Author: Kenneth FitzGerald

The Means by Which We Find Our Way

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I am included in the new book The means by which we find our way; Observations on design, published by Ramp Press. The book documents the exhibition of the same name, organized by David Gardener and Andrea Wilkinson of the School of Media Arts, Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton, New Zealand. Contributors were sent an image of a public space into which they integrated a text. A selected number of contributors also provided a short essay. I’m one of those with some writing, called “Light Turning.”

After its initial presentation in New Zealand, the show made stops at Kansas State University, Manhattan), and Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was recently featured in the European design and typography journal TYPO, Issue #32

The Chronographic Survey #1: How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer

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How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer by Debbie Millman
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Allworth Press, 2007
How acquired: Purchased at Debbie Millman lecture

This collection of interviews presents 20 noted graphic design-related figures ruminating about their activity. In her introduction, Debbie Millman disclaims the book’s title but it’s fairly descriptive, being instructive by example rather than recipe. Since the book makes no pretension of compiling a definitive list of contemporary design “greats,” I won’t fuss overlong (for me) over the arbitrariness of the designation.

What does constitute graphic design greatness? All of the interviewees are practically accomplished graphic designers (save John Maeda, who has renown but simply isn’t a graphic designer by the field’s common standards). However, the jury’s out on the long-term significance of most of these practitioners. That many other designers could claim equal—or greater—stature compared to those selected doesn’t spoil the book. Still, it would have helped for Millman to, at least briefly, outline her criteria. Continue reading “The Chronographic Survey #1: How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer” →