a nod to the architectural past—community service in the present

Bus Stop Project | Sioux City Transit
Design-Build Studio:
Instructor Jason Griffiths, Iowa State University, 2007. Jon Dykstra, Design Team Leader and Dordt class of 2006. Pictured is the bus stop location at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Jennings (Mercy Medical Center), Sioux City, Iowa. Photograph by versluis © 2010.

From his portfolio Dykstra states:

This project was a cooperative effort between ten students and the city of Sioux City, Iowa where I took the lead as project manager to design and manufacture two new bus stops. My involvement was assembly and installment of the steel structure.

The formal quality of the bus stop is a narrative of the disappearance of the buildings in Sioux City. The intent is to resurrect this memory on smaller scale bringing together the traditional, industrial, and architectural character of the city. The four generative design elements are distinct associations of the city.”

Jon is currently an Intern Architect at Neumann Monson Wictor Architects in Sioux City. Dykstra’s title is Junior Architect.

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Quotations on creativity—Pablo Picasso

Picasso at La Californie, Cannes, France (1957; platinum/palladium print, 1974). Photographic portrait by Irving Penn. Courtesy of the Resource Library.

“When one begins a picture, one often discovers fine things. One ought to beware of these, destroy one’s picture, recreate it many times. On each destruction of a beautiful line, the artist does not suppress it, to tell the truth; rather he transforms it, condenses it, makes it more substantial. The issue is the result of rejected discoveries. Otherwise one becomes one’s own admirer. I sell myself nothing!” —Picasso

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Erik Rodne of HenkinSchultz—visiting designer at Dordt—will be here this Wednesday

Pomp and circumstance(s)

The AIGA Dordt College Student Group is very pleased to announce that our first visiting designer this year is Erik Rodne. Erik is currently a graphic designer (print + web) for HenkinSchultz Communication Arts in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He has won several awards for his design work.

Erik will be visiting this Wednesday September 22, 2010.

His evening presentation is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. in CL1223 and he’ll focus on the AIGA South Dakota and about his design practice. All those interested are invited to attend. In addition, Erik will a visiting designer/guest critic for the graphic design I class that afternoon. Those interested can stop by anytime between 12 noon to 1:50 p.m. in CL1310.

Erik describes himself as an honest, hard-working designer who effectively crafts visual solutions for print and web projects. He’s a strong proponent of developing a project brief to help further define the target, primary message and success of each project.

Rodne says, “More than type and image the spirit of graphic design is carried through this century in the craftsmanship of ideas. And as I craft my future I envision daily creative challenges met with outstanding visual solutions. I am interested in the skillful, the masterly, the articulate designs; I seek further insight into the essence of creative virtuosity and to further develop my own pneuma. Most all areas of this trade excite me especially typography and the creation of typefaces. Through a myriad of expressive possibilities coupled with precise attention to detail and craftsmanship I enjoy discovering that altogether higher level in the art of communication and public service.”

Erik is a 2008 alumnus of South Dakota State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design and a minor in Computer Science.

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going for the “easy idea” and “referencing” without attribution.

Viewed clockwise top left to right—

Image source: Duchamp, Marcel. Self-Portrait in Profile. c.1958/c.1960s. By Lara Shirvinski. New York: Tout-Fait, the Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journ; Interviews, 2002. n.pag. Web. 16 Sept. 2010.

Note: Arturo Schwarz writes in his The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp that, “Occasionally Duchamp repeated this hand-torn collage, in a unique example, for friends, inscribed Marcel dechiravit pour… (followed by the name of the receiver).” Published by Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York. 1970. 532.

Image source: Glaser, Milton. Bob Dylan Poster. 1967. The National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC. Web. 15 Sept. 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/3048848725/in/photostream/.

Image source: Frauenfelder, Mark. “Milton Glaser weighs in on Shepard Fairey’s Obama Hope poster.” boingboing. n.pag., 9 Feb. 2009. Web. 15 Sept. 2010.

The topic of Shepard Fairey’s use of an Associated Press photo of Barack Obama as a “reference” for his infamous 2008 poster has been discussed extensively in various media. However, I wanted to actually do a comparison by juxtaposing Duchamp’s self portrait, using the image from an academic source, and Milton Glaser’s vintage Dylan poster while also showing Fairey’s poster compared to the AP photograph. Obviously, in the Dylan poster Glaser was inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s 1958 self-portrait.

In an interview for Print Glaser was critical of Fairey’s poster for not going far enough to make it his own work. Here’s part of the interview:

… How does one distinguish between plagiarism and reference?

