harrow. pigface here. hmm yush. my 5 week project came to a close. my last project of the second year and its good to finally have done something good in this whole year. not one of my projects other than this was particularly successfull in the slightest. felt like such a big fat fail.
anywho. i was thinking about graphic design vs illustration and really which one im sort of more into. tbh. i don’t really like being in graphic design or sort of counted for in that bubble. theres lots i love about graphic design, lots of work that i love that is graphic design but i think theres this big bubble of obnoxious snobbery about various things that i really don’t want to be included in. i don’t know what it is.. the way designers dress or things they talk talk about, lifestyle habits, know how of certain technical things, and understated but very much there cultural and social presence (mainly in dress and sort of ‘in’ things.. see urbanoutfitters shop section and lomoshops for more info) not overly sure what it is, but its there right? im not the only one noticing it right?
so graphic designers are problem solvers. which if you think about it.. is pretty awesome.. given that they do actually solve problems, that would make them some sort of modern day hero if you like. illustrators on the other hind.. sort of do what they do and do it really well. i can’t really explain it better than that but illustration can be something very self centered. not in a bad way but the work is very mm.. how do i put it .. subjective i think is the word. someone in class was talking about their idea of style and its good that (blah insert name) has style because blah. our tutor.. who i rather like tbh.. sort of had a bit of a strong reaction. she said.. as graphic designers we shouldn’t have a certain style. people shouldnt want to hire you because you can make work look a certain way. they should hire you because you can solve a problem. graphic designers are problem solvers. illustrators sort of should/need a style but for graphic designers its dangerous. i can see what shes saying. remember a few years back when someone telling me i have a certain style, it was like reaching the pinnacle of being a imagemaker/illustrator (strictly speaking i wasn’t exactly ‘illustrating’ as such.) at that time it seemed like a big deal. although i have no idea why but i remember people congradulating me and making a bit of a fuss. is it really that important to have a style? isn’t flexibility better. well flexibility without selling out to the latest hype i guess. becoming more involved with graphic design for the last 2 years i found that when i needed some sort of visual imagary its annoying kinda frustrating that im not versitile enough to work with different styles (even though my own style has evolved so greatly over the years (you’d be suprised!)) when you need a certain type of illustration for a certain thing. i like to do everything myself, just the way i want and when i can’t, i start behaving like a child in the supermarket whining for the chocolate with 15 E numbers.
i still have no idea what it is i want to do but i can respect both graphic design and illustration in different ways, for different reasons, but i want more engaging projects.. or maybe an ability to engage better with the projects. atm. ive found myself liking packaging design. the more experimental 3D sort rather than heres your 2D canvas give me some design on my packaging, but i guess the market probably isn’t like that judging on commercial work ive seen. i like working on something thats going to really intergrate with the world and become useful. as for image making/illustration. thats firmly on hold for now, i dont have the drive for it like i used to, nor do i have the time to generate that drive i used to have.
on a different note. have you noticed the use of illustration in advertisments. its a difficult thing to get right. the balance of taste right? or understanding the taste of your audience and approaching them correctly. personally i feel that if done well photography is a lot more engaging than illustration on this matter. illustration is a style a captured moment or thought in time, perhaps a photograph is more personal and relates. however if a photograph is taken/directed poorly it can completely put us off the product. i could be completely wrong but for the time being, this is what ive found when looking at my own design and trying to come up with images that ’sell’ the product exactly how i wanted. having said that. anything that is done well can be persuasive enough to sell. nuff said i think.
[edit: ahh yes.. whilst brushing my teeth i started thinking. a lot of people who call themselves an illustrator aren't actually illustrators (myself included a lot of the time) they're probably image makers. there's a lot more to being an illustrator than just drawing a pretty picture..]
dan requested that i put him up on the blog, so here he is in all his cuteness. <3
