After a full day of shouting “Watch your eyes!” as the strobes went off, we found the results well worth our efforts. The shoot took place on a Monday in the IMA’s new Design Center (store) for easy access to product. Our challenge was to include items from the Museum Store, Design Center, Greenhouse Shop and the newly opened Nourish Café. Keeping a consistent look and feel between these entities took some extensive product planning, and having holiday products in early September also posed some limits. Luckily, we had Tascha as our pro photo editor, Matt the daring designer, and Tad and Mike, two amazing photographers on the team.

A little humor you won’t spot in the published pages of the magazine — We included a pair of cat salt and pepper shakers in the shoot full of bird decorative items. A porcelain origami crane ornament took the hungry kitties’ place in the final shot. We also all fell in love with the Charles and Ray Eames House Bird available in the Design Center for $210. You might call that funny too…

Look for the “Shop & Celebrate” photo spread in the new issue of the magazine this October, and have your holiday shopping list handy.

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!

Interview with Alice Waters
As published in the winter issue of the IMA’s Previews membership magazine

Q. What culture do you think has the most interesting relationship with food?
While I can only speak to the cultures I’ve visited, I find the Mediterranean culture of Southern Italy has a unique balance in their relationship with food. Food is part of the fabric of life there. It’s not on the side in the form of health or fueling up. It’s connected to meaningful everyday experiences. Sitting down at the table with family and friends is precious and important.

Q. What did you learn from your grandparents about food?
Not much. My grandparents were Irish English and it seemed to me that they liked to eat quite a lot, but that’s it. They had a narrow, limited diet. My parents were concerned about diet but didn’t know how to cook. My interest in food came from working in my parents’ Victory garden, and my passion came from traveling to France at the age of 19. The experience opened up a world to me.

Q. How are children in the Edible Schoolyard project transformed by food?
When kids are growing the food and cooking it themselves they build a sense of pride in what they are doing. When they serve it, they want to eat it, and their friends want to eat it. The ideas about food happen by osmosis. The values we talk about are absorbed by the kids in the process of working in the garden and kitchen. Science and history classes educate their senses and open their eyes to the world around them, not just to food.

Q. What’s the relationship between food and art?
You can set a table with flowers and cloth and it’s like magic. I think of art as magic. It nourishes us in beautiful ways that we can’t speak about. I see beauty as a way of caring. Both food and art offer the possibility of seeing the world in a different way.

The reason I’m interested in working with artists is to take food out of that ‘foody’ place and put it into the beauty of culture. Food is a universal language. We are digesting fast, cheap and easy. The consequences of the choices we make are destroying our world and our culture. I envision a place where an artist is curating the food. You would walk through a beautiful museum and food would be part of that experience.

Q. What artists inspire you?
Peter Sellars, Olafur Eliasson and Ann Hamilton – These artists have a way of surprising people and caring about the same set of values that I’m talking about.

Q. What’s in your refrigerator?
All the produce I brought back from a friend’s garden, jams given to me, milk, coffee, a bottle of Bandol Rose Wine, two small bottles of sweet wine from my daughter’s birthday, duck eggs, pickles, mustard, walnuts and hazelnuts, a couple lemons and Seltzer water.

Q. If you could be any food, what would you be and why?
It’s a toss up between being sweet like tomatoes or spicy like garlic.

Recipes from Alice Waters
If you are still unsure of what will dress the Thanksgiving dinner table tomorrow, try these recipes from the kitchen of Alice Waters.

Some have their names on a gallery, time to give or money to gift. Others use their knowledge of a subject, unique skill set or need for a place to belong. They all have a passion for the IMA.

As editor of Previews, the best part of publishing a membership magazine is interviewing, meeting and photographing our members. As we celebrate the IMA’s 125th anniversary this week, it is fitting to highlight the people who give of themselves to the IMA.

Members selected to be featured in Previews are chosen to fit the overall theme of that particular issue and on their history of devotion to the IMA. For example, in this year’s fall issue, Roger and Francine Hurwitz were interviewed about their contributions to the Museum’s Chinese and Japanese collection since the featured exhibition was Power & Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty. I usually get a brief rundown of the member I am profiling before writing interview questions, but it never prepares me for the true devotion and stories these individuals hold.

