6/11 Longest Day EVER

This morning we met Phil Baines and Catherine Dixon at the British Library.
Quick Facts:
-British Library is the Nation’s Library
-You need a PhD or to be a research scholar to have full access
-The library has every book published in England

We saw the Sacred exhibit which was about making connections between Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith. I found it very interesting considering I come from different religious backgrounds and I know it is very common today to do so. One of my favorite books there was an “Itinerary to the Holy Land” which made me laugh. The bibles were all gorgeous and there was a video playing that showed us the gold leaf process.

After our typographic walk we headed to Central Saint Martin’s to hear a talk by Phil and Catherine. They are professors at CSM but also do a ton of work themselves concerning typography. I really loved the book covers they designed for Penguin books Great Idea Collection. They were simple and showed a great understanding of typography. After our talk with them we headed downstairs to visit the photography studio where we saw some great work. I really liked the ad created for designer Paul Smith that was a photograph of a hat in a frame, and it was called small pith, which is a small hat. I thought it was very clever and shows that you can do more than just think of the ideas or take the pictures, you can be behind both.

That evening we met with Peter Seville who is a legendary graphic designer in London. He has clearly had a successful career but is at a point where you can tell he is jaded and wants something different. He knows he’s done great work, but now he seems to wonder what the point is if you can’t make a change in the world? Here are some nuggets of wisdom from him:
-Designers seem to care about the look of things; they want to make the world better.
-How do you do great work for something you don’t care about?
-if you have the courage, you have a lot to take on.
-What makes brilliance? Caring and trying.
-Socio Cultural Democratization (He made up this term)
-Things that are your hobby, you lose them when they become your job. Things that you love, you lose them when they become your job.
-THE SOLUTION IS IN THE PROBLEM
-Talk to each other, be proactive, email less, get together to talk in person