But, now I'm digressing...
The talk was all a slough of industry experience and various anecdotes relating to the various graphic design projects and how they were constructed and, perhaps infinitely more importantly, why.
The reason I call Ian Anderson's lecture a 'Real' Talk, is because there were some rather hard hitting truths punctuating his discussions on work.
Truths like;
"Design isn't designing, design is problem solving and (we) need to be able to
communicate the solution. (We) are not artists"
It hits home how problem and solution orientated graphic design is, and the nature of what it is we really do. "No one will pay us for drawing something pretty, or setting nice type", we need to be able to effectively interact with audiences, communicate with them, tell them our ideas.
Make them give a damn.
And even if I already knew, and hate being reminded; being told that "You don't need to like the design at the end for it to work". It's true, in College and the (admittedly few) freelance posters I did, the end result has most always had a begrudging element of compromise that I wouldn't have ever added if I had all the control... but how Ian followed it up was much more powerful and empowering, as well as making the compromise dilemma feel not as soul crushing.
"-Enjoy the solution, how you solve the problem is yours; how you choose
to represent that solution is not"
I was also fortunate to share a brief few words with him, much to his chagrin I assume, after talking for as long as he did, discussing Typography. Iain held it in such high esteem, it is simply what he kept coming back to, more than anything else, saying"No matter how much you know about typography, you need to know more"
So I asked, what is the most common typographic 'law'?
Typography isn't written, it's spoken. It needs to be heard by the audience. Are you shouting? Are you whispering? What's your inflection? It's important to consider how somehow might read your work, how someone might interpret it. Typography isn't just words on a page, it's a message. An idea you are presenting to someone. You need to make sure you present it well.
The 'real talk' was so vast and informative, I really could write for page after page about what I took away, even if the notes I took were somewhat limited.
The fact is; While Ian's talk may have lasted for hours, and covered a whole alphabet's worth of topics, everything he said wasn't as simple as a statement. It was only after he started finishing, elaborating and explaining that you began to see what was what and why...
Really, he summed it up best.
"Being a graphic designer isn't about the mark that you make; it's about why you make it"
