The Bleed, Vol. 13

VOL.13 emergence

EDITORS IN CHIEF

Ashlee Glover

Joshua Rodriguez

ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

Kyla Preskitt

Quinn Wilson

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

COPY CHIEF

Kyla Preskitt

Leaf Ayres

EDITORS

Eryn Leatherwood

Kyla Preskitt

Link Talley

Robert Brock

Quinn Wilson

PRE-PRESS

Alejandra Miranda

Leaf Ayres

Robert Brock

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Joshua Rodriguez

Leaf Ayres

Link Talley

Robert Brock

ILLUSTRATORS

Kyla Preskitt

Maria Meza

Taylor Byrd

Quinn Wilson

When we started work on the 2022 Bleed Magazine, we knew there would be challenges. It being the 13th edition only added to this feeling. But creative emergence is a funny thing; no matter how many times we wondered how the smallest graduating cohort to ever produce The Bleed (eleven students) could possibly manage to get it all done, what emerged when we came together was something great, and something that we can all be proud of.

Through this production, we hope you can see the germination and emergence of the seeds that were planted during our recent collective time of seclusion. While being separated, we gained insight into the way that technology and art can connect us, and the impacts they can have, not just on individuals, but on the climate and social movements. As writers and designers, we wanted to bring attention to these issues, to honor the work that has been done, and illuminate how art and design impacts all these aspects of society.

Over the course of 8 weeks, our creative staff spent hours working together; from late-night remote meetings to afternoon in-person coffee shop meet-ups, we collaborated to make the 13th Bleed the best magazine it could be. The Bleed is a student-produced art and design publication from the graduating graphic design class of Lane Community College. We hope the coming pages inspire and inform you about these important topics.

The Bleed magazine would not be possible without the exceptional guidance and unwavering assistance of Tom “MadHaus” Madison. In addition to Tom, we would like to thank QSL for producing the final prints of The Bleed 13 and Lane Community College for providing the funds to make this magazine possible.

Ashlee Glover & Joshua Rodriguez Editors-in-Chief

Ashlee Glover Joshua Rodriguez

ALEJANDRA, KYLA, QUINN, TAYLOR, LINK, JOSH, ERYN, ROBERT, MARIA, ASHLEE

THE BLEED STAFF

For nearly 3 years, the world was in a state of isolation with everyone existing in their own remote bubble. I spent hours hunched over my desk, in a space that I had cultivated to be safe and comfortable. Yet even surrounded by the posters and art I had methodically hung on the walls, in a room I loved, creativity felt lonelier than before. No matter how much decoration I surrounded myself with, it didn’t replace the yearning I felt to be in a room with other designers, bouncing ideas off one another and feeding off of each other’s creative energy. While I would consider myself very lucky to be surrounded by friends who are artistic and work with their own mediums, none of them are going to understand

the exact science that a logo’s spacing has or why a particular color is speaking to a certain audience. While I was so glad to have graphic design and school as an outlet, the burnout was becoming more apparent each day.

Oregon was one of the last states to lift the mask mandate and fully reopen again. There seemed to be a lot of mixed emotions surfacing from the juxtaposition of wanting covidfreedom and knowing the Omicron variant was still running rampant only a month before everything reopened. For many, this pandemic is nowhere close to being over. Public spaces are no longer safe spaces, gatherings are still not possible. It feels like I’m tip-toeing to peek my head around the corner; it’s hard to believe that after this long there isn’t another round of Covid hiding in the shadows. Simultaneously, I was feeling so ready for this dystopian nightmare to be over. After being triple vaccinated and having Covid twice, I had become a bit cynical about the whole thing. It’s hard to understand the balance between being conscious of the needs of others while grappling with the selfish thoughts that I am losing all of my early 20s and college years to this pandemic. That doesn’t mean the anxious itch to reach into a bag or pocket before stepping into a building has disappeared, nor the habit of social distancing.

The flexibility of working and going to school from home meant there were many people who enjoyed being remote. Lane Community College understood that many of their students, who all vary in age and circumstance, would want to continue to attend online. The college has done its best to maintain a hybrid learning environment. Our design program was lucky enough to have a designated classroom built for hybrid learning.This classroom has $30,000 technology called the OWL, which includes a camera, speaker and microphone combo. This allows the Zoom class to be panned around the actual classroom and participate more immersively in discussion. Anytime anyone in class

is talking, the OWL will pan to that person and split the screen if two people are speaking. While this all seems a bit dystopian, it’s easy to forget how strange the situation is because of how happy I am to experience the community of a real classroom again.

so many extenuating circumstances that can make going to school hard. It gives the opportunity for people to be able to speak about their work if they are anxious and don’t want to show their face. It allows me to see design as a way of striving for inclusivity that transcends the barriers of distance. This magazine is a testament to that.

About half of my graduating class continues to work remotely, some even living out of town or out of state. Covid has provided the opportunity for fluidity in our education system and workforce that didn’t exist before. I think there is more of an understanding that everyone has different needs when it comes to productivity; there are

I think it goes without saying that the power of collaboration is not lost just because we exist in a world that is more digitally connected than ever before. If anything, we are able to span our connections and projects globally with ease. Persevering creatively in a time that is a recipe for burnout is hard. My stamina for the mundane day to day seems to be lower than before. I have had to relearn how to stay present in class, ignoring the itch I would get at home to fold my laundry or complete some other household task. However, I am so happy to be coming out of this all as a more resilient designer. I am more appreciative than ever of the stability design has provided me through these unprecedented times. Most importantly, I am surrounded by a community of designers that understand exactly what it’s like emerging from creation isolation.

WORDS + ILLUSTRATION KYLA PRESKITT DESIGN ASHLEE GLOVER

“It feels like I’m tip-toeing to peek my head around the corner; it’s hard to believe that after this long there isn’t another round of Covid hiding in the shadows.”

SOUL IN COLOR

As a designer, are there patterns of color that appear in your work? Do you find yourself connecting to colors on a level beyond aesthetics? Or maybe you feel that your character embodies a certain color? Maybe this is because color speaks to our own inner voice while also allowing us to relate and convey messages to others. Color can have the power to establish a relationship between design and our innermost conscience. Becoming more self aware and tapping into a side of ourselves that exists on a metaphysical plane can aid us as designers in producing deeper, more meaningful work. When we create from our souls and produce thoughtful work, we are able to reach others on a meaningful level.

I think it is valuable to be mindful of the energy we carry and how that can be projected onto others and reflected back to ourselves. As designers, we constantly use color to convey messages to our audience; I think it’s easy to think of color as something tangible, but oftentimes it has a greater, inconceivable impact. If you want a design to feel upbeat and cheerful, you may use the color yellow which similarly connects to joy and intellect in an aura reading. Blue is used when we want to appear honest or centered but can also convey sadness; in aura theory, it connects to spirituality and intuition.

Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity states that everything on earth is made up of energy, including humans. Going hand in hand with that, aura theory states that every living thing emits energy with a specific set of colors that relate directly to that being’s spiritual state. The word aura is simply defined as the distinctive atmosphere of energy that is generated by and surrounds a living thing or person, an electromagnetic field if you will. This atmosphere is actually manifested in a number of colors unseen by the human eye. In order to interpret these colors, aura photography is used as a vehicle to translate those colors into something able to be seen. Typically, an aura reading is done in a dark space using a suped up Polaroid camera specifically designed to capture the light waves transmitted by energy. The subject is connected directly to the camera by sensors measuring electromagnetic biofeedback. The person’s energy output will be translated to colors by the camera that appear in their image as a soft glow around their body and head. The science behind aura photography ends here and color theory comes into play in order to interpret the meaning of the colors. Following is a list of colors that may appear in an aura reading and their corresponding meanings.

Turquoise: Dynamic, organizer

Green: Healer, connected to nature

Purple: Sensitive, spiritual

Red: Passionate, vibrant

Pink: Harmonious, peaceful

Yellow: Joyful, intellectual

Blue: Spiritual, intuitive

White: Balanced, in harmony

Murky: Mentally or physically ill

From an artistic standpoint, aura photography is a beautifully unique lens to view ourselves through. Christina Lonsdale, a Portland based aura photographer, puts it best telling Vogue Magazine, “I’m not a healer, I’m not a psychic, I’m an artist. I wanted to provide people with an atmosphere to see what they’re putting out into the world, so they can experience themselves in a new way.” Regardless if aura theory resonates with you, it is something that holds deep meaning for many, as we innately have strong emotional connections tied to color.

This being said, designing with color in mind has always been of the utmost importance. Designers are able to establish entire moods and influence viewers emotions simply through a well thought out color pallet. The power of colors extends beyond simply decorative value, it invokes deep meaning, as it is part of the foundation for our understanding of the world. We can relate to one another through color because we have many shared feelings societally about what certain colors represent, such as yellow invoking positivity/ happiness or purple representing regality. Intentional color use increases the viewer’s ability to interpret work on an emotional level; this not only creates a memorable impact but streamlines the big takeaways they should gather from a piece. In similar ways that aura readings correspond to spirituality, emotional connection, logic and thinking patterns, design holds the same capability to touch people just as deeply, particularly when made with intention.

“When we create from our souls and produce thoughtful work, we are able to reach others on a meaningful level.”

WORDS + DESIGN KYLA PRESKITT

“I think it is valuable to be mindful of the energy we carry and how that can be projected onto others & reflected back to ourselves.”

From top left to bottom, aura photographs of unknown subject courtesy of Carrie Moss, Penny courtesy of pennysportal. com and Anne Collier by Tomma Abts, courtesy of Creative Time.

WE WANT MORE.

The arts have an unique ability to serve as a rallying cry for change, with the profound power to disseminate complex messages across large audiences, in a common manner that inspires people. The role of designers is evolving, as more and more harness their creative influence to bring about positive change. Throughout history, artists have opposed unjust political actions as adamant reactionaries. Design activism provides a compelling prism; by understanding the past and being aware of its historical significance, we can make informed choices in the present.

Designers and artists use their platform to speak out on behalf of human rights and against oppression. This participation of artists in the dialogue generates an inclusive, collective language to help deliver the world from exploitation and inequality. Artists and their actions have influenced or contributed to many movements throughout history, from LGBTQIA rights to feminism, pacifism, immigration and civil rights.

In North America during the 1920s, the Mexican Muralists were in revolution against tyrannical industrialization. Their intention was to protect workers’ rights. Artists such as Diego Rivera, were positively using art to depict the revolution, painting large scale public frescos illustrating the strife of the proletariat. They replicated traditional painting strategies most notably painting large scale frescoes. Like Renaissance artists, they communicated to masses of people through their didactic and powerful scenes. Mexican muralist

and painter, Diego Rivera perhaps one of his greatest legacies was his impact on America’s conception of public art.

With the birth of the women’s suffrage movement, American artists made social commentary by working with activists who were fighting for women’s rights at the ground level. Without a doubt, the women’s suffrage movement would not have had the success it did had the arts not brought the valiant efforts of

the perception of what it meant to be a woman and to be a suffragist. Without these compelling words and images, the work of the suffragists might have gone largely unnoticed.

the suffragists into the spotlight. In the first decade of the 20th century, the suffrage movement in the U.S. began to work more actively with the visual arts to spread its message, creating striking cartoons, paintings, posters, postcards, films, and even sculpture. These images permeated American culture, changing

The civil rights movement which began in the late 1950s and continued on into the following decade is one of the most well-known social movements in the history of the United States. The struggle for black equality had a significant impact on the success of subsequent social movements and the general culture of America, driving artists to not only document civil rights, racial inequality, and poverty, but most importantly demand change. The late 1960s and the onset of the 70s saw the rise of the Black Power movement, a somewhat more radical offshoot of the Civil Rights movement that sought to encourage pride in Black American’s African heritage and reject the norms of conformity to white cultural standards. In this graphic print, two of the more well-known symbols of the movement are evident: their raised fists in the Black Power salute and their hair styled in afros. The bold message to “unite” is printed in bright contrasting colors in the background, in an attempt to encourage the unified efforts necessary to bring about change. Jones-Hogu was a founding member of a collective of artists who sought to visually represent and bring attention to the ideals of the Black Power movement. This artist collective was known as AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists).

However, just as visual communication works to project ideas of change and progressivism, it can work in the opposite direction. The use of the discourse of social protest by large corporations to

"Artists and their actions have influenced or contributed to many movements throughout history, from LGBTQIA rights to feminism, pacifism, immigration and civil rights. "

WORDS ALEJANDRA MIRANDA MARIA MEZA ILLUSTRATION + DESIGN

MARIA MEZA QUINN WILSON

promote their own interests is just one example of this. Looking superficially, one would believe that it is companies that are tackling structural problems like racism, given the inclusion of race discourse in their marketing campaigns. While we celebrate it as a positive sign of widespread social approvalz of change when brands take a stance on these issues, it is important to turn a critical eye to the for-profit appropriation of social movements.

Dove and Nike are just two cases one can point to as examples of this phenomenon. Dove's Real Beauty campaign is an example of how corporations integrate the discourse of diversity and inclusion to broaden their market target. Real Beauty is a campaign that includes queer identities and women who do not fit conventional beauty standards. While we see a display of body shapes and colors in this campaign, we must not forget that this policy of inclusion comes from the same corporation that

not so many years ago launched an advertisement showing a black woman removing her top to reveal a smiling white woman underneath.

The Nike For Once Don't Do It campaign is one more example of how

such as "Don't turn your back on racism", and "Don't accept innocent lives being taken from us." This message of empathy and social responsibility comes from the same corporation that has fielded credible accusations of utilizing sweatshop labor for years. Nike workers have been said to be poorly-compensated, and labor for hours in temperatures well over the legal limit of 90 degrees, to the point that they collapse at their sewing machines.

corporate marketing uses its brand to build a discourse in line with the fight against racism that arose after George Floyd's death. Nike's advertising is quite simple but emotionally loaded, that appeals to its audience with messages

While large corporations are producing whole campaigns in black to support the BLM movement, or including green in their products as a way of addressing the climate change crisis to increase their profit; there is another social activism that is less visible because it does not try to sell us anything. It is activism that uses art to spread a discourse of equality, access and inclusion in which art recovers its original social function: to help us imagine fairer and more inclusive societies.

Art & The Power of Community

WORDS JOSH RODRIGUEZ DESIGN ROBERT BROCK

Community is something that we all strive for, because as humans we are social animals. We seek validation from others, whether it be from family friends, or the masses. No matter who you are, you have needed a community at some point in your life. Community is probably the most beneficial tool we, as students, obtain from school. Within the confines of our class we learn how to talk to one another on a professional level and we forge friendships that’ll potentially last a lifetime. We learn to critique artwork and we callus our emotions to prepare ourselves for the trials and tribulations of the real world.

Within recent times forging this community has been rough–even in a school scenario. This brings up the question: what are the other ways to find a community? A question so many of us have probably struggled with. These communities–like pretty much anything–can be found through the internet. The greatest contribution the internet has made by far is bringing us together, and as artists this is something that we can’t put a price tag on. These communities can be found through many ways, as the internet has infinite ways of communicating

with one another. Through the likes of sharing their process and their experiences, people like Ian Paget of Logo Geek, Mark Des Cotes of Resourceful Designer, and James Martin and his band of Merry Instagram Followers have built communities that designers, such as myself, have grown to rely on.

These Designers share their experiences with clients through business ventures, their creative process, and even how they present their final works to clients. Though these are but a few communities out there, they have allowed many designers following in their footsteps to join together and combat the plagues that every artist endures at some point: lack of motivation, depression, and imposter syndrome. Thus giving us creatives a much needed reprieve from feeling alone–like so many of us do.

“No matter who you are, you have needed a community at some point in your life.”

" it is important to turn a critical eye to the for-profit appropriation of social movements."

Igot up and pushed the heavy quilt off my bed and onto the floor. I’ll pick that up later, I was too tired to deal with that. Immediately, my thoughts went to caffeine; yes, I need that. I went into the kitchen, started the hot water in the kettle. I rummaged around the cupboards for my favorite tea. A box fell on me because I’m short and nearsighted, and forgot to put my glasses on. I sigh and trudge back to my room, grab

my glasses and by the time I was back in the kitchen, the water was boiling. With tea in my favorite mug, I was then ready to face the day—and by this point I have already seen multiple instances of art without even thinking about it.

“art is everywhere apparently, but why should I care?”

every box in your home has someone behind it too. The glasses I wear have roses engraved on the frames, my mug was carefully crafted with an elegant handle in contrast to its cheesy slogan. Even the shape of the kettle, the cupboard handles, and the tap I retrieved water from had a designer involved in making them walk the line between elegant and functional.

You know how hearing your favorite song can uplift your mood and totally change your day? Visual art can do the same. A direct correlation has been found between viewing art and an increase of dopamine . In fact, according to Professor Semir Zeki, a neuroscientist who specializes in the visual brain and its related affective states, looking at art stimulates the same place in your brain as the one that is activated when you fall in love. Love, I think we could all agree, is a very nice feeling.

Not only does art help to make people happier, but it also allows for effective communication and processing. Back to the tea box from earlier, I mentioned I’m near-sighted right? Well, I was still able to distinguish it from the other boxes by the coloration and shapes on the packaging in comparison to the rest of them, without even having to read the words.

You know the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”? If I had discovered this morning that we were out of my favorite tea, but couldn’t remember the brand name and I wanted to send my sister to grab some more for me, I would still be able to describe the box. The bottom is light gray, and the top is black with a blue band separating it from the bottom. There is a slightly darker gray tea pot with steam on the bottom left corner. The brand and tea type is on the black part of the box. Did you conjure up an image in your mind? Okay now, if I dug the old box out of the recycling

“A direct correlation has been found between viewing art and an increase of dopamine”

one else trying to describe it, allows for a bit of catharsis and the realization that no one is as alone in their emotions as they think they are. There are billions of different emotions people have all bundled up inside themselves, but there are also endless ways to interpret art - there is always something out there for someone. It allows someone to process and chew on their own thoughts and feelings in a way that is outside of themselves for a little while. It eases the burden of figuring out how to communicate overwhelming feelings if you can point at something and say that is how I feel.

On the average day, humans are surrounded by an abundance of creativity. When I knocked the quilt off of my bed, I didn’t mention the fact that it was patterned. Someone had very carefully plotted and chose the precise arrangements of color and textures to create a visually appealing blanket. Don’t have an artsy blanket? No worries, every single box I displaced on my quest to get Earl Grey had a designer behind it, and

“doodads and things”

and saw that the tea I wanted was Bigelow Earl Grey, and simply texted her a picture, that would be a different story entirely. Images are able to accurately convey information in an effective way. In this case, it was a brand of tea, but sometimes it’s a bit more complex than that.

Photographs are all filtered through a human lens. If a human touches the camera, then their thoughts and feelings are going to come through, even if they are trying to be subjective. Photos are snapshots into what is important to someone who happens to be holding a camera. There’s a certain human element involved in the moment of taking a photograph that some people are going to intrinsically relate to. The same goes for paintings, and songs. Whatever it is, it can allow people to process their own feelings because relating to someone else’s art can help us understand our own emotions. There has been a lot of art made through the years, and many things you may not consider to be artistic are included. This means that the amount of things designed by people who are passionate about creation is astronomical. Oftentimes with passion comes the secondary emotions that simultaneously drive the work. Being able to see that emotion, as opposed to having an author or some-

“Breath of Nature”

It is about sending a picture text instead of describing the tea box.

Art is everywhere. It is in the socks I’m wearing and the mug I’m holding and even the keynoard I’m typing on. It makes us unique, and so very human all at once. Art is in my cabinets and in the grocery store aisles and in the pot holding the succulent that I forgot to water. Art is in the blanket, still sitting on the floor. I’m going to go pick up that blanket now, and fold it neatly before putting it back on my bed. I’m going to look at that pattern that another human painstakingly crafted, and I’m going to think about art.

I hope the next time you fold a blanket or pick up a mug, you think about the art too.

This is what my morning was like today: WORDS ERYN LEATHERWOOD ART + DESIGN LINK TALLEY

anderson andersson the art of creating beautiful illusions

Good directors create unique and functional worlds, where unique and not so functional characters coexist. Two directors stand out in creating perfect, eccentric, and whimsy worlds where everything is thought out and controlled. Wes Anderson, the 53-year-old American director responsible for delicate little gems like Moonrise Kingdom or, probably, the most visually bold and stunning of his movies, The Grand Budapest Hotel. And Roy Andersson, the Swedish film director born in 1943, best known for the three films that comprise his “Living Trilogy” – Songs from the Second Floor; You, the Living; and A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.

The designers behind the scenes

Anderson and Andersson build strange worlds with their own rhythms; and rules, where the presence of each element is a function of storytelling. Nothing is gratuitous; everything has intention. The audience, both happy and willing, accepts this and believes in the existence of these worlds, with only one condition: they need to be credible. Among the numerous elements that contribute to creating believable worlds, graphic material is one of the most common, though it is often overlooked.

As in any world, real or fictional, there are tons of written materials -love letters, maps, kidnapping notes, and newspapers. Packaging, photographs, drawings, and a multitude of products circulating. The audience must believe that Mendl’s bakery delivers their pastries in little pink boxes with blue ribbons. Does it contribute to the storytelling? Perhaps not; however, it supports the idea of the existence and credibility of Mendl’s bakery, which is part of the prestigious Grand Budapest Hotel in the former nation of Zubrowka.

As Annie Atkins mentions in her book Designing Graphic anything with lettering, a pattern, or a picture is a graphic piece; and behind that graphic piece, there is a designer. The versatility of graphic design is enormous, but one of the most enjoyable fields of application has to be the design of visual props for filmmaking. Who wouldn’t love to be part of the creation of alternate worlds?

The color in their art

From Wes’ sophisticated, rich color palette and scenes full of people to Roy’s pale, desaturated, and almost deserted restaurants, these two directors perfectly understand that settings are also characters, and color is their voice. Colors are alive, and the presence or absence of elements tell vivid stories, more so than the narrators themselves. They build their worlds around color; hue has meaning, just as much as saturation and brightness levels do.

We can tell of the glorious times of the Grand Budapest Hotel because of the presence of saturated and vibrant reds, pinks, and purples. We can also tell about its decline because those bright colors have changed to desaturated, less vibrant tones and faded to muted browns and oranges. However, it’s not as simple as that.

Color is complicated in Wes Anderson’s films. In The Grand Budapest Hotel, he draws a line between joy and darkness with color. In The Royal Tenenbaums, he blurs that line. Let’s think of the character Chas Tenenbaum. He is dressed in a vibrant, bright red jogging suit throughout the movie and the vibrance and brightness seem to be an indicator of good- but the hue doesn’t match. This character lives in a permanent state of alert and is ready to run- both metaphorically and literally speaking. It’s not until the end, when his father dies, that we see him dressed in black. He finally finds peace within himself and the world. Wes tends to find humor in dark and twisted places.

What makes the work of Roy Andersson interesting is his ability to pull inspiration from

art outside of his regular medium. We can see how the history of painting, and poetry play an important and influential role in his work. As graphic designers, we greatly admire this attention to detail.

Many artists pigeonhole themselves and their inspirations into the same medium without exploring outside of their wheelhouse. His style, self-described as “hyperreality,” is built upon completely staged backdrops and artificial lighting. Most, if not all, of his characters, are dressed in drab clothing and ghostly makeup. He has the ability to create fixed camera shots that are visually engaging. He achieves this by rewarding the viewer by framing his shots in a way that allows actors to pop into the scene after hiding behind objects in plain sight.

WORDS + ILLUSTRATION + DESIGN ALEJANDRA MIRANDA LEAF AYRES

an act of comunicación

&

La relación entre el diseño la traducción en un mundo

While design as a practice operates frequently in the purely visual realm, there are few things more fundamental to communication than language, and what language you speak affects not only what you can understand, but also the way you think and the cultural context that shapes your decisions.

With the increasing globalization of markets for both products and communication, it is becoming more and more common to need to design everything from static products, dynamic websites, to even entire brands with a multilingual audience in mind.

Even domestically, as climate change and international conflicts induce ever more human migration, countries, especially those in the global north, are having to adapt to increasingly diverse populations.

En The Design of Everyday Things (El diseño de las cosas cotidianas), Don Norman afirma que “el diseño es en realidad un acto de comunicación, lo que signifi ca que el diseñador debe tener un profundo conocimiento de la persona con la que se está comunicando”.

A pesar de que el idioma que hablamos determina nuestra manera de comprender el mundo y la forma de pensar el contexto cultural que da forma a las decisiones que tomamos, no es necesariamente la herramienta más importante al momento de pensar el diseño como herramienta comunicativa que como práctica opera principalmente en el ámbito visual.

Con la creciente globalización de mercados y productos, la necesidad de diseñar productos estáticos, sitios web dinámicos, hasta campañas publicitarias enteras, pensando en un público multilingüe es cada vez más frecuente.

Incluso en el ámbito nacional, a medida que el cambio climático y los conflictos internacionales provocan cada vez más migraciones

WORDS + DESIGN ALEJANDRA MIRANDA QUINN WILSON WORDS MARI MEZA

translation relate in a

In The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman posits that “design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.”

How design multilingual world plurilingüe.

According to the Pew Research Center, the United States has a growing population of around 40 million Spanish speakers, meaning around one out of every eight US citizens is a native speaker of the language. Because of uneven distribution, in many local populations, the proportion is well over twice that level. Two out of every five citizens of LA county speak Spanish primarily at home.

Designers, programmers, and content developers at all levels of the economy regularly encounter this changing landscape in their work, but integrating multiple languages, not to mention conceptually accommodating multiple cultural contexts is a challenge.

Software developer Daniel Wilson, from Eugene, Oregon often wishes designers were more aware of this problem “I have this issue that comes up all the time where the city wants to put out some information to the public, and they have translations of the text, but they don’t have translations of the images. As a developer, I’m never sure how to handle that”

Even when all the developed content has had translation needs attended to, however, issues will still arise due to the phenomenon known as “Text Swell.” English is not the most temporally or spatially concise or efficient language out there, but it’s among the top contenders. Finnish Designer Simo Herold wrote about encountering serious issues of text swell that entirely “broke the [user interface],” because simple short english phrases became untenable to fit into the design when translated to German. Herold found, however, that redesigning around this text swell ultimately made his design better. When designers lose the precision and optimization that comes with knowing the exact size of their content, they are forced to re-evaluate the flow of the user interface and their priorities for user experience. This leads to removing unnecessary content, replacing words with clearly recognizable cross-cultural icons, and creating designs with a clearer and more utilitarian hierarchy.

Spanish, like German, is physically longer than English, which for US designers can have many consequences when designing in a limited space. Ezequiel Bruni, a bilingual UI/UX developer and design writer working in Mexico notes that, in web contexts, because of the flexibility and responsiveness this requires “accommodating content for two languages is three times the work as it is for one.”

Language is the manifestation of culture, simultaneously emerging from and contributing to the history and evolution of a society. Our linguistic context both shapes, and allows us to convey our lived experiences. When learning a new language, it is not enough to remember the literal translation of the words, one must also understand the whole cultural weight behind them. Likewise, when translating an abstract concept being manifested into a design, the cultural weight of design elements must be considered.

The physical issues encountered when accommodating English and Spanish in the same design environment are in many ways a reflection of these equally relevant cultural differences. The length of Spanish in relation to English, among many other explanations,

has the influence of the Baroque in it. The Baroque was born as a cultural movement in Spain and adopted by the colonies in Latin America. Among other things, it has an ornate aesthetic affectation, which has historically influenced language, art, and architecture, and contributed conceptually to linguistic conventions that eschew efficiency in favor of clarity or ornamentation.

On the other hand, the efficiency of English is also culturally reflected, both in the fast-paced nature of our capitalistic society, and in the types of design and architecture movements that originated or came to fruition in the United States. In spite of their clear artistic roots in the swiss international style, few examples of graphic design history are more quintessentially American, or more efficient and minimalist than the pictorial modernism of Lester Beall’s Rural Electrification Admin-

The architecture of places of worship is a clear visual representation of the cultural contrast between predominantely Catholic Latin communities and Protestant North America

tado y localía, así que está proporción puede facilmente doblarse. Dos de cada cinco ciudadanos del condado de Los Ángeles hablan español principalmente en casa, por ejemplo.

Diseñadores, programadores y desarrolladores de contenidos de todos los niveles de la economía se encuentran en su trabajo habitualmente con este panorama cambiante, donde integrar varios idiomas, por no hablar de acomodar conceptualmente múltiples contextos culturales, es todo un reto.

El desarrollador de software Daniel Wilson, de Eugene (Oregón), a menudo desearía que los diseñadores fueran más conscientes de este problema: “Me encuentro con un problema que surge todo el tiempo, cuando la ciudad quiere poner información bilingue a disposición del público. Tienen traducciones del texto, pero no tienen traducciones de las imágenes. Como desarrollador, nunca estoy seguro de cómo manejar esto.”

humanas, los países, especialmente los del norte global, tienen que adaptarse a poblaciones cada vez más diversas. Según el Pew Research Center, Estados Unidos tiene una población creciente de unos 40 millones de hispanohablantes, lo que significa que uno de cada ocho ciudadanos estadounidenses habla español como primera lengua. Por supuesto, esta distribución varía según es-

Sin embargo, incluso cuando se hayan atendido las necesidades de traducción de todo el contenido desarrollado, seguirán surgiendo problemas debido al fenómeno conocido como “Text Swell”. (lo que se puede traducir, literalmente, como hinchazón del texto). El inglés no es el idioma más conciso o eficiente desde el punto de vista temporal o espacial, pero está entre los principales contendientes. El diseñador finlandés Simo Herold escribió que se encontró con serios problemas de Text Swell que “rompieron por completo la [interfaz de usuario]”, porque simples frases cortas en inglés se volvieron insostenibles para encajar en el diseño cuando se tradujeron al alemán. Sin embargo, Herold descubrió que el rediseño de esta parte creciente de texto acabó mejorando su diseño. Cuando los diseñadores pierden la precisión y la optimización que se obtiene al conocer el tamaño exacto del contenido con el que se trabaja, se ven obligados a reevaluar el flujo de la interfaz de usuario y sus prioridades en cuanto a la experiencia del usuario. Esto lleva a eliminar contenido innecesario, a sustituir las palabras por iconos interculturales claramente reconocibles y a crear diseños con una jerarquía más clara y utilitaria.

El español, como el alemán, es físicamente más largo que el inglés, lo que para los diseñadores estadounidenses puede tener muchas consecuencias a la hora de diseñar en un espacio limitado. Ezequiel Bruni, desarrollador UI/UX bilingüe y escritor de diseño que trabaja en México, señala que, en contextos web, debido a la flexibilidad y capacidad de respuesta que esto requiere, “acomodar el contenido para dos idiomas es el triple de trabajo que para uno”.

La lengua es la manifestación de la cultura, que surge de la historia y la evolución de una sociedad y contribuye a ella. Nuestro contexto lingüístico conforma nuestas experiencias y nos permite transmitirlas. Cuando se aprende una nueva lengua, no basta con recordar la

La arquitectura de los lugares de culto es una clara representación visual del contraste cultural entre las comunidades latinas predominantemente católicas y las norteamericanas protestantes.

“In spite of their clear artistic roots in the swiss international style, few examples of graphic design history are more quintessentially American, or more efficient and minimalist than the pictorial modernism of Lester Beall’s Rural Electrification Administration series.”

“A pesar de sus claras raíces artísticas en el estilo internacional suizo, pocos ejemplos de la historia del diseño gráfico son más esencialmente americanos, o más eficientes y minimalistas que el modernismo pictórico de la serie Rural Electrification Administration de Lester Beall.”

An example of Lester Beall’s Rural Electrification Administration Minimalist Modern poster Series

Un ejemplo de la serie de carteles minimalistas modernos de la Administración de Electrificación Rural de Lester Beall.

istration series. Similarly, designers in the United States led the movement to simplify and produce cohesive brand identities for multinational corporations, another clear example of maximalist efficiency in design, that reflects the American values of individualism and capitalistic efficiency.

Because of this perpetual dialogue between culture, language, and design, translating communication for and with multilingual audiences requires a participatory approach, implemented with inclusivity in mind. Culture and context play a significant role in the way people perceive and approach their interaction with design, which can raise problems when translating text from one language to another.

Thus when designing multilingually, the cultural context of the audiences needs to be taken into consideration, particularly in a global context where business is dependent upon interaction between a multitude of diverse audiences.

A logo might be simply described as “a symbol or mark that defines or represents a company or product.” The implication is that it doesn’t matter what the mark is, anything that can be clearly established as representative could work. But in reality, we cannot assume that the effect of a logo is universal. Logos don’t always operate on such an abstract level; they are ultimately linguistic artifacts and must be reckoned with as such.

One of the most important factors to take into consideration when designing for a multilingual audience is color. Colors carry different meanings, which vary according to local culture. For example, in China, the color green is associated with disgrace, while in Iran, green symbolizes joy and success. Colors can be associated with superstitions, religious beliefs or political leanings and their meanings can vary widely across cultures. We perceive colors even before we read and recognize a logo. Thus, carefully researching the target country’s color code before breaking into the market is a crucial factor for a designer.

These unique challenges come up in part because graphic design operates in this visual and representational realm in addition to utilizing written language, however, this also creates an opportunity. A designer working with intention, and armed with a multicultural awareness, can create unified

solutions that effectively communicate across both language and culture, in a way that mere words would not necessarily manage. Depending on the specific problem being solved, graphic design can provide the space and visual context for multiple languages in the same way designers already use visual cues and carefully chosen copy to create unified solutions across demographics within a culture.

The challenge for designers in tackling the issues a burgeoning multilingual and globalized culture brings is not in itself novel: Identify the target demographics and consider a solution that unifies their needs. Spoken language is fortunately only one of the tools in a graphic designers toolbox, and designers are already versed in melding a variety of communication techniques within the same context. The same skills which a designer uses to simultaneously communicate in image and type can be effectively applied to more technical linguistic and cultural communication challenges.

Recognising that bilingual design is not always just translation in place, but a goal-based participatory process is the first step to successful solutions. Regardless of whether your goal is clear communication above all else, (such as wayfinding and other signage), delivery of longform but visually-heavy content to a large market, (such as an art or design book), or the more challenging delivery of culturally complex content that might be sensitive to translation issues (like a brand or tagline), there usually exists a solution that will accommodate your entire audience. Multilingual wayfinding signs use a variety of typographic contrast techniques to juxtapose multiple languages clearly; many books on visual design use a column-based format to deliver the textual aspects of the book in multiple languages; and web technologies to responsively accommodate different lengths of content are improving all the time. Corporations use a mixture of judicious brand transliteration and market campaign differentiation to create cross-cultural comprehension, while maintaining a cohesive multinational identity through carefully chosen color and visual style.

More and more, design must find a balance between differentiation for uniqueness and attention, and intentional application of the universal, psychologically-based, visual human languages identified across cultures

in everything from arabic geometry, to japanese aestheticism, to german Gestalt theory. Through an awareness of our differences we can find a focus on what brings us together as humans, and this understanding will facilitate communication regardless of what languages are used.

traducción literal de las palabras, sino que hay que entender todo el peso cultural que hay detrás de ellas. Del mismo modo, al traducir un concepto abstracto que se manifiesta en un diseño, hay que tener en cuenta el peso cultural de los elementos del diseño.

Los problemas físicos que se plantean a la hora de acomodar el inglés y el español en el mismo entorno de diseño son, en muchos sentidos, un reflejo de estas diferencias culturales igualmente relevantes. La longitud del español en relación con el inglés, entre otras muchas explicaciones, tiene la influencia del Barroco. El Barroco nació como movimiento cultural en España y fue adoptado por las colonias de América Latina. Entre otras, tiene una afectación estética ornamentada, que ha influido históricamente en el lenguaje, el arte y la arquitectura, y ha contribuido conceptualmente a las convenciones lingüísticas que huyen de la eficiencia en favor de la claridad o la ornamentación.

Por otro lado, la eficiencia del inglés también se refleja culturalmente, tanto en la naturaleza acelerada de nuestra sociedad capitalista, como en los tipos de movimientos de diseño y arquitectura que se originaron o fructificaron en Estados Unidos. A pesar de sus claras raíces artísticas en el estilo internacional suizo, pocos ejemplos de la historia del diseño gráfico son más esencialmente americanos, o más eficientes y minimalistas que el modernismo pictórico de la serie Rural Electrification Administration de Lester Beall. Del mismo modo, los diseñadores de Estados Unidos lideraron el movimiento para simplificar y producir identidades de marca cohesivas para las corporaciones multinacionales, otro claro ejemplo de eficiencia maximalista en el diseño, que refleja los valores estadounidenses de individualismo y eficiencia capitalista.

Debido a este diálogo perpetuo entre la cultura, la lengua y el diseño, la comunicación para y con el público multilingüe requiere un enfoque participativo y aplicado teniendo en cuenta la inclusión. La cultura y el contexto desempeñan un papel importante en la forma en que las personas perciben y abordan su interacción con el diseño, lo que puede plantear problemas a la hora de traducir un texto de una lengua a otra.

Por eso, al diseñar en varios idiomas, hay que tener en cuenta el contexto cultural de

las audiencias, sobre todo en un contexto global en el que los negocios dependen de la interacción entre una multitud de audiencias diversas.

Un logotipo puede describirse simplemente como “un símbolo o marca que define o representa a una empresa o producto”. La implicación es que no importa cuál sea la marca, cualquier cosa que pueda establecerse claramente como representativa podría funcionar. Pero, no podemos asumir que el efecto de un logotipo es universal. Los logotipos no siempre operan en un nivel tan abstracto; son, en última instancia, artefactos lingüísticos y deben ser considerados como tales.

Como diseñador, hay que tener en cuenta varios factores a la hora de diseñar para un público multilingüe y multicultural. Los colores tienen diferentes significados, que varían según la cultura local. Por ejemplo, en China, el color verde se asocia a la desgracia, mientras que en Irán, el verde simboliza la alegría y el éxito. Los colores pueden asociarse a supersticiones, creencias religiosas o inclinaciones políticas, y sus significados pueden variar mucho de una cultura a otra. Percibimos los colores incluso antes de leer y reconocer un logotipo. Por ello, investigar cuidadosamente el código de colores del país de destino antes de entrar en el mercado es un factor crucial para un diseñador.

Estos desafíos únicos surgen en parte porque el diseño gráfico opera en este ámbito visual y de representación, además de utilizar el lenguaje escrito; sin embargo, esto también crea una oportunidad. Un diseñador que trabaje con intención y tenga conciencia multicultural puede crear soluciones unificadas que comuniquen eficazmente tanto el idioma como la cultura, de una manera que las meras palabras no necesariamente lograrían. Dependiendo del problema concreto que se resuelva, el diseño gráfico puede proporcionar el espacio y el contexto visual para varios idiomas, de la misma manera que los diseñadores ya utilizan las señales visuales y los textos cuidadosamente elegidos para crear soluciones unificadas entre los grupos demográficos de una cultura.

El reto para los diseñadores a la hora de abordar los problemas que conlleva una cultura multilingüe y globalizada en auge no es en sí mismo novedoso: Identificar los grupos demográficos a los que se

dirige y pensar en una solución que unifique sus necesidades. Afortunadamente, el lenguaje hablado no es más que una de las herramientas de un diseñador gráfico, que ya está versado en la combinación de diversas técnicas de comunicación dentro del mismo contexto. Las mismas habilidades que un diseñador utiliza para comunicar simultáneamente en imagen y tipo de letra pueden aplicarse eficazmente a retos de comunicación lingüística y cultural más técnicos.

Reconocer que el diseño bilingüe no es siempre una mera traducción, sino un proceso participativo basado en objetivos, es el primer paso para lograr soluciones exitosas. Independientemente de si su objetivo es la comunicación clara por encima de todo (como la señalización), la entrega de contenidos largos y visualmente complejos (como un libro de arte o de diseño), o la entrega más difícil de contenidos culturalmente complejos que pueden ser sensibles a los problemas de traducción (como una marca o un eslogan), normalmente existe una solución que se adapta a toda su audiencia. Las señales de orientación multilingüe utilizan diversas técnicas de contraste tipográfico para yuxtaponer claramente varios idiomas; muchos libros de diseño visual utilizan un formato basado en columnas para presentar los aspectos textuales del libro en varios idiomas; y las tecnologías web para acomodar de forma sensible diferentes longitudes de contenido mejoran continuamente. Las empresas utilizan una mezcla de juiciosa transliteración de la marca y diferenciación de las campañas de mercado para crear una comprensión transcultural, al tiempo que mantienen una identidad multinacional cohesionada a través del color y el estilo visual cuidadosamente elegidos.

Cada vez más, el diseño debe encontrar un equilibrio entre singularidad y la atención, y la aplicación intencionada de los lenguajes humanos visuales universales, basados en la psicología, identificados en todas las culturas, desde la geometría árabe hasta el esteticismo japonés, pasando por la teoría alemana de la Gestalt. Al ser conscientes de nuestras diferencias, podemos centrarnos en lo que nos une como seres humanos, y esta comprensión facilitará la comunicación, independientemente de los idiomas que se utilicen.

“Un diseñador que trabaje con intención y tenga conciencia multicultural puede crear soluciones unificadas que comuniquen eficazmente tanto el idioma como la cultura, de una manera que las meras palabras no necesariamente lograrían.”

“A designer working with intention, and armed with a multicultural awareness, can create unified solutions that effectively communicate across both language and culture, in a way that mere words would not necessarily manage.”

FROM GONE TO GROWTH

JOSHUA RODRIGUEZ

In the fall of 2020, there was a fire known as the Holiday Farm Fire that burned 173,393 acres of the Willamette National Forest, and in result, the destruction of over 768 homes.These photos were taken off of the McKenzie highway on April 24th, 2022. It is there we found the emergence of new plant life intertwined with the charred trees, animals returned to forage and seek new dwellings, and people rebuilding their livelihoods. Despite all that was lost, the plants, animals, and people are resilient and filled with hope.

WORDS + PHOTOGRAPHY LEAF AYRES

PHOTOGRAPHY

Symbols and icons have become ubiquitous in our modern society. While their humble beginnings are no longer in the forefront of how we look at them, we can decipher the meanings almost instantly. Symbols are small graphics who’s meaning must be learned, images which have become transcendent forms, woven into every facet of how we live. From wayfinding to poisonous precautions, icons’ clear representational nature tells us everything we need to know in one mark. Both icons and symbols serve many purposes, but they can primarily be distilled into three categories — to create value, to describe, or to identify.

While most of us associate symbols with email addresses, trademarks, or registration marks, earlier symbols served a very different, but equally important function — record keeping and organization. The history and evolution of art and design as separate disciplines has its roots in the same ancient practices from which iconography grew. Art tends to be a visual expression of the artists’ thoughts and emotions where design is about visual communication. In graphic design we are taught that when we design a mark, it is a mark made with purpose and goes beyond the aesthetics or beauty of it. The term “graphic deszign” didn’t come around until the 1920’s, but the practice of marks made with utilitarian and communicative purpose, and thus the study of graphic design history, begins in ancient times.

The non-verbal spread of information dates back to 20,000 B.C, when cave paintings communicated how to stay safe or where to seek prey. The evolution of symbols progressed through reduction. The strongest symbols omit the non-essential elements. Prehistoric symbols acted as not just a way to communicate, but to also make sense of the world in general. We see symbols from the Cro-Magnon people of Europe to the Ancient Sumarians of Mesopotamia that act as both means of communication, and record-keeping.

Over the next 17,000 years, these pictographic forms of communication de-

veloped into the more advanced system now known as Egyptian Hieroglyphics, distinguished primarily in that the symbols in them began to carry abstract meanings unto themselves, separate from the visual image upon which the symbol was initially based.

As society evolved, so did the need for better systems of communication. Sumarians discovered a technique called cuneiform which consists of a more abstract, yet much faster way of documenting their surroundings. Cuneiform, which means “Wedge-shaped” is essentially a pictographic form of writing. There were, however, components in

just a written language and more into a functioning image.

From the heraldry of Medieval Europe to mon from Japan, symbols and icons were used extensively in the middle ages. These examples of visual identity and communication bring us closer to the modern concept of graphic design. While these “emblems” served as identification or lineage, and the representational sensibilities in them translate to our modern understanding of mark making, the concept of a visual identity system, or universally recognizable “mark” for a corporate entity didn’t truly mature until the mid 20th century.

In the 1950s through the late 20th century, graphic designers in the United States, such as Paul Rand & Lester Beal, took the concept of a corporate brand to the next level. They created appropriately-dubbed “iconic” identities for companies such as IBM, ABC, and the International Paper Company, that became not only signatures of companies, but parts of the cultural ethos of the entire society.

both Cuneiform and Egyptian Hieroglyphic graphical systems that symbolically depicted an audible utterance, marking the beginning of a journey towards a written language.

