A few months ago, Richard McCoy – the IMA’s Conservator of Objects and Variable Art – and Tricia Gilson conducted a two part interview on Art21′s blog with Daniel Ostroff, a consultant for Herman Miller and producer/editor of EamesDesigns.com, a website rich with information about the Eames and their work. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s a must-read (part one here, part two here).

The IMA will continue the celebration of this dynamic duo tomorrow with a screening of Eames: The Architect and the Painter in the Toby at 7pm. Come and see if it sparks any ideas of your own. As Charles Eames said, “Ideas are cheap. Always be passionate about ideas and communicating those ideas and discoveries to others in the things you make.”

You can see the results in use (and all of the fabulous clothes) in the Paul Textile Gallery and Fashion Arts Gallery until February 6, 2012.

What were your inspirations for the Material World typeface?

The grid-like mesh of natural elements like spider webs was an inspiration, as well as man-made things like chain-link fences. Both can feel either very clean and manufactured or organic depending on how they are viewed or manipulated.

How did you design this typeface? Did you make the whole alphabet?

Functioning typefaces are created with specialized software that allows them to be typed directly from the keyboard, and includes important  information about spacing, alternate weights, etc. Because we were only using these new letters to spell short phrases, and because of the time required to actually create a functioning font, I simply made the letters in Adobe Illustrator with the pen tool. Creating each letter isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming, so I drew only the characters I needed for this exhibition.

Why did you design a typeface and not use one that already existed?

While thinking about what typography and imagery could be used to represent the intricate materials used in the exhibition, I did look at a number of pre-existing options. Ornate display type tends to be created to connote specific imagery—Victorianism, holidays, or the stereotypes of a foreign culture, for instance. I wanted something that felt contemporary and spoke to the physical construction of the garments, but also seemed organic as well. It didn’t take very long to realize that drawing my own letters was the most natural approach.

How does the design of Material World enhance a visit to the show?

The primary goal of any design is to enhance the content. The experience of shopping at a big-box grocery store is very different from visiting an expensive clothing retailer, and it’s not because of the objects for sale. By using dark colors and not using more light than necessary, we are trying to create a space that feels intimate and seductive when compared to other galleries. The typography, too—both in its design and its use in the show—is meant to accentuate the seductive nature of the work, as well as reference the intricate patterns and handwork evidenced in many of the pieces.

Pilloton speaks this Thursday as part of the IMA’s Planet Indy series.  Here, she muses on a few questions in advance of her visit:

Q: What have you learned about the relationship between thoughtful design and the solving of large social problems?

We have learned that thoughtful design can address large social problems, but works best on a small scale. Instead of saying “how can design solve homelessness?” we’ve found that the best design initiatives are actually micro-local, that they address things on a very small scale for a defined group of people in our own backyards, and these solutions can serve as models for others to do the same in their own backyards. One million people with one design solution each will always be better than one person’s solution for one million people.

Q: In 2010, you toured the country in an Airstream trailer engaging with people about design.  What did you learn from that experience?

We learned a lot about how misunderstood design is among the general public, and how disconnected that is from the desire of the next generation to do good. People viewed examples of brilliant humanitarian design as “inventions,” or “the next million dollar idea,” rather than the result of a human-centered process that really does have impact. Students, on the other hand, took to the road show naturally, seeing the power that creativity can have on everyday lives. On a more practical note, we learned that two people and a dog, for 75 days in a confined space with no water or kitchen, is not a fun way to live. But we definitely have some good stories.

Q: As a designer and educator, what are you up to right now in Bertie County, North Carolina?  And why did you choose to take your energy to a rural community?

My partner Matthew Miller and I both have resumes that say we’re designers/builders, and the day-to-day schedules of high school shop teachers. We teach our Studio H curriculum within the public high school, offering students one year (two semesters + summer build) intensive design and construction education, put towards big built community architecture projects. We love working in a rural place like Bertie County because the impact we can have is exponential. There is such a need to do things differently, and to break the instinct to do the same things done in the same ways since the 1800′s. Design is an opportunity to shift the ways in which we view the future of Bertie County, or any place labeled economically challenged or resource-poor.

Pilloton’s talk at the IMA is also part of the fascinating IndyTalks series.  The post-talk Q&A period will be focused on Indianapolis specifically: how can design thinking make this city a better place to work, learn and live?

