McAlhone, B., Stuart, D., Quinton, G., Asbury, N. (2016) A Smile in the Mind; Witty Thinking in Graphic Design. London: Phaidon.
From the book, I resonated with a few different phrases. From Michael Bierut, I like the idea that “if you show people a completed picture it doesn’t engage them as much as when they connect the last few dots, and have the moment of discovery”. I like having Easter eggs in my book work, like one hundred fish images in an author’s one-hundredth book, and want to learn how to do that graphically too.
From Aziz Cami, “What is great about wit is that it triggers questions in people’s minds. They start imagining – what would a person be like who has a van like this? … Curiosity must be satisfied”. How can I use my graphic design to represent myself and others that only makes people more curious about us?
I most see myself in the wisdom from Alan Fletcher:
- I see wit as cerebral acrobatics
- Other times I go to bed without an idea in my head, and I wake up to find it’s all there – and I’ve written the caption too.
- If an idea is not coming as quickly as it should, my mind takes off somewhere else… I actually have to discipline myself.
- I have to set up my own boundaries, and fence myself in
I think I could learn from this, especially the confidence to give myself the boundaries and produce something within that, rather than keeping my approach too open and not committing to anything!
Austria Solar: Annual Report
I mean, WOW! I love new printing technologies but I’d never heard of this one. The design by ServicePlan brought the report to life in the right way as it demonstrated the company’s values: the light-reactive ink isn’t just impressive, it’s intrinsic to the report’s value. How graphic design should be used.
Anna Robinette 