This blog begins as an assignment for my graphic design senior seminar class, but hopefully it will be of use to other designers, especially to the sophomores fresh into gdes program. This assignment given to me is to create a zine relating to a designer we have researched previously in the semester. If you don't know of Armin Vit and his design-supporting online blogs, you should check out underconsideration.com and underconsideration.com/speakup. On a whim, Armin Vit created a blog called Speak Up in 2001 to rant about his dissatisfaction with design on the internet. Within time however, he gained an audience, a online community, and more websites, all in regard to the subject of design. So, that is what I'd like to do; create a writer-based/reader-supported resource regarding graphic design. To be specific, this blog is meant for the underclassmen of the Virginia Commonwealth University Graphic Design Program. To be general, anyone can read it an probably find some insight. But, within this blog I'd like to share some insight, advice, and stories with valuable lessons about our graphic design program.
If you're interested, here's the article I wrote about Armin Vit for my previous assignment:
Armin Vit, Referenced
Beginning in 1999, when he moved from Mexico City to Atlanta, the Internet had just boomed. Armin worked at marchFIRST, an Internet consulting company while he also taught type design at Portfolio Center. In 2001, when the Internet was no longer booming, Armin and his girlfriend (now wife) Bryony moved to Chicago. There, Armin strengthened his design talents under the firm Norman Design. From the UnderConsideration website, Armin says, “The lack of power in numbers forced me to do many things myself and the three years and change that I was there proved to be quite the formative years for me as a real designer. (As opposed to the lax designer I grew accustomed to at marchFIRST).” Shortly in about a year, Armin’s online graphic design community called Speak Up was born.
Speak Up is now just a branch off of a design network tree. This tree is UnderConsideration and its other branched include Quipsologies, a site full of quips or remarks regarding graphic design; Brand New, a site that focuses on corporate and brand identity; Design Encyclopedia, a collaborative resource that explains the how and why through design; and finally, Department of Design, the provider and developer of all the UnderConsideration printed and digital matter. These five branches have provided resources, and a place to speak for the online graphic design community. And that’s not even the half of it.
Armin and Bryony soon grew tired of Chicago and moved to New York simply for the sake of living in New York. Armin took a job in Decker Design but within six months, he took on a job to be partners with Michael Beirut at Pentagram, an internationally networked design agency. Along with working at a major design agency, he recently spoke at the 2007 UCDA (University of College and Designer’s Association) Design Conference as a part of Pentagram. Moreover, Armin is a teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York, he has just come out with a new book with his wife called “Word It,” and he is soon to come out with two more books entitled “Women of Design” and “Graphic Design, Referenced.” Armin seems to have climbed the ladder of the design world with ease. But what does someone do when he seems to have done it all? He quits.
As of September 27, 2007 Armin has quit Pentagram after working there for two and a half years. For good reasons, Armin is now shifting focus on UnderConsideration and its branches in order to spend more time with Bryony and their six-month-old daughter Maya. Armin and Bryony are now starting their own design firm as they focus on their online design community, their clients they have kept in touched with, their upcoming books, and especially their daughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment