I S S U E
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P S YC H
Perrin Drumm Founder and director
Green mind, Cancer
T + I @perrindrumm
Like Dorothy stepping out of her humdrum, black-and-white world and into the gleaming land of Oz, Eye on Design is leaving behind the gridded comforts of home and diving headfirst over the rainbow and under our brainwaves for issue #02, the Psych issue. Give your mind a good yogi stretch and join us. Psychedelia has a unique etymology; its rather noble, high-minded dictionary definition is the result of what linguists call an “irregular formation,” the rocky marriage, so to speak, of its two main roots: psyche, the human soul/mind/spirit + the Greek “delos,” meaning clear, manifest. Pulling back the curtain and shining a DayGlo-bright light on our deep, dark inner worlds seems like a chewy enough brief for a designer as well as for us editors. While the word itself didn’t come into mainstream parlance until the 1950s, we want to look well beyond its obvious trippyhippie connotations and more broadly at the intersection of design and mind-altering experiences of all kinds.
Madeleine Morley Associate editor
Purple mind, Capricorn
T @mdimorli
When the term “psychedelic” did come into prevalence in the middle of the 20th-century, it was coined by psychologist Humphry Osmond in a letter to author Aldous Huxley, 4
in reference to popular hallucinogenic drugs. Its meaning grew from there, becoming a way to describe a new kind of sound, style, and sensibility. It would be impossible for us to create a Psych issue without touching on the history of the designers of that period, with their fluorescent inks, oozing typography, and pattern-heavy optical illusions. But to us, embracing irregularity means uncovering some of the lesser-known design stories from that time. For instance, the “Summer of Love” wasn't so bright for everyone, so we tracked down some women designers to hear their versions of this moment in history. And, of course, the American version of psychedelic posters isn’t the only version, so we trotted around the globe to see how different countries interpreted the visual movement. There's never just one side to a story. In the spirit of expanded consciousness and shifting perspectives, the issue in your hands also represents a plurality of experiences.
Emily Gosling
Senior editor
Yellow mind, Sagittarius
T + I @nalascarlett
And not just a plurality of experiences, but a plurality of mindsets, too. We’ve long championed design stories that explore the mind: how design shapes and is shaped by the multitudinous ways in which we see the world, through the lenses of mental health, substance abuse, and so on. The Psych issue offers ample room to experiment with new takes on how certain external agents— everything from drugs to gong baths to perceptual psychology—can expand or contract the creative mind. Moving beyond the lysergic stereotypes and the tired “tuning in and dropping out” doctrines, we see how designers today are really tinkering with their brains; touching on the wider spiritual, legal, and sociological conditions around these trends.