I was moved by the volunteer who regained her sight and found hope after listening to her friends describe works of art for her. By painting the pictures for her through words, she found joy in life again and saw in art the possibility to inspire. When she moved to Indianapolis, she sought out the IMA to volunteer her time.

I was tickled when interviewing a donor couple deeply in love. Their journeys to collect art and relationships with IMA curators are so much a part of their life and family. They were so eager to share their love of the Museum with me that they talked over each other and finished one anothers’ sentences. (Talk about a journalist’s headache!)

If I interview the member over the phone, I’m always delighted to meet them in person when they come in to be photographed for the magazine. This is truly my favorite day of the publishing process. Our photographer, Tad Fruits, and I search for the right spot to capture their personality and interest. We joke and laugh as he captures a moment in time that represents so much more than standing in a gallery next to a work of art.

I hope you too find inspiration in the many diverse individuals who come together with the common interest of supporting the IMA. Become a fan on Facebook and keep an eye out for (new) upcoming opportunities for members to have 15 minutes of fame!

A company called BetterWall allows you to buy those exhibition banners from around the world to become timeless works of art for your home or business. Started by a husband-wife team of environmental consultant and art historian, BetterWall works with museums through its “Recycle and Reuse Program” to help museums remain green by taking tons of vinyl banners off their hands and selling them, giving a portion of the profits back to the museums. I have a National Portrait Gallery, George Washington “Lansdowne” sign that used to be displayed on the Mall in Washington, D.C. framed in my living room, but this article by a Washington Post reporter was the first time I had heard of a company who made authentic museum advertising available to the public.

As unique objects produced in limited editions, the banners embody great art, great museums, and contemporary advertising trends. — BetterWall

Since you won’t find IMA signage on BetterWall, what happens to it all? To start out, indoor “case signs” that advertise upcoming and current exhibitions and programs are typically requested by IMA staff who would like them as souvenirs from the show. The exhibition’s curator always gets first dibs. Next, are the large, outdoor “facade banners” that hang over the front of building. (Roman Art from the Louvre was up last fall, and Breaking the Mode is currently up.) Because they are so massive, they are usually recycled in various ways by the IMA grounds crew for things such as tarps. The facade banners that do not advertise specific exhibitions are evergreen and are stored when not in use. The “perimeter banners,” made of the same mesh material as the facade banners, currently feature “It’s My Art.” When they are switched out in the near future, IMA staff will work with buildings management or the sign company who creates them to recycle them. And finally, the “trilon signs” at the corner of Michigan and 38th streets, are made of a durable material so they can look good regardless of the elements. Staff are looking into the possibility of an option for routinely recycling these as well.

So there you have it. It doesn’t look like authentic IMA signage is currently available for your decorating desires, but you never know what the future may hold. IMA members, check out your summer issue of Previews magazine at the end of April for a poster to put up in the office.

Last October, a team of us who work on Previews sat down with stacks of magazines from all walks of life, including publications from other museums. We talked about appearance — the layout, design, fonts, colors, photos. We hashed out content — article type, member information, length, the calendar. We also considered the paper used to print the magazine on and asked ourselves ‘How green can we be?’

I found that vibrant oranges, rich browns and jewel tones were the hot colors to carry through a publication. These colors are used effectively by most of the design museums like the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt. Type face was modern and mixed, but it was clear readability is key. The Art Institute of Chicago went further to portray pages with kid’s programs with more playful fonts and design themes. The use of large, vivid, expressive images was and is always impressive.

Content ranged from the wildly popular features on exhibitions and upcoming programming to artist profiles and member interviews. The Walker in Minneapolis does an excellent job of highlighting a member, possibly picked right off the street, for a Q&A and an always inviting snapshot. And my favorite idea from the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is a “take-away” poster of their upcoming or current exhibition inside the magazine. This is no Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

After a passionate discussion (and far past the scheduled meeting time), everyone still had their own favorites. If our decided mission is to be an award-winning publication to our readers/members, why not ask their opinion? We included the survey below in the spring 2008 issue and received incredible feedback. (Thank you all.)

Members, watch your mailboxes in April for your summer Previews issue. And keep telling us what you think. If you’re not a member and would like to join the IMA to begin receiving this perk, you can join the family here.

A shout out to Art for You, coming to mailboxes before Previews, and a disclaimer that the institutions mentioned above may or may not contain the content I praised them for. There were A LOT of magazines on that table.