One Plus One Equals Three

The Stefan Sagmeister Book For Designers Who Can Design OK But Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Good, Helpful Stuff Too

The latest issue of ID Magazine features an hilarious – yet very incisive – review by Douglas Coupland of Stefan Sagmeister's latest book Things I Have Learnt in My Life So Far.

Here's a few choice quotes (but you really must read Coupland's ascerbic and very witty review):

"While the art direction is flawless, the sentiments behind the words feel a bit like Forrest Gump goes to RISD." (RISD being a high-profile east coast US design school).  

On Sagmeister's year away from design: "Sagmeister emerged from his walkabout year indoctrinated by American-style therapeutic pepspeak". (Coupland is Canadian). Outsiders to American culture find 'pepspeak', well, pretty silly really. Besides, Sagmeister is Austrian. You know... (Northern) European where they're not usually known for their fondness for 'pepspeaking'. It's quite often the opposite actually and Coupland thinks that the book suffers for it's lack of 'darkness': "it’s [discussing] the scary shit in life that helps other human souls".

There's an insight into the fishbowl that is the New York design world: "As well, seeing a list of hundreds and hundreds of people being thanked was chilling for me because it really made me wonder if Sagmeister is some sort of superconnected hub-monster – one of those beloved sacred Manhattan people like Chip Kidd or Laurie Anderson of whom nothing bad can be said – and should you not pay proper homage, you will be crushed like a bug. I’m kidding and I’m not kidding."

And Coupland's critique of the feel-good bromides that punctuate the book is best summed up by:

"Kittens are fluffy and cute.
Helping people makes you a better citizen.
Recycling makes me pure."

Actually, Coupland made that last one up – but you get the idea.

I have to confess to being a fan of Sagmeister's work. But he has gone a little Zoolander here methinks.

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Douglas Coupland is a meteorite-collecting Canadian novelist and artist.

Interpreting Treasured 'Trash'

Review
Taking Things Seriously: 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance
by Joshua Glenn and Carol Hayes
Princeton Architectural Press, 2007

When I first picked up this book and read the blurb on the rear cover I thought, well that sounds interesting - not! But upon reading Taking Things Seriously: 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance I find that it's a quietly amusing and interesting rumination on the personal power invested in objects, things and 'stuff'.

The relationships that people from the 'creative industries' have with everyday, mundane, found and recovered objects are uncovered and described in this appealling, 'confessional' and intriguing recent book by Joshua Glenn and Carol Hayes. As the saying goes: one man's trash is another's treasure – and there's certainly some treasured trash here.

Some of the weird and wonderful objects discussed include: a burnt bagel cooked (badly) by actor Christopher Walken; a pair of ceramic whippets; a loaf of bread from WW1; an industrial sized hairdo machine and a simple dashboard knob (and there's 70 more objects with their 'meanings' explained as well).

All too often within our commodity-based culture we are told of the importance of great, significant and desirable objects (that are often designed by design notables). Here the objects are anonymous and quite forgettable (a frozen tail of a turtle?) but they're imbued with meaning by their owners – not via our media, our culture nor 'important voices'. 

The best stories in Taking Things Seriously are wonderfully goofy yet simultaneously insightful, perhaps even poignant. A delightful 'summer book' (and a whole lot more interesting than I thought it would be).

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Keep your eye on Design Observer – they have been publishing occasional excerpts.

(And a big 'hi' to ex-Melbourne artist Maria Kozic, whose deep and meaningful relationship with a mangled 'green man' pencil eraser is described in the book).

Cool for Digi-MoGraphic Cats

Review
onedotzero_select dvd5
BBC Film Network, 2007

When I used to teach multimedia design, a screening of a onedotzero DVD (or a viewing of their travelling digital film festival) always drew strong crowds and strong, positive reactions from the viewing students. My praise, criticism or commentary of what was happening on screen was often drowned out by a unanimous, gushing sea of 'oohs!' and 'aahs!' and "it's so cool!".

onedotzero is, by and large, undeniably 'cool', hip and edgey. onedotzero_select dvd5 doesn't deviate from the eclectic mix of its predecessors, with a jumble of aesthetic and animation/motion graphic styles and various narrative configurations on display. The UK's Guardian likens this collection to "the dvd equivalent of a mix tape by your coolest friend" – that's right on the mark.

And remote controls do come in handy even with the best mix tapes (well, CDs and DVDs). There's always a track or three, depending on your taste, that just has to be skipped.