Drawing on both of these two systems–though it is thought primarily on Hiergogpyhs–the Phoenicians of the Mediterranean are credited with the development of what we know today as the alphabet. Unlike previous forms of graphic communication, an alphabet is composed of unique symbols representative not of a particular object, action, or story, but of basic sounds, which could be strung together into a written representation of spoken language. While early writing is thus a collection of symbols, the term symbol categorizes itself forward by extending beyond

When computers brought about ubiquitous informal communication in type, we began to use established typographic elements to build pictographs, in the form of emoticons. Computer Science professor Scott Fahlman, of Carnegie Mellon University proposed and used the first digital emoticon on the morning of September 19th, 1982. Dr Fahlman’s creative use of typography to indicate humor eventually evolved into the international system now known as emoji, the marks within which are still constantly evolving in their culturally affected meanings, just as Egyptian hieroglyphs morphed from pictographs to abstract representations.

While we have evolved tremendously over the course of human history, we still are creating and simplifying marks all these years later. Developing icons and symbols that elicit the widest understanding with the most basic graphic is the highest aspiration of many designers, and the way in which this process involves a constant dialogue with cultural evolution means, for better and for worse, this work will never be complete.

WORDS LINK TALLEY DESIGN LEAF AYRES

“But, is that too feminine?”

WORDS KYLA PRESKITT MARIA MEZA QUINN WILSON DESIGN + ILLUSTRATION MARIA MEZA

The words came from our male teacher, gently, tip-toeing on thin ice and from a place that meant no malice. But, no matter how lightly the waters are tread on, the fire still ignites in every female classmate. The conversation started because a peer had presented logo concepts for her self brand; all of them carrying a curvy quality with a combination of pink, teal and orange. It embodied who she was as a person and a designer, everything a good self brand logo should do. While critiquing some of the design aspects, our teacher brought up a question that surfaces year after year: Will

this design be too feminine to garner her equal job opportunities as her male competitors?

Hearing that question out loud was a slap from reality followed by stages of grief. Mostly though, there was anger at the reminder of the harsh truth: that female designers are not, and have never been, equal to their male counterparts. Why is the idea that femininity is lesser than intrinsically ingrained in society? Men are taught to take up space, to be loud, bold, even daring, while women are perennially told they are either too soft-spoken or must dim their voice because they sound like a “b**ch.” But when the cultural weight of patriarchy unnecessarily attaches itself to aspects of visual design, it is not only women, but also designers and culture itself that suffers.

The stereotypes associated with gender in design are not hard to guess at. Generally, blocky slab serifs are considered bold, courageous, and therefore “masculine”. Feminine fonts tend to be thin, slanted, smooth and curvy, such as script or cursive fonts. Colors associated with femininity include pastel, bright and vivid warm colors. On the other hand, masculine design favors darker, cool colors. Given that masculine design is more mechanical and geometrical it is often viewed as more functional and useful. The difference in how design conforming to these social constructs is perceived is just one of many double standards women and feminine designers have to field every day.

Another student in the same class, had a logo constructed out of a sharply sliced off slab serif font. The angular

“..there was anger at the reminder of the harsh truth: that female designers are not, and have never been, equal to their male counterparts.”

and powerful red emblem was placed dramatically in a black circle, juxtaposed in the brand documents with rectilinear, efficient, and utilitarian fonts and layouts. While the conversation carefully explored this logo’s intensity and possible connotations, the phrase “too masculine” never crossed anybody’s lips. And why would it have? For the same reason that a toddler wearing pink is automatically gendered as a girl, yet the same toddler in green would elicit a question, before an assumption, something about inherently “feminine” designs automatically triggers a question about how female-dominated the target demographic really is. The assumption is that no self-respecting man could possibly be caught enjoying ‘feminine’ design. Even though women drive 7080% of consumer spending, feminine design is not often thought of as “good design.” When implemented, it is often only done so condescendingly, and for targeted female-only markets, while masculinity slides seamlessly in under the auspices of neutrality, modernity, or strength.

Demographic targeting is of course a real and important aspect of design, and in broad statistical terms, biases in what sorts of visual elements appeal to various genders are evidence-based, and worthy of attention. But the gender binary itself is a relatively historically-recent, eurocentric construction. More than two genders, and gender fluidity in general, have been recognized by indigenous cultures for millenia. The

idea that flowing, expressive typography or bright, saturated colors must be used for an opposite demographic than blocky rectilinear typography, or darker colors is entirely spurious. It not only perpetuates a false binary, but hamstrings the designer’s creativity. It creates arbitrary rules about arbitrary categories of humans who in reality are not that biologically simple.

Stereotypically conforming masculine and feminine design hallmarks do have strong cultural momentum; women know they’re being targeted by ads with a lot of pink, men know to pay attention when an ad uses strong blocky contrasting shapes. But while this is a real force to be reckoned with, the true appeal of these aspects of design to different sexes is not as inherent or immutable as people think. Historically, what is considered masculine and feminine has been subject to the whims of fashion as much as anything else.

There have been attempts, especially in the 20th century, to create conceptually universal, so-called ‘neutral’ schools of design. Modernist styles such as the International Typographic Style strive for a conceptual “neutrality,” and in some ways, their removal of ornamentation did broaden their potential appeals. But due to the historical nature of power in this field, these attempts have been made from a white, male, and eurocentric perspective. In Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History, Briar Levit discusses an analysis of the “authoritative” source

on graphic design history by Phillip B. Meggs, which found only “62 women (and 80 BIPOC people) out of a total 594 designers.” Associate professor Brandon Waybright, who conducted the analysis cautioned that even this number came “with a strong caveat—that by and large the women and people of color are included in lists with only their name mentioned and no real historic detail.”

The effect of the historical dominance of white men in this field is twofold. Not only does it contribute to the perception of masculine designs as more universal, and create a masculine slant to supposedly “neutral” design, but it also creates a dearth of role models for female designers, and concomitant examples of influential feminine design. In spite

first address our professional and cultural expectations. Just as the disparity of power in the design industry cannot be separated from the sidelining of feminine design, it also cannot be separated from the added caregiving responsibilities, such as childcare, household management, and elder care, that are disproportionately borne by women. These responsibilities lead to women being passed over for, and opting to pass over, leadership roles because of the belief on both sides that these jobs require longer working hours, thus taking time away from their responsibilities at home. This, in turn, affects remuneration; female graphic designers receive 25-27% less than their male counterparts.

Patriarchal dominance of design is inexorably linked to, and in perpetual conversation with patriarchal dominance of culture.

der. There is nothing intrinsically less appealing about a curving, humanistic, and expressive design. There is nothing intrinsically less utilitarian about bright or pastel colors. It is only when we associate these things with cultural constructs that still lamentably connote a ‘less powerful’ and ‘less serious’ demographic, and allow those perceptions of power and gravity to persist, that we find ourselves asking that regrettable question: “But is it too feminine?”

of over half of graphic designers being female, only about one in ten creative directors are, meaning that many female designers go through their entire design careers never working with a female creative director.

Design simultaneously reflects and drives the cultural sense of gender affectations and roles. To achieve gender parity in the design industry, both internally, and with regard to the cultural perceptions of design quality, we must

It is only by seizing what power we each have, and chipping away at these edifices that we can expect to turn the momentum in a new, inclusive, direction. The more women who are socially freed up and empowered to find their place as design teachers, art directors, and cultural influencers, the more present these perspectives become, and the more welcome feminine creative direction will become in mainstream design.

This balance will bring with it the added benefit of furthering the deconstruction of the hegemonic binary idea of gen-

Ultimately, we pushed our classmate to go for it, to be feminine and to do it proudly. If a job is going to pigeon-hole a woman for simply being a woman, they do not deserve her anyways. Whether inherent or socially-imposed on a woman, femininity is associated with empathy and intuition, traits that allow feminine designers to be fluid in their understanding of the world around them. We are constantly having to dodge the oppression of masculinity, to adapt to a world that tries to dim our light. But facing these challenges makes us good designers. While the choice to be expressively feminine in one’s brand is a genuine risk, the more risks women are willing to take, in order to be the change they want to see in the world, the faster the change will occur. To be coded as feminine in any walk of life, leads to being resilient. And who wouldn’t want to hire a resilient woman who can powerfully push against the boundaries of what it means to be a designer? Good design is good design. Period. We just happen to look cute while we’re doing it.

Men are taught to take up space, to be loud, bold, even daring, while women are perennially told they are either too soft-spoken or must dim their voice because they sound like a “b**ch.”

Fundamentally, this issue is an emergent problem, founded in structural issues that go far beyond the world of design.

The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Mental Health

Creating things gives me a rush. It is both meditative and stimulating to put pen to paper and create something out of nothing. Nowadays, I often create out of necessity, whether for my mental health or to speak out about an issue that I feel the need to express my opinion on. My north star is justice, it guides my work and is the intention behind everything that I create.

I have learned firsthand how creative self expression has the potential to help those afflicted with mental illnesses and anxiety. There are endless creative ways to communicate through art that transcend barriers and limitations and go straight to the heart of the matter. The ability to express ourselves through the arts is something that no one can take away from us. We carry our creative nature with us wherever we go. Encouraging growth and healing through the act of being creative awakens us to our most valuable tool — our own inner strength and sense of self worth. To nurture this within ourselves and to solidify that we carry this with us always, can be the beginning of a path towards healing and rewriting our stories after trauma.

