Wednesday, May 7, 2008

[ID]entity crisis


Summing up your personality, work ethic, style and creativity on a 3.5" x 2" business card can become grounds for an identity crisis. Yesterday, I had an hour to design a business card for the Pratt Show where our stylized Nissan Cubes would be on display outside of the Manhattan Show Center. The exercise made me self-conscious and I wondered how other industrial designers did it, like do you make sure it says 'designer' or maybe 'industrial designer?' I will probably continue to change it until I retire, but here is an attempt to make a statement. I ended up giving one card to a student illustrator, Danielle Criswell, whose work I liked and wanted to buy, and spent the rest of the time picking up other business cards. Really, a successfully designed business card is hard to come by. It is a lot like good poetry - simple yet evocative.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Take Your Time


Although I enjoyed the 3D furniture sketches, the pixel tape, and the chocolate nipples displayed in the 'Design and the Elastic Mind' exhibit at the MOMA, I loved the works of Olafur Eliasson's in 'Take Your Time.' On the floor marked by orange florescent lighting and mirror installations, Eliasson immerses you in his work. The 'aha' moment comes as you wait for the lights to change, or the hanging mirror to complete its rotation, which is exactly what I needed after a busy year of design school - to stop and experience a new landscape.