Heather Hazard: to have a design conscious mind

Design Conscience: Automatic Slim

So I have been enjoying my experience here in South Florida. Its quite interesting. Especially the horrible signage and wrapped cars everywhere. The place is littered with bad design, but also occasionally a quality piece of design shows up and I am “wowed.” But its hard to find in the mass advertising mess of crap. 

I had an interesting experience last weekend and its had me thinking. I had the chance to go to the bars on Himarshee road (Las Olas Riverfront). It was quite the people watching experience, and a really fun psychology experiment. Anyway my boyfriend and I had a great time and were invited by his coworkers to go to a bar. I could sense at first the hesitation in the room when this idea was brought up. Anyway we went and were waiting outside. I was told to look in. Basically its a glorified strip club transposed as a bar. So its “OK” to go in a ogle half naked women while drinking a heineken. I was shocked. Not because their is this crazy nightclub with half naked chicks but because of one women’s response when I told my boyfriend I didn’t want to go in. She said, “awwww (with compassion) its everywhere anyway, its South Florida.” I thought, “yeah only if you choose to look at it.”

This got me thinking, as a designer Im faced with a challenge. Wether or not to encourage the sex driven society that we live in. Do I someday turn down an assignment and possibly get fired because I wont design some brochure with half naked women and booze plastered all over it. Do I encourage the messages that are plastered everywhere. Billboards, brochures, and postcard sized glossy advertisements strewn about the parking lots with scantily clad women posted all over them. 

So I came to the conclusion that I will pass up an assignment, and decline work because it goes against my values. Just because Im in a place that has long forgotten its values doesn’t mean I have to forget too. I choose not to look, and not to design.

Design Thinking: Smart Signage

Currently as a class we are working on signage systems for our Specialty shops. Researching signage standards is essential so that we can design adequately for all people. Its important as designers to keep a consistent look throughout a space but also to consider disabled individuals and how they will move about in that space. Designers must keep in mind that a space and signage should be functional,aesthetically pleasing, and meet signage regulations. 

ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act)
While researching the ADA I discovered an interesting article about interior signage and some of the confusion about how to apply it. The article was titled, Three simple truths are helping clear up confusion over how to apply ADA requirements to interior signage. It was interesting because the article was concerned with keeping the ADA standards but also making the signs aesthetically appropriate. 

The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. The lack of accessibility or certain services can be considered discrimination, regardless of who it actually affects. This creates a need for ADA compliant signs. No individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability with regards to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, or accommodations. When the law was first put into effect, there was a problem with ADA signs not being esthetically pleasing. Now that it’s been in existence for some time, the question of esthetics has been resolved and the industry faces new problems with ADA signs.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
OSHA’s mission is to assure the safety and health of America’s workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. OSHA is found in all workplaces and labels hazardous materials. OSHA also mandates that safety materials be labeled and in the open in case of emergency. They develop industry standards that support a safe healthy and sustainable environment. They also publish industry statistics and have a direct impact on the health of the industry and educate them.

BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association)
BIFMA’s mission is to lead, advocate, inform and develop standards for the North American office and institutional furniture industry.

They serve businesses that are primarily engaged in design, development, marketing and fulfillment of office and institutional furniture products. A not-for-profit that allows communication and collaboration between members to discuss appropriate industry issues.


ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) coordinates development and use of voluntary consensus standards in the United States and represents the needs and views of U.S. stake-holders in standardization forums around the globe. The ANSI oversees the creation and use of thousands of norms and guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every industry.

Design Thinking: Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School

After reading William McDonough’s Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School, I realized that really school doesn’t teach you much you couldn’t learn by yourself. The internet, books, advice, contacts, and practice provide that you could learn design without spending 40 thousand dollars on a “design” education that really doesn’t teach you anything more that you couldn’t learn in a public library. What I thought was most interesting about William’s list is that talent is important but not necessary if you are good at schmoozing your way. You may have talent and be the best in your class but that may not ensure your luck in the profession. Hard-work and luck take you a long way. My boyfriend, an 8th grade drop out and is a highly successful, well established and motivated person who clearly defines the criteria of being self taught and executing goals with complete precision. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Michael Dell are also remarkable anomalies of not having any sort of college education.