The Hardest-working Man in Cardboard Funk'n Soul

Review
Mingering Mike: The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Soul Superstar
by Dori Hadar
Princeton Architectural Press, 2007

Growing up amidst soul and funk music as it developed and defined itself in the 1960-70s was an incredible experience for many. Labels such as Motown and Stax, artists such as Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Ike and Tina Turner, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding (amongst many others) had a deserving and substantial impact on popular culture and the music scene around the world (and still do, to this day).

How about The Freedom Stompers, Miss Fly Darlene, The Natural Funk Band, Audio Andre, Main Vein, Joseph War, and Mingering Mike? Ever heard of them? For ten years these artists released over 50 LPs and 50 'hit' singles between them. Some albums were film soundtracks to 'hit' movies, one was tribute album to Bruce Lee, another a benefit album for sickle cell anaemia.

Incredibly – all the artists mentioned in the paragraph above never actually existed – except in the imagination of a young man called Mingering Mike, who also drew and hand-painted all the cover art and record labels of his imagined soul superstars. Many of the covers came complete with extensive liner notes, copyright and fan-club information and elaborate gatefolds and were produced for over thirty 'famous' (yet imaginary) labels such as Hypnotic, Minger, Ramit, Spooky, Ming/War and Sex.

"His career was nothing less than legendary – and nothing more than a box of painted cardboard in a Washington, DC, flea market".*

Modernism. My Part in its Downfall.

Review
Chasing the Perfect:
Thoughts on Modernist Design in Our Time
by Natalia Ilyin
Metropolis Books, 2006

This book is a first for me: a humorous book about design. In fact let's say that again: a humorous book about design. A very rare commodity indeed.* I enjoyed this book so much I read it in one sitting (it's also not a large book at 128 pages) and it's a thoroughly delightful read. Ilyin has a graceful and terribly witty way of writing.

Chasing the Perfect is a personal reflection on Modernism's influence on the teaching of design and its practice. And the ensuing and vaguely Modernist lifestyle of sorts that emanates out of your training in Modernism and your daily adherence to Modernist principles whilst working for a design consultancy steeped in Modernist ways of doing and being. For some designers, this type of perfection-chasing behaviour could lead to a Modernist-meltdown. Others (those subsumed by the Modernist Thang) go out and buy more black clothing, especially those ubiquitous black turtlenecks (of which I am not a fan, they make my neck itch). Ilyin was one of the former – a personal meltdown saw her leave a black formica'd, cubicle'd existence in NY for a tranquil West Coast non-Modern rejuvenation.

Chasing the Perfect is really a tragi-comedy. But as any comic knows, much comedy is rooted in personal tragedy – so stand by for the occasional hearty laugh, quite a few chuckles and a constant 'smile on the mind' whilst reading Ilyin's graceful ode to her personal collapse. The book is also much more than merely a 'funny read' – it's quite a solid critique of Modernist principles and their influence on Western culture.

Just try to stop smiling when you read Chasing the Perfect  – I couldn't. (Especially the bit about the glowing Modernist box house).

Indelible Graphics. Indelible Impression.

Review
Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume 2
by Danzig Baldaev
FUEL Publishing, 2006

In many cultures around the world, the tattoo, indelibly inked onto one's body, communicates all sorts of things to those within that particular culture. One's status or rank within the group, one's genealogy or history, or even one's availability for marriage are sometimes drawn onto and into one's flesh. Sometimes too, the marks are warning signs, marks that demonstrate a ferocity or fearlessness – popular amongst warrior cultures, such as those found in Polynesia.

Sometimes these marks are appropriated from within a culture and added to the bodies of supposedly hip, Western, 'groovers'. Asian languages are a popular choice. Sometimes the 'groover' attempts to get a Chinese or Japanese version of a word tattooed via a literal translation (oops!). 'Spirit' may be transcribed as 'gas' and 'rock'n roll' may be 'sway and roll round'. I remember whilst holidaying in New Zealand last year, I read of Robbie Williams upsetting a particular Maori tribe by copying a traditional tattoo of theirs, which they consider to be their intellectual property – and codified for their own particular purposes.

'Too cool for schoolers' may be appropriating tattoos from Polynesia, Japan, China and who knows where else – but I can't see many copying the tattoos featured in Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume 2. Unless they are in a Russian jail that is – then it's probably mandatory to have these graphic marks depicting the sexually obscene, the anti-Soviet, hell, the practically anti-everything, etched into your skin.

This book is an extraordinary document– with its photographic, illustrative and written content – it's 'graphic' in every sense of the word.

'Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst'

Let's face it – when it comes to a biography, either in print or captured on film, the lives of most designers are probably really not all that interesting, nor especially compelling. Robert Brownjohn is one well-known designer that certainly had a life 'lived large' and his story makes a fascinating read. Another designer, Australia's Florence Broadhurst, may have lived a life even larger.

Gillian Armstrong's recent documentary on Broadhurst is fascinating. Raised in (very) rural outback Queensland, Broadhurst discovered she had a talent for singing and travelled throughout Asia on the cabaret circuit. Later, she started a successful fashion design business in London; returned to Australia as a renowned 'English' painter, mingled with Sydney's high society at charity balls and somehow passed herself off as a blue-blooded member of the British aristocracy.

The irreverent, flamboyant and extraordinarily ambitious Broadhurst then re-invented herself at age 60 and started a wallpaper-manufacturing business. Broadhurst rapidly became the wallpaper name in Australia and was becoming highly-regarded overseas. The very ornate, exotic and boldly colourful patterns designed by her close-knit team were a must for fashionable interior designers of the day. These designs would have been really quite startling in the conservative Australia of the day. Not only were her wallpapers aesthetically interesting but Broadhurst developed new technologies (such as waterproofing) to ensure the commercial viability of her product. She also later moved into textiles.

Then, at the height of her success, in 1977, she was brutally murdered. Broadhurst's assailant has never been caught.

Kokoda

My reviews on 1+1=3 endeavour to focus on cultural artefacts that are design-related. Books on design and designers, TV programs or films that feature interestingly designed components or art direction/production design, etc.

The other thing that I try to discuss here is Australian-ness, those unique qualities of 'us' that manifest themselves in our design and our culture.

Kokoda is a powerful film. It is also one of the most terrifying and genuinely scarey pieces of cinema I have seen—which is saying something, for this cinefile has seen alot of cinema. I'm notoriously 'hard to scare'—it's only a movie...right? Kokoda had me sitting and shaking in my seat for its duration. If the film is designed to convey the terrifying, brutal nature of armed conflict, it most certainly succeeds. I think I wore out the edge of my seat.

Placing Words: Symbols, Space, and the City

by William J Mitchell.
The MIT Press, 2005.

Experiencing real, populated urban space is never quite the same as an architect's 3D rendering of that space. Airless, clutter-free spaces dotted with strangely unsociable humanoid figures in poses reminiscent of modern dance are not similar to any cities that I know. The contemporary urban space is an extraordinarily complex organism: probably far more congested, compelling and layered with communications and information than urban environments of preceding eras. And more and more of us are choosing to live in urban areas too. This book helps explain how and where we fit in the mix of all the above in a bustling city-organism.

William J. Mitchell, Professor of Architecture and Media Arts at MIT, in Placing Words: Symbols, Space, and the City reports back from urban (and information) spaces from around the globe on how they connect with, and relate to, their users. He reflects upon the interesting and sometimes complex cultural trends and phenomena that emerge in todays networked society.

The 33 diary-like essays in 'Placing Words' were originally published in Mitchell's monthly column in the Royal Institute of British Architects Journal. A key aspect of these essays is that they focus on the users of designed spaces. Mitchell doesn't really dwell on a bricks and mortar, physical description of buildings so much but describes and analyses how human beings live, learn, work and play within our cities. 'Placing Words' is very people and culture-centric.

Everything Yet Nothing

From: THE 2006 MELBOURNE COMMONWEALTH GAMES ORGANISING COMMITTEE
To: OPENING CEREMONY ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Hi guys,

Thanks for getting your request in ahead of schedule. We've gone through your proposal and I feel we're almost ready to sign off on your purchase order. I'll just run through the items to make sure we're on the same page, and in the same stadium! (joke). As you know we on the 'big committee' are involved in the staging of quite a few significant events around Melbourne, with my own pet project being the Melbourne Grand Prix, so please heed my advice when offered—we're dab hands at organising such large-scale public events. We know what knocks people's socks off! (or sandals as the case may be with some of our friends from the more tropical reaches of our Commonwealth or those athletes unfortunately suffering from training-induced foot-based fungal infections).