Ein Fotographisches Alphabet, Lisa Rienermann 2007

When my friend sent me a link to Lisa Rienermann’s Type the Sky/A Photographic Alphabet (above), I immediately made a visual free-association with Stefan Sagmeister’s word installations (below, from Hillman Curtis’ short film).

"To Look," from a short film about Stefan Sagmeister on HillmanCurtis.com (2005)

This Wednesday, 1/25/12, The Art Institute of CA-OC AIGA Club will be hosting a Skype discussion with Stefan Sagmeister, a graphic designer known for running a small scale design agency and taking time off. His work follows the dictum that the end result should reflect the creative process.  The AIGA Detroit poster he designed in 1999 seems to be the seminal example of his ideology. In order to demonstrate the pain integrated in the design process, and therefore the lives of designers, Sagmeister had his intern carve the typography into his skin before being photographed as the literal “poster boy.” As he writes on his website, “Yes, it did hurt real bad.”

Stefan Sagmeister, AIGA Detroit Poster, 1999

His professional career has proven largely successful in the last thirteen years. But what really endears myself, and likely other educators, to Stefan is his willingness to give back to the community of design students. There is an area on his website devoted to “answers;” and in that section, a sub-division about “Being a Design Student.” It’s moments of coming to media like this that I just can’t help but wonder where this sort of openness was hiding when I was a student. The first question he posts is: Have you ever had doubts about what you wanted to do, or about whether or not you were good at it? In response, he writes:

Yes. Especially during school. I knew I wanted to become a designer (not many doubts there) but very much doubted the quality of the work. Had constant doubts in Hong Kong. Wanted to quit every week.

So there you go. One of our most admired and well-known graphic designers wanted to quit every week. If you can make it to Orange County on Wednesday, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be a superbly inspired discussion. But please, do us all two favors:

1. RSVP on the AiOC AIGA Facebook page, and
2. Read the questions and answers already posted on his website!

A hand crafted New Year's resolution list by Woody Guthrie

My favorite part of New Year’s day is the traditional list format indicating that one year has come to an end and a new one will begin. You can find editor’s choices on the top books in art and design (which inevitably include Saul Bass) or photography (such as Leibovitz’s Pilgrimage) published in 2011 on a variety of online lists. But have you seen Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s resolutions list from 1942 (above, via BoingBoing)? Or how about John Lennon’s to-do list (believed to be written by John for his personal assistant)?

A "to do" list penned by John Lennon

Finally, if you are a genuine fan of list making, you might check out the 1977 book, The People’s Almanac Presents the Book of Lists.

Here’s to a productive new year, and a many a new list to be drafted, revised, underlined, slashed, wrinkled, unfolded, lost, found, and checked.

Christoph Niemann illustrates his pre-race worries

Christoph Niemann is an illustrator, designer and author of Abstract Sunday, a column for the New York Times Magazine. This year he performed a combination of activities that may not have ever been performed before in one complete running of the New York City Marathon: he illustrated his run, tweeted his illustrations, and ate a much desired banana.

Finally, bananas.

The drawings and accompanying tweet-length descriptions narrate Christoph’s experience of the marathon from the moment he awoke to the crossing of the finish line (images below).

His first-image tweet: "Good Morning."

Crossing the finish line. His tweet: "Mile 26.1: Finished."

I have to admit my bias towards conceptual projects like this. And I really do love this idea. But what I am even more enamored by is Niemann’s craft. The illustrations and tweeted captions narrate the minutiae of his marathon experience (see the many drawings of Niemann trying to replace a lost marker cap, for instance) and the characters he encounters (like Louana, who ran the race in hair rollers, the person running in sandals, and the man who passed security carrying a giant Italian flag). Yet, as someone who has never run a marathon (and never intends to do such a thing), it seems like this illustration of the experience likely captures the essence of running a marathon for most people: from personal pre-race worries to running out of energy, feeling runners high, and finally crossing that finish line.

In 26.2 miles Niemann drew and tweeted 46 sketches.

Well, with my jaw still hanging open from the beauty of this project, all I can think is this: thank you Christoph. You just made the Turkey Trot seem a lot more feasible.

See all of Christoph Niemann’s marathon sketches on his NY Times blog.