TypeClub Talk: Dorian Angello

Just came back from a lecture held by TypeClub, and today's speaker was Dorian Angello, one of the core program professors for Graphic Design. Before it started, we helped ourselves to alphabet-shaped cookies made by a type club member, and we were given (or rather, we helped ourselves to) a paper poppy with a little random quote on one side, and mine said "WWMND What would Mohly Nagy do?" on the other side of the quote.

Dorian kick started the talk with explaining the idea behind giving out the poppies - he is an "apostle of design", and his crusade is the spread the word that design matters, and we can make the world a better place through good design. (The poppies were in reference to giving out flowers at the airport from some movie / flowers as a sign of peace as can be seen during the watchmen beginning sequence / footage of a boy putting flowers in rifles) It is easier to be jaded and cycnical and think that "oh, it's just a job and source of income" than to believe that design can make a difference to our world... so even though it's hard to immedietely convert common people into thinking that effective design matters, what we can do is influence people by our actions and the things that we do/use/create. One of the quotes he used that I really like is by William Morris: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. "

Hearing his life story of how he came to be where he is today and seeing his personal works was really awesome.. (wanted to be a rock musician like Bowie in the beginning but he was dyslexic so he had to switch course and went into fine arts coz it was in the next next room but that didnt suit him because he is more of a logical thinker and after working on a cruise ship finally he went to study communication design and there's a whole lot more details like how he doesnt like dealing with clients but the point is he is happy to teach and inspire & engage young people like us)

Some of the interesting things that he makes his students do in class is draw type faces that he casts onto different parts of the room using the projector, and making them draw letters that they see on the outside street.. it makes you see fonts in a different light, rather than simply on the screen. Speaking about drawing... he wanted to make it clear that knowing how to draw is an important basic fundamental for visual development especially for graphic designers. Also, as artists, we should apply good graphic design to all aspects of our work, including promotional items and not just our artwork itself. It is a journey of discovering our own authorship..
Most important of all, Dorian told us: "Do it because you love it." and "HAVE FUN." :D

Was feeling kind of mopey before this, but now I feel inspired! GAMBATTE!

on an unrelated note... SQUIRREL! They're all over the campus! I'm going to take more pictures when I can!
oh no... after looking at this picture for a while, I just realised what it was eating. At the time when I took the pic, I thought it was some kind of waffle skin... now it looks like a muffin paper. :( I hope it was alright for its stomach...
back to work work! 10 more days before winter break begins already! man time sure flies too fast.