Tristen Gonzalez

Prof. Trofimova

COMD 3503

Wed 6-8:30pm

Paula Scher Assignment

Paula Scher is one of the most influential graphic designers of our time in which I was very fortunate to actually meet. Upon seeing her speak again in the video on TED talks it further enhances my opinion on why I think she is a design god. The video “Great Design is serious not Solemn” is about Paula Scher looking back at her career and the work she has done. The video served as a really good refresher to see how much of a influence she has been in the design world. Her style has always appealed to me because she is also heavily influenced by russian constructivism which is my favorite design ism and it is present throughout many of her works. Works such as “The public theater” and “HIM” both have a dynamic style with bold lettering and a mix of diagonal/vertical text to spend a message, which is what Russian Constructivism is based on.

Another thing that interest me about Paula Scher is her ability to be adaptable. Well the way she sees adaptable is actually to be “totally and completely unqualified for your job”, when she says this line in the video she is referring to the point in her career were she has took on a job that required her to do environmental graphics inside theater floor plans for them. This was something that paula has never done before but made every bit of this project work, and she did it will. Upon viewing that segment of the video, I became more open to the idea of going out of my comfort zone which is something that Prof. Trofimova heavily preaches in each class.