While examining the model I was guided by David Russick, the IMA’s Chief Designer. He’s one of the many people who put in countless hours to facilitate the connection between art and the viewer—a rigorous labor of love. It changes for each exhibition, but generally, the planning begins 12-14 months in advance. The model is necessary because the museum doesn’t use the same gallery layout over and over, far from it. “It’s like at the zoo,” explains Russick, “you know what animal you’re putting in the cage. You build the best environment for that animal.”

The gallery is completely redesigned; walls knocked down, moved, rebuilt and re-colored. My mother went through 27 color swatches before we finally painted our kitchen “French Pastry”–I couldn’t imagine what a gallery goes through. “Color is infinite; it could be the hardest thing we deal with,” explained Russick. All of the lighting changes as well. Dial’s work is largely 3-D, so it casts shadows on itself, a lighting director’s challenge/opportunity/nightmare. Every light’s type and position is represented on the model and they are painstakingly adjusted to best suit the works.

Miniature Art of Alabama

Some people are too afraid or disinterested to attend museums. They think, as Russick puts it, “Museums are for someone else.” Museum-non-goers could feel unwelcome. “But for years we’ve been saying, ‘Please come visit us! Just come one time—you won’t be intimidated.” And, as I now see, there’s a legion of people whose job is solely to make the museum as approachable and welcoming as possible. They do everything possible to display art the best it can be displayed. We want /need people to come and endless hours are put into making sure anyone would be glad they did. We can put on the best exhibition in the galaxy but, as Russick says, “If there is no one here to hear it, we don’t make a sound.”

It was one year ago today that we launched the current version of IMAmuseum.org. We are admittedly still proud of our website as it took a large group of IMA staff six months of dedicated work to create what you see today. In a blog post, we introduced the world to the new set of features of the site. Today, we thought we would take a brief look back at those features and see what worked and what needed a little adjusting throughout the year.

Front page of IMAmuseum.org as seen on 2/1/2011.

With the exception of changing images in the blocks, the front page has seen virtually no changes during the last year. We originally toyed around with the idea of making the main banner image somewhat dynamic, with rotating images, but eventually opted to let it remain static until a true need arises.

The interactive calendar on IMAmuseum.org.

The calendar is among the most novel features of the website, providing a simple “month-at-a-glance” interface. This has seen little change in its first year as well. Museum calendars can be littered with complication, and we like to think this clean approach brings a sense of clarity to users.

The IMAmuseum.org collection search showing advanced options.

Another feature that has held up fairly well is the collection search. You can see the set of advanced search options in the screenshot above. While looking through search logs, we can see that most users don’t seem to use the “Department”, “Materials”, or “Object type” search filters. We have received a lot of positive feedback and seen moderate use of the slider tool for accession and creation date though.

Live search results when searching for "superbowl".

The Apple-style live search, sprinkled with a little bit of administrator search boosting, has proven extremely useful. We watch our website analytics heavily and try to understand what users are really searching for based on their terms. Using this information, we can boost specific content for specific search keywords. Above, you can quickly find our losing Super Bowl bet from last year. (Be sure to follow this year’s bet as well).

Three major exhibition sites created within IMAmuseum.org in the last year.

We decided that we would produce all major exhibition sites (commonly called microsites) under the IMAmuseum.org umbrella once we launched this new site.  The site was designed in such a way that dramatically different designs could be “sandwiched” between the header and footer. This can especially be seen in the new and visually impacting Thornton Dial exhibition site.

The IMAmuseum.org shopping cart.

I’ll admit. Up until this point I have been a little self-congratulatory. When it comes to the eCommerce features of the IMA website though, we have had to do a fair amount of updating and improving. I don’t know that any of us quite expected the amount of work behind running, maintaining, and supporting an online store. We also took quite a risk by providing the ability to purchase memberships, retail, tickets, and give donations within a single cart system. Here are some of the lessons learned from the first year:

• Applying membership discounts online is hard! We are still actively trying to make improvements to ensure members can quickly and easily log on to the site and have their account aware of their benefits. Building a system that is capable of respecting the many nuances of our specific membership rules is also a continuous effort.
• Users do not like to leave the site to pay. When we originally launched the site, all payments were made through Google Checkout, which involved the user leaving the IMA website to pay and then being redirected back to the IMA site. While we had good reasons for using this at the time, the frustration experienced by users did not account for those. We have since switched to a payment provider which allows users to checkout completely without ever leaving the website. Since this change, we have seen a huge decrease in the number of shopping carts abandoned.
• Have support processes in place. The software development team didn’t quite realize that they would be acting in a custom support role. While many of the features of the website “run themselves”, an eCommerce operation definitely requires the offline touch as well. We are just now getting formal support chains in place for online customers that need assistance with online purchases. This isn’t to say there wasn’t anyone to help in the last year. It was just a matter of bouncing around e-mail and involving too many people.

