{"id":29835,"date":"2011-10-16T13:28:52","date_gmt":"2011-10-16T20:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/?p=29835"},"modified":"2011-10-16T13:28:03","modified_gmt":"2011-10-16T20:28:03","slug":"tibor-trubblemaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/archives\/29835","title":{"rendered":"Tibor, trubblemaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

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‘What role we are playing. Making the filthy oil company look ‘clean,’ making the car brochure higher-quality than the car, making the spaghetti sauce look like it\u2019s been put up by grandma, making the junky condo look hip. Is all that okay, or just the level to which design and many other professions have sunk?’ \u2013Tibor Kalman<\/em><\/p>\n

I first discovered Tibor Kalman’s<\/a> work sometime around 1990.<\/p>\n

He was doing something that most everyday graphic designers seemed to be avoiding. Questioning things.<\/p>\n

His adeptness at social change \u2013 being a responsible human being, helping others \u2013 happened by working within the system. First at Barnes & Noble, M&Co.,<\/a> then Interview,<\/a> Colors<\/a><\/em> magazines. And as a teacher.<\/p>\n

Before he passed in 1999, Kalman was the facilitator of what I see as a great awakening<\/em> in our industry. And those who were part of his circle \u2013\u00a0such as his wife Maira,<\/a> Stefan Sagmeister,<\/a> Scott Stowell,<\/a> Alexander Isley<\/a> \u2013 have made graphic design much more than pretty brochures and generic logotypes.<\/p>\n

Good design for good purposes is good. Making shitheads lots of money thru questionable practices is bad. Seems simple, right? <\/p>\n

It isn’t.<\/p>\n

I posted this because the rest of the world is waking up<\/a> just about right now. And this past week, Steven Heller wrote up a great piece<\/a> on Kalman.<\/p>\n

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Pictured from top down, advertisements and promotions for NYC’s Restaurant Florent.<\/a> With Alexander Isley, from 1985\u201388. Found via Tibor Kalman: Design and Undesign<\/a> and MoMA<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\t

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