TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

;Al Gore at TED2006; Jane Goodall at TED2003;

"TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize." - source, TED website

Link TED

Making A Mark - The Composition and Design Project

"Do you know how to design a painting?"

"Why study composition and design? Well, although I studied art to advanced level at school, my studies seemed to neglect exploring this important topic area in depth. Similarly, I've tended to find that it's common for many painting workshops and courses to err much more towards teaching techniques relating to particular media and to touch upon composition and design only in passing. When was the last time you saw a workshop which was focused wholly on designing your artwork? Have you noticed how all the books on the art shelves in the bookshops are mostly about painting in a particular medium?"  - Katherine Tyrrell, Artist, London, UK

Ms. Tyrrell's Blog offers numerous resources, including the C and D Project, for those wishing to learn more about the "invisible" structures of visual expression - take a look.

Link Composition and Design - Resources for Artists

The Double Square and Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh

The first pictorial decision painters make is to select the material, shape, size, and color of the surface. If it is a rectangle, the second pictorial decision is about format. Do I position it on the short or long side and why? The third pictorial decision is about where the first mark and subsequent marks go and how their interaction activates and divides the rectangle. The overarching issue is how these decisions detract or contribute to the expression of the painting.

Van Gogh used the double square extensively. Why did he use this shape, and what compositional challenges did face by using this particular shape and format?

Link Double Squares, Wiki

Design 21 - Use Design for Social Good

"DESIGN 21: Social Design Network’s mission is to inspire social consciousness through design. We connect people who want to explore ways that design can positively impact our communities – ways that are thoughtful, informed, creative and responsible."

In partnership with Unesco, this site offers designers and design students of all kinds - audio/visual, communication, industrial, fashion, and environmental - a place to test and use their knowledge and skills for social change through competitions, feature stories, discussion forums, and by addressing non-profit organizations needs for design services. 

Link Design 21 

Paul Rand, Again - Comments

 

What is aesthetics, art, design? What is form and content? How can we use these questions and their answers to help us be better designers, painters, photographers or sculptors? By addressing these questions, we may better know how to move forward...

Link  Paul Rand Web Site

Design, Form, Content

In a fascinating discussion, Paul Rand says, "All art is relationships, all art." He confronts these basic questions: Q. What is design? A. Design is the relationship between form and content. Q. What is form and content? A. Content is the idea and form is how you treat the idea.

How do we talk about these important questions that results in better paintings, better design?

What do you think?

Source: Paul Rand, Conversation with Students, by Michael Kroeger & Paul Rand, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008