Tag Archives: design

Aftertaste3–New Agendas for the Study of the Interior

April 1, 2009Current Students, Education, Events, Talks/Lecturesaftertaste 3, architecture, design, Parsons, perceptionamt

aftertaste3_invite

It is not hard to imagine an apartment whose layout would depend no longer on the activities of the day, but on functional relationships between the rooms… It takes a little more imagination, no doubt, to picture an apartment whose layout was based on the functioning of the senses. We can imagine well enough what a gustatorium might be, or an auditorium, but one might wonder what a visuorium might look like, or an olfactorium or a palporium.

Georges Perec, “The Apartment”, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces [1974]
London: Penguin Books 1997, 31.

AFTERTASTE 3, the annual international symposium dedicated to the critical review of Interior Design, intends to provoke a discussion about the richness of the senses and their role in the comprehension of space and inhabitation. Experimental in character, this conference aims to consider projects and ideas that stem from investigations into the workings of the senses.

Writer Georges Perec famously urged us to imagine separate rooms for taste, hearing, sight, smell and touch, yet one might also inversely challenge the primacy of visual perception by bringing the more peripheral and intertwined aspects of sensory experience into focus.

AFTERTASTE 3 will feature accomplished designers, architects, and artists whose work specifically addresses the complex and still relatively unexplored role of sentient perception in the imagining of interiors.

Here’s a list of participants:

James Auger
Robert Israel
Kent Kleinman
Robert Kirkbride
Joanna Merwood-Salisbury
Charlie Morrow
Jorge Otero-Pailos
Victoria Anne Rospond
Mayer Rus
Emily Thompson
James Tichenor
Sissal Tolaas
Sabine von Fischer
Joshua Walton
Alfred Zollinger

And here is a link to the full schedule.

Aftertaste 3
Friday, April 3rd, 3-7 p.m.
and Saturday, April 4th 10-7 p.m.
Parsons The New School for Design
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium
66 5th Avenue, New York

Frank Gehry’s Superlight chairs given new weight at DWR’s Chelsea Studio!

December 8, 2008Class Projects, Current Students, Events, Illustration Industry, Newschelsea, design, design within reach, DWR, frank gehry, Illustration, nyc, superlight chairsamt

Paul Kim

Straight from the Design Within Reach newsletter and blog:

A semester-long collaboration between Parsons the New School for Design, Emeco and DWR culminates with the unveiling of reimagined Frank Gehry Superlight chairs at the Chelsea Studio reception. Parsons Illustration students were challenged to redesign Gehry’s 6.5 lbs. chair. We purposely left the instructions vague, so as not to limit the students’ ideas. We placed no restrictions on materials (we encouraged mixed media) or concepts (we challenged them to think about the usefulness of the chair, the human form, social conventions, style and culture). The designs are as diverse as the students who created them. You are invited to discuss the results with Parsons Illustration chair Steven Guarnaccia, Emeco representatives, DWR’s own Bradford Shellhammer and the student-creators themselves. Snacks and wine will be served.

Editor’s Note: Come out and support all the great Illustration students (and their fantastic instructor, Noel Claro) who worked on this!

Reimagining the Chair: A Parsons, Emeco and DWR Collaboration
Wednesday, December 10, 7-9pm
DWR West 14th Street Studio
408 West 14th Street
(between 9th and 10th Ave.)
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.242.9449
Directions

[illustration by Paul Kim]

Design a bumper sticker, rock the vote…

October 14, 2008Call for Entries, Current Students, Randomly Intriguingdesign, election 08, good magazine, Illustration, type, voteamt

Good Magazine recently posted this cool opportunity. It combines activism AND creativity! Here are the official details:

The bumper sticker is one of the most ubiquitous and pithy forms of political expression. For the 2006 midterm elections we asked you to create an original bumper sticker on the subject of voting. Your submissions blew us away. So we’re bringing Project 001 back for the 2008 presidential election. You’re invited to get involved. Guidelines and submissions below.