Its also interesting that in reality you will never find a job that is always fun, and always creative. Michael says that 95% of any creative profession is shit work. Only 5 percent of any work a creative will do is actually fun. I have spent the last 6 years designing things that were fun, then when school is over were told we would probably be getting coffee for the first few months. Is design always shit work; paperwork, boring drafts, fact-checking, negotiating, spell checker, paying taxes and making sure your boss is happy. Everyone has heard nothing is sure but death and taxes, well in the creative profession nothing is sure but death, taxes, and spell checker. Its nice to know before I head out on my job searching escapade that no job will always be fun.

Another thing that I thought was a bit of profound design thinking was that a designer should start with what they know and then remove the unknown.
An interesting concept that would never be taught in an academic situation. I like it though. Draw from what you already know and understand then build on it with research and digging. An interesting thought.

My favorite part of Mcdonoughs list is that overconfidence is as bad as no confidence. I believe this 100%. Being humble in your approach to life as well as design, is imperative. The best way to design anything is to realize that your ignorant, and then work hard, steady and fast to educate yourself. Asking questions all the time, challenge power, challenge the man, because it really will make your designs and design solutions better. Its nice to hear someone say that no one has all the awnsers, not even a professor, owner, entrepreneur, or student and that its extremely important to not underestimate the difficulty, or ease of a project, class, or design.

Design Thinking: Tangoes

Tangoes is a game about problem solving. Using shapes intuition, and a trained eye to put together an image. As designers we have to solve problems that fit into many different situations. In this game we have to consider spacial problems, size, proximity, and planning ahead. Such as, If I use this piece here, I wont be able to use it here. Planning ahead is so important in design. You have to think about budget, folds, size, mailing, image quality, typographic hierarchy, using the grid correctly, and at the same time making it aesthetically pleasing. Tangoes is also about teamwork. Its interesting to see how peoples personalities play a role in the game. In design everyone has a different role as well. Either as a leader and creative director or as a idea maker, a conceptual thinker, an illustrator, a web developer, and even just the intern who gets coffee. Everyone on the team has input and sees things differently. Tangoes is a cool game, and definitely makes you think a little differently, and as designers I think we all strive to look at things from another perspective.

Design Thinking: Talking with Professionals

Ryan Vandyke- Graphic Designer
So we had the chance to talk with an alumni of the Ferris State Graphic Design Program, Ryan Vandike. Some of the discussion included; what to expect after graduation, getting a decent job, and what projects he has worked on in his first year out of college. Some of the clients he has gotten to work with include National City Mortgage, Grand Theft Auto IV, The Blue Quilt Angler, and a few more. Its also nice to see that he went a different way than most of the students in class. In college he was interested in web design and he followed that into his first job which he seems to be enjoying. I benefited most from hearing that work wont continue into all hours of the night when we graduate and that their is a job out their that will allow some kind of freedom. We just have to find it.

Daylin Clark- Writer Strategist
Meeting with Daylin Clark was the highlight of my day. The same process used by Graphic Designers is applied to writing. When this happens its called a writer strategist. Daylin has written for journals, advertising, radio, and web design. She mostly enjoys writing for business to business but has a keen knack for re-deciphering the big words of PHD’s and making it understandable. Not only though was it interesting to talk to a Writer but she herself was an interesting character. I really enjoyed talking with her. She had a lot of great advice. She said to figure out who you are and what you do best to figure out why someone would want you and that when you figure this out you should have no problem making a way. She also said to ask questions, good questions and to look for inspiration everywhere. (Which is what designers do anyway.) The best advice for working with a writer is to give up copy space, be forthcoming, honest, and don’t beat around the bush. Don’t freelance without at least 10 years of experience. Always imply the family first rule. She also gave tips about how to work with writer and the kind of relationship you should have. Asking questions, providing all the info you can, and sharing ideas early are the signs of a good relationship with your writer. Flowers, candy, and gifts are always appreciated… Daylin Clark was such an inspiration, and its nice to know that working with a writer strategist doesn’t have to be like pulling teeth.

