During Paula Scher’s talk she discussed work going from serious to solemn. She discussed how when something becomes task, and no longer is something that you do for fun, it becomes something solemn and it’s something that is less enjoyable, something that you no longer have the inspiration that you once had at the start of the project. While often times, projects went to solemn because they were highly requested and she begun having to produce them either as work or because others wanted them, there were times when her work went from Serious to solemn because of the popularity of the design. When she worked on a certain design and it became her own as well as something that she worked hard to not only think of, but also conceptualize it was a serious design. As the design begun to get more recognition; they also started a trend amongst others which then lead to “copycat” designs. As she stated; Great design is serious not solemn. So her designs became popular and many other designers begun to replicate her designs, it slowly became less of a serious design, ( something made strictly for a certain brand or business) and more of a solemn design ( something that anyone and everyone can use) in this sense.
While in this sense it was because her designs were now seen everywhere and were replicated was the reason it became solemn, as discussed there are other reasons great design can go from serious to solemn. Great design changes a lot, but it also attracts certain attention. When Paula Scher was talking about her life and her artwork, she discussed doing maps. These maps for her were just something she did for fun and while it took hours for her to do so, they were her side project and something that she enjoyed doing. Once they begun to attract attention and got put in a gallery, they were no longer fun and had went from serious to solemn very quickly. The maps then became an extra job of work she had to produce in order to get them into the gallery for a certain date and it was less inspiration and creative thinking and more work and a chore.
When Paula Scher discusses this idea, I understood the ideal of it all and also greatly agreed that this is what happens most of the time to many designers. Work easily becomes solemn when you have to work on someone else’s terms as well as work on a certain time constraint. For example, whenever I have to work on a school project. While, I do love to design and work on my own it becomes harder when I bring my love and something I worked hard on into a school project, but it is also something I must always deal with. At times I’ve done outside working, making a logo for someone or completely creating a new brand identity and I’ve continued on further to creating in school and the passion that was once sparked from even starting the project slowly withers away once I begin doing it for something else or it becomes more of a task.
I believe the main idea or serious vs solemn is not the idea of the work actually being serious or being taken serious, but yet how well you take it. When you work on a great design and you want to create a great design it becomes serious. You take it very serious and you put all of your dedication into it in order to complete it and in the end you are seriously proud of it. While something that is solemn, hardly or seldomly ever gets you the designer into a serious mode. It takes you out of your element as well as it is solemn that you will ever be serious in presenting your work. The two have very subtle differences but a designer or anyone creative, during the creative process will easily perceive as well as go through the difference whenever creating. Paula Scher not only made it a valid point but also related to me very well.