Graphic design aids in illuminating and guiding our society which links the importance of design as a tool for educating society. In the world of professional design, there’s still a stigma towards mental health conditions, despite increasingly open conversations about the topic. Perhaps some see admitting to having mental health

Studies also show that creating art stimulates the release of dopamine; this chemical is released when we do something pleasurable, and it makes us feel happier. Increased levels of this feel-good neurotransmitter can be very helpful if you are coping with anxiety or depression. Mental health professionals and experts agree that art therapy has many benefits, from boosting your self-esteem, and providing a safe outlet to relieve your emotions, to giving you a sense of control over your life and helping you to get to know and understand yourself better. During the process of art creation, there lies a journey of self-discovery that will help you eliminate emotional roadblocks, and learn how to communicate with yourself and others. Some benefits are:

Self-discovery: Creating art can help you acknowledge and recognize feelings that have been locked away in your subconscious.

Stress relief: Fighting anxiety, depression, or emotional trauma can be very stressful for you both mentally and physically. Creating art can be used to relieve stress and relax your mind and body.

Nature Inspired Design Promotes Mood, Satisfaction, and Productivity

Nature and landscape sceneries are therapeutic. Bringing it into the design concept is an effective initiative to influence positive mental health. Incorporating nature has a way of reducing anxiety and depression, thus reducing the negative implications of these mental conditions.

One of the most significant stressors for a person is the workplace. Many architects put a value on creating structures that make the workers feel relaxed and

when creating a design, whether for a building or a website. It is paramount to create designs that contribute to mental healing, especially during these times when more people are becoming increasingly aware of the effects innovative user interfaces can have. Investing in educating on how everyone can benefit from engaging, satisfying, and interactive design can aid people in feeling less isolated and depressed. With the increasing cases of mental disorders brought about by the latest global pandemic, COVID-19, artists and graphic designers are challenged to present designs that are not only unique but also alleviate mental health issues. Whether it is in the digital or real world, integrating design principles that can somehow improve mental well-being is essential. It will not fix mental issues, but being creative in the design process may support a therapeutic environment that can contribute to a healthy mind.

WORDS + ILLUSTRATION MARIA MEZA DESIGN ASHLEE GLOVER

is the intention behindeverything that I create. ”

“ My north star isjustice,itguides my work and

WORDS + DESIGN + PHOTOGRAPHY ROBERT BROCK PHOTOGRAPHY LINK TALLEY

The city of Eugene’s official slogan is “A Great City for the Arts and Outdoors”. These loves are combined and expressed in the vast number of murals found throughout the city. All throughout Eugene, and especially downtown, you can find murals of amazing quality and scale, made by artists both local and international.

Colossal works by Franco JAZ Fasoli and Beau Stanton rise above the downtown bus station while smaller works emblazon local businesses as both art and advertising. There is even a massive mural outside of Capella Market that was commissioned by the city of Eugene by globe trotting street artist Shamsia Hassani from Afghanistan.

Just as prevalent is Eugene’s uncommissioned street art. Graffiti coats alleys, fences and walls, a parade of tags in numerous colors and styles. The information age has given street artists a bottomless well of styles to draw from. But the nature of these works makes them ephemeral, only a matter of time before they are washed off or covered up with a layer of subtly mismatched paint.

The ubiquity of street art makes trips around town interesting, a shifting landscape of color peeking out from storefronts and alleys. A terrific variety of expressions are waiting everywhere, if you’re willing to look.

ALARM&

TheRoleDesigners CanPlayInCrafting ClimateChange Narratives

This article could begin with a flurry of frightening numbers about firestorms and ice caps, about polar bears and polarized politics, about climate refugees and refusals to act. You could read on as I quote the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, and at any moment you would see yet another terrifying figure denoting the shrinking number of years the proverbial and rhetorically united ‘we’ have remaining to… what is it now? Take action? Change course? Adapt?

Give in?

The words are tired. The numbers overwhelm us. The data and reports

rain in. The fuel continues to burn. The climate continues to warm.

The scientific method is designed only to tell us about reality as it is,

into. Vainly, it implores the world, with each yet more dire fact or figure, to care. But that same scientific method has shown us that the human brain does not operate on or respond to facts.

depend; another between conveying accurately the quantifiable scientific reality and finding an angle on it that fosters emotional poignancy and relevancy in the audience.

A recent paper in The Journal of Climate Change and Health found that anger about the climate predicted both better mental health and greater engagement around climate issues, both in personal behaviors and activism. Both anxiety and depression related to the climate were less connected to action, and less emotionally adaptive for individuals. Everything being doom and gloom only fosters apathy-- if the world is going to end anyway, why should you care? So you instead have to fight back against the nihilism with a healthy dose of righteous fury.

the audience are paramount. Research has shown that the human brain is wired for stories. People respond to narratives about climate change, not facts. Moreover, politics, not scientific understanding, shapes which narratives appeal to them. More conservative viewers, for example, respond more strongly to technocratic or marketbased narratives about our ability to overcome climate change with human ingenuity. They also respond to narratives about the fight between purity and impurity, and the struggle to protect the pristine status of “God’s Green Earth,” rather than those that focus on harm to humans or charismatic megafauna.

Unlike science, the creative professions are built around telling stories. By teaming up with scientists and processing the data, designers and artists are already helping craft narratives about the past, present, and future that distill reality into emotionally accessible and actionable tales.

objective by design, and the earnest perspective of the climate scientist is that the data should speak for itself, without ornamentation. But a designer is the intermediary of communication, taking raw data and sharpening it so it can be used to target an audience with a specific rhetorical goal in mind. Someone who can effectively marry hopeful imagery with quantifiable facts, or apocalyptic imagery with a message of human achievement and resilience is able to craft the complex and

empirically analyzing in ever more exhausting detail, the exact shape of the hole we continue to dig ourselves deeper

To act, people must simultaneously understand the situation rationally and feel emotionally that it matters to them; they must feel both urgency and agency, both alarm and hope. An earnest designer–hoping to communicate effectively about this issue–must thus walk two thin lines: one between conveying the dire nature of the current climate emergency and cultivating that thread of hope upon which action must

How to get to this feeling will depend greatly on demographic and cultural context-- and sometimes the optimal means of communication might come as a surprise. According to research by Rebecca Green, of UNSW Sydney, graphic design has a potent impact on the trust placed in, and effectiveness of, a message. While cleaner, informationheavy, positive messages about climate change and other environmental issues seem like they should effectively foster both hope and understanding, messages that evoked fear and disgust were seen as more trustworthy. These messages were being perceived as coming from a more grassroots source, rather than corporate or governmental. Furthermore, separate research has shown that facts and information play little to no role in changing minds or evoking action in an average viewer.

More influential than the facts and figures, politics and demographics of

For example, The Living Data Project attempts to merge scientific and artistic approaches to understanding the world, creating space for emotional engagement with the empirical. Photographer and artist Chris Jordan has spent years documenting environmental calamities and his famous series “Running the Numbers” distills the astronomical quantities associated with issues such as consumerism, public health, and the climate into emotionally poignant collages. Similarly, Massachusetts artist Jill Pelto takes facts and figures about climate change and turns them into dynamic paintings that simultaneously convey information and emotionally depict both the positives and negatives in the fight against climate change.

Those with a scientific mindset are wary of anything that feels like an argument, or smacks of propaganda. Science is

overwhelming reality of climate change into emotionally accessible and tailored narratives.

American design legend Milton Glaser famously described design as “the process of going from an existing condition to a preferred one.” It is about changing the status quo with something as simple as a typeface, evocative imagery, or a color choice. Design is shaping the world to have people see your point of view.

And with that comes power. So use it. Tell a story about something beautiful, something precious, something hopeful, and about the villains that want to tear it down.

Make someone angry. Make someone act.

There isn’t time for anything else anymore.

“To act, people must feel both urgency and agency, both alarm and hope.”

DESIGN QUINN WILSON

WORDS QUINN WILSON + ERYN LEATHERWOOD

“A designer is the intermediary of communication, taking raw data and sharpening it so it can be used to target an audience with a specific rhetorical goal in mind.”

Conversation

Interview with Jasper Hostler

Words + Design

Joshua Rodriguez

Joshua: How would you explain your art, or art style?

Jasper: I’ve loved cartoons, comics, and street art since I was little kid and I like to think I bring a bit of Hupa and Yurok tribal flair to those styles. Most of all though I like to try and make things that feel like they have a rich backstory.

Joshua: How do you feel about analog vs. digital art?

Jasper: It’s cool that there are so many ways to make art. Hopefully having so many points of entry will help more and more people find their voice. It’s incredible the things people can create. Sometimes I’ll even see a really cool effect in a digital piece and I’ll be really curious how that could be achieved in a physical medium. This lead to some hilariously bad pieces and some surprisingly cool pieces, it’s just fun to experiment.

Joshua: What is your Proudest Achievement?

