#5: Directed Storytelling
I was not quite sure about this one for the first few paragraphs. There was something clunky about the way the author was structuring things as simple as sentences, grammar; almost as if a translation program was in use. Things evened out quickly, though, and this is what I gleaned from the article.
Directed storytelling is a quick-interview process used to put some depth into the design of communication out of a designer's experiential home turf. 3 people (at least) participate:
- a storyteller (the one who talks about something)
- the leader (the asker of leading questions)
- documenter (someone who jots stuff down on stickie-notes)
The purpose is to get inside the feelings and experience of the user/subject without spending weeks or months directly immersed in their situation, to the end of giving a design effort intended for the subject's audience a core set of concepts/themes around which to hang all other aspects of the design. When time and money are in short supply, this quick method provides a way to accomplish what long-term, well-funded efforts do over the course of months of contextual placement and observation.
The usefulness of this for something like our term-long thesis projects is pretty evident; we had something like 7 weeks to pull off some pretty ambitious stuff, and we are all poor college students. A pen, a pad of post-its, and a couple of friends is something we can muster up. I did actually use something like this method in my own project. I conducted written surveys of parents and faculty at the school, asking the kind of open-ended, journalistic questions mentioned in this article as part of the directed storytelling method. I also am constantly interfacing one-on-one with people in the halls, and made ample use of the opportunity to gather more information that way, too. Even though I am part of the Cedarwood Community, I am not a prospective parent, so I had to ask some questions to get info that was beyond my realm.
#6 + 7: Conveying Emotion Through Design/Personas; Practice & Theory
I read this same Sagmeister piece two years ago in art 225. It reiterates his "touch the heart" theme, a concept he seems very focused on, and good at accomplishing. The lesson of the piece is that all the technical wizardry and regimented obeisance to typographical doctrine, all the high style and worship of pristine grids, is just empty surface gloss if the thing(s) designers create have no heart, no human emotional base as their core. He stresses finding and using your voice in design, bringing in your "personal" to connect with others' "personal". Starting there makes sure the ground you're planting the rest of your design in is fertile enough to produce an emotional harvest for the audience. A side note: I found the amputation aspect of this piece certainly emotionally gripping, but not in the sweet, nostalgic way Sagmeister seems to. Just saying.
The Personas piece was to me the most confusing and densely rambling of the readings we were assigned. I gathered the central idea early on that creating fake people and filling out their lives with details and experiences is a way to create "models" toward which you could direct and focus design efforts easily enough. But it was a good way into the article before it became clear (did it though?) whether this was a method (like directed storytelling) or a program (a computer application) used to generate personas. It was mentioned that method was patented, adopted by other organizations; it was always spelled with a capital "P", as in the name of a product or licensed thing.
A marked difference between this and the directed storytelling piece: I wanted a little more information out of the latter, and the former went on and on and on. No doubt this is an interesting and effective procedure for designers, especially working as a team. But it's big, takes lots of time, a whole 'nother staff of people just to "raise" these Persona kids. None of which we, as students in this class, have time or money to do. It was hard enough for me to find the time just to read this piece...
#8: Intro + Fwd/Chp. 1 "How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul"
This book (our assigned text for the class) is really, at the risk of sounding banal and clicheed, a very charming and personal account of the human side of being a designer in today's world. Shaughnessy makes clear that there are a plethora of other design books out there, and that his is but one admittedly flawed voice speaking on the subject. But it is that very flawed nature that exposes the individual aspect of this testimony: it's uniqueness is rendered twofold by clearly sounding like an individual designer relating his experiences, and by being a comprehensive walk-through of the things they don't necessarily teach you in art school about choosing, deciding, thinking your way into a career as a graphic designer in the first place. He states flatly that this book will not tell you the technical ins-n-outs of computer applications, or explain in detail the financial or business procedures a designer or studio must undertake. Instead, through personal accounts, quotes and interviews from noted professionals in the field, we are given a heads-up on the road before us, by those who have gone before and know where some of the dangerous curves and speed traps are. The "why" and not so much the "how" is the focus. It is a book not about design, but about designing.
#9: Chps. 2+3+4 "How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul"
The way to find a job is the subject of Chapter 2. Exploration of the various methods of preparing your portfolio, who to contact and how to approach them, different avenues to choose for getting your foot in the door at the outset of your career after flying out of the nest of school (apprenticeships, internships, etc) are all presented here from the prespective of someone who has been on the both sides of the desk during interviews. Show THEM your folio, not yourself. Design a nice letterhead. Speak clearly and honestly, both in the interview and through your work. Keep trying, but heed his advice to fine-tune your efforts. An interview with Natalie Hunter, delving into her background in human/computer interface psychology, rounds out the chapter.
