Insights For The Age Of Aquarius: For Mac
“We should never forget the kind of person we want in design,” Fujita wrote. “People with fresh viewpoints, fresh ideas, fresh concepts of the reality we all seek.
We may find them right here in our high schools. We must let you students express your ideas of the reality that concerns us all.” Inspiring words, except that Fujita’s “reality” remained at odds with the freaky styles of the times. The book made no real effort to connect to people, like me, who were experimenting with art and design in various media, including fashion. I found myself chuckling at the section “Your Appearance,” where Fujita wrote: “An interview does not depend solely on your portfolio. The impression you make depends on two factors: the portfolio and yourself — how you speak and how you look. In general, it is better to be a little conservative in the way you dress for your job interview.
On that particular day, concentrate your originality in your portfolio and not in your clothes.”. Fujita’s definition of successful graphic designers fits his idea of fresh viewpoints that flourished in a corporate environment. Of the dozen professionals that earned that distinction and whose biographies were featured in the book, three are still known today:, then co-art director of Harper’s Bazaar;, the brash CBS art director; and, the legendary ad man. Unknown even to me are Peter Adler of Adler, Schwartz Inc., who worked at CBS and ran an advertising agency; Janet Czarnetzki, a Columbia Records alumna and art director at American Heritage books; Sheila Green, an art director at Doyle Dane Bernbach; and Arnie Lewis, who ran Pavey Jones Lewis. But all four won major Art Directors Club awards for work emblematic of the “Big Idea” school (photographic, conceptual and witty).
The book takes a more radical turn, however, with profiles of two African Americans: Alexander Oliver, a Rhode Island School of Design grad with a master’s degree in typography from New York University, who worked as an art director for the ad agency; and E. Russell Payne, a packaging designer who created the Vitabath package still used today.
Their comments, directed at aspiring designers, are sobering reminders of the era’s racism: “Breaking into the job market was rough,” observed Payne. “For a long time no doors were open to me.
Many were curious to know how I got my art knowledge and training, but not enough to hire me. A few Negro artists were working in the field then, and I soon got to know all of them. They gave me job leads and got small free-lance lettering assignments for me.
My break came when Ingersoll Studios took me on staff — admitting that their customers may not approve.”. Yet far from extolling the analytical, Fujita turned the other way, to a celebration of feeling that certainly fit the era’s appreciation of intense sensory experience: “Too many of us have become terribly insensitive to the things we touch, smell, taste, hear and see,” he wrote. “We have forgotten how to feel, and so we take the next best avenue of approach to living. We intellectualize the things we have failed to grasp with our sense. We have developed aesthetic theories only to discover with dismay that it was foolish to start because so many such theories have appearedjust to disappear in the mist of passing days. And when you ask yourself, ‘what exactly is meant by ‘aesthetics’?
The word becomes thinner until finally its sounds hollow and empty.”. I studied Graphic Design at a Swinburne University in Melbourne (2001-2004) which had a strong sense of Design History and it's importance. Our history lectures featured not only graphic design, but architecture, film, product and fashion.
Those lectures were invaluable and opened up a desire to research, read and discover more about the history of design and it's pioneers. At a party recently I met someone who had just graduated from one of the better universities in the state for design (2010). She had no idea who David Carson was let alone who S. Neil Fujita is! She hadn't heard of Charles and Ray Eames, Frank Lloyd Wright or Stefan Sagmeister. I was pretty shocked and blown away that you can graduate from University with a degree in Graphic Design and have no knowledge of Design History.
She had been designing logos on a mac and didn't know who Paul Rand was. Needless to say I spent most of my time at that party writing a long list of things for her to google and read up on. Universities are doing a disservice to Design Graduates by skipping out on Design History and Fujita's work should feature as part of design education! This book changed my life. I discovered it in the 'Career Resources' section of my high school library in Parma, Ohio, in 1974. I loved art but I wasn't interested in just making paintings. I wanted to do album covers and movie posters.
I had no idea who did this kind of work. Thanks to Neil Fujita, and no one else, I found out that this aspiration had a name: graphic design. I went to the Parma Regional Library on Snow Road and looked up 'graphic design' in the card catalog.
There was one book in the stacks: Graphic Design Manual by Armin Hoffman. How Armin Hoffman came to mid-seventies suburban Cleveland I have no idea. I asked my parents to get me a copy of my own for Christmas. They splurged and bought me the wrong book. It was Graphic Design by Milton Glaser. Mr Hoffman and Mr.
Glaser have Neil Fujita to thank for the introduction. And so, of course, do I. By the way, through the miracle of the internet I bought my own copy a few years ago. Steve doesn't mention it, but the back cover lists the other titles in the 'Aim High' series of vocational guides. They include books introducing high school seniors to potential careers in Baking, Domestic Help Occupations, Dry Cleaning Industry, and Florist.
Insights For The Age Of Aquarius: For Mac Os
In this context, Fujita's book seems like a veritable miracle. Steven begins his piece, 'What’s the point of reviewing a design book that is over 40 years old'? At present I am reading Oliver Simon's 'Introduction to typography' first published in 1945. What being a graphic designer 'meant' then compared to now – and not just in terms of technology – is apparent but I am actually amazed how much we have in common with our 'forefathers' today. Standards, rules, questions of typographic principles and approach are all there then, and in some respect more so than today.
Without trying to sound smart-arsed, I find I 'learn' more practical lessons from reading books published decades ago than i do by reading more recent publications – present company excluded! Students and practitioners would do well to read as much from the past as they can get their hands on. Alex Cameron http://ac4design.blogspot.com/.