Jasper: It’s silly but one time I did this cool piece of Max Holloway, one of my favorite fighters. It was this legendary moment where he looks to the commentary team mid fight and starts shout “Count em up!” As he then proceeds dodge multiple shots without even looking at his opponent. Goosebumps dude!

So I’m watching this and Im super inspired to try and capture the moment. So I did my thing, and I had a blast. One of those drawings where you are smiling ear to ear the whole time you are working on it. Then I share it on my Instagram and tag his page thinking why not right? Next thing I know he totally shared it on his story and gave it a like. I was so pumped.

Joshua: What tools would you say are in your design tool box?

Jasper: Let’s see I’d say the things I value are my adaptability, ability to work under pressure, sense of balance, and my stubborn optimism.

Joshua: How do you seek inspiration, in general, and for a particular project?

Jasper: Somebody once gave me a funny acronym I try to remember when i have creative block. “K.I.S.S.” Which means “keep it simple stupid”.

I sometimes get the impulse to try too hard to be clever. Which as you can imagine leads to overworked concepts that really only spoke to me. Using that as my sorta mantra I remember that starting with the fundamentals of a project and making sure that the message is clearly communicated is step one. From there the “ah ha” moments can really happen organically.

Joshua: Can you explain your freelance process to me from start to finish, what steps do you take to reach a product you’re happy to share with the public or client?

Jasper: Well first things first, talking with my client, sometimes people will tell you exactly what they want and not even realize it. Especially if it’s something super important to them. Listening to people talk about what they are excited about is one of my favorite things in this job.

Then I start my research, searching for visual elements and symbolism that I can pull from to really capture what ever story we are trying to tell.

After that I start sketching thumbnails. Get all my thoughts on paper. All of em, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

From there I create what I like to call my mechanical version combining what worked and discarding what didn’t from my thumbnails. This is a version that’s still fully editable nothing it outlined or flattened so any feed back is super easy to apply.

Next is just doing rounds with your client. Presenting what you’ve done so far, having a conversation, and getting there reactions. Sometimes they’ll be really inspired too and have some insight that’ll really bring it home, so these chats are really important.

Then finally you refine it into its final form and hopefully everyone is super happy and you celebrate with some pizza and doritos!

COMISSIONED BY JASPER HOSTLER

Joshua: One of your favorite mediums is felt tip markers. How have you tried to incorporate your marker art in your commercial work, and what tips do you have for other designers trying to branch away from the computer or merging the two mediums on a corporate level?

Jasper: Oh most definitely, alcohol markers are a very fast and versatile medium. I love to use them when ever I see an opportunity that makes sense.

As for tips I would just suggest practicing as much as possible with what ever medium you are excited about. That way when you find an opportunity to incorporate it, it’ll feel more natural to develop your concepts

Joshua: As someone who has worked on multiple different types of projects from illustrations, storyboards to catalogs and billboards, what do you prefer and what about those projects do you enjoy so much?

Jasper: The variety keeps ya sharp, I don’t know that I have a preference honestly. Every project is a puzzle with its own unique way of challenging me to think visually.

Joshua: What is something you think every designer should know as they emerge into this new career?

Jasper: Keep getting critiques as often as possible just like in school. The best way to know if a design is working is to see if it makes sense to outsiders looking in.

6 COFFEE TABLE BOOKS

to Elevate Every Designer’s Collection

Big Type by Counter Print Books

Explores graphic design and identity work with emphasis on typography. Showcases a fascinating world of design where technology, typography and trends merge to create something unique.

Design Struggles: Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies and Perspectives by Claudia Mareis

& Nine Paim

An intersectional take on design history and design discourse, with feminist, decolonial, anti-racist, activist, non-Western and indigenous perspectives.

Process: Visual Journeys in Graphic Design (2nd Edition) by Banker Wessel

A unique book highlighting the sketching phase and the early processes behind the making of marks and logotypes. Includes ideations from a range of art: including music, fashion and furniture design.

Palette Perfect by Sara Caldas

The creative use of color and its combinations in design in relation to how emotions are conveyed and how they affect our design. (Colors identified with CMYK, RGB and HEX codes.)

Rock Graphic Originals by Daniel Street

A compilation of Peter Golding’s rock and roll graphics from the 60s and 70s during the height of the psychedelic movement, chronologically showing the progression of the psychedelic movement of design.

Spin/Adventures In Typography Issue

002 by Tony Brook, Claudia Klat and Jonathan Nielsen

Searching for the new and the surprising, this trio has made a series of experiments, by computer and by hand, that stretch the boundaries of typographic expression almost to a breaking point.

+ DESIGN KYLA PRESKITT

ILLUSTRATION OF JASPER AND PORTLAND CHARACTERS CREATED FOR HARRY & DAVID

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press using blackletter typefaces.

History of Serifs

Printed materials are often taken for granted, as they just collect dust on shelves for the most part, in today’s modern and advancing society; however it wasn’t until the mid 15th century that books were being mass-produced, rather than created by monks, drowning in work, for the elite, as books were seen as status symbol for the times.

Mass production of books started with Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press, which allowed for knowledge to be easily accessible. This boom of easily accessible knowledge is only comparable to the creation of the internet today. Gutenberg’s technology was arguably the catalyst for the many subsequent typographic advancements that led to modern typefaces.

Vincent Figgens creates the first Egyptian, or Slab Serif typeface

William Caslon IV creates the first sans-serif typeface.

AkzidenzGrotesk was first published by Theinhardt foundry later merged with Berthold; Royal Grotesk light by royal typecutter Ferdinand Theinhardt was the insperation

Edward Johnston designs the iconic san-serif typeface used by the Londan’s Underground System.

Paul Renner creates Futura arguably the most used typeface and plagurized typeface of all time.

Max Miedinger designs Helvetica, other san-serif typefaces are created: Futura, Arial, and Aviener for example.

Rudolf Hell designed the first digital typeface: Digi Grotesk

Nicolas Jenson designed roman type creating a more readable typeface merging italian humanist lettering blackletter.

Italic typefaces were created by Aldus Manutius and Fancesco Griffo allowing printers to fit more characters on a page.

Old Style type was created by William Caslon developed to have more contrast between strokes.

Transitional typefaces are created by John Baskerville with greater contrast than “Old Style” type.

Roman (Modern) typefaces are created: Didot and Bodoni.

Words + Design Joshua Rodriguez

Art for Survival

In my late teens I had been in a situation where I found myself without a place to stay. I wasn’t working at the time so making ends meet was really kind of left to the flow of life. I found myself worried about where my next meals would come from and which friend I could perhaps bother to at least be able to stay inside somewhere. This situation happening to me at such a young age taught me a lot about the value of art in our current times. I eventually found a place to stay regularly, but it was far from a conventional way of living. For the next few years I found myself in a windowless storage closet that was part of my friend’s unit and it was just large enough to get a mattress on the floor.

I can’t speak on other artists’ experiences in this type of situation, but for me, I started to learn that the value of the work I was doing wasn’t really worth the trade off for the time I put into these pieces.

For a while I couldn’t figure out why this was the case, and then the more I thought about it, the more I started to see a pattern – that because I didn’t have a prestigious degree from an art institute or I just simply wasn’t in a good financial situation, that dictated how serious my artistic ability was taken. I’d often get people that wanted me to make their logo, draw them up a tattoo or make them a flier for an upcoming show and I always got financially shafted and taken advantage of.

“Expulsion

An introspection on the values of art in our modern world.

I had no real direction in my life at that stage, but I knew I wanted to do something creative.

I have been into the creation of all sorts of art for as long as I could remember, and I wanted to explore a way to apply this to my situation and help me get into a better personal space. There were many trials and tribulations that tested me along the way, but I feel that taking this path has gleaned a lot about how people consume and value art.

I started off selling tattoo designs to friends, and then on to friends of friends. This didn’t bring in a lot of money for me, but it got me by and a little noticed in the area. After a while, I started to establish myself in the art scene in southwest Colorado more and more. As I networked with more like-minded individuals, I started to see cracks in the foundations of my artistic endeavors.

Part of it was because I was embarrassed to be in a situation where I relied so heavily on those finances to make ends meet, but also because art itself is such a constant passion project for me. It is so close to my heart that I wanted to be taken seriously and be recognized for that effort.

That is what reignited my journey to this point where I am on the brink of graduating, and learning along the way that part of the reason that so little value was placed on my art was because I had almost no confidence in my own abilities, and for lack of a better way of saying it, I didn’t take myself seriously. This new renaissance of understanding opened up a flood gate on ideas of how to be creative, and still be fulfilled while also making a living off of it and not just surviving. I still can’t say that I know the key to placing value on art, but I do know that through the course of my education and my personal experiences, I’ve come to place a higher value on myself, which in turn reflects on those I share it with.

“I started to see cracks in the foundations of my artistic endeavors.”

BUT WHAT DOES IT GOLDEN MEAN?

The Bleed was printed and bound by QSL Print Communications in Springfield, Oregon. The cover is printed on 80# gloss cover and the interior is printed on 80# gloss book.

The Bleed was constructed using aflexible three-column system. It uses— with rare exceptions—Montserrat for headers & captions, and Minion Pro set at 10pt for standard body copy.

WORDS QUINN WILSON DESIGN QUINN WILSON + LEAF AYRES