wait for it...
BAM.
the assignment: create a newsletter about whatever you want. the only rule is that it must adhere to what you believe the words look learn think make craft can adhere to. our newsletter has to have a cover plus six different 10in x 14in spreads. we are also partnered up with one other classmate to do this.
our newsletter is going to examine the ideas of trends and fads and how they affect the design process. there are many different factors in life that affect what you see, how you see it, and how you apply it. there is reason behind everything, even if the reason is no reason.
jim and i hope to explain the importance, while in the design process, of understanding trends and where they come from and why. through research and the understanding of these things, one can find all kinds of inspiration to become the trendsetter.
as a sidenote, being trendy is not a bad thing. as a designer, you are bound by fate to it. there is no escaping. i just read an essay by rick poynor titled the designer as reporter where he says this: there is a sense in which almost any piece of graphic design could be seen as a kind of "visual journalism." the most effective visual communications are almost always of their time. design captures and condenses into seductive graphic form the mood, concerns, inspirations, aspirations, fads, obsessions and stylistic tics of the day. it functions as a constantly updated report on the way we live now. this is why it dates so rapidly and eventually becomes such a vivid reminder of the era that gave it life. even design that aspires to bypass this process and somehow become "timeless" usually ends up tethered to its point of origin in some way.
that brings up another point that me and jim would like to get across. its perfectly fine to be trendy. there just needs to be a reason for it all. design can't just be pretty. it needs to have some content so that in ten years or a hundred years time, it will still matter. all trends are inspired by or are started for some reason. understanding these reasons should be inherent in designing anything. the visual of the tattooed fashion models being assembled is a quirky way to illustrate how these trends, fads, and ideas are taken and used in constructing (pun intended) one's own design.
the roughs above are very rough mind you. we are just barely beginning this project. the body copy in the spread is just filler text right now. i'm excited though. this could end up being really cool.
say word.
SAY IT.
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