From the way the elements of nature bend around us, as we bend with it, to the products we use every day, to the manner in which we shape our lives, design is an integral part of life whether you are conscious of it or not. We design, we see designs around us, we are designed with peculiarities that shape our intents, Worklife, and outputs. Everything in and outside of us speaks design, style, and specificity.
It’s interesting that many people not very aware of design, except designers and molders of visual elements. However, it is essential that we imbibe a design culture, mentally, physically and spiritually. It helps us to be more in tune with our inner leanings, teaching us how to shape our needs, environments and helping us understand the history behind a lot of things we and know.
If you need help understanding the concept of Design both physically and way beyond the physical, we’ve compiled a couple of Design Talks that will kick start your mind into a design framework.
Pirates, Nurses and Other Rebel Designers by Alice Rawsthorn
“All truly inspiring design projects have one thing in common: they began with a dream. And the bolder the dream, the greater the design feat that will be required to achieve it. And this is why the greatest designers are almost always the biggest dreamers and rebels and renegades.”
Columnist and author, Alice Rawsthorn illuminates the mesh of design woven into every aspect of our everyday lives and communities. She highlights the work of unlikely heroes, from Blackbeard to Florence Nightingale.
Great Design is Serious, Not Solemn by Paula Scher
“Serious design is imperfect. It’s filled with the kind of craft laws that come from something being the first of its kind. Serious design is also — often — quite unsuccessful from the solemn point of view. That’s because the art of serious play is about invention, change, rebellion — not perfection.”
Paula Scher looks back at a life in design and pinpoints the moment when she started really having fun. As a rock star designer, she’s cooked up everything from Boston album covers to Elvis Costello posters. She’s also created some of design’s most iconic images, like the Citibank logo. She is a partner in the renowned design firm Pentagram, and in 2001 received the distinguished AIGA medal.
Intricate Beauty by Design by Marian Bantjes
“So where my work as a graphic designer was to follow strategy, my work now follows my heart and my interests with the guidance of my ego to create work that is mutually beneficial to myself and a client. Now, this is heresy in the design world. The ego is not supposed to be involved in graphic design.”
In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to storefronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams.
Your Body is My Canvas by Alexa Meade
“You might be wondering how I came up with this idea of turning people into paintings. But originally, this had nothing to do with either people or paint. It was about shadows. I was fascinated with the absence of light”
Alexa Meade takes an innovative approach to art. She selects a topic and then paints it—literally. She covers everything in a scene—people, chairs, food, you name it—in a mask of paint that mimics what’s below it. Alexa Meade paints mesmerizing, illusionistic portraits directly on living subjects, subverting familiar visual cues with perspective and color.
Sarah Drummond: Revolution by Design
Sarah believes in the power of inspiring people with design tools to take change into their own hands and take on the world.
Focused on making social change happen by re-thinking public services from a human perspective and opening up the process of design for the masses, Sarah is a social entrepreneur, working on how the value of design can bring impact into the world, be opened up to citizens and placed in their hands to instigate change.
Democracy is a Design Problem by Dana Chisnell
“I use a dictionary. I don’t actually think about creativity. I think about solving problems.”
Dana Chisnell is an elections geek and UX research nerd who has trained thousands of people, including government workers to test their designs. But what she really loves is giving design literacy to the world. She’s the lead on a project to develop a series of Field Guides To Ensuring Voter Intent.
The Illustrated Woman by Maira Kalman
“I have been taking beautiful notes of drawings and I have a gorgeous onion from Murray Gell-Mann’s talk. And I have a beautiful page of doodles from Jonathan Woodham’s talk. So, good things come out of, you know, incomprehension — (Laughter) — which I will do a painting of, and then it will end up in my work. ”
Author and illustrator Maira Kalman talks about her life and work, from her covers for The New Yorker to her books for children and grown-ups.
A Teen Just Trying To Figure It Out by Tavi Gevinson
” I’m not saying, “Be like us,” and “We’re perfect role models,” because we’re not, but we just want to help represent girls in a way that shows those different dimensions.”
Fifteen-year-old Tavi Gevinson had a hard time finding strong female, teenage role models — so she built a space where they could find each other.
Tavi is a fashion blogger and a feminist who encourages everyone to embrace their complexity and look cool doing it.