Chapter 3 is about freelancing, its advantages and disadvantages. Freedom of expression, setting your own timetable, making your own space are all immediate reasons to love the idea of freelancing, but Shaughnessy stresses that you still need money, you need twice as much discipline, and the going will probably have more pitfalls than triumphs. The personally rewarding aspect of freelance work is presented as the main reason to pursue this course. It is not advised as a way to start out, at least not without partnering with someone else for financial and professional support. An interview with Rudy VanderLans focuses on the strength of outsiders making art for outsiders, from the inside out. Confused? It's pretty simple, actually.
Chapter 4 is sort of an extension of the last chapter, inasmuch as it explains how to set up your own studio. Much of the same cautionary language is used, but here the book gets as close as it will get to conveying information in a way similar to other tomes on the subject. Here we see numbered and bulleted lists of financial, business, governmental, and legal things you are required to do/secure, the sequence and priority in which to do them, and recommended tree structures for establishing a working system for the new studio. It is made clear repeatedly throughout the chapter that despite being anathema to the creative instincts of most designers, doing the busy work and getting procedures and agreements on paper in a timely fashion and sensible sequence is essential to avoid slamming on the brakes later to avoid obstacles. I have real problems thinking this way, so I will read and re-read this chapter many times, slowly.
#10: Chps. 5+6+7 "How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul"
Chapter 5 talks about running a studio. It follows naturally from the last chapter, and here is the author really speaking with authority from the chair he currently sits in. Hire people who are better than you, always keep taking submissions and looking at portfolios (scouting talent for down the road) and keeping tabs on the goings-on at design schools in your area are all things he recommends for keeping a studio running smoothly. He describes the difficult but worthwhile (essential) act of nailing down a visual identity and proper name for a studio, as well as the best ways he's found for putting a good face on the place by hiring reception staff who interface with non-designers in an encouraging and translatable fashion.
Chapter 6 is about you or your studio interfacing with the public, finding new clients. After establishing your name and visual identity, your approach can be narrowed and focused toward the audience most suited to you. Caution is raised, though, that clients can be found where you least expect them, creating crossover and expansion of a studio's reach and reputation. Discussion of promotion through periodicals, website portfolios, and trade shows is also offered, from one who has worked for a long time on many shores. This, he says, can be the most myterious, difficult, yet rewarding and exciting part of doing design. Designing how you will do more design is a process in itself. Outside assistance from marketing people may help, but the decisions must be those of the designer, to ensure that the studio's visual identity is consistently and honestly presented throughout the endeavor.
As primarlily an illustrator who considers his methods primitive alongside most of my design student peers (and certainly in comparison to most professional work), I LOVE the little interview with Andy Cruz at the end of this chapter. I would love to talk to this guy.
Chapter 7 follows the flow from 6 into an indepth discussion of clients, client psychology, how to keep clients, how to present to them. Find new and different clients, don't shy from interacting firmly with "bad" clients (Shaughnessy relates his fondness for "fighting" and winning with difficult clients), keep the ones you have happy and returning. But do not become overdependent on one client as the lion's share of your income. Knowing when to "fire" clients is just as, or maybe more important than knowing how to find new ones. A relationship going nowhere sucks time and money; both parties may be happier and more amicable going separate ways. Tell clients what you are going to show them, then show it to them: his description of how to present to clients is boiled down to this. The David Byrne sidebar detail hits close to home for me, World's Biggest David Byrne Fan. Page 115 shows me where Nicole got her idea for the awesome student show poster she made. (I like hers better.)
#11: Chps. 8+9 "How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul"
Shaughnessy presents the dangers of being trapped in the "micro-world" of design. "Fame in graphic design circles is a bit like fame in dentistry; it doesn't travel far." It is asserted not to confuse respect and admiration for fame and celebrity. Cover your assets, promote yourself to the outside world with a different (but stylistically consistent) language from the one you use to interact/share with others in the field. Trade shows, seeking appropriate publications in which to promote yourself and when best to do it, the essential studio web presence; all of these things are said to have a two-fold purpose, within and without the micro-world.
Another of his infrequent numbered lists rounds out Chapter 9 (my favourite in the book) by boiling it down to three criteria for good work. These are meant to provide the broader back-target at which to fling your ideas and efforts as you create/design.
Is the client happy? Is it what they wanted, or what you were able to convince them was in their best interest (if their brief was bad)?
Is it profitable? This can mean not coming out upside-down, or providing some other, less quantifiable asset or return.
Is it newsworthy? Would anyone care about this wonderful thing you did? Other than designers and your client?
Normally, most authors would start with this chapter. It is wise, though, to make you wade through all the other "busy" or "intimidating" stuff before arriving at the "concept chapter". You might put the book down and jump into things too early otherwise. Nice subterfuge. Consider it dessert after a properly nutritious design meal.
Whew. Hope this works. It's what I walked away with from these readings. Thanks for a good term.
