28 | I take that money and I buy whatever
new equipment is there. Every new machine
| | 07:35 | I usually have.
| | 07:37 | Lynda: It doesn't surprise me! And
before we close, tell us about the red scarf.
| | 07:43 | Pablo: Well, originally it came in the 60s
where New York City was very cold and
| | 07:52 | a friend of mine, she knitted one of
them for me. It was a longer one, and I liked it.
| | 08:00 | Quite a lot and I have
never taken it off since then.
| | 08:04 | Even my sister, she is very good in
crocheting, she made a whole bunch of
| | 08:09 | them for me. So I have --
| | 08:11 | Lynda: So you have a wardrobe of them.
| | 08:12 | Pablo: Yeah.
Lynda: Interesting!
| | 08:14 | Pablo: If I want to wear a
wider one, I have a wider one.
| | 08:17 | If I want to wear a longer one, I wear
a longer one and I wrap it around.
| | 08:20 | Lynda: Well, thank you so much for being
part of this interview and congratulations
| | 08:24 | again on your award.
| | 08:25 | Pablo: Oh, thank you. It's my pleasure.
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