I sat down with IMA Senior Graphic Designer Matthew Taylor last week in the Design Studio to take a hard look at our current IMA membership magazine (Previews) and talk content and design. A bit of history: The magazine has been around since 1988 with its current name.  (Before that, it was called the Quarterly Magazine. A bit of an improvement?) Matt was kind enough to hang out with me for a few minutes after our redesign brainstorming session to answer some questions:

Do you have a design philosophy?
I feel like George Bush in the movie “W.”. You know, when he was asked what he would consider to be his biggest mistake…I’m kidding.  As a designer, you can’t help but put something of yourself into every project. But I think the less of yourself you put into it the better. A piece can be clean and beautiful without shouting “Matt Taylor did that.” My philosophy is stay true to the project.

How does the design department at the IMA work?
The environment of the Design Studio is truly collaborative. We have exhibition designers, graphic designers, a lighting designer and a technical designer. It’s a multifaceted team. Everyone has a specialty, but we work together on projects that aren’t necessarily in our own area of expertise. We work with every department in the Museum to make well-designed, cohesive exhibitions.

What are the challenges of designing in a museum setting?
The biggest challenge we face is over-designing. You are working with a museum brand and an exhibition brand. Everything here is an art form and design itself is art. The challenge is to find a balance in your work. Part of my job is to get people to come see an exhibition, but at the same time know when to pull back and not overshadow the art with my design.

What upcoming design project are you most excited about?
Redesigning Previews magazine, of course. I’m excited about incorporating the new IMA brand that we are rolling out now into the magazine. The old magazine doesn’t live up to our new mission of art, nature and design. I would like the new design to be true to that mission and the new brand, as well as be more engaging and exciting than it is currently.

Can you describe the new IMA brand? (above)
The new IMA brand was designed by Indiana native Abbott Miller and his team at Pentagram in New York. We discussed our needs with them and why the old brand wasn’t working. They came up with something conversational, welcoming and inclusive. Using two new typefaces, Taz and Brioni, the brand has the flexibility to say the right thing at the right time. It’s got personality. We’re doing a soft roll-out of the logo to be green, economical and smart.

What’s your favorite magazine?
I.D. (The International Design Magazine)—The design is beautiful.  Great layout, typography etc. The magazine as a whole (from design to content) is always fantastic from cover to cover.

Design Inspiration

And so the conversation continues… With a content strategy that’s mission-consistent, flexible and collaborative and two full boards of design inspiration, we will bring you a new and improved quarterly IMA magazine this winter. Your thoughts and title suggestions will be considered—please add them below!

World Graphic Design Day is celebrated on April 27, the anniversary of the founding of Icograda, the world body for graphic design, in 1963. It is a day to celebrate the profession of graphic and communication design. The day has been celebrated since 1995.

Now if we could only abolish Comic Sans! But since we can’t, you should do yourself a favor and meet film director Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) and see his latest documentary, Objectified, which is a film about the creative process of product design. It is at the Toby here at the IMA on May 14th 2009! The film features designers who shape our manufactured environment and our interfaces with mass-produced objects including the people behind IKEA furniture and the iPod. Click here to read more about the event. Hope to see you there!

I get in the design groove by listening to music, and this seems to be all too fitting. Dert’s CMYK ep should help you get those creative graphic design juices flowing. Pay as you please… dope indeed.

Download audio file (02-magenta.mp3)

Location: Surround yourself and your guests with art by choosing a museum as your wedding venue. Tie the knot at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the State Museum, the Eiteljorg or as our development events manager Jane will do on May 25, at the Columbus Museum of Art. Feel too formal? Try a smaller, local art gallery for a more intimate setting.

Invitations: Have your invitations custom made by a graphic designer rather than a stationary representative or company. You’ll find that most graphic designers are happy to take a break from their daily grind to help you out.

Dress: Find inspiration for your wedding attire at Breaking the Mode or other museum fashion exhibitions. You’ll have a better understanding of construction, materials, form and concept, so when you get to the store, you’ll be the expert.

Wedding Gift: Have your portrait painted for your spouse rather than buying the typical gift that most would want to hurl into the ocean on the honeymoon. If you are especially pleased with the piece, display it in on an easel to share with your guests at the reception.

Cake: Let your cake be inspired by your favorite work of art, painting or artist. Ceramics and other decorative art translate well to a wedding cake. I’m partial to this cake inspired by Wedgwood blue china with icing-like trim on jasperware, developed in England in 1775.

Decor: Vanessa, the IMA’s cooridinator of external events, offers several reception decor ideas. She suggests bright or subtle table linens arranged in ROYGBIV (color wheel) throughout the room. For table numbers and name cards, use postcards of your favorite works of art (from a museum gift shop) or designate tables after artists for guest seating. And you can always use Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture for table centerpieces or a cake topper.

Children: Have a table designated with an art teacher or artistic friend to keep the little ones occupied.

Photography: There are so many talented photographers out there. Just inform them of your style — modern, artistic or journalistic. After the wedding, be sure and blow up your favorite black & white closeup as the perfect piece to put in your home.

Favors: Send your guests home with notecard-sized canvas papers with water colors or jointed wooden mannequin forms that hold each guest’s place card as favors.

Anniversary: Whether your wedding day was so long ago it’s been deaccessioned from your mind or only a fews short brush strokes away, make plans to visit a favorite art gallery or museum. Commission a local artist to create a custom piece of art for your home — to commemorate the past year of marriage. I suggest the historic, yet romantic style of local artist Kyle Ragsdale.

Art has the potential to inspire so much, some aspects of which we may not at first even be aware. Its full influence on your wedding may only be evident in retrospect!

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.