outsourcing. crowdsourcing. freesourcing.

Illustration courtesy of Wired.

Does this sound familiar?
1. Announce a design project as a contest for prize money (winner take all).
2. Wait for college graphic design teams to contribute proposals.
3. Select the best one.

To my knowledge, the graphic design curriculum at Dordt College has always allowed for doing actual client work in order to gain experience. Perhaps I rationalize that this is okay because most college graphic design programs do it, and besides, other than internships, what better way is there for students to both gain experience and build their portfolios? Almost all of the projects Dordt has developed have been for non-profit organizations. Such projects have resulted in genuine service and learning as well as gaining program notoriety. We currently have a waiting list of project requests. However, we also select only projects that fit certain pedagogical criteria.

When I was practicing full-time as a free-lance graphic designer I felt uneasy when clients used students for professional services. As an instructor, on the other hand, I understand when students tell me that they value the client based projects they have worked on. Whether paid or not, however, I’ve sensed that some students have had questions about the practice of fulfilling client commissions.

I think there can be a fine line between design contests, spec work, and pro bono projects. I’ve abided the AIGA stance on “spec” work and with the exception of a few pro bono projects I’ve never taken on these types of projects. I have done so in order to foster a professional standard in the industry.

In a recent piece titled AIGA’s Response to NEA’s Call for Logos David Airey, a brand identity designer, raises questions about design contests as spec work. The comments to Airey’s post are very interesting too. (Thanks to Jamin Ver Velde, a follower of this blog for alerting me to David Airey.com).

This is from the AIGA regarding “spec” work:

AIGA believes that a professional association should not be a monolithic authority releasing edicts for all to observe. Rather, the ethics of a profession should emerge from its members, reflecting the tacit agreement of a profession on behavior that is deemed appropriate, respectful and honorable. An association may articulate the implicit standards of integrity, but it does not set them. And as social, professional and business conditions change, it is important to restate positions so they are relevant to the context in which they will be applied — in this case, the AIGA’s position on spec work.

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Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage

Last summer, when Professor Roy Behrens’ ambitious book was published I asked our library to purchase a first edition, author-signed copy for Dordt’s collection. However, as soon as the book came in, out it went on inter-library loan to Virginia Tech University. Because the book has been on the road, it wasn’t until now that I’ve had a chance to read it.

Promotional copy from the publisher, Bobolink Books, states: “There is nothing else quite like this: The conclusion of 35 years of research, it features biographical articles on hundreds of artists, architects, stage designers, and zoologists—even automobile stylists and golf course planners—who contributed to military and/or natural camouflage in the 20th century. Enriched throughout by 344 illustrations, including photograph portraits, military photographs and documents, patent drawings, artworks and other images. It includes a comprehensive Camouflage Timeline, a 38-page bibliography of camouflage research sources, and in index.”

In high school I spent a lot of time in the library and found a book that interestingly described how some renowned artists during World War I painted designs on aircraft and artillery. A year later with a low draft number, a 1A classification and a freshman in college… I waited to be called-up for induction and military basic training. I thought that with my artistic ability perhaps I could paint camouflage for the Army rather than combat. Fortunately, the draft ended in early 1973.

Admittedly, I’ve been somewhat reluctant to get completely on board with the subject of camouflage, mainly because it brings me back to a time when I played army as a kid and frankly I find the military connotation to be disconcerting as well as making me think of the so-called Patriots on weekend training camps in the Michigan woods. On the other hand, the way living creatures in nature utilize protective coloring mimicry and body under-shading and background picturing is absolutely fascinating. This compendium conveys Behrens’ interest in camouflage like a naturalist studying the created world. For Behrens the import of studying camouflage is a thesis for how art and design communicates. In other words, what is the psychological impact of patterns, color, values, emphasis, scale, and space as the basis for visual language?

As is the case with Behrens’ other books, the “side bars” are always interesting and entertaining reading. In addition, one my favorite items is the camouflage “styles” and concordance listings.

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Thinking About “Things” — Tuesday, March 2, An Evening With Philosopher, Mark Tazelaar

Photograph by Paul Hanaoka

An open AIGA Dordt College Student Group Event:
In 1960, for his piece titled Pilgrim, artist Robert Rauschenberg literally combined a chair with a painting in a way that challenges our assumptions about art. Was Rauschenberg negating the traditional dichotomy between the design of ordinary objects and fine art? Does Rauschenberg’s piece compel us to think about the function and meaning of things in a different way?

To help us sort through these questions we’ve asked Dordt philosophy professor Mark Tazelaar to be our guest presenter/facilitator. The event will be on Tuesday evening, March 2 at 7 pm. in the art department studio CL1223. Professor Tazelaar will lead us in discussion of philosopher Martin Heidegger’s (1889-1976) views about the nature of objects and things.

According to Professor Tazelaar:

“Heidegger talks about ‘things’ in many essays and lectures, from his earliest lectures in the early 20s to his final seminars in the 60s. The things he interprets are familiar, everyday things like tables, hammers, shoes, bridges, and jugs (It may sound odd to hear ‘interpreting a hammer or table’ — or maybe not. Artists and designers will probably have a better sense for the appropriateness of that word than a natural or social scientist will. In any case, I’ll have to talk a bit about that too.). In short, there is a wealth of material to draw upon. I'll restrict myself for the most part to two essays by Heidegger: ‘The Thing’ and ‘Building Dwelling Thinking.’ In these essays he talks a lot about the nature of a thing, focusing on jugs and bridges. Whether or not you agree with Heidegger, I can almost guarantee that you will not think about bridges, tables, jugs and milk cartons in the same way as you did before.”

All art, graphic design, pre-architecture, engineering, and philosophy students are encouraged to attend this event.

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A day with Kent McCuddin — Thursday, February 25

Kent McCuddin considers himself to be problem solver.

As a guest speaker and presenter, he encourages others to use creative intelligence and divergent thinking to solve problems and find better ways to accomplish bigger and better things.

On Thursday, February 25, he’ll be sharing insights with students and guests at Dordt College, hosted by Dordt’s AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) student group.

“The Creative Process to Developing Ideas” will be presented by McCuddin at 9:25 a.m. on Thursday in the Science and Technology Center, classroom SB108. At 2 p.m. he’ll explain methods of tapping into creative intelligence with the topic, “Divergent Thinking,” in lecture hall SB101. The public is welcome to attend both of these lectures.

Kent McCuddin is marketing manager in the Consumer Communications division of Wells’ Dairy Inc., Blue Bunny, based in Le Mars. He has extensive management experience in retail marketing communications, with expertise in art direction and as director of creative services. He serves the company in branding, advertising, SBU (Strategic Business Unit) communications, customer marketing, social and interactive media.

McCuddin will also speak to graphic design and marketing management classes during his day as guest speaker at the college.

Itinerary for Thursday, February 25:

8:00 am.
Marketing Management Class (including e-marketing students) in room CA 319
Topic: Social Media and how it applies to business.

9:25 am.
AIGA student group open event in room SB 108
Topic: The creative process to developing ideas.

11:00 am.
Lunch with students

12:25 p.m.
Graphic Design II in room CL 1310
Topic: History of graphic design.

2:00 p.m.
AIGA student group open event in room SB 101
Topic: Divergent thinking (tapping into Creative Intelligence to make ideas bigger and better).

McCuddin writes the following:

The magic is in the field philosophy.

Creativity is a matter of preparation and experience over genetically produced ideas. Creativity falls in the same category that Thomas Edison talked about when he said, “Genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.” 90 percent of the creative process is done before you start to generate ideas. Many times the only part of the creative process anyone ever notices is the final product and they assume you just thought it up. Short and sweet, wham, you’re a genius. The reality is it takes hard work to be that creative genius.

