Thoughts | the mehallo blog. beta.

Hating Saturn

Kyle Baker’s brilliant Why I Hate Saturn could have been Seinfeld. But the television powers that be passed on it.

Even though it was optioned, the network at the time didn’t feel that the American Public would be interested in watching a show about neurotic New Yorkers.

A time capsule from 1990, Why I Hate Saturn is a fable for anyone who is still trying to find themselves. And for anyone who has a freaky sibling.

No answers, just (mostly) relatable life. With a pretty scary bad guy named Murphy (or Warner).

Snag a copy here. Review here. Kyle Baker’s website here.

Tags: cool finds, design history, education, thoughts by steve
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‘The first usage in print of highbrow was recorded in 1884. The term was popularized in 1902 by Will Irvin, a reporter for The Sun who adhered to the phrenological notion of more intelligent people having high foreheads.’

Russell Lynes famously satirized the concept of ‘Highbrow, Lowbrow and Middlebrow’ in an article published in Harper’s Magazine in 1949.

That same year, Life magazine published the chart (above) to sort out the particulars. Works as a nice supplement to my own Taste chart.

Click the above image to view larger.

Found via Holly Hadley Agundes

Tags: cool finds, design history, thoughts by steve
1 comment . . .

Feiffer

Passed along books are great.

That’s how we ended up with dog-eared copies of Jules Feiffer’s first books, collections of his beat era comic strips for The Village Voice.

Feiffer did his weekly loose, sketchy strip for 42 years – eventually canceling it when he felt the audience just wasn’t there anymore. [Read more →]

Tags: cool finds, design history, illustration, thoughts by steve
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Brains on inspiration

‘Why you should know your shit’

Above, a look at how inspiration from multiple sources work better than tunnel vision. And design school tends to help with this.

Good design influences are everywhere. Ignoring it is like cutting off a limb. Or two.

Illustration by Jessica Hische. Click to view larger/jump.

Tags: cool finds, design, education, illustration, thoughts by steve
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Taste and graphic design

I’ve been drawing my ‘taste’ chart on a white board for about six or seven years now.

Taste in graphic design is a concept I’ve been aware of for a long time – but as I looked out at what other designers were doing, taste wasn’t always a part of it. I kept seeing graphic designers who were stuck in one mode and not going any further.

‘I know that’ – is typically the term that shuts down most creativity. I’ve heard it from a lot of professionals in my field.

Diversity is the key to being a graphic designer today. Understanding concepts of other design industries – fashion, interior, architecture – even music – takes one further.

So one day in a classroom, I spontaneously drew this ‘taste’ chart.

I’ve since used it with clients, students and other designers to show different ways of approaching graphic design – so we’re not all just sitting here with blinders on, our heads in the sand. [Read more →]

Tags: design, education, fashion, thoughts by steve
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‘Don’t Clean Your Desk’

The work of Hanna Viktorsson.

Found via Ashley Simko

Tags: design, illustration, thoughts, typography by steve
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Where do good ideas come from?

‘Chance favors the connected mind’

Steven Johnson pieces it all together. Interview here. Book here.

TED talk, above. Animate by Andrew Park/CognitiveMedia, below.

Tags: education, illustration, thoughts by steve
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‘Creativity is as important as literacy’

‘Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.’

Traditional education is set up to suck creativity out of us; discourage independent thought. Teaches us to follow many procedures, many rules.

And I see the results of this every day that I’m in a classroom. By the time students get to the college level, creativity is often simply turned off. Ken Robinson addresses this (above) – the importance of making mistakes – and more.

Tags: cool finds, education, thoughts by steve
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