Designing Uphill

A spread lay out recreated from "Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst 

displaying the use of the golden mean commonly used throughout medieval book design

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The words of Robert Bringhurst's “Elements of Typographic Style” and Frederic W. Goudy’s “Typologia” ring in my head. Numbers of the golden mean dance around the page as my fingers run over letterpressed copy and linen deckled edges. My eyes grow wider and I forget to blink as the perpetual gilded dusk of the New York Public Library sky echoes every pensive thought.

The learning curve of this past month has been like hiking a mountain without view of the vista. The lines on this topographic map of design in this new world are stacked one over the other. It’s that kind of hike that you are doing more bear crawling up big rocks than sight seeing. O, but it feels so good.

So far my journey here has been a wrestling match with thoughts & questions like; “Ah! I am not in school anymore.”,  “Why am I here?”, “What is [good] design?” and, “What is my Thesis?”

Like all big questions they usually are multifaceted with more complex answers than desired. Within the first weeks of being here answers started coming from all sorts of people I was meeting. So far I have felt immensely encouraged, and whenever I look up I remember that I am not on this hike alone.

One of the first nights here I was invited to a rooftop party. Artist friends gathered around wine and good food amongst the twinkling lights of the Manhattan skyline. While I was talking to an artist who sculpts and makes incredible rings out of rare metals he told me two wise words. “Don’t create in fear, and don’t be afraid to fail.” This was perfect wisdom to take in my first hours in this big city. I looked over the rise and falls of the iconic pinnacles and repeated them over and over.

“But why here? And Why?” was my next question. That next week I met with two design firms in the city. I asked the first, Dwayne Flinchum of Iridium Group what the biggest lesson he has learned in his life as a designer, and now owner of a creative design agency. His reply was that “Anything is possible when you take small steps over a long time, just keep walking.”

“Right,” I thought, “Of course!” Why was I expecting myself to know everything just out of school in a new place right out of the gates? These great designers that I have look up to have put in their whole lives into it. “Time and persistence” – got it.

 I also asked him what was special about the New York design scene, and he circled around till he came to the fact that, “Well, we have everything here.” This was my answer to “Why this place.”  Is there a better place to find where you want to be in design other than New York City? – A place where there is a niche for every obscure scene in design.

The next firm I had the opportunity to meet with was Lippincott. They work with major companies like Walmart, Sprint, Delta and Petco. On the nineteenth floor of the tallest black skyscraper on the Westside I sat with the creative director Connie Birdsall. This is where I learned of the difference in creative vs. strategic design firms. Lippincott speaks the same strategy and business language as the major corporations they work with and therefore they are sought after for those accounts. It’s important to have a balance of the two. One thing I enjoyed about my tour of the creative offices at Lippincott was seeing the collaborative effort of branding that goes into the new faces of these major companies. I experienced a sense of teamwork and a constant creative community. It also helped me rediscover my passion for small brands, businesses, people and ideas that are overwhelmed in the flashing lights of Time Square.

“A career as a designer will take you over great waters and teach you of every industry.”

Connie Birdsall | Lippincott

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These visits and being in this big new iconic melting pot of a city sent me into a spiral of thought that sounded something like this: “Is design only meant to be consumed?! What is my place in this consumer marketplace? What does ministry look like here, is there even room for it?!” Somehow out of all these questions came the answer to my first question of “Why am I here?” – to figure this all out.

As I am doing freelance and auditing a typography class here I am learning the subtle beauty of design. I’d even go as far as saying that it would be my theme for this year here. The refining fire of design has been turned up. Around every turn I hear whispered messages of seeking profound subtlety and the importance of a strong message. Design for the sake of design is nothing more than unconscious and empty art.