Bill Holsinger- COO of Spout.com
The opportunity to talk business with the COO of Spout.com was very cool. His project Spout.com is a site where people find films, and films find people. The site helps film fanatics to sort through the bombardment of films and find the ones they like. Over 350,000 movies are sorted and talked about by fans. Besides talking about the site he also talked a little about how design influences the audience and how it guides the activity on the site. I thought one really cool part of the site was that every-time you land on the index of Spout.com the movies are continuously refreshed and new videos can be seen. Another beneficial thing about talking with Bill was the insight of job searching. Bill believes that character, experience (just trying things out), strong work ethic, skills, and that they are mavens. To be a maven it means to be wrapped up in what you enjoy doing.

People Design
Our final stop in Grand Rapids was visiting People Design (formally BBK Studio). The building was cool and the creative space was inspirational. We had the chance to meet the team members and discuss some of the things to expect as a junior designer. We also talked about Spout.com which was one of their clients but the studios main areas of focus are on identity, experience, and communication design. The most beneficial experience of meeting with them was seeing the differences in design studios and atmosphere. People design is much different than Sterling Brands, or any other. I thought the most interesting thing was how people really make the atmosphere and its important to find a place that you really get along with the personalities that are their.

Design Thinking: The Big Apple and ME

Where to start? Visiting New York was such an irreplaceable memory. Their is no possible way that I can share how New York has influenced me, my heart, and my art work. Throughout the trip I had moments of frustration, infatuation, silence, and outbursts. I had so many different emotions in just one afternoon that I needed a week just to digest that portion of time. The first night we arrived seeing the skyline of New York made me feel so incredibly small and lost even before stepping off of the bus. I instantly loved though the bombardment of messages from every corner and crannie. From the billboards, taxis, street lamps covered in stickers, sign-age, store fronts, and the metro cards strewn about comes inspiration. Every moment of NY was a vision of creativity. From Ideas on how to show grunge or how to show modern and clean in a different way. We walked around forever which just made me realize just how big this city was. We took the subway, and that in itself is a huge new category of visions to tuck away. Thursday night though I had the chance to hang out with my sister and a few design students at a Jazz club on broadway. The club was very small and intimate with a small stage and a small area for seating. We caught part of the set before us, and watch the entire next set. The music was unbelievable and I found in order to get the most of the sound was to forget who and where you were and just get lost in the music. It was amazing and the band sure could play. That gave me a new idea of what Jazz was as it is quite different than the jazz that is played here at home. The food was amazing here as well but over the entire weekend I found that the food in NY is superb just about anywhere. Over the entire week their was so much that inspired me that I think I could possibly write a few chapters. To keep it short I will just talk about one thing that inspired me the most. What inspired me the most about the trip was a conversation that I had with a professor in the midst of Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. I cant really go into detail of what this conversation entailed, but to me it was the most inspirational thing of the trip. It definatly reminded me of why I am here, my goals, and aspirations, and gave me that push forward. That conversation was and will be the most memorable experience from New York.

Design Thinking: Visiting New York

While touring New York we also had the opportunity to talk with two amazing Studios. Chermeyoff And Geismar and Sterling Brands.

Chermayeff and Geismar
This was such a cool experience we had the chance to shake hands and talk design with a design icon, Tom Geismar. Tom Geismar is considered a pioneer of American Graphic Design. Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar have created over 100 corporate identitity programs in the last 4 decades. Some of their clients include; Chase Manhattan Bank, PBS, Rockefeller Center, Mobil Oil, MOMA, Zerox, NYU, and many many more. While we were in his studio we had the chance to see a movie created by him and his partners for an exhibit of his work. It was quite a long movie that went through some of the identity’s that were created, and morphed between them in a creative way. It was such a great opportunity to talk about his favorite works and projects and to ask questions from one of the greats.

Sterling Brands
Visiting the Empire State Building was cool in itself but visiting a really cool Branding Agency was beyond cool, it was stellar. Sterling Brands is a leading independently owned branding consultancy with offices in New York, San Francisco and London. They do two things really well and that is brand strategy and brand design. I learned that its smart business for a brand to be redesigned because what they do is find the most significant pieces or parts of a package that are known by customers who shop the brand most often. They take those parts and redesign the package so that Its still recognizable as that brand but updated and more desirable. They do this by researching and testing and then recreating the package. We talked about qualitative and quantitative research and the benefits and negatives of both. We also talked about what it takes to have great brand design such as cultural anthropology, behavioral psychology, commerce, and creativity. I fount that it was interesting how they go about researching the product and how people perceive the brand. Through visiting this firm I could see myself working for a place like this.

Design Thinking: New York Museums

While in NY I had the opportunity to visit some of our nations finest art museums. The Cooper-Hewitt, MOMA, and Guggenheim were the museums I had a chance to venture. Each Had a unique feel and style to them but all had amazing work from past and present.

Cooper-Hewitt
The Cooper-Hewitt was very interesting and had a vast array of exhibitions to look at. While I was their Prianesi, Ingo Maurer, and selected pieces from the private collection of IDEO. I was very interested in each of the exhibitions and each one had a different story and idea to learn from.

Private collection of IDEO
One piece I found interesting was that Peter Girardi kept a sketchbook of all of his work and his worldviews. Peter worked for Funny Garbage and filled his book with stickers, exploratory sketches, pieces of credit cards, paper flyers, forms, tickets, and random finds. He not only used tangible clues of his inspiration but also wrote pieces of thought and cues. Another piece from the collection that I appreciated was the small red chair that was designed by Charles and Ray Eames. It was the first furniture designed of theirs to go into production. The Eameses approached their work with three questions in mind: Does it interest and intrigue us? Can we make it better? Will we have “serious fun” doing it?

Piranesi
Piranesi had impact on generations of architects and designers. I found his work very interesting. He had a very eclectic style that ws very ornate. His style and interest brought him problems within the art culture of his day. The spirit that Piranesi brought to his work is really what intrigues me. His greatest contributio to design is his impassioned defense of creative license and personally I like that.

Ingo Mauer
I found Ingo Mauer’s work very surreal. Most of his work used items that are used everyday such as plates, lights, forks, and even barbie dolls. Each one of his pieces has a distictive personality. I really enjoyed his piece entitled, “Porca Miseria!”. the pieces intereacted in a unique way and it stood as alone as an interesting piece of work but also would work well as a centerpiece above an elaborate dinner table. Another of his pieces which slip my mind was a blue man set against a light orange back ground and lit so very brilliantly. It was just amazing how it reverberated off of the orange and felt as though it was truly falling.

MOMA
Moma has a collection of over 3,200 paintings and sculptures from the late nineteenth century to the present. It was so wonderful and surreal to see all of these paintings in real life after learning about them and seeing them in magazines and art history books. It was by far one of my favorite aspects of New York. Seeing Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon, Warhols Soup Cans, and Vincent Van Goghs Starry Night was truly a dream come true. So many to see and not enough time.

Guggenheim
The Guggenheim was interesting in that it was designed by Frank Loyd Wright so that in itself was an interesting experience. I found though that The Guggenheim wasnt Curated as well as MOMA. The Guggenheim also didnt have quite the extent of artwork either. I also wasnt impressed with the work that was being shown either.

Design Thinking: Burton Branding

Burton branding is a site about the history of Burton Snowboards and how they have remained true to their brand throughout the years.

Design Thinking: Value

Deborah Adler a design student a the School of Visual Arts in New York City has redesigned the traditional round amber pill bottles into a bottle that reduces the number of overdoses caused by unreadable packaging. Adler took into account the shape, size, typographical hierarchy, color, and individual pill users needs. The newly design pill bottle is now flat on two sides and stands on the top. This was done so that you didn’t have to turn the bottle round and round to read all of the pertinent information. The color has been changed to red to match Targets Branding strategy but also to keep light sensitive pills and allow the number of pills left to be visible. Typographically this pill bottle is amazingly easy to read. Adler has reinvented the way the pill bottle is read. She has made it easier to find the information you need and emphasized the correct information such as the medications name, how much and when to take the pills, and the pharmacies phone number. This package was defiantly thought out and she did an amazing job researching manufacturing, patenting, and business planning which landed Adler a position at Milton Glasers design firm and the opportunity to actually see, and be a part of the making of this revolutionary re-inventing.

read more information about Adler and her new pill bottle design herehere.