Negative Space

Yes, I like The Simpsons, but that is not why I like this. This is a book cover I saw at Urban Outfitters for skateboarding, and I love how they use negative space to make this an effective illustration. It gives a great feeling of energy without doing a lot to knock you over the head with that feeling…if that makes sense.  I almost feel like it was one bad decision away from not looking good which I think is part of its charm. It has sparked an interest in me using negative space. I’ve always loved negative space, but it has to be used correctly. You can’t just stick a thing into a gigantic space and call it an effective use of negative space. It has something else that draws you in. I think a lot has to do with the placement of your point of emphasis and how you use the space around it. We will see…I’ve already got some ideas…

The Political Brain

I am almost done with a fantastic book called “The Political Brain” by Drew Westen. The book examines the role of emotion in deciding elections. It is fascinating because Westen does a tremendous job of chronicling why things went wrong and right for many candidates over the past 50 years. I know hindsight is 20/20 but it really makes sense. I know I’ve always wondered why George W Bush was so successful when it was obvious, in the end, he was not a great leader. The book has a definitive left slant, but he does give the Republican Party credit for building a story about theirparty. While Democrats pounded on the details and avoided certain issues, they never created a powerful message for their party. All the while, the Republicans made it clear what they stood for and stayed 3 steps ahead. THAT is all emotion. And, it is amazing how the issues of an election really have minimal value in the actual results. People need to feel something about their candidate and the story the Republicans have pitched has been a very real story for many Americans while many people on the left chose to ignore it. The author goes on to say that he believes many people in America have more Democratic values, but the absence of a story people can relate to makes it hard for people to say they are Democrat. Since they have been portrayed as elitist, book worms from the East, they just do not fit with the ideals of many Americans…mine included. The author contends that if they had a story that clearly explained their values as a party, more people would be on board.

While it is not the point of the book, I’ve found that a lot of what Westen talks about could be attributed to many of the interactions people have every day. As a teacher, my words have a lot of power. And, if I want my students to buy in to what I’m saying, I need to say things in the right way.  If I just expect them to listen to me because I’m the one talking and I am the expert, then I am going to come off as elitist myself instead of someone they can relate to. I might not be running an election, but I want my students to trust what I am saying…

The Art of Looking Sideways

I’m often leary of “inspiration” art books. It’s usually filled with a bunch of things like “stand by a tree and listen to the wind” or “imagine every color of the rainbow exploding on your page”. In a nutshell, they are hokey and usually one-dimensional. I had read about Alan Fletcher’s The Art of Looking Sideways a while ago, and had it on ym list of “to buy” since then. I was always afraid to the pull the trigger, but after his death, I had read how this book was just different. And it is. Here is a detailed explanation from Amazon:

Alan Fletcher’s The Art of Looking Sideways is an absolutely extraordinary and inexhaustible “guide to visual awareness,” a virtually indescribable concoction of anecdotes, quotes, images, and bizarre facts that offers a wonderfully twisted vision of the chaos of modern life. Fletcher is a renowned designer and art director, and the joy of The Art of Looking Sideways lies in its beautiful design. Loosely arranged in 72 chapters with titles like “Colour,” “Noise,” “Chance,” “Camouflage,” and “Handedness,” Fletcher’s book, which he describes as “a journey without a destination,” is “a collection of shards” that captures the sensory overload of a world that simply contains too much information. In one typical section, entitled “Civilization,” the reader encounters six Polish flags designed to represent the world, a photograph of an anthropomorphic handbag, Buzz Aldrin’s boot print on the moon, drawings of Stone Age pebbles, a painting of “Ireland–as seen from Wales,” and a dizzying array of quotations and snippets of information, including the wise words of Marcus Aurelius, Stephen Jay, and Gandhi’s comment, “Western civilization? I think it would be a good idea.” Fletcher’s mastery of design mixes type, space, fonts, alphabets, color, and layout combined with a “jackdaw” eye for the strange and profound to produce a stunning book that cannot be read, but only experienced.

It is something I have been “reading” recently, but it is not a book you would really read cover to cover. You can pick it up every once in a while and read parts of it. Or, it seems you could come back to it years from now and look more closely at one of the “chapters”. And, not only arethe quotes and examples well picked, but the way it is arranged is extremely well thought out. Definitely worth the investment…