Today’s internet is all about putting ourselves, our talents, skills and achievements on a pedestal. Because nobody else will.
Category: Quotes
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What They Don’t Teach You in Design School
Mike Monteiro pulls no punches in Ruined by Design. The part where he writes about design education, he shows us that it isn’t just broken—it’s setting people up for failure. I was surprised to know that it’s not just an India problem. The book is packed with uncomfortable truths, the kind that make you question what designers are really being trained for. It stings, but it’s necessary. Loved every bit of it. 🔥
When we read this bit, we couldn’t help ourselves. So made a poster out of it 🙂
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Indian Logo Legend
More than the HP, Titan and the Kissan logos, my ever-lasting memory of Sudarshan Dheer is munching channa in his office.
Besides art and typography, his favourite topics (in no particular order) were: the philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti; who designed the first shoelace?; why most clocks are round? He said, “Is it because the planet is round? Or is it because time has a circular continuous concept?”
And then it was time to step out for lunch. There were five options in Colaba: the Sea Lounge (whiskey sours and bumping into Dom Moraes by the window), Paradise (scotch broth and raspberry drink), Martins (beef and more beef), Kailash Parbat (chaat and dal pakwan).
“This is India,” he said, “When will our designs be able to reflect this?”
In case you were wondering, this was from a conversation between Sudarshan Dheer and Ramu Ramanathan. It’s an insightful article on Campaign India.
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How copywriters can change the world
I learned about cars, robots, food, soap, toys, cigarettes, sweets, fountain pens, timber, fish, newspapers, oil, wine, nuclear fuel, the army, the police. I visited hospitals, refugee hostels, sweet factories, oil refineries and nuclear plants, was taught how to drive a Land Rover through a river, how to fire the cannon of a Centurion tank and have sat quaking in a police car during a high-speed chase. I learned how the insurance and banking systems work, as well as about human rights, our plundered environment and the scandal of places like Bhopal. Through my work l learned about the deep interconnectedness of these things. Society is a web of myriad causes and effects. Tugging at a thread on this side of the web can twitch apparently unrelated strands on the far side. Quite by accident l discovered that the copywriter has real power in the world.
In case you were wondering, this is Indra Sinha, one of the advertising greats from a powerful article he wrote: How copywriters can change the world.
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We ❤️ this
Everyone always talks about confidence in believing what you do. I remember once going to a class in yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being skeptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between skepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is.
In case you were wondering, this was by the man who led Milton Glaser Inc. in one of his many enlightening essays on his website.
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Consumerism, materialism and sustainability
One of the most interesting parts of his story is that he now looks back on his career with some regret. “If I had to do it over again, I would not want to be a designer,” he’s said. “There are too many unnecessary products in this world.” He has long been an advocate for the ideas of environmental consciousness and long-lasting products. He’s dismayed by today’s unsustainable world of over-consumption, where “design” has been reduced to a meaningless marketing buzzword.
In case you were wondering, this is Dieter Rams talking about product design and consumerism in Rams, a documentary by Gary Hustwit.
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Like-minded people
I strongly believe that the amount of love and care you put into a project is always apparent. Even if people are not conscious of it, they can sense when you have paid attention to every little detail.
—Jocelyn K. Glei
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Design Grids
The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice.
—Josef Müller-Brockmann
From a professional for professionals, here is the definitive word on using grid systems in graphic design. Though Muller-Brockman first presented hi interpretation of grid in 1961, this text is still useful today for anyone working in the latest computer-assisted design. With examples on how to work correctly at a conceptual level and exact instructions for using all of the systems (8 to 32 fields), this guidebook provides a crystal-clear framework for problem-solving.
The go-to book for grid-based graphic design. Special mention: pages 129-144 show you how to use it for exhibitions.
Via Design Open Data
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Everything easy is hard again
As someone who has decades of experience on the web, I hate to compare myself to the tortoise, but hey, if it fits, it fits. Let’s be more like that tortoise: diligent, direct, and purposeful. The web needs pockets of slowness and thoughtfulness as its reach and power continues to increase. What we depend upon must be properly built and intelligently formed. We need to create space for complexity’s important sibling: nuance. Spaces without nuance tend to gravitate towards stupidity. And as an American, I can tell you, there are no limits to the amount of damage that can be inflicted by that dangerous cocktail of fast-moving-stupid.
—Frank Chimero
Frank Chimero writes on how everything easy is hard again. We believe the above quote applies to our overall life as well, not just the web.
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The gift of life, time and words
I began to appreciate time. There is nothing more wonderful to have in one’s life, than time. I don’t believe people get enough of it nowadays. I was excessively fortunate in my childhood and youth, just because I had so much time. You wake up in the morning, and even before vou are properly awake vou are saying to vourself: “Now, what shall I do with today?” You have the choice, it is there, in front of you, and you can plan as you please. I don’t mean that there were not a lot of things (duties, we called them) I had to do-of course there were. There were jobs to be done in the house: days when you cleaned silver photograph frames, days when you darned your stockings, days when you learnt a chapter of Great Events in History, a day when you had to go down the town and pay all the tradesmen’s bills. Letters and notes to write, scales and exercises, embroidery—but they were all things that lay in my choice, to arrange as I pleased. I could plan my day, I could say, “I think I’ll leave my stockings until this afternoon: I will go down town in the morning and I will come back by the other road and see whether that tree had come into blossom yet.” Always when I woke up, I had the feeling which I am sure must be natural to all of us, a joy in being alive. I don’t say you feel it consciously-you don’t—but there you are, you are alive, and you open your eyes, and here is another day; another step, as it were, on your journey to an unknown place. That very exciting journey which is your life. Not that it is necessarily going to be exciting as a life, but it will be exciting to you because it is your life. That is one of the great secrets of existence, enjoying the gift of life that has been given to you.
—Agatha Christie
How beautifully put! Wish we’d written this. From her autobiography.