Last week in class, we had a small introduction pertaining to the purpose of this course. To summarize, it was teaching us what we wanted to learn as young creative professionals who are about to enter the workforce in a semester or two. Through a series of questions that we had asked, Professor Trofimova answered politely in great detailed. One of the questions was based around her experiences, successes, failures, and general life as a graphic designer, in which I believe her response to be quite helpful and insightful. However, throughout all the questions, answers, and statements that both the students and the professor had discussed about. She made one real keen observation that I think applies to every graphic designer, or just every individual in general. It was fear. The thing that holds most people back from moving forth is fear and crippling self-doubt.
The second thing we discussed in class was a 2011 Ted Talks video by Sunni Brown called “Doodlers, Unite!” The video was about the true nature and negative perception of doodling that has garnered unnecessary negativity over the years by adults. It is often seen as a waste of time, immature, and most of all to be lazy and do absolutely nothing despite it having educational benefits to those who engage in doodling as a visual learning tool. The speaker, Sunni Brown, further explains how we are denying ourselves such a powerful learning resource. She states that people who doodle tend to remember information 29% more than those who do not. She goes into greater detail about ways we process our information as well as some of the most famous architectural work that came from a simple doodle. She ended on the note, stating “… the doodle has never been the nemesis of intellectual thought. In reality, it is one of its greatest allies. Thank you.”
The third topic we discussed in class was another Ted Talk video published in 2015 by Chip Kidd, an American Graphic Designer who specializes in book cover designs and illustrations. In “The art of first impression – design and life,” it starts with him talking in complete gibberish which later leads to his point about clarity or mystery, and how balancing these two things in one’s daily work can lead to better creative ideas and concepts. Throughout the video, he uses some of his own work and the work of others to demonstrate the different between clarity and mystery and how poor concept construction and execution of both can result in non-practicality. Chip Kidd mentions The Visual Vernacular, in which by his definition is “the way we are used to seeing a certain thing applied to something else so that we see it in a different way.”
Both of these videos were very insightful, expanding my knowledge on what I believe art and design to be. I definitely look forward to future weeks in Topics in Graphic Design (COMD 3503 ). This course will not only improve my work as a student or graphic design, but how I view design as a person not only in NY, but in America and Internationally.
