Design History—5:30 a.m.
The noted designer Leo Lionni once remarked, “As a designer my values are absolute, to be found and satisfied only deep within myself – where I search for my most naked integrity and where, as a result, I stand mostly alone. As a designer I perform for an audience, I exercise showmanship, I demand attention.”
Here, Portfolio Center students are examining the contemporary historic perspective of a designer’s role, what their values and influences can be about, through their own sense of theater. It is about celebrating the idea that your future can lie in the passion of upholding the ideal of art in design. Such theater confirms a right of passage as it finds the students standing on tabletops, reciting McLuhan when most folks have two more good hours to sleep.
Before 6:00 in the morning, I believe, comes the work from one’s most honest self. The unorthodox time and methods push the boundaries of traditional design instruction. planting, and then nurturing, the seeds of change.
Pretty animated for a group who never gets any sleep…
For me, it’s not the work from my honest self that comes out before 6am, its the ideas. I can sit at that table with my sleep deprived classmates, hair fresh off the pillow, and wax ecstatic about philosophy, history, and life’s most complex challenges without batting an eyelid. It’s the kind of atmosphere that can only be appreciated before sunrise…or after sunset. Add to that an interactive sense of presentation and knowledge sharing, and the day becomes a mint-flavored chocolate Lindor ball, 3 for a dollar at Borders and filled with imagination.
Here’s the challenge—how do you take that absolutely priceless, amazing mentality and courage you have at 530am one day a week, and MAKE IT your entire existence?
That’s almost impossible but trust me, its absolutely necessary. I can safely say that in this industry of design and advertising, it isn’t done. Too much time spent wondering how to win awards or get featured in CA or Adweek or whatever the trade reads. And lots of lip-service to a variety of other things. Nothing wrong with those pubs, or even the desire for approval and admiration, but c’mon…such things are usually bestowed by a rather arbitrary decision-making process.
Design History is one of the greatest things I was a part of while at PC. The struggle to make your future working environment replicate it is well worth the time and energy.