An assignment from Winter Sorbeck

Excerpted from ‘The Cheese Monkey’s” By Chip Kidd

“It’s February. You’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, on the side of the road. All you have is the clothes on your back, a magic marker and a big piece of paper. Now,” he grinned. “Get home.”

It’s winter and the class loads up on a bus that drops them off on some deserted road miles from campus.

“Here’s how it’ll work. The class will hide behind those trees, out of sight of the traffic. One at a time, you will stand at the side of the road, with your sign. A car comes by, you get picked up, it’s an A. It keeps going, you drop one letter grade. Second picks you up, it’s a B. Third, it’s a C . Four cars and no luck, you fail. Let’s move out!”

First student
I AM
NOT
ARMED

Second student
S.O.S.
SORORITY
PRANK!

Third student
DON’T
EVEN
BOTHER

Fourth student
MY TEACHER
IS INSANE
YOUR ASSISTANCE
APPRECIATED

Two days later back in class…

“…so you see, that’s what a logo, for yourself or anyone else, has to do. It has to flag people down, either by invitation or mystery, or any other means actually. And by limiting your materials I gave you a huge break. Had I given each of you an arsenal of squeaky pens spanning the spectrum, I’m sure at least 2 or 3 kiddies would still be out there, turned into a popsicle trying to decide between light green and dark green”

Volunteer Opportunity for Art Event at Sundance

GEN ART is an organization that supports emerging talent in the arts through event production. We showcase the best in film, fashion, visual art, and music through our programming. We have markets in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and Chicago; however, in January we are coming to Park City for Sundance.
We are producing two events to celebrate the hottest new talent (actors and filmmakers) at the festival.

Duties will include last minute setup, check-in, managing event flow, etc. I am notyet sure about all of the positions, I am just getting more deeply involved with this project myself. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

The events will be held at….

Hollywood Life House
692 Main Street
Park City, Utah

The dates and times are as follows:


January 16th - 9:30pm-1:30am
January 17th - 9:30pm-1:30am

Volunteering with Gen Art is a great way for students to gain experience in both the arts and event production. I would love to see some Stevens-Henager students there! Please forward this on; anyone interested can contact me directly.



Thanks so much!


Best,
Marcia Callaghan

Regional Event Coordinator

Gen Art Chicago

311 N Aberdeen Suite 300B

Chicago, IL 60607

mcallaghan@genart.org 312.229.1701

Typography Humor

Student Work

The latest round is from my Typography class. These are some of my favorite logos presented.

BreAnna Hoppe


Dylan Alvey



Manny Rangel

Student work

I've been slacking a tad on posting student work but not because there hasn't been great designs to choose from. The following are from my beginning Illustrator class and these are students that go from never having used a Mac before to desining postcards, CDs and posters in Adobe Illustrator. They always rise to the challenge - good work students.

Brandon Redding


Melissa Scott


Brodie Tyler

AIGA craft show - Friday, Dec. 5th

Make Your Mark Design for a Cause » The Holiday Craft Exhibit & Sale

Join us the evening of Friday, December 5th at the Art Barn. In conjunction with the Salt Lake City Arts Council annual Holiday Craft Exhibit & Sale, two winning submissions from our juried Holiday Card Invitational will be letterpressed and sold. A portion of the proceeds from these handcrafted cards will go to a local charity.

Featuring the diversity and creative expressions of more than sixty of Salt Lake’s finest craft artists, the entire Exhibit & Sale presents an amazing abundance of colors, textures, materials and images. Vessels and ornaments, boxes and scarves, journals and jewelry, garden art and glass in many forms; all this and much more can be found at this rich and overflowing holiday show.

Date: Friday, December 5th, 2008
Time: Opening Reception - 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Location:
The Art Barn in Reservoir Park, 54 Finch Lane (1325 East 100 South) (map)

Admission:
FREE

Click here for more info

Can you judge a book by the cover?

I have always said and still maintain that you CAN judge a book by its cover. There are books I go out of my way to read and then there are books that I happen across at the library or the bookstore SPECIFICALLY FOR THE COVER!!! The cover catches my interest, draws me in and gets me to pick it up and read the back jacket. Then I will decide if I want to spend time with the book. The most important part of book design just might be the spine – as I am walking down aisles and aisles of books, that is often the only part of the book I see – that little one inch wide area is all the designer has to get me to want to learn more. It’s all about type, font, color and of course, the title of the book.

I love to read and this is how I find books. I go to the awesome Salt Lake City
library downtown and go directly to the second floor to Fiction. I usually start at the A’s and walk up and down the aisles looking for a book that catches my interest. Sometimes I make it to the M section before I have selected 4 – but usually not which is why I have to stagger my starting point in the alphabet. Friends comment on the eclectic array of books I bring home from the library and ask me how I found out about said book. “I just find them – or they find me” I say.

So, I’m leaving town last week and know I will be sitting on a plane for at least 4 hours and I’m out of books. I go to the library and stumble across a book called ‘The Cheese Monkeys’ by Chip Kidd who is a graphic designer writing a novel about art school and becoming a designer in the 50’s. The book jacket is intriguing and the book makes the cut. Turns out, the main character is going off to college to major in art and ends up taking a class on graphic design. Think Dead Poet’s society with a crazy but inspiring design teacher, Winter Sorbeck, and naïve college students majoring in art.

I loved it and will be sharing Sorbeck’s thoughts on graphic design as well as his interesting design assignments, through the perspective of the 1950’s in blogs to come.

Here is a taste…
Introduction of class content by Winter Sorbeck...

“They would have you believe this class is the Introduction to Commercial Art. It is not. I’ve been put in charge of the store here, and I say it’s Introduction to Graphic Design. The difference is as crucial as it is enormous – as important as the difference between pre- and postwar America. Uncle Sam… is Commercial Art. The American Flag… is Graphic Design.

Commercial Art tries to make you buy things. Graphic Design gives you ideas. One natters on and on, the other actually has something to say. They use the same tools¬–words, pictures, colors. The difference, as you’ll be seeing, and as you’ll be showing me, is how. Design is, literally, purposeful planning. Graphic Design, then, is the form those plans will take

“Eight notes in the scale: you can write either ‘Smoke gets in your eyes’ or 'The marriage of Figaro'.

“Twenty-six letters: 'Marjorie Morningstar' or 'Ulysses'.

“The man-made world means exactly that. There isn’t an inch of it that doesn’t have to be dealt with, figured out, executed. And it’s waiting for you to decide what it’s going to look like.

Alright – here’s your first assignment…”

And me? I’m hooked!!!
Click here for the book on Amazon.com