What's the message here?

Image is everything; updating is a must.

Publish Post

Parking Issues

Odd to see a stroller parked at a meter

होलीडे Anomie

मता फील्स ओउर pain

Learning from LEARNING FROM LAS VEGAS

Learning from Las Vegas was first published in 1972, reprinted in 1977 and then reprinted for its Fifteenth printing in 1997. All of this history is to set the stage for a note to myself to check to see if anyone has done any substantive work on signage that's of the caliber of Denise Scott Brown's, Robert Venturi's, and their students. With a trip to Las Vegas coming up, I can do some 2008 follow-up for myself, at least, if not for anyone else.

From Learning from Las Vegas, MIT Press, 1972, 1977, 1997, page 80, Studio Notes, Las Vegas Signs (figs. 62-68):

The time has arrived for a scholar to write a doctoral dissertation on signs. He or she would need literary as well as artistic acumen, because the same reaon that makes signs Pop Art (the need for high-speed communication with maximum meaning) makes them Pop literatrue as well. For example, this one from Philadelphia:

O. R. Lumpkin, Bodybuilders. Fenders Straightened. Wrecks our Specialty. We take the Dent out of Accident

We shall be analyzing and categorizing the signs of Las Vegas by content and form, by function (night and day) and location, as well as by size, color structure, and method of construction, trying to understand what makes the "Las Vegas style" in signs and what we can learn from them about an impure architecture of form and suymbols.

A stylistic analysis of Las Vegas signs would trace the influence of the greats (the designers in YESCO) through to the minor architecture of wedding chapels and sauna baths, compare the national and general sign imagery of the gasoline stations with the unique and specific symbolic imagery of the casinos, and follow the influence patterns back and forth between artists and sign makers. I would trace parallels with historical architecture that emphasizes association and symbolisim, such as Romanticism, eclecticism, Mannerism, and the iconographic aspects of Gothic architecture, and tie these into the sign styles of Las Vegas.

In the seventeenth centurey, Rubens created a painting "factory" wherein different workers specialized in drapery, foliage, or nudes. In Las Vegas there is just such a sign "factory," the Young Electric Sign Company. Someone should talk to and observe and document each of the departments in YESCO; find out the backgrounds of the designers; watch the whole design process.

Is there a private vocabulary for sign designers such as that existing in architecture? How is the contradiction between form and function resolved in sign design? Carefully photograph the sign models.

So, that was thirty-six years ago. I must find out what's been done since—or do it myself, with a world of signage and instant communication that's far more sophisticated now. (It's also a world without the much-discussed sign for The Dunes hotel, which I captured in 1983.

Yesco is still around, and offers comprehensive services, including design. Many of YESCO's signs have become icons. You've gotta love a company that shows an historic sign from Bountiful, Utah.
http://www.yesco.com
http://www.yesco.com/138.html

About face

One of the first things that struck me about the first Obama speech I watched on TV was the glory of the "YES WE CAN" signs in Gotham. I thought about the typography almost more than about Obama's message—and felt a tiny bit guilty (only a tiny bit; after all, I'm a designer who works primarily with type). So, I was happy to hear Brook Gladstone interview Sam Berlow on her show "On the Media" today. Sam pointed out the handsome qualities of the Obama campaign's use of Gotham—and the ugly 70s (oops) qualities of Hillary's choice of faces. Pretty interesting. Tobias Frère-Jones is a rock star for designing Gotham.

Inspiration

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

—Alan Turing

Other talents

Often, if someone is talented at one thing, he or she is talented at a number of things. Leonardo da Vinci could do everything. Julie Taymor is a director and an artist and a costume designer and a librettist. Jonathan Kellerman is a psychiatrist and a best-selling author. Chip Kidd is a ground-breaking designer and a novelist and a musician. Debbie Millman is a designer, a design spokesperson, and a rather brilliant writer, not to mention someone who conducts a great interview and marshals a team of researchers and collaborators. Moi, I feel I'm still practicing to become more than just a good designer.

I do have other interests, abilities, fantasies. One of those other interests is dance, and one of the greatest pleasures in life comes from being a part of Frankie Manning's Wednesday Night Swing Class. We international and mostly middle-aged dancers have become an extended family, with friendships and support systems, and collaborations, and celebrations all weaving us togther.

So, my point.

Last night, I stopped in briefly at Barnes & Noble, where co-authors Frankie Manning and Cynthia R. Millman were chatting about the biography of Frankie Manning. I was privileged to design the book jacket and book interior--and provide the photo of Frankie that appears on the book's final page (per my design!). Cynthia kindly acknowledged my contribution, especially the design of the jacket (which, in truth, designed itself because the photo was so great). And

Frankie gave me the biggest gift of all, the give of inclusion in another life--his life of dance. Frankie said something like, "She doesn't just design books. She's a dancer. She's one of the Wednesday Night Hoppers." Frankie's comment made my day, my week, my life.

Respect or rubbernecking? I always wonder whether my fascination with the demises of the famous or infamous is sincere interest or a human vulture-like quality. One 28-year-old was quoted in the New York Times as saying that people of her generation feel very connected to each other, which is a lovely explanation (if not totally an explanation for crowds of people waiting to see a body bag being wheeled out of a building).

One comment that struck me for a few reasons noted the sadness that Ledger's daughter would never know him. The post was flagged for possible abuse—another reason I found it striking. I feel sorry for Michelle Williams and daughter Matilda. Maybe the language was the reason the comment seemed abusive (I didn't reade it closely).

No matter what, it's a pity that someone so young and talented has passed. An unwittingly lethal cocktail of prescription drugs would be even sadder.

Fame at 28 can be useless

Guilty. I joined the scrum of reporters. I'd say I went by to pay respects to talent but in my heart I know I was being a voyeur as well. R.I.P.

MLK Jr Day. Race and Class

Martin Luther King, Jr.Day, 2008

Keywords: eloquence, dignity, drive, inspiration, fire.

It's strange to acknowledge inherent racial prejudices when thinking of men like Martin Luther King, Jr.--and of countless people, ministers, musicians and artists who epitomize elegance as well as eloquence.

On this day that honors one heroic black man, I'll write about a man who's affected me. Frankie Manning, who is friend, teacher, royalty and inspiration to a group of folks from all over the world, has more class and dignity (not to mention energy, talent, joie de vivre, and generosity) than most people of any stripe--or if I'm being honest, of any race, creed, class, or age.

http://www.frankiemanning.com/

Stop and other instructions