Everyone loves to talk about guilty pleasures. It makes us think about our self-perceived shortcomings and it helps us to feel more human because everyone has them. Everybody can own up to something they’re not all that proud of but that they do anyway, something they look forward to, but don’t necessarily advertise. Sadly though, guilty pleasures are often very similar and are tiresome after awhile, “I secretly love to eat potato chips in bed!” “I love Christian rock!” “I thought ‘Weekend At Bernie’s II’ was far superior to the original” etc. So what? I say what you DON’T like is often even more important than what you admire, and is usually just as subjective and strange. This is true of personal habits as much as it is of what we favor as designers and artists.
For instance, (and around here it’s heresy to admit this) I don’t really care for Milton Glaser’s work. (waits for gasps to subside) I respect who he is and what he’s done, but he doesn’t speak to me like others of his stature and reputation have. In other words, he just doesn’t do it for me. To a lot of you, that’s absolutely crazy and, if you said the same thing about Saul Bass or Paul Rand, I’d surely think the same thing of you. So I usually don’t say much about it. I keep my opinion to myself. But no more. I encourage you to weigh in and free yourself from the bondage of worrying you’ll look like a boob to your peers.
Define yourself not only by what you secretly love, but also by what you’ve been afraid to say you can’t stand. Hate the IBM logo but are afraid to say so for fear of being pelted with kneaded erasers? Tell us now. Know in your heart that you could out-design everyone at Turner Duckworth? Speak up. Think Art Chantry’s work is ugly, unfriendly and too “insider” to be effective? Say so (though I will find and throw an eraser at you for that one). Come on, friends, don’t let me twist out here in the wind alone, join me. The heresy is fine.
goody. things i've never been allowed to say:
1) i never thought david carson was that interesting.
2) designers become complacent after they hit superstar status and create sub-standard work which does not deserve the praise it receives (hi neville!).
3) emigre magazine has very little to do with anything besides rudy vanderlans.
4) what was the big deal with razorfish and marchFIRST anyway?
5) post-modern modernism, as popularized by wallpaper* (and its ilk), is simply a thinly-veiled invitation to snobbery. it should never have been called modernism. and it's ugly, too.
6) karim rashad's work upsets me.
you may throw produce at will.
On Oct.25.2002 at 03:27 PM