Grain edit’s review of Graphic Design Referenced
by Byrony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit

a look at Type Camp (via i love typography)

“The Graphic Design Thesis” via blog.iso50.com

The AIGA / Aquent Salary Survey 2009 for design professionals is now available as a downloadable pdf. I think printed copies will be sent to AIGA members (atleast that was the case in previous years). In the survey AIGA gathered advice from top design professionals in the industry, including Michael Bierut (page seen above). In addition, there is an online salary calculator. Like most salary surveys, the figures should be taken with a grain of salt (data collected from approx. 9,000 design professionals). Nonetheless, it serves as a good overview and an essential resource for designers and the creative industry.

What can you teach me?  (via creativemornings on flickr)

new work by Pentagram: Murals for The Library Initiative

Michael Bierut with a team of designers at Pentagram collaborate with other graphic designers, artists and architects to help beautify the elementary school libraries in New York City’s five boroughs. The expansive L!brary Initiative includes 5 newly built libraries in the Bronx, featuring murals by Rafael Esquer, Maira Kalman, Christoph Niemann, Stefan Sagmeister and Yuko Shimizu, and Charles Wilkin.

I first read about this inspiring, fantastic, beautiful project in the New York Times last week in an article titled, A Is for Artwork That Lures Bronx Schoolchildren to New Libraries.

(the mural seen in the image above is by Christoph Niemann for P.S. 69 in the Bronx).

Above is an example of Michael Surtees’ notes from the sold-out talk at the NYPL last week between Shepard Fairey, Lawrence Lessig, and Steven Johnson. In his blog post, Michael Surtees notes that the dialogue during Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy failed to give much attention to opposing points of view. Disapponting. Both sides here have plenty of relevance to today’s artists and designers, especially students. (via DesignNotes)

The Projects Built by the New Deal | Newsweek.com

“At its height, the New Deal provided the largest public-arts program in the world. In addition to the famous public murals of the era, the Federal Writers Project and the Federal Theater Project, the government funded small arts organizations designed to both teach art and get unemployed artists off the dole. As a result, small institutions like the Walker Gallery in Minneapolis expanded to provide classes and other arts-related social programs. Now known as the Walker Art Center (above in 1941), the gallery has become a world-renowned modern art museum, still offering classes to both children and adults…”

(via absurdlakefront: think4yourself: julyshewillfly)

The Kindness of Strangers, an excellent article written by Jessica Helfand (via Design Observer)

Drawing Board to the Desktop: A Designer’s Path

“Michael Bierut says graphic design work that required a week to finish in 1980 — using T squares and rubber cement — can now be done by computer within an hour.”

In a very interesting article in the NYT Jobs section, Michael Bierut talks about his path on the way to become a successful graphic designer.

(via NYTimes.com)

The Paul Sahre talk, A Designer and His Problems (or Problmes) was really humorous, inspiring and overall not a bad way to spend a Friday evening. And we all got lovely misspelled souvenirs to take home.

For those who missed the talk, click through Sahre’s Regrets archive on his site. I always appreciate when designers own up to their mistakes (or should I say opportunities to learn) and share their experiences.

(photo above courtesy of Henry Sene Yee’s iphone)

Writing 101: Visual or Verbal? by Ellen Lupton

On AIGA’s site Ellen Lupton raises some interesting questions:

“…How are graphic designers learning to write? Since the late 1970s, a movement known as Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) has argued that writing should be taught in every course on campus, not just in specialized composition courses. Because each discipline—from art to engineering—has its own standards and conventions, faculty in each field should be teaching its own practitioners how to write. Yet few design educators have the time or confidence to load this duty on to their studio courses…”

Ellen Lupton will be teaching a Writing Course in the Spring 2009 semester for Graphic Design MFA students at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). For most of us not able to take her course, the online syllabus provides a great reading list.

(painting above by Ellen Lupton)