If you were to draw a line on a piece of paper to visualize the creative process timeline, you would need to draw a long line not a short line. The first 90 percent is prep time and the last 10 percent is idea generation.

Gordon MacKenzie best illustrated this process with a story about dairy cows. “Imagine dairy cows in a field eating grass. It may not look like much, but that field is where the magic happens, turning grass into milk. Not until the cows get in the barn do you ever see the product, milk. You can’t continually milk the cows and expect to get the same quantity and quality of milk with each milking. That cow needs to spend 90 percent of their time in the field hanging around eating grass before they can deliver their milk.”

The creative person needs time in the field before they can make their magic happen. They must first fill their brains with information, have time to process that information then they can start generating creative ideas. This information gathering may come from years of experience or one meeting to review a creative brief. But it must happen.

So the next time you see a glass of milk, remember, the magic happened in the field not the barn.

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Dordt Alumni in Design: Paul Ten Haken

My post-Dordt journey started in 2000 after graduating with a graphic design degree. I moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and worked for two dot-com startups right out of the gate. Two years and two failed ventures later, I had learned some valuable lessons about life, business ethics, and how to unsuccessfully run a small business.

I took a job with an interactive development shop called Electric Pulp as a project manager and absolutely loved it. It was here that I decided the online space was my ideal fit. I ended up getting my MBA realizing that I was moving away from design and more into the “business” of marketing. It was also during that time I moved into the healthcare marketing field, anxious for the opportunity to combine online/offline strategy into a cohesive effort.

After spending three years at Sanford Health managing their online efforts, I realized there was a significant lack of knowledge in the marketplace on how businesses could effectively utilize the web. A gaping void existed in our marketplace for an online strategy firm. After much prayer and consideration, I started Click Rain, Inc. — an online marketing firm – and have never looked back.
Click Rain helps organizations understand digital strategies and how to properly apply them to their core business. We like to say we help businesses market smarter. Traditional media is dying a slow death. That’s not a biased statement from an online marketing guy… it’s fact. Unfortunately, many businesses are slow to respond to this technographic shift. Our services – things like web development, search engine marketing, social media strategies, email, and mobile technologies – provide tangible ROI that demonstrate the value of a polished online game. That sounds really “salesy”, I suppose. But that’s what makes online marketing so great – the trackable, traceable nature of it.

Click Rain does a lot of work in the political arena and is currently entrenched in several heated races for 2010, including a U.S. Senate race in Kentucky that is getting national attention. We’re also doing work in financial services, healthcare, and hospitality, to name a few. You can view some of our client work here.

While my graphic design chops are pretty rusty, I do break them out on occasion when duty calls. I designed the Click Rain identity, but have since relied on the much more talented design skills of my team for our interactive design work. My day is spent more on the operations of a small business, business development functions, and managing the online strategies for our larger client accounts.

While I wasn’t sure where my graphic design degree would take me in 2000, I am thankful to have a design background when dealing with my staff and clients. I am also appreciative of the moral base instilled during my time at Dordt, which has helped me through some difficult business choices and created the foundation for my decision-making framework today.

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The time I asked Jay Doblin a question.

Mr. Jay Doblin was a professor at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and served as director of the Institute of Design for many years. One of his writings can be found in Dordt’s library, a book titled Perspective: A New System for Designers, published in 1955, fifth printing 1966.

Permit me tell you about the time I had the privilege to speak briefly with renowned industrial designer Jay Doblin (1920-1989). In 1983, the Society of Typographic Arts (STA) sponsored a conference, in Chicago, for design educators at the Illinois Institute of Technology and held in S.R. Crown Hall. On a superb October Saturday the conference was like a garden party with an impressive guest list of Who’s Who in design education. Sectional facilitators included Katherine McCoy, Gordon Salchow, Victor Margolin, Patrick Whitney, Dale Fahnstrom, and Michael McCoy. Conference attendance was not large and it was a small gathering for each breakout session. Jay Doblin, a dean of design educators, was the keynote speaker.

