Jashanmal Quarterly is a publication from Jashanmal Books, the Middle East's largest book supplier. Jashanmal is a growing design journal based out of Dubai, in itself showing the rise of importance given to design in a growing first world, in this case Dubai.
I recently received Jashanmal No.2 and they interviewed David Carson in a feature relating to themes relating to globlisation and particularly technology vs. creativity. This was actually a theme in Chapter 4 of my dissertation. Relating to how design is accessible to everyone, and the craft of design is perhaps being lost in the midst of hobbyist design and 'safe' design.
ANON. [2014] 'The Executioner's Song: David Carson', Dubai, Jashanmal Books
Selected transcripts:
Q: Has mainstream magazine design got more adventurous in recent years? The likes of Bloomberg Business - week are showcasing covers that we would not have seen five years ago - is that a reaction to the rise of tablets?
A: Some have tried, in order to survive, but overall no, not at all. What you have now is a lot of what I call B, or sometimes B+ magazines: all solid, most professional, but safe, predicatable, grid reliant, and forgettable - largely because everyone has the same software, and designers have gotten lazy, letting the computer make way too many decisions for them. That being said, the Obama Bloomberg cover was a classic, really well done.
Q: It's much easier to be a graphic designer now than when you started out - anyone with a basic knowledge of InDesign and Photoshop can design a magazine - do you think that is good - or does it result in a lot of untrained designers?
A: It results in a lot of average, forgettable safe design. Everyone's a designer, everyone's a photographer, and everyone's a writer. But good design, like being a good photographer, comes from within, from have a certain 'eye' or way of looking at things, that no programme or class can give you. So yes, there's a ton of solid designers now, but very few memorable ones. An exceptional, innate sense of design, or photography, or illustration, is not something that can be taught. Average design or photography can be taught.
---
Carson's observations are pretty much in line with my own opinion, that designers, and at extension irregular and unconsidered design is widespread now - more so than ever. In a changing society, my writing argues for the need, relevance and opportunity for a highly communicative design style - a second cyclical progression of the International Style of design.
I recently received Jashanmal No.2 and they interviewed David Carson in a feature relating to themes relating to globlisation and particularly technology vs. creativity. This was actually a theme in Chapter 4 of my dissertation. Relating to how design is accessible to everyone, and the craft of design is perhaps being lost in the midst of hobbyist design and 'safe' design.
ANON. [2014] 'The Executioner's Song: David Carson', Dubai, Jashanmal Books
Selected transcripts:
Q: Has mainstream magazine design got more adventurous in recent years? The likes of Bloomberg Business - week are showcasing covers that we would not have seen five years ago - is that a reaction to the rise of tablets?
A: Some have tried, in order to survive, but overall no, not at all. What you have now is a lot of what I call B, or sometimes B+ magazines: all solid, most professional, but safe, predicatable, grid reliant, and forgettable - largely because everyone has the same software, and designers have gotten lazy, letting the computer make way too many decisions for them. That being said, the Obama Bloomberg cover was a classic, really well done.
Q: It's much easier to be a graphic designer now than when you started out - anyone with a basic knowledge of InDesign and Photoshop can design a magazine - do you think that is good - or does it result in a lot of untrained designers?
A: It results in a lot of average, forgettable safe design. Everyone's a designer, everyone's a photographer, and everyone's a writer. But good design, like being a good photographer, comes from within, from have a certain 'eye' or way of looking at things, that no programme or class can give you. So yes, there's a ton of solid designers now, but very few memorable ones. An exceptional, innate sense of design, or photography, or illustration, is not something that can be taught. Average design or photography can be taught.
---
Carson's observations are pretty much in line with my own opinion, that designers, and at extension irregular and unconsidered design is widespread now - more so than ever. In a changing society, my writing argues for the need, relevance and opportunity for a highly communicative design style - a second cyclical progression of the International Style of design.
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