“When your conscience is so flexible, how can you do strong design?”
Stenfan Sagmeister
After reading the article Design = Heart? I spent time reflecting on my own work and my senior project. I know in my own work that if I don’t believe or enjoy what I am doing (if my heart isn’t in my work) my photos are only decent. My photos seem flat and only surface deep, they are still properly exposed, lighted’ and focused but they lack the depth and awe that I can bring out in my photography when I am passionate about what I am doing.
I wish I would have read this article earlier this school year because it corresponds to what I was trying to figure out and articulate last semester. Last semester my photos were frat and lacked depth passable maybe but not what I wanted. The more I shot and struggled the less I liked the outcome and I stopped enjoying photography so I shot less. My heart was not into my project. Each person I talked to had a different opinion or idea and after each conversation I would direct my focus on what they said. Each person was different so when I would change my direction to suit the person I talked with another person would ask me why and I wouldn’t have an answer. I was floundering and wavering back and forth to try to please other people, instead of thinking about what I wanted, and my own convictions. I knew I was unhappy and not passionate about what I was doing, my project. I started to question myself, my direction in life: am I unhappy with my project, or my choice of photography as a profession, and does passion matter.
I decided that for me passion is my work does matter, it is my driving force, and I believe this is what Stefan Sagmeister is getting at when he talks about heart in design. Without passion or conviction (heart) in design or art the outcome I standard, passable, but not brilliant; for me the real question is how do we inspire passion for a project that doesn’t mean much to the artist/designer.
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2 comments:
Good post!, but the thing that caught my attention the most was your last question. I've asked myself that question many times since I started drawing in junior high school.
I think it's different for everyone, some of us could find it harder to find something inspirational in a project we dont like, when others could easily dig something up.
I've always had a hard time getting any inspiration for things I dont like to do. Which is why people say that I'm very close minded. I just find it that I make better work when I'm enjoying what I'm doing. If you find the answer for this question, let me know.
I'm right there with you. "Floundering and waving back and forth." The passion that is there dissipates when we talk to others who don't understand what we're getting at. The hardest thing is taking viable criticism from two opposing views and trying to understand what they are trying to say.
Then we have to try to look at it from their perspective to see if it's working. To communicate effectively and efficiently is tough too. All this adds to the debate of: Can design touch someone's heart?
Perhaps the way the curriculum is set up so that we do made-up projects vs. something that has a purpose and immediate application. That's one reason why I believe the THINK! and Recycle campaigns were so successful was because they were serving the school as much as they were us.
It's a hard line to walk on, but in the end, I know we can do it. The passion is there, we just have to find it.
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