…For myself—this is subjective—I find the relationship between Fairey’s work and his sources discomforting. Nothing substantial has been added. In my own case, when I did the Dylan poster, I acknowledged using Duchamp’s profile as an influence. I think unless you’re modifying it and making it your own, you’re on very tenuous ground. It’s a dangerous example for students, if they see that appropriating people’s work is the path to success. Simply reproducing the work of others robs you of your imagination and form-making abilities. You’re not developing the muscularity you need to invent your own ideas.…

The crux of Glaser’s comments in Print is the notion of the “easy idea” and “referencing” without attribution. Glaser in critiquing Fairely’s poster makes a valid point when he states, “Simply reproducing the work of others robs you of your imagination and form-making abilities. You’re not developing the muscularity you need to invent your own ideas.” This general comment, particularly “developing muscularity” seems to be something that students and beginning graphic designers need to always consider simply as a matter of integrity.

For an alternative perspective to Glaser’s comments see Mark Frauenfelder’s piece in BoingBoing (read the interesting comments too).

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Letters as musical notation and tempo—Paul Standard

Calligraphic Salutations: Hermann Zapf's Letterheadings to Paul Standard
Cover and colophon. Images courtesy of R.I.T., Cary Graphic Arts Press.

“The change from italic into roman script is a change from dynamic to static, from movement to repose. An italic letter is written with as few pen-lifts as possible, its cursive nature demanding running or flowing strokes. A roman letter is an assembled affair, the strokes of the edged pen here building an upright letter in any convenient number and sequence of strokes. In structural style, italic is legato, bound or linked together as by advancing current; whereas the roman is marcato, incisively demarcated and composed of kindred elements. Like italic, the roman letter has its special rhythm, a rhythm firm yet placid and assured, but its vertical stance makes the roman letter proceed lento or adagio as against italic’s allegro.” —Paul Standard

Standard, Paul. Letter, Word and Page. New York: Cooper Union Art School, c.1956. N. pag. C.U.A.S., the Graphic Workshop Project of the Cooper Union Art School. Ser. 4. Print.

With special thanks to Mr. Stan Kaplan, Levittown, New York

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Quotations on creativity—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Image © 2010 iStockphoto, all rights reserved

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Authors, Famous Americans Issue, 1940

Postage stamp with cancellation mark
Denomination: 3¢
Medium: paper; ink (bright red violet) / engraving
U.S.A., Bureau of Engraving and Printing

“This power of imagination, the making of some familiar object, as fire or rain or a bucket or a shovel, do a new duty as an exponent of some truth or general law, bewitches and delights men. It is a taking of dead sticks and clothing them about with immortality; it is music out of creaking and groaning. All opaque things are transparent and the light of heaven struggles through.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson, Edward Waldo, and Waldo Emerson Forbes, eds. Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Vol. 9. Journal 51, 1860. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company and The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1913. 277-78. Google Books. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. (From journal entry titled “Imagination.”) [development of the “individual”]

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versatile and entrepreneurial—Leanne Shapton

Style & Design: The Design 100—Summer 2008 Supplement to TIME.
Editor: Kate Betts
Design Director: Henry Connell
Illustration: Leanne Shapton
Publisher: TIME
From the collection of David Versluis

On the cover for this supplement to TIME magazine is an illustration by Leanne Shapton. In this piece Shapton responds to and interprets a [“Tripods”] lamp (see below) by Finnish designer Janne Kyttänen, which he did for Freedom of Creation. According to the designer the lamp was inspired by the coneflower.

Especially noteworthy is that Leanne Shapton, a graphic designer, illustrator, and writer, was listed first in TIME's The Design 100, which featured “the people and ideas behind today’s most influential design.” The lead-in statement to The Design 100 showcase states: “Great design is no longer reserved solely for museum–worthy products, as multitasking designers turn their attention to everything from books to artisanal food, and from lighting to transportation.”

Editor Kate Betts states, “In the tradition of versatile designers, Canadian-born Shapton not only designs book covers (and, incidentally, the cover of this magazine) but also writes and illustrates books, including Was She Pretty?, a collection of stories published in 2006. A former art director for Toronto-based Saturday Night, Shapton now draws illustrations for magazines, designs textiles, paints and edits an imprint, J&L Books, specializing in art and photography books.”

Shapton’s drawings and graphic design consists of brush and ink on paper accompanied by hand lettered text. Each hand drawn illustration and images seems to convey a strong personal touch. Her images humanize and resonate organically with physical characteristics while utilizing digital technology production techniques.

It’s interesting that this optimistic issue was published in the summer 2008 and just a few months before the failure of some very large U.S. financial corporations that Fall. Perhaps as economic issues continue—we’d like to see a follow-up The Design 100 issue come out soon.

Table Light (610_Table)
Designer: Janne Kyttänen 2005
Color: (Shade/Base) White/Black
Shade material: Laser Sintered Polyamide
Pole material: Powder coated stainless steel

Product photograph

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