February 28, 2008

>>Chip Kidd and Debbie Millman on "Design Matters"

-debbie loves all forms of books–wasn't allowed to watch tv as a young girl
-"Dot for Short" 1947 book

chip kidd...
-designed several trilogy's-superman batman and wonderwoman complete history
-jack cole and plastic man
-wanted to be chris partridge from the partridge family
-majored in graphic design
-played drums
-pluralism-cant guess ahead of time what book cover will look like
-no specific style
-kidd was influenced by comics as a young age
-influenced by japanese sensibility- motif of repition which evokes mass production
-likes anime
-"i am a sucker for the false promises of comic books"
-photographers spent 7 hours taking pics of his apartment
-boyfriend- J.D. McClachey?? maybe--19 years older than Kidd-wow
-writer/poet
-Kidd loves to collaborate
-ugh many turn offs--babies, pets, bleeding, war...
-ahhh debbie is annoying
-says designers need to grow thick skin
-cheese monkeys
-want to hear about his weaknesses and how he can improve them
-likes "ball–busters"

...I found this talk very dull and Debbie is really annoying. I don't know if it is her voice or the way she talks or what but the long story about finding a book was too long and I don't really care about her searching for some childhood book. Chip Kidd was interesting-- I like his work, but this talk mostly focused on comics-- I am not interested in comics and I don't really know anything about comics so this wasn't my favorite interview. I think she should have focused more on his influences and maybe asked about his process. From this talk the main points a remember are his turn-offs, how he had to get photographed early in the morning before he showered, he has a boyfriend and people spell his name wrong and he is really into comic books.

#1- graphic design is a visual communication through typography and images conveying a specific concept and invoking certain ideas and emotions
#2- typography is the use of words in a visually pleasing format. typography is used to convey information and complete a concept to help get the point across
#3- my responsibilites as a design student are to research and explore in order to create unique and interesting ideas
#4- in order to get the most out of my viscom classes i need to ask questions, do a lot of exploration, research, process work to further my concepts and ideas to create the best final product possible