Let us know if there are more ways we can improve our site in order to better serve the needs of the online visitor.

What is the project?

This is the title graphic for Andy Warhol Enterprises, an exhibition curated by Sarah Green and Allison Unruh, exploring the commercial component of Andy Warhol’s work. For the title graphic, we wanted to explore a design that referenced formal aspects of Warhol’s art including repetition, vibrant colors, and a tight grid. The solution we created, made up of 4000 posters and combined into 20 pads, also provided a unique opportunity for visitors to take a part of the experience home with them.

How did you think of this idea? Why did you do it for Warhol?

I like design that serves double-duty. The invitation I designed for the opening party unfolded into a poster, and I was interested in continuing that re-use wherever it was appropriate. I showed several ideas to our chief designer, David Russick, and we both agreed that creating an interactive title graphic served the functional needs of identifying the exhibition while also exploring how design can be used in a museum to engage visitors in a unique way. Not every exhibition lends itself to this type of treatment, but what could be better than Warhol  for exploring creative design solutions?

How has it been received?

It was installed just prior to the opening party on October 9th, and has been a big hit ever since. One of the things I was interested in documenting was which letters were removed first. The ‘A’ in Andy was nearly depleted during the opening weekend! I was surprised to see the more-difficult-to-reach posters on the top row being depleted first until a visitor pointed out that they wanted part of Andy Warhol’s name.

Will you ever do an ‘interactive’ title graphic again?

I would like to, although the needs of every exhibition are unique and some curators are more willing than others to explore innovative environmental and graphic design. Now that Andy Warhol Enterprises is open and the sky hasn’t fallen, hopefully in the future there will be more opportunities to create memorable and engaging design solutions.

The audience choice award, a $250 Saks Fifth Avenue gift card also went to a local designer, Amanda Helmsing, for her ensemble made from fabric she designed herself from antique photographs and chicken wire.

To see some of the incredible designs presented on Friday, visit the Project IMA set on Flickr. Is your favorite dress not pictured? You can add your photos from the event to the Flickr group pool for Project IMA. As the week goes on, designer names and the materials utilized will be added. And for additional information, check out Nuvo’s review of the event.

After the shows- the designers rocked out at the “Behind the Seams” after-party sponsored by Fashion Arts Society with the generous support of American Surety Company. Guests and artists alike mingled, posed for GotShot and grooved to the sounds of Beta Male.

I hope everyone had a good time- I know I did. Thank you to all the designers, models, hair and make-up talent who volunteered their time in making Project IMA: Fashion Unbound an unforgettable event. We could not have done it without you.

I decided to keep this volley a bit less cluttered than my “space pirates” version. I had made some vector bug outlines a long time ago and this seemed like a good time to use one. I used ants silhouettes to style the word “nature”. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Praying Mantis. I changed the mood by making it much darker. It’s starting to look like a scary/sci-fi movie poster to me now. Stay tuned for @jmscottimd’s final volley in this round coming soon.

See the other two round 2 serves before mine:

Also, see all four volleys from round 1 here.

Also, be sure to check out Aaron’s latest graphic design battle shenanigans over at at the official site of Layers Tennis. An epic battle of the beards sure to make you say wow.

While previous movies like Sin City have done a great job borrowing static elements of graphic novel design, this is the first film I’ve seen that makes such fine use of dynamic elements. Speed and impact lines are used to convey energy in many of the battle scenes, sound effects are enhanced with fleeting text and graphic representations to give them more impact, and intangible forces are stunningly visualized as they become devastatingly tangible for the characters involved.

And these are all enhancements that pull the audience into the alternate reality of the film when they could have been overdone or done poorly and resulted in the opposite (similar to the uncanny valley effect I wrote about earlier). I’m looking forward to learning how the special effects were thought up and pulled off in the behind-the-scenes goodies.

And speaking of graphic effects, we’ll be showing a variety of animated films at an event called Generations of Animation this weekend in The Toby. The techniques used in the films varies from traditional cell drawing and stop-motion to computer generated imagery. We’ll also have hands-on activities in the art labs and three experts in the field demonstrating their skills.

Comment below to let us know what other movie effects you’ve been impressed by lately.