Doblin encouraged the audience to think of design education as fostering cultural transformation. He supported his thesis with a case history and discussion of the work of architect Ben Thompson. As he spoke he seemed to assume that we all knew who Ben Thompson was. Later, I was able to meet Doblin and I asked the question, “Who is Ben Thompson?” Doblin seemed embarrassed that I asked the question and went on to describe Thompson as a friend.

Thompson passed away in 2002 at the age of 84. And as stated in his obituary:

Benjamin C. Thompson, an architect whose exuberant re-creation of Faneuil Hall in Boston inspired festival marketplaces around the country and whose Design Research International stores have influenced home furnishings to this day. Conventional boundaries were not part of Mr. Thompson’s practice, for he was just as much an advocate as an architect of vital cities, human commerce, lively design and good eating.

‘For art to be part of our life we must live with it, not just go to museums,’ Mr. Thompson said in a 1963 interview in The New Yorker. ‘In a way, things like museums and Lincoln Center kill art and music. Art is not for particular people but should be in everything you do—in cooking and, God knows, in the bread on the table, in the way everything is done.’

‘It was food, it was the culture of food, it was the design of objects that surround us in our daily lives and the buildings that sold them,’ the architect Moshe Safdie said about Mr. Thompson’s career. ‘It was an extraordinary celebration of design, life, urbanism and all the things we tend to take for granted now. He was one of the forces that changed America in that respect.’ From racematters.org.

In 1966 Thompson’s essay, “Visual Squalor and Social Disorder,” advocated for an urban architecture that would promote joy and social life.

Thompson’s essay made me think about urban architecture from a Christian perspective of common grace. That is to say, creative designers can be the miracle workers, finding holy-spirited solutions to societal problems. Christian graphic design students and design practitioners need to ask this question: “How does my work help grow the kingdom of God?” In response, we can begin this work by cultivating a creative attitude in the community of Jesus Christ. As philosopher, Nicholas Wolterstroff eloquently puts it:

The task in history of the people of God, the church, the followers of Jesus Christ, is, in the first place, to witness to God’s work of renewal to the coming of His Kingdom. Its task is, secondly, to work to bring about renewal by serving all people everywhere in all dimensions of their existence, working for the abolition of evil and joylessness and for the incursion into human life of righteousness and shalom. Thirdly, it is called to give evidence in its own existence of the new life, the true, authentic life—to give evidence in its own existence of what a political structure without oppression would look like, to give evidence in its own existence of what scholarship devoid of jealous competition would look like, to give evidence of what a human community that transcends while yet incorporating national diversity would be like, to give evidence in its own existence of what an art that unites rather than divides and of what surroundings of aesthetic joy rather than aesthetic squalor would be like, to give evidence in its own existence of how God is rightly worshipped. And then lastly it is called to urge all men [people] everywhere to repent and believe and join this people of God in the world.

Wolterstorff, Nicholas P. Art in Action. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1980. 197.

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Cathie Bleck: artist | illustrator

Cathie Bleck’s “painting” titled Nature’s Myth (30 in. x 20 in., inks and clay on masonite) was commissioned for the U.S.A. Earth Day Poster 2007. This piece is also featured in Illustration Now! 3, which was published by Taschen last fall, 2009. Her work is found on pages 16-17 and 56-59.

A couple of weeks ago artist Cathie Bleck, kindly, posted a comment on our piece about Carl Regehr. Her comment referenced Milton Glaser while she reminisced fondly about Regehr as an exceptional teacher. Her blog is titled, The Artwork and inspirations of Artist Cathie Bleck. And in May 2009, she posted her interview with Milton Glaser for Communication Arts Magazine. The interview is very interesting and insightful.

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