Graphic Design: Now in Production - and now I need to get to Michigan.

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is showcasing an international exhibition discussing the way graphic design has evolved over the last decade and it will be available for onlooker's thirsty eyeballs from  October 22, 2011–January 22, 2012.

Now, this is cool.  This is relevant.  This gets me excited.  Will this get me to Michigan?  We will see.  But if this description of the exhibit from the Walker Art Center's website doesn't bite you right in the design juggular, I don't know what does.

"Featuring work produced since 2000 in the most vital sectors of communication design, Graphic Design: Now in Production explores design-driven magazines, newspapers, books, and posters as well as branding programs for corporations, subcultures, and nations. It also showcases a series of developments over the past decade, such as the entrepreneurial nature of designer-produced goods; the renaissance in digital typeface design; the storytelling potential of titling sequences for film and television; and the transformation of raw data into compelling information narratives."

Sarah Illenberger, information graphics for "The Truth about Sex,” in Neon magazine, 2008

These examples are just a taste  of what you will see at the exhibition, however these images, regardless of their subject matter resonate with me and bring me back to my childhood.  My dad worked as a buyer for an art store for over 15 years and over that time he made some amazing personal and professional relationships.  This effected the types of things that I did in my childhood because play time was often creative time for me.  My dad saw potential for creativity and art in everything, whether that meant building sand "castles" at the beach, school projects turned masterpieces, or the potential for a broken store display to liven up the house.  I think it was this mind set that I have carried with me most through out the years, that things can be molded, rescued, and seen differently.  But back to graphic design and my childhood.  My dad would bring home these giant  design books from work filled with image after image, categorized by style and subject matter and in the white margins which types of mediums and materials were used to create these pieces.  I think they were used to learn what was new and innovative in the art world so they new what to stock on their shelves.  I would spend hours flipping through the brightly colored pages trying to decipher why the chicken was pink, or why the woman would be made entirely out of dots.  Then I'd quietly sneak a pair of "no-no scissors" of the table, or if I had been watching a lot of GI-Joe that day I would go on a re-con mission for an exact-o knife.  Then I would cut them out and glue them together to make an entirely new image that told a brand new story.  I look at these few images from this exhibit as an adult and I realize the importance graphic design is playing today, reaching an entirely new generation of adults that thrive on an abundance of media and innovation to keep us interested.  We want to see things differently and what I also love so much about our generation today is that we are beginning to see how old things can become new again, and that is where I believe my dad was well ahead of the generational curve.

Daniel Eatock - Pantone Pen Print, 2006 

This image is especially relevant for me.  My dad specialized in buying pens, so Monte Blanc graphics and 1/2 used tester pads were something that were brought home for my re-use on the regular.

Christopher Doyle, Christopher Doyle Identity Guidelines 2008