Design

Image from RyanThorpe.com


With fall in the air, or at least in every store window I pass by, it made me aware of my need for a new pair of jeans. Not being one to spend a lot on a pair of jeans, I tend to not "shop" for jeans, but rather just "pick up" a pair of jeans. The process involves looking at the color, trying them on, and if they fit I buy them, done. One pair of jeans added to the wardrobe.

I cannot remember the last time I had stepped foot in a GAP store. Maybe its the haunting stark white ads that used to inundate TV, often filled with celebrities that drove me to look away. I think it was more the plain styles that adorn the racks.

Whatever it was that made me overlook GAP before changed when I saw their latest, very graphic campaign for their new 1969 line of jeans. I needed a new pair, and the campaigned sucked me in—I am a sucker for catchy design. Sure the 1969 origins hearken back to the origins of the GAP brand, but it also suggests a different mindset. Who could forget, especially with the current anniversary celebration of the first moon landing, what else 1969 entices. Love, hope, Woodstock, etc.

Meandering thoughts aside about the bigger meanings behind the campaign, I tried some jeans on. They fit okay, and when I was changing into my shorts that I wore into the store I saw this! (below)

Wow! Something so routine and usually crammed into a 3 tag sandwich somewhere on the waistband was designed and printed on the inside pocket. I had to have them now. Even if no one else sees it when I am wearing them, these jeans became something more than just my plain blue jeans.

I have always loved the simple care icons that are hidden in clothing and these ones are almost a half inch in size. Combined with some care warning and reiterating the campaign that brought me into the store the pocket was a triumph in design that will be hidden forever.

Below are some more picture from the GAP 1969 campaign concept by Ryan Thorpe. The store I was in definitely didn't look like the one below.

Among the other stops on my trip to Pasadena, which also included a stop at the Pacific Asia Museum, was a drive up the hill to the Art Center College of Design. I think living and working on the East Coast my whole life has left me with a parochial view, naive to the great schools west of the Mississippi. Other than my experience working with a creative director, Lisa Winward, at Kelsh Wilson Design who went to Otis, my contact with designers who have trained anywhere other than the East Coast has been very (unfortunately) limited.

I have been, since college, a dedicated follower of Pentagram's work so when I heard that there was a retrospective of Kit Hinrichs' work on display at Art Center that coincided with a visit to see my brother who lives in California, I got excited.

It was amazing seeing a designers work, who has such a distinct style, collected in one place. The display of annual reports and other books was captivating. The very illustrative work was great to have on display at a school that, when walking around, seemed to be producing very modern, clean work. I know that when I was in school, there were probably many exhibits at the galleries I did not see because of the lack of enthusiasm about the work on display. I think many times, schools see the work in their galleries as something that needs to be there and not something that SHOULD BE SEEN!

I remember attending a lecture by, perhaps my favorite artist, Antony Gormley at Moore College of Art & Design only because I noticed a tiny flyer at my school.

Taking my family along with me, who seemed to appreciate the work almost as much as I, I believe Kit's work connects to everyone that sees it (a sign of very successful design). And it is work that everyone should go see.

The only thing that left me curious at the exhibit was a display of his @issue work, specifically a large display of a spread that depicted single letters of logos as a quiz to see if you can recognize the brand by a single character. Seen below at the left of the standing display (I unfortunately could not take pictures at the gallery to get a closer shot), the quiz has the letters and a small answer key below it. I got a lot of them but was stuck on the blue, elongated "Q". When I looked to the key for the answer I noticed that the answer to "Q" was missing. Was this on purpose or a mistake that was overlooked?