The artist was unfamiliar to me, most likely overshadowed in Art History classes by more well-known names such as Joseph Beuys or Gerard Richter. Despite how unprepared I was upon entering, the show proved to be a great source of graphic design inspiration, as well as a site of great art. I’ve always been a sucker for bold colors and geometric forms, and Blinky’s work filled the space with life in a way that I won’t soon forget.

Here is a short list of ideas that popped in my head thanks to Blinky:

Color sets the mood

A number of the paintings on display reminded me of the master of color, Mark Rothko. If you’re ever enticed to use gradients in web design work, I would highly recommend grabbing a copy of Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas or reading this nifty article from Colourlovers: Rothko in Web 2.0. Even better, head to a museum and take a look at his Color Field painting in person.

Blinky Palermo exhibits a keen notion of color that can either smack you in the face or melt in your mouth (all metaphorically, of course). In art as in design, color is one of the most fundamental elements of communication, and it should be used to warrant an appropriate response or feeling from our audiences. I also love infographics, so here’s one on color: Infographic: How to Use Colors in Graphic and Web Designing

Color vibrates

When you abruptly juxtapose colors, the result can be an interesting optical illusion. As soon as I walked into the retrospective exhibition, my eye caught a pair of blue, red, and white paintings that seemed to vibrate with energy. I had just been working on a mood board for a website inspired by Icelandic well-being, so when the first set of paintings on display resonated with the same colors of the flag that had occupied my computer screen during a good portion of the day, I had to smile.

Check out these color optical illusions and make color a source of visible energy in your work!

Use form to achieve emphasis

The painting I fell in love with at the show was a small green rectangle with ever so slight a curve on the bottom edge and top right angle of the canvas and frame. Although difficult to notice at first, that delicate shift in form from what my eyes expected to see (straight lines) and what was really there (subtle curves), kept my attention for a very long time.

The eye is trained to facilitate interpretation by the brain. By switching things up a little bit, the viewer will be forced to take a closer look at your visual and figure it out. Read some more suggestions in this PDF called Design Basics.

Thanks to Blinky, and Bard, for an excellent exhibition. My next stop will be Dia Beacon.

Here’s my take on his vision:

Entering cyberspace…

The event – a webinar – already had a galactic feel to it. It’s amazing how designers, web junkies, and even a few problem solvers (!) from all across the world can find common ground to the steady voice and minimalist screen of one America’s biggest design stars in recent years. In a world of either-ors, Frank managed to conjure up his own list of friendly paradoxes and hypothesize on more than just the nature of our work as designers, but also our way of life, the way we connect to the world, and what we can do better (“to help us live better”).

We’re not alone out there.

One of the most calming revelations I had during the webinar was that even the greatest conceptualizers can stare at a blank page and get lost. Complete freedom is what we yearn for in our professional lives, but once it’s staring us in the face, sometimes we don’t know what to do with it! I never would have expected a creative like Frank to say that choice is paralyzing, but the truth is that it can be. And not just for beginners, students, the unexperienced, and the unknown.

Gateway or portal?

One defining versus, for the audience at least, was summed up by two different visions of design as a subject of study and as an occupation: the gateway vs. the portal. According to Chimero,

• gateway = passing through
• portal = transformative experience

As designers confronting the world with our best brains, what do we do: hop through the garden gate or pop on a rocket ship?  Often times, our inner motivation reflects the nature of the work we’re hired to do… but wouldn’t it be nice to explore the galaxy more often?

Tasks, objectives, and the stars in the sky.

The most effective visual metaphor I discovered during the webinar took place during the tasks vs. objectives “versus.” Chimero proposed that tasks can be seen as indiviual stars, while objectives can be seen as the greater constellation. As I sat on my porch looking up to the sky last night I thought of that.

Perhaps he’s got a point about what it really means to design, to think – to participate in a greater, even galactic good. Thanks for that perspective.

A few design resolutions

This is what I’m taking with me on my next space trip:

• Don’t get lost in the prospect of infinite possibilities. Limiting the horizon can be incredibly productive.
• Report back to peers as frequently as possible:
  create ➝ get feedback ➝ improve ➝ create
• Define objectives before starting tasks.
• Take a step back. Spend less time focusing on the minute details. Spend more breathing…
• Work towards a better good in all creative projects. Find purpose in every assignment and respond to needs.

Cooltura Jove is a brand-new initiative developed by the Institut de Cultura de la Ciutat d’Olot to stimulate youth participation in the myriad cultural activities that take place in and around Olot, Spain. It offers discounts and other advantages to 12-25 year old “kids” that live in la Garrotxa. The Graphic room, a graphic design studio and print shop founded in 2005 by graphic mastermind Roser Puig i Ferrusola, created a large gamma of print-based marketing materials for the initiative, including flyers, stickers, posters, entry forms and the works. Emerald Interaction was called in to develop a website based on their graphics. The finished product, a WordPress-powered blog and content management system is now up and running here.

With Roser’s eye for fresh design and my front-end development skills, who knows what the future holds…

The purpose of this project was to facilitate users with access to the most basic information about Olot Televisió and the programs it produces. The home page features an image slideshow of the program graphics and direct access to local news. Because of its blog format, the website transforms the television station into an up to the minute source of news information online.

The design itself is meant to be clean and easy to navigate, mostly white with a few flashes of blue, green and red to go along with the OTV logo. The header connects the user with a quick glimpse of the weather in Olot. The Joomla! based content management system allows members of OTV to update content directly. All in all, this website signifies a step forward for the city and its surrounding area, making events of local interest available at a global level.

Here’s a screenshot of the homepage. Clicking on it will take you to the site. (It’s published entirely in Catalan, so non-speakers be prepared!)

The Patriot Pole Vault Club is a USATF officially recognized group of rockin’ athletes who love pole vaulting.

It’s the second time PPV and Emerald Interaction have collaborated on a t-shirt. To celebrate the 2009 York Beach Vault, the team wore another design featured in this blog post.

Here’s a shot of the shirt from the 2010 York Beach Vault on Long Sands Beach (photo courtesy of the incredible Ingrid Gustafson):