(no subject)
I am beyond "bored out of my skull". There's no work to be done today. NONE. What little there was to do, I've done it. BLARGH. I've read all my LJcomms, I've read through the WoW forums... ugh. I could play around with photoshop/illustrator, but I feel uncomfortable doing non-work things on work time. Yet all I'm doing right now is browsing the internet? I don't know, my priorities are screwy. At least I'm reading through AIGA.org articles, so I can make the arguement that I'm doing something relevant?
Last night we had a work fieldtrip; the New Britain Museum of American Art was hosting an AIGA event. The editor of CommArt magazine was there to speak, discuss the history of the magazine and explore changing trends in design as technology becomes more and more prevalent.
Something that stuck out to me was his argument that new technologies do not necessarily replace the old. Print media is still as relevant in the Age of the Internet as it was 20 years ago. The main difference now is a designer can't really afford to specialize in one aspect of information design, they must be able to acknowledge and incorporate elements of modern communication. For every printed magazine, there needs to be an online presence reinforcing that message, etc.
Made me feel hopeful that I'm not working in a dying industry (direct mail was even specifically mentioned as a modern print innovation, full of potential for growth and ideas).
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OH, we were also given a full hour before the talk to explore the museum, which was very awesome. I haven't walked around an art museum since I left VCU, and I need to do it more often. Such a creative inspiration. I have mixed feelings about it, though. Currently, the museum is displaying donated works that will be auctioned off, and seriously....... Some of that stuff is not worth the starting bid. Several pieces were like "oh, let me just squeeze some random colors out and mess around with a single brush". Literally, nothing but scribbles, no form or composition or rhythm or skill. No value or message in them what so ever. Not even worth hanging on a wall for soothing-but-ultimately-dismissible-eyecandy in a corporate hallway.
And people are passing that crap off as fine art? I could do that crap in 15 minutes.
And then I asked myself, "Why DIDN'T I do that crap in 15 minutes?" And I began to grudgingly admire these "artists" for at least producing something to put on a wall publicly, because that in itself takes a lot of guts. I think I suffer from extreme self-criticism and censure. Something I'd like to change.
Last night we had a work fieldtrip; the New Britain Museum of American Art was hosting an AIGA event. The editor of CommArt magazine was there to speak, discuss the history of the magazine and explore changing trends in design as technology becomes more and more prevalent.
Something that stuck out to me was his argument that new technologies do not necessarily replace the old. Print media is still as relevant in the Age of the Internet as it was 20 years ago. The main difference now is a designer can't really afford to specialize in one aspect of information design, they must be able to acknowledge and incorporate elements of modern communication. For every printed magazine, there needs to be an online presence reinforcing that message, etc.
Made me feel hopeful that I'm not working in a dying industry (direct mail was even specifically mentioned as a modern print innovation, full of potential for growth and ideas).
----
OH, we were also given a full hour before the talk to explore the museum, which was very awesome. I haven't walked around an art museum since I left VCU, and I need to do it more often. Such a creative inspiration. I have mixed feelings about it, though. Currently, the museum is displaying donated works that will be auctioned off, and seriously....... Some of that stuff is not worth the starting bid. Several pieces were like "oh, let me just squeeze some random colors out and mess around with a single brush". Literally, nothing but scribbles, no form or composition or rhythm or skill. No value or message in them what so ever. Not even worth hanging on a wall for soothing-but-ultimately-dismissible-eyecandy in a corporate hallway.
And people are passing that crap off as fine art? I could do that crap in 15 minutes.
And then I asked myself, "Why DIDN'T I do that crap in 15 minutes?" And I began to grudgingly admire these "artists" for at least producing something to put on a wall publicly, because that in itself takes a lot of guts. I think I suffer from extreme self-criticism and censure. Something I'd like to change.