I’ve had the pleasure to work on the team designing this exhibition and we’re all really excited for next week’s opening. How can you go wrong? Kerouac’s original scroll for On The Road, surrounded by Frank’s series The Americans.

Most of you probably read On The Road in either high school or college. I read it after reading an interview with Bob Dylan, who said that it changed his life. Its crazy, I’ve come across quite a few things in that way. Dylan says he likes it, I check it out. I first became aware of Frank in a modern art class that I took in college.

For those of you not familiar with either works, here’s the backstory:

In 1951, at a friend’s house, Kerouac sat down and started typing On The Road using sheets of teletype paper which he taped together to feed through his typewriter. 20 days and 6,000 words later he had the entire manuscript on eight, fifteeen-foot rolls of paper. The text is single-spaced, without paragraphs, and edited in pencil. Can you imagine creating one of the 20th-centuries most influential novels in 20 days of marathon typing? One word: Coffee. In the gallery you’ll be able to see the first 84 feet of the scroll until August 10th, at which time the other 35 feet will be unrolled.

In 1955, Robert Frank started out from New York to observe and photograph the United States. He traveled the country for two years taking 28,000 photos. What he came back with was black and white depictions of anything but the 1950s American utopia we’ve all come accustomed to seeing in pop culture. Ironically, Frank had trouble securing an American publisher so the book of photographs was originally published in France as Les Américains. In the gallery, you’ll see the 83 photographs Frank chose, arranged in the order of the book.

What I think is going to be a great feature of this exhibition is the educational space. Here you’ll get the chance to sample a real underwood typewriter, just like the one Kerouac used. You’ll see a first edition of On The Road and get to have a seat and view some great documentary footage and interviews, including Kerouac on a 1959 Steve Allen Show, reading from On The Road.

The exhibition opens next Thursday, June 26th. Be here for the opening celebration at 7pm for a concert with David Amram who was a lifelong collaborator of Kerouac’s. The two collaborated on jazz and poetry readings in New York’s Greenwich Village and on many other projects including the film Pull My Daisy from 1959. (written and narrated by Kerouac and directed by Frank). The museum is having a Robert Frank film marathon Sunday, August 17 which includes Pull My Daisy. Grab a new Art For You for more info. It should be a fun time. And it’s all free! So really, what’s stopping you? Come by and let me know what you think.

Starck is a superstar designer, if you will. A design celebrity. Kind of like a Britney Spears of the design world. Just with a beard and a little less crazy. He’s designed countless products and interiors…everything from toothbrushes to hotels and restaurants around the world. In the 1990’s he began championing product longevity as part of his design process. He’s said that a designer’s role is to create more happiness with less. A nice thought.

In this interview Starck said that in two years he’s retiring from design. He’s reached a point in his life where he looks back to the objects he has produced over the past 20 years and has come to the conclusion that he has done nothing but contribute to materialism. “Everything I have created is absolutely unnecessary”

He went on to say that “design is really a terrible way to express oneself.”

The design community took a collective gasp and everyone started lining up to take sides, preparing for the battle of words that would soon commence on every design blog out there. I imagine it was like that scene in Braveheart where Mel Gibson gives the speech to his soldiers, preparing them for battle. Except this time everyone kept their kilts on.

Of course, it didn’t help that many of the English language blogs were reacting to a poorly translated version of the interview, taking many of his thoughts out of context. So, with that said, I don’t really want to get into the “what’s his problem?” or “how dare he say that!” discussion. What mainly interested me was this idea of quitting design.

My first reaction: Is this even possible? Can someone who has spent his entire career, living and breathing design, just pick a date to stop? I don’t flip a design switch on from 9-5 and shut if off again when I go home. I think most designers are the same. It’s 24 hours. My wife can tell you: its not easy being married to a designer. We’re damn opinionated on just about everything. She’ll tell you of the arguments we’ve had at Target over why we have to spend $5 more for one can opener over another. Because one is not well designed, of course. Or maybe about the times we’ve bought the expensive dish detergent just because I liked the shape of the bottle. Not to mention the beautiful typography on it.

I guess at this point I’d like to know what you think. If you’re a designer, could you just stop designing? Do you think that in 20 years you will look back on what you have created and wish you would have done something different with your life? Maybe contributed to society in a different way?

If you’re not a designer, what does design mean to you? How important is it?
Does design factor in to your decisions to buy something or are there more important things? What about exhibitions or programs here at the IMA? Would you still come see an exhibition even if you weren’t too impressed with the design you’ve seen for it? How does design influence you as a non-designer?

Okay, well maybe not. Perhaps I’ll just follow Richard’s lead and start off with what I do.

I’m the Senior Graphic Designer here at the IMA. So what does that mean exactly? Any graphic designer will tell you that we get this a lot. Not a big deal. Don’t be afraid to ask if you ever find yourself in this situation. My own family still has trouble figuring out exactly what I spend my day doing. When I was growing up I loved to draw things. I was a drawin’ fool. Mainly Spider-Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This, of course, implied to every adult that knew me that one day I might just become a successful artist. Watch this kid; he’s going places!

When I grew up I did go to art school but I didn’t major in the illustration of mutant turtles that have mad ninja skills. Those classes were always full or at least had a really long waiting list. Instead, I got a degree in Visual Communication, or Graphic Design. Generally after I tell someone that I’m a graphic designer, I get one of three reactions. One: they know exactly what it is I’m talking about because they have a cousin who does the same thing. Two: I get a “that sounds fun” response that I think mainly pertains to the fact that I work in an art museum and not to my exact job here. Three: I get asked to explain what that means. When I do explain, I will usually get hit up for a logo because their uncle’s ex-wife’s second cousin who was lost at sea for four years recently decided to open up a business that specializes in mold abatement for residential architecture. (Not making that one up. Well, not the mold abatement company part anyway.)

Every day you encounter work by a graphic designer, whether you think about it or not. Magazines, billboards, book jackets, the graphics on your Starbucks coffee cup…all graphic design. Design is not only an end product, but also a process that usually begins with research and brainstorming. A graphic designer takes an idea or concept and makes it visual through the combination of photography, typography, color, the right type of paper,etc. When successful, everything comes together to produce a feeling and visual style that best communicates to the audience.

Good design makes things easier. It makes people happy. Anyone who has ever had trouble reading a magazine because of bad layout, had trouble navigating a website or gotten lost in an airport due to bad signage design knows how important well-executed design is to daily life.

I work in collaboration with nearly every department in the museum to design anything from a brochure for Summer Nights (to the graphic identity of an exhibition and the printed pieces that market the show. Anytime you get a printed piece like Art For You in the mail, see a banner on the outside of the building or even just pick up a brochure while you’re here, I might have worked on it.

Some of you out there have my work in your recycling bin right now. If it’s in your trash, get it out of there. If you’re going to throw my stuff away at least recycle it. With any luck, you got something that I did tacked up in your office. Or better yet…your fridge! Score!

So, that’s basically what I do.

Up next, Philippe Starck and why design is useless.