IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 54

Behind the Design

Designer Bud Rodecker / 3st explains the inspiration behind this issue’s graphics

specifier of wallpaper when she was tapped to re-imagine archival patterns for the company’s 40th anniversary. What she did have was a curatorial bent and a scholarly understanding of mid-century design, which suited her to the task at hand. “Amy was a bit of a wild card,” admits Laura Romanoff. “But her work was about going into the archives, wiggling her nose, and figuring out how to breathe new life into a selection of our offerings.”

Although most of its unions come about in this manner, or as an outgrowth of an existing relationship, HBF also gets unsolicited submittals. “Interior designers will sometimes approach us with success when they’ve identified a hole in the marketplace,” says Stark, noting that this is how Bottom Duvuvier’s conferencetable collection was sparked. “But that’s a little like being blindfolded and throwing darts at a dartboard,” he says of the strategy’s effectiveness. Agents occasionally play matchmaker, too; such was the case with HBF Textiles’s 2009 collection with Campion Platt. Manufacturers generally prefer to partner with designers who have successful track records and a marketable degree of fame. But emerging talents can get a foot in the door with a signature approach or groundbreaking research—and by garnering buzz. Design directors invariably admit to poring over magazines and blogs, staying on top of who’s doing what, and being designinformation junkies. Says Miller, “I spend a lot of time looking at Web sites and portfolios. I also go to lectures, especially trade shows and IIDA events.”

PERSPECTIVE

29

COVER

Working on this issue, we noticed a few recurring themes that we were interested in exploring graphically. One was the idea of a deep reading of design; the other was about relationships— between designers and manufacturers, designers and fabricators, mentor and mentee. We turned the cover itself into a literal deep space via white “walls”—which could be read as pages of a book— oriented to give the perspective of a room. They incite curiosity about what’s behind: a collage of motifs from the issue. It gives a hint of what’s to come. I love the idea of making the cover a space, giving it “perspective,” if you will. The whiteon-white design is also a calm foil to what ended up being a pretty loud issue visually.

WHAT CLIENTS WANT, PAGE 26

Getting There Together

Of the images gathered for this story, we responded most to those depicting designers collaborating, brainstorming, and pow-wowing around a table reviewing swatches and samples. To bring that sense of process to the page, the layout forms a mood board—a collage of text blocks and images that overlap one another—thus referencing the acts of ideation and creation.

Perspective Fall /Winter 2012
20

PATHS FOR THE PROTÉGÉ, PAGE 34
BY David Whitemyer

GETTING IT, TOGETHER, PAGE 18
36

To communicate the concept of copyright infringement, we devised a graphic illustration that riffs on a ubiquitous product: the George Nelson Bubble lamp. On the fi rst spread, its iconic form is distorted and twisted, like what happens when a product is knocked off; it’s as if the shape is being hacked. On the second spread, where the discussion moves to open-source technology, the shapes come together, building on one another.

Here, the type itself is the illustration, one that speaks to the communal nature of design. The typography reflects the mentor-mentee relationship, which is about two people—with different backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise levels—coming together to work side by side. Thus the two columns, one with ragged-right text, the other justified on both sides. Annunciating the communication between them is a path that courses through the gap between the columns. It grows and changes color as the story progresses— mirroring how the mentoring relationship morphs and develops over time.

The concept of mentorship is rooted in the very culture and craft of design. Through apprenticeships and internships, university co-op requirements and association development programs, seasoned professionals have long nurtured younger practitioners. Indeed, when recent graduates enter the workforce, their education has only just begun; mentoring can provide the framework for neophytes to develop the technical and practical skills necessary for a fruitful career. But across the industry, mentorship can—and does—happen in myriad ways. Some firms run formal programs; others prefer a more casual style. For every company rejuvenating an existing mentoring practice—or customizing it to the quirks of the Millenial work force—another drops theirs in favor of sparking such relationships more organically. In many cases, mentorship happens not as the result of a systematized effort but as a byproduct of how the firm itself is structured. Regardless of how mentorship is nurtured and encouraged, it’s recognized as an invaluable tool to recruit employees and hold onto them for the long haul, increasing the return on investment in a staffer’s professional development.

DESIGN DECODED, PAGE 40

We borrowed graphic elements from the library interior to create layout details. The headline typeface derives from the carpet tiles, as do the square color fields anchoring each page. Befitting the artistic nature of Elizabeth Felicella’s photographs, we treated “Reading Rooms”—which forms a sort of coda at the end—as if it was an exhibition catalog. Creating a connection with the rest of the article, the spread also has a background texture to it, although here it’s more straight-up.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012

IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012
Contents
Contributors
From IIDA
Behind the Issue
Design Dialogue
Getting It, Together
What Clients Want: Product Manufacturers
Paths for the Protégé
Design Decoded
Resources
Behind the Design
Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Cover2
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 1
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 2
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 5
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Contributors
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 9
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Behind the Issue
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Design Dialogue
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 14
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 15
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 16
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Getting It, Together
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 20
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 24
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - What Clients Want: Product Manufacturers
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 28
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Paths for the Protégé
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 38
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Design Decoded
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 44
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 46
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Resources
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 52
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 53
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Behind the Design
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 55
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - Cover4
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