We’ve updated the original Project 001 text below, and we’ll add new submissions to those from the Project’s original 2006 run.

the OBJECTIVE
To get people to vote (or at least think about it)

the ASSIGNMENT
Create a bumper sticker

the PARAMETERS
3 x 9 inches, full color

the REQUIREMENTS
The word “vote” must appear on your bumper sticker. As long as that word is included, everything else is up to you.

the DIRECTIONS
Please email your art in JPEG, PDF, or Adobe Illustrator format to project001@goodinc.com, with the subject heading: ‘PROJECT No. 1.’ Make sure to include your name as you would like it to appear in the credits. We will feature submissions here until Election Day 2008.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT:
This is the first in a series of what we call GOOD Projects, in which we challenge GOOD readers to come up with an idea and share it with the world.

There’s a grand tradition of posters being created and posted in the streets to support political causes, movements, and candidates. Unfortunately, with everyone hanging out at the mall or watching TV these days, there aren’t a lot of opportunities left to communicate through posters in the public square (except for advertising, but that’s a whole other thing.

But there’s another tradition of free expression that is still alive: the humble bumper sticker. From my child is an honor student to support our troops, Americans have been using their cars to get messages out for a long time. And if you’ve ever been stuck in traffic, you’ve had time to contemplate quite a few messages being broadcast from the suv in front of you.

This project is simple: a bumper sticker. The message is simpler: vote. Actually, you can take some liberties with the message (as designer James Victore has done, above), as long as you include the word “vote.” Just to keep things fair, we’ve set a rule on how big the sticker should be: 3 by 9 inches.

Use whatever tools you want to make your artwork. Contributions will be viewable on-and downloadable from-this page, so anyone can print out a sticker to put on his or her car. If everything works out, somebody will see that sticker and think twice about voting the next time the midterm elections roll around.

We’ll post submissions until November 4, 2008.

You can see some of the other submissions from this year and from 2006 at the official website.

Information session for Make Music New York 2009

September 25, 2008Current Students, Events, Illustration Dept. Events, Illustration Industry, Newsdesign, Illustration, make music new york, parsons illustrationamt

Make Music New York is a music festival like no other. Taking place on a single day, June 21st, last year’s event featured over 3,200 musicians giving 870 free musical performances in every genre, on streets, sidewalks, and parks throughout the City. Performances included 69 punk bands on Governors Island, a NYC Opera and NY Philharmonic block party, Roberta Flack singing with middle school students in Central Park, Bollywood Karaoke, and hundreds more.

Everything is free. Everything is outdoors. Anyone can sign up to make music.

For the last two years, Parsons students have designed the Make Music posters and programs (printed by Metro New York and amNewYork newspapers), the visual elements for Time Out New York’s dedicated MMNY website, and fliers and postcards for some individual concerts. This year, they’re looking for more than just new designs — they want proposals for radically new ways of promoting the event, that fit its outdoor, do-it-yourself, absurdly cheap spirit.

Aaron Friedman, creator and organizer of the festival, will be coming to Parsons next week to present this year’s project, and to show examples of the kinds of design interventions they’re looking for.

Thursday, October 2nd
2 p.m.
Illustration Library
Room 805, 2 W. 13th

We hope to see you all there. This is a tremendous opportunity for innovation, creativity, and publicity!

[Image created by Danielle MacIndoe]

Repost and Reminder: Wallpaper design for Sheila Johnson Design Center

July 10, 2008Call for EntriesCall for Entries, design, Illustration, sheila johnson design center, wallpaperamt

Please take this opportunity to review the following exhibition opportunity, which is perfect for any student in our department and only requires you to submit images of your best work that you have already completed and a short written piece. (details below:)

In Spring 2008 a group of Parsons faculty, staff and students were selected by the Dean’s Office and Student Senate to form a committee in charge of curating the student wallpaper spaces in the Sheila Johnson Design Center. These three locations are currently covered with student work that will be rotated for Fall 2008. Below is the interim process to receive and select new work for consideration for the NorthEast corner location.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Due July 10th to FalerG01@newschool.edu

We are looking for submissions from students or recent graduates that:

1. Were completed in any class at Parsons (individual or group-based) through Summer 2008

2. Consider the core values as stated in the paragraphs included below.

3. Consider how the wallpaper in these highly visible public spaces can reflect our community.

4. Consider the scale of the architecture.

5. Engage with a social or critical thematic.

Each student can submit up to three images and statements. Please email your low resolution jpeg or pdf to George Falero at FalerG01@newschool.edu as well as a 100-word statement describing each submission and how it reflects Parsons’ mission statement below.

MISSION STATEMENT: WHY PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN?
A forerunner in art and design education for over a century

Parsons prepares students to be independent thinkers who creatively and critically address the complex human conditions of 21st century culture. We are committed to creating a diverse learning environment for developing self-reflective practices through studio-based research and critical scholarship in order to make meaningful and sustainable contributions to contemporary global societies. Situated within The New School, Parsons builds on the University’s legacy of progressive ideals, scholarship, and educational methods. Our faculty challenges convention through a setting and philosophy that encourages formal experimentation, nurtures alternative world-views, and cultivates forward-thinking leaders and creative professionals across multiple fields in a world increasingly influenced by art and design.

PARSONS CORE VALUES
A shared commitment to:

*the urban – understanding New York City and other urban areas as sites where, through engaged research and creative practices, we can work with inhabitants to co-create and co-design, reflecting the urgent needs and possibilities of 21st Century art and design and beyond;

*sustainability – addressing the need to work for both human and environmental sustainability through understanding and designing systems that allow for or produce longevity and renewal;

*diversity – being an institutional leader by working to recruit and retain individuals and communities who have been historically under-represented in art and design schools and the professional fields they help to create. We also recognize our responsibility to consider how all people are impacted by and interact with the goods, systems, and spaces we design;

*the global – nurturing a more nuanced understanding of political and social economies, global dynamics of exchange and production, and historical specificities in order to prepare students to work creatively and ethically in a changing world;

*art/design as an agent for social change – challenging all members of the Parsons community to understand our work in relationship to its social and political possibilities, embodying the legacy of The New School.

The committee will meet to review all submissions and make selections according to the criteria listed above. Decisions will be announced by August 1st.

Good luck!

Call for Entries: Wallpaper design for Sheila Johnson Design Center

June 24, 2008Call for Entries, Exhibitions, Illustration Alumnidesign, exhibition opportunity, Illustration, Parsons, sheila johnson design center, the new school, wallpaperamt

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Due July 10th to FalerG01@newschool.edu

We are looking for submissions from students or recent graduates that:

1. Were completed in any class at Parsons (individual or group-based) through Summer 2008

2. Consider the core values as stated in the paragraphs included below.

3. Consider how the wallpaper in these highly visible public spaces can reflect our community.

4. Consider the scale of the architecture.

5. Engage with a social or critical thematic.

MISSION STATEMENT: WHY PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN?
A forerunner in art and design education for over a century

PARSONS CORE VALUES
A shared commitment to:

*sustainability – addressing the need to work for both human and environmental sustainability through understanding and designing systems that allow for or produce longevity and renewal;

The committee will meet to review all submissions and make selections according to the criteria listed above. Decisions will be announced by August 1st.

Good luck!

Illustration Adjunct Faculty Deroy Peraza gets his shot in the Spraygraphic Spotlight

February 7, 2008Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Interviewsderoy peraza, design, hyperakt, parsons illustration alum, parsons illustration faculty, sprayblog, spraygraphicamt

Deroy Peraza, an Illustration alum and faculty member, discussed his business Hyperakt and artistic process with S praygraphic’s Sprayblog back in January. Here’s an excerpt:

SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.

DP: There’s two answers to that. The creative process and the pragmatic process. The trick is getting the two to get along.
On the creative side, there are always some vague ideas floating around in my head that are waiting to get matched with the right project. They are usually inspired by something I saw, read or heard somewhere, and tend to be unfinished fragments that don’t really mean anything until they are activated by a concept. But all of that is bullshit without answering some very basic, practical questions first:
1. What does it need to do?
2. Who needs to get it?
3. Why?
Whether the work is personal or commercial, print or interactive, 2d or 3d, the same questions apply. I need to be able to define what I’m trying to do concisely in one statement before creating anything. Otherwise, I feel lost. Like most things in my life, the process of creating any work is one of structured chaos.

SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?

DP: Ask for help. One of the great things of working in a collaborative environment, with people I like and respect, is that I can ask them for help. Everybody gets stuck sometimes. Whether your brain forgot to power up that day or whether you’ve been working on something for so long that you’ve been blinded to reality, there’s nothing like a little perspective from your peers for a reality check. At Hyperakt, we don’t really have the luxury of letting a project sit around waiting for brilliant ideas, so we tag team on them when we get stuck. We’ll just trade projects and hit reset. Its a practice that is not easy to learn. It requires putting the ego aside, and trusting your baby to someone else. Both are hard. Other than that, there’s the usual. I dig for inspiration in our library or on the web. I go for a walk. I try to travel as much as possible. I’m also very competitive, so nothing fires me up more than seeing good work from the competition.

Read the rest of Deroy’s interview here!

Ray Hooper is interviewed on Spraygraphic

January 31, 2008Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, Interviewsdesign, greeting cards, ray hooper, sprayblog, spraygraphicamt

Our fine friends over at Spraygraphic Sprayblog caught up with Parsons Illustration Adjunct Faculty Ray Hooper, who has taught Type in the department for some time and who has branched into the world of greeting cards with his company, Ray Hooper Designs. Here’s an excerpt:

SG: Can you tell us a little about your business, Raymond Hooper Design, LLC.

RH: We design Greeting Cards, Appointment Books, Journals, etc. My company is a year old this month and after a year of building a staff and inventory we had our first sales last month. We are trying to appeal to people who are both sophisticated about art and design and don’t necessarily need someone else to write their sentiments. As a result many of our cards have very terse messages on the inside or none at all. A number of our cards are blank note cards with photographs, illustrations or just some kind of graphic on the front.

SG: Where has your work been seen?

RH: The books in book stores and museums across the country. The cards, so far, only at trade shows and in trade publications.

SG: Where will it be seen next?

RH: Trade shows in Atlanta, San Francisco and Seattle. Card stores in North Carolina, Texas, Washington state and upstate New York.

SG: What is your dream art assignment?

RH: No such thing. It’s a joy making my living designing.

SG: What is your favorite color?

RH: I like them all.

Make sure you read the rest of Ray’s interview here and check out his designs here.

Chris Ware designs poster for upcoming movie

November 29, 2007General Info, Illustration Industrychris ware, comics, design, Illustration, movies, the savagesamt

The Los Angeles Times recently interviewed Chris Ware (of Acme Novelty Library & Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth fame) who worked on the poster for the upcoming movie, The Savages. Here’s an excerpt:

Just from your poster, it seems you felt some affinity to the wet, wintry landscapes of the film. It also strikes me that “The Savages,” like your work, is an unlikely mix of funny and sad.

I’m not sure if funny and sad are really so terribly different things; I’ve been to violent films that I find patronizing, dishonest and depressing, yet the people around me are all laughing their heads off. As a half-writer myself, I try not to think of what’s funny and sad in a story but simply to think of what, to the best of my ability, seems truest; whether it’s funny or sad is simply how it settles with the reader. In the wake of any horrible natural disaster some well-known religious figure is inevitably asked, “How can a good God allow something as bad as this to happen?” Really, though, what difference does it make to God whether 10,000 people or 10,000 fish die? Good and bad, like funny and sad, are phenomena relative to the perspective of the organism that’s laughing or dying.

—-

Chris’s work is available through Fantagraphics and you can read other interesting articles/interviews with him here, here & here.

Rian Hughes @ the ADC November 15th

November 13, 2007Eventsart directors club, design, device fonts, New York, rian hughes, tea and biscuits, typeamt

rian hughes

Veer Presents: Rian Hughes Design, Tea and Biscuits
Thursday, November 15, 2007 @ ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street, NYC
6:30-9:30 PM

Make your way to the Art Directors Club for an evening of genteel design discussion and civilized refreshment with British illustrator, graphic designer, comics artist and typographer Rian Hughes.

For over 20 years, Rian Hughes has been fusing visual design with pop aesthetics. His distinctive panel art revolutionized the British comic industry, and his modernist graphic design and illustration style have been widely copied. Since 1996, Rian has released an astoundingly diverse range of display and text typefaces under the Device Fonts moniker.

Admission: $15.00
RSVP: http://www.veer.com/ideas/rianhughes/

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