Having listened to Maziar&Susanna’s discussion I had to ask the one question that was playing on my mind: “Now that we have access to so much more digitally, does this mean we have a higher level of craftmanship than previous designers like Maziar suggested?”
I personally agree – I think due to the sheer amount we now have available at our fingertips, the different apps we play around with, how quick we all are now at learning a new software, yes I definitely do think we have a higher level of craftmanship. Whether this means we produce better works or not is to be decided. I do think there’s a beautiful simplicity to the traditional zines and design work – to have spent hours cutting out images and text to produce a page of work has a strong sense of fulfillment behind it. However, I don’t think this always shows in the finished product. Because now we focus on more perfection than before because we have the time to do so – we have the gift of more time to produce more polished and exact work.
Winnie used an example of traditional zines compared to current new Instazines – I’ve never come across these before and found it a perfect contrast. I think it’s easy to dismiss new digitalised work because it’s much quicker to create but there’s still an invaluable level of creativity needed to produce it in the first place.
Since last weeks list of resources, I found the Netflix show Abstract (one episode of which was for us to learn about Paula Scher). I decided to start watching from the first series and now I can’t stop. I didn’t reaslise the effort behind all the different methods of production – be it stage designing, shoe designing etc. The first episode featured a German designer who has created now 30 covers for The New Yorker. A magazine I’ve always loved because of their front covers. He is very traditional in the sense that all the work he creates initially is pen or paint to paper. He then takes this to the next level and either produces the front cover using these methods or digitally. He showed on the episode how he had created the first interactive front cover to The New Yorker. The front cover showing a woman (from behind) walking on to the subway and the back cover was the view from inside the carriage depicting the front of the woman stepping onto the train. If you scanned this cover with a phone or iPad, the cover came to life. I loved how he combined traditional design and art methods with the new digital world. It showed that it can be done – one can be a traditional designer and also be able to use digital technology to improve their work.
In addition to all of this, this week has been a huge insight into different design practices not just around Britain but also the world. I hadn’t expected Bahrain to differ so much – not just in terms of the design produced but also the amount of money spent on each agency, the sheer size of the companies and the amount of production they also are involved in. Omar’s blog can be read here: https://omarmal.law.blog/module-1-industry-today/
Hannah Elizabeth Design 