In my studio on my book shelves rests about 100 books — as I write this I can’t believe that number is true. Everything from art history to letterhead designs to Working With Words and Pictures to Visual Thinking to Webster’s Dictionary to Design Dialogues to A History of Graphic Design. I love books…the dust that collects on them; the spines with various widths and designs staring at me from a distance; the various shapes that cause my eye to move up and down around the perimeter; dog-earred and torn pages; pouring through specific books in hopes of finding that one great line.
I also recognize that the efficiency of Google and other search engines make books an endangered species. And that “the end of print” continues to be a controversial topic. I love that books are mobile (okay, I know digital readers are too). But books have soul. And I’d rather go into my garden with my coffee and read a book than carry around a tiny device that allows me to scroll through lines of text with no pictures. That’s my point. We’re visual people. We use pictures to talk to the brain. In A History of Graphic Design, by Philip Meggs, the book journeys from cave paintings from Lascaux (c.15,000-10,00 BC) to Apple’s introduction of the first-generation Macintosh in 1984, and the author speaks of how computer-generated technology radically alters our culture’s images, communication processes and the nature of work itself. And, that the need for clear visual communication that relates to people and their cultures is needed.
Getting back to my garden…. Visual communication exists everywhere, from my book shelf to my outdoor garden. My job requires that I effectively integrate words and pictures, to create a mood, set a scene, invite you in, help you seem where I’m coming from, lead you through the information in an orderly manner, etc. As I did in my evite — an image of my garden and pergola, with its vanishing point leading your eye through the garden and the bold, vibrant hot-pink bouganvillea brings your eye back to the foreground. Organic, uneven stripes for movement along the bottom and stacked type create shape and color. The date is purposely in that same hot pink as the flower to carry you to the text….and though it’s a simple piece, I get my point across visually. A melding of texture, imagery, typography, etc to create the experience of the garden.
So look around. Walk in a garden. Pick up a book. Step out of your computer and into your surroundings. Heck, go get a coffee, and don’t forget to notice the design wrapped around the cup.
pergola garden evite
