Joe Mills

Negative Space

Yes, I like The Simpsons, but that is not why I like this. This is a book cover I saw at Urban Outfitters for skateboarding, and I love how they use negative space to make this an effective illustration. It gives a great feeling of energy without doing a lot to knock you over the head with that feeling…if that makes sense.  I almost feel like it was one bad decision away from not looking good which I think is part of its charm. It has sparked an interest in me using negative space. I’ve always loved negative space, but it has to be used correctly. You can’t just stick a thing into a gigantic space and call it an effective use of negative space. It has something else that draws you in. I think a lot has to do with the placement of your point of emphasis and how you use the space around it. We will see…I’ve already got some ideas…

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The Political Brain

I am almost done with a fantastic book called “The Political Brain” by Drew Westen. The book examines the role of emotion in deciding elections. It is fascinating because Westen does a tremendous job of chronicling why things went wrong and right for many candidates over the past 50 years. I know hindsight is 20/20 but it really makes sense. I know I’ve always wondered why George W Bush was so successful when it was obvious, in the end, he was not a great leader. The book has a definitive left slant, but he does give the Republican Party credit for building a story about theirparty. While Democrats pounded on the details and avoided certain issues, they never created a powerful message for their party. All the while, the Republicans made it clear what they stood for and stayed 3 steps ahead. THAT is all emotion. And, it is amazing how the issues of an election really have minimal value in the actual results. People need to feel something about their candidate and the story the Republicans have pitched has been a very real story for many Americans while many people on the left chose to ignore it. The author goes on to say that he believes many people in America have more Democratic values, but the absence of a story people can relate to makes it hard for people to say they are Democrat. Since they have been portrayed as elitist, book worms from the East, they just do not fit with the ideals of many Americans…mine included. The author contends that if they had a story that clearly explained their values as a party, more people would be on board.

While it is not the point of the book, I’ve found that a lot of what Westen talks about could be attributed to many of the interactions people have every day. As a teacher, my words have a lot of power. And, if I want my students to buy in to what I’m saying, I need to say things in the right way.  If I just expect them to listen to me because I’m the one talking and I am the expert, then I am going to come off as elitist myself instead of someone they can relate to. I might not be running an election, but I want my students to trust what I am saying…

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The Art of Looking Sideways

I’m often leary of “inspiration” art books. It’s usually filled with a bunch of things like “stand by a tree and listen to the wind” or “imagine every color of the rainbow exploding on your page”. In a nutshell, they are hokey and usually one-dimensional. I had read about Alan Fletcher’s The Art of Looking Sideways a while ago, and had it on ym list of “to buy” since then. I was always afraid to the pull the trigger, but after his death, I had read how this book was just different. And it is. Here is a detailed explanation from Amazon:

Alan Fletcher’s The Art of Looking Sideways is an absolutely extraordinary and inexhaustible “guide to visual awareness,” a virtually indescribable concoction of anecdotes, quotes, images, and bizarre facts that offers a wonderfully twisted vision of the chaos of modern life. Fletcher is a renowned designer and art director, and the joy of The Art of Looking Sideways lies in its beautiful design. Loosely arranged in 72 chapters with titles like “Colour,” “Noise,” “Chance,” “Camouflage,” and “Handedness,” Fletcher’s book, which he describes as “a journey without a destination,” is “a collection of shards” that captures the sensory overload of a world that simply contains too much information. In one typical section, entitled “Civilization,” the reader encounters six Polish flags designed to represent the world, a photograph of an anthropomorphic handbag, Buzz Aldrin’s boot print on the moon, drawings of Stone Age pebbles, a painting of “Ireland–as seen from Wales,” and a dizzying array of quotations and snippets of information, including the wise words of Marcus Aurelius, Stephen Jay, and Gandhi’s comment, “Western civilization? I think it would be a good idea.” Fletcher’s mastery of design mixes type, space, fonts, alphabets, color, and layout combined with a “jackdaw” eye for the strange and profound to produce a stunning book that cannot be read, but only experienced.

It is something I have been “reading” recently, but it is not a book you would really read cover to cover. You can pick it up every once in a while and read parts of it. Or, it seems you could come back to it years from now and look more closely at one of the “chapters”. And, not only