Empathy
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issue three 25.05.05
Is it possible to learn how to be more creative? By encouraging people to loosen up and calm down can you increase the number of ideas that they come up with? It’s to do with the state of mind some people need to be in to allow ideas to flow. In the cognitive science of consciousness, there is a lot of interest in what people call the ‘fringe of the mind’, an idea started by William James, the father of psychology, who in 1890 wrote about the ‘reinstatement of the vague’ - the ability to be interested in ideas that are not yet fully formed. Creative people have a more intimate relationship with the fringes of their mind, and consequently are able to catch the gleam of an idea as it flashes across the corner of their consciousness.* Empathy is not a word that leaps out and grabs you, it’s not a domineering word, or demanding of a particular methodology. According to the dictionary definition empathy is; the ability to identify with and understand another person’s feelings or difficulties, or more particular to this article, the transfer of your own feelings and emotions to an object such as a painting, or a piece of design. In a sense it is a bit elusive. But what possible role can empathy have in your creative process? Sometimes you can spend ages trying to put your finger on an idea, or possibly the question which will pinpoint the exact answer to a creative problem. Empathy at some level and with some aspect of the product or service needs to be entered into. There comes a point at which you have to enter a phase of openness about the subject before you can put ideas down on paper. For some designers this comes at the research stage where entering into a phase of collecting and collating information opens your eyes and mind to new information and visual experience. During brainstorming there needs to be a level of detachment and vagueness for exiting and innovative connections to be made. And then during the finished artwork stage you have to leave room for ambiguity, just enough to take risks with your technique in order to give life to an idea. And while the more creative people couldn’t do this to order during tests, they intuitively knew when it was right to be relaxed and open-minded and when it was time to be focused and concentrated. At some level we all empathise with something and find ourselves drawn towards types of visual, and for that matter written language. We all have an innate starting point for our own creative process and a sympathy with an approach, inherent to our particular background, and nurture as artists, or designers.
Sometimes good ideas are like that. They arrive when you least expect them.
re-instate the vague!
By Steve Wilkin
Source magazine wants to help create that atmosphere, and provide a relaxed platform for ideas to be consumed. A stress-free format, and no agenda, except for the joy of the visual.
*Guy Claxton - The Observer Sunday 22/09/2002
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Scattered throughout this issue are several pearls of wisdom extracted from the above publication (1958). Hal Missinghams preface offers advice that still rings true today for any budding advertising or design student.
Welcome to the third installment of The Disciples of Design. Purposely light on words and heavy on image, this issue features various work & thoughts submitted for the edgling Source project. Enjoy.
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page ten Tony Tucker has kindly submitted and crafted this old advertising adage. Capturing the essence and the art of great copywriting.
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baseline...
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is an international quarterly typographic magazine &
...continued year two Graphic Design students were briefed�
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Project conceived & delivered by Jane Souyauve - Rachel Mosley -
Jonathan Harker + “dangerous” Pete Thompson
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down under statements Word as image from the antipodes
The four stenciled statements featured below are from the harbour front, Wellington New Zealand. The use of positive and negative space lends the statements a certain typographical ambiguity leaving the viewer working hard to translate. Less is more
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This image of the Opera House was sent to us from Australia by ex-graduate Paul Critchley. According to Paul a small donation was given for this copy of the shot, which went to help pay off the demonstrators $150,000 fine. The price of freedom is indeed high. Quit literally.
Here we see Saddams’ head strangely super imposed on the body of Vinny Jones. Cuba St - Wellington.
Passers by are invited to relive themselves at the expense of the American presidents dignity. Melbourne.
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Just as governments lie people will always fight back. The leaves at the tops of the trees always die off first. Our societies position of power looks faker than ever. One day people will notice happiness can not be bought.
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When scrutinizing this statement there appears to be a subliminal reference to September the eleventh or not ?
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It is over one hundred years since the artist Walter Crane designed the Automobile Association Logotype (1891)....
Twenty years into the digital revolution a visit to the current Arts & Crafts retrospective at the V&A is well recommended. The timing of this collections appearance and the philosophy behind Ruskin & Morris’s original movement still have resonance today. Some may say even more so? We have experienced a century of continued industrialisation and mass manufacture since the Arts & Crafts movement originated and at an ever increasing rate. Consumerism is now king. It’s estimated we now throw away, on a daily basis, more products than were ever produced in 1880 alone. It could be argued that the ideals, from which the Arts & Crafts movement originated, are over romanticized, antiquated and some what ‘twee’? The gift shop attached to the exhibition certainly is and should be avoided at all costs. Listen out for the piped in bird calls! However there remains something very interesting at the core of this exhibition and it raises more questions than it resolves. Especially as we now live in an era of the ‘furniture store riot’!
The silhouette above was designed by Saatchi & Saatchi as part of the Home Officeʼs “Watch out...” campaign. Circa. 1979
...the world of design and his original marque have changed almost beyond recognition in the intervening years.
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This month we are featuring carrier bags from the mid to late seventies. Many of the companies have since passed into folklore or simple gone bust.
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All the bags featured have been selected from the Department of Designs ephemera archive.
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Bespoke wedding wine bottle labels designed circa. 1996
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3 Graphic Lines 1977 Opposite and above are some examples from issue number 3 of Graphic Lines, published in 1977 by the then Graphics Division - Preston Polytechnic. Edited by Duncan Glen issue three was constructed along the theme of letter forms, with contributions from staff, students and certain notable artists.
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1. Front Cover Issue No.3 - designed by Brian Becker 2. Designed by David Hockney 3. 驶Blackmail始 themed brief - designed by Brian Becker 4. 5. Designed by Brett Leefe 6. Designed by Ben Casey 7. Designed by George Hollingsworth
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There is no idea?
Bull Rodger Design appeared to be struggling for an idea when it came to their Christmas card (c.1995). But with a little thought they turned a negative into a positive. Steve Lloyd & Adam Thomas
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The medium as the message
Serendipity provided the creative solution to the Christmas card above. Green stamps 2p. Brown stamps 5p. First Class delivery 25p. Combined to make a Christmas tree
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You & Me? After Alfred Leete ‘Britons wants you’ poster (c.1915)
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By George...it’s a monkey The typographic pictograms featured were created as part of a Graphic Design ďŹ rst year project. Students were asked to render a well known personality using typographical elements only. The example featured is effective in its minimal use of ITC Garamond (bold), Amazone (regular) and Aldine 401 (bold).
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Nominations and best in show
Jo Bartlams solution for the Marks & Spencers Calendar brief focuses on the hectic nature of our modern working lifestyles. Her “Don’t know what the other half is doing” calendar, designed to be positioned in the domestic lavatory, cleverly divides the year into two separate blocks.
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Using the vacant/engaged cliché, partners can identify, at glance, each others immediate itineray.
Angela Brown created these colourful posters as part of a personal project based on the worlds biggest liar competion, held annually in Cumbria? Or is it?
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Final year Graphic design student Adam Nolan has been short listed for this steel packaging solution featured above. Part of the Corus steel packaging brief, for Baccardi breezer, was to capture the essence and spirit of the Caribbean.
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page thirty six The set of ‘Bugs Life’ posters above by Maria Crompton colourfully turn the little guys into the true super heros. The clever copywriting and topical title ‘Superbugs’ combine with a colourful design creating an eye catching combination. These posters will feature in this years student annual.
The brand identity re-design featured here is the work of fourth year student - Ian Appleby.
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By using the speech bubble as a creative device, not just for the packaging but also general point of sale and combining this with sharp, witty, and irreverent copywriting. The brand now literally shouts at you. Drink Me!
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The Snapple fruit drink was conceived in the early seventies by two American Hippies and had changed little in the intervening years. The challenge was to update a tired formula and make it more relevant to the current youth market.
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Brief: Come y with me. Second year Graphic Design students were asked to choose a country from around the world and after extensive research they were given the task to design their chosen national airline identity. They were required to capture an essence of their chosen country and evoke the excitement of ying to an exotic location. This involved applying their solutions not just to the side of a plane but also applying it to uniforms, napkins and even a tooth pick. The following pages document some of their results.
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“Empathy?� Process: Serendipity Imagination Shamanistic divination Conscious analysis Selection Notebook extracts Found materials Various brushes Pens Pencils Markers Blu tack Streamline Illustrator Photoshop In design Digital Camera Scanner
Effect:
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Cause: