obsessions & anything inbetween
Worked 18 hours non stop today. Only stopped for 20 minutes to grab my dinner. Todays one of those days I wouldn’t be proud of really. Despite that, am very grateful still that today was given by God. Another chance to live, another chance to breathe, another chance to be a much better person & another chance to say hello to everyone.
Mick & company accompanied me for the last 4 hours before I returned home with Shine a light. You do the math.
The “In’ tray on my desk is full of stuff. Means I should be pretty stress up by now with all that work that’s coming in. But the stuff below made me pretty excited:
Taken from one of the six amazing stories on We tell stories by Penguin. (Theres a PDF download to it!) Read more about these elsewhere here & here.
I have very high expectations for this album. Produced by the great Rick Rubin. There’s a website created specially for the new album as reported by Rock Radio.
We had a discussion about the courses we will take if we could turn back time; mine will be a major in music composition.
Last two weeks, a shipment of really cool books came into the office. I wonder why I didn’t spend a single cent on any of the books… But I feel a little guilty though. Always had that hidden motive/desire to collect as many design books as possible but I lost that interest lately. Perhaps, I put it on hold for a while to keep my other options wider.
Those days, I would grab any Phaidon design books almost without even looking at the price tag. Books by Princeton Architectural Press become instant classics on my shelf. Most of my design heros monographs come from Booth Clibborn while Hyphen Press feeds me with really serious heavy reading. Books published by Laurence King have also been among the prominent ones on the bookshelf.
As a student, I’ve always refer to these books as a guide on what design is and about. Also used them as visual references at times. Definitely allowed them to inspire me a lot during that time. They also played a very important role in shaping all my current design thoughts.
The only two books that I might purchase for now is Things I have learned in my life so far & Jonathan Barnbrooks new design monograph. I have also considered Micheal Bierut’s book, Maira Kalman’s, Rick Poynor’s Designing Pornotopia and anything by Jessica Helford.
But most of my money for the books went to the below:
The thing is I have no regrets on any of the above. In fact, I feel even much more inspired by these things compared to looking at design books. Or reading Emigre magazines from cover to cover. I find myself refreshed after that crazy trip to Phuket with three amigos (will try to post pictures later, I didn’t bring a camera with me).
I learned to look at things in a more global way. Absorb in foreign culture, knowledge and lifestyle in a much faster phrase compared to staring at a book. I find things like this educating as well. By just pushing yourself a little to the edge, you see the much wider horizon. Plus, its really an enjoying thing to do; traveling. I guess my next trip might be maybe even sooner than I think it will be.
So I guess that proves that trying to fill up your environment with design is not really a fun thing to do at times.
The Artic Monkeys, started off as an indie band and make it big time through Myspace. Coblie Caillat was discovered via Myspace. Or perhaps maybe what Pitchfork & Merge Records did to Arcade Fire? Earning them the front cover of the 4th April 2005 issue of Time magazine. The list goes on with bands like The Decemberist which released a protest music video via BitTorrent, because they have more faith in it compared to the ever-popular MTV.
With the power of the internet, driven by users, anybody, including your next door IT consultant, gets the advantage of self-promotion (thats what I call it here); where he wants it to be, how he wants it to look like, who he wants to impress (I’m pretty sure its some girl), etc. This of course applies if you are the kind of dude who’s really into Friendster, Facebook or Myspace. But my point here is that everybody now has a very accessible tool in hand.
Alike individuals; companies, professionals, bands share the same venue and motives. How about designers then?
Youtube can make Psycho Bob (do check it out!) an overnight celebrity. Myspace can help Maria Digby’s version of Umbrella be played on air. I won’t be suprised if one day, some designer gets famous via Devaintart. Or perhaps through Gfxartist. These do-it-yourself platforms are evolving into something which we can’t just simply ignore for that fact.
Its just that now, they are only equipped with a gallery to exhibit their works. Some lack the value of real world work. Some lack the advantage of having feedback from clients. Most are generated out of the artists or designers personal taste. Something they do past 7pm. Or perhaps as a hobby. Something that can be categorized under “self-expression’. Eventhough some among them stand as professional work but the categorization of the works under a virtual artistic community generalizes these beautiful works under what is called indie design.
If anybody can start up a blog now. It won’t be long until anybody can design anything. They might not even need the professional tools that designers have.
The whole DIY culture might just creep into the design world very soon. But in fact, it already has. Just google “indie design“.
But the thoughts I have:
Does the advantage of the diversity in designing without the attachment of being in a large industrialized business effect the way you design?
It’s a tough question yes. An example will be something like if someone with an account on Gfxartist gets a client and recycles a specific design he did before from one of his works for the client. Then what if the indie designer made it big into the mainstream scene? Will they be like Radiohead? Bringing the ‘alternative’ or ‘non-mainstream’ stuff into the commercial world? Then if the indie designer has a proper avenue with a proper business plan, commercial value attached to it, will he or she still be labeled as an indie designer then?
Do you have more ‘freedom’ then? Can you be more creative or crazy over a layout or an identity?
Then, how about royalty then?
Or is there such thing in the indie design world as royalty? Can someone sue another for publicly using a certain design almost similar to the one he/she did before on his/her/ Gfxartist account?
Okay, then what is the market value for all these indie designers?
Imagine a scenario where a client pops into one of those online virtual artistic community sites and likes the work of Rockheadman07. I wonder will he be hired to do the job. It gets really dangereous when the client starts comparing works, maybe Cuteangel69 has a better touch.
How about style?
My guess is that indie designers might not have a fixed style throughout. But a safe bet would be all the heavily photoshoped images, layouts and logos will remain. Sad. But that doesn’t mean that there are some good stuff out there.
Design education?
I doubt if there will ever be an art or design school for indies. Its against the whole DIY culture. Then, they will have to find out about Alexi Brodovitch by themselves. Wait. My previous design school didn’t thought me that.
Will there ever be a concept in indie design then?
I’ve seen corporate people with good ideas. Sat down and spoke to salesmans who have creative strategies and ways to sell a product. I won’t be suprised if these guys can come up with good stuff.
To those who want to go indie designing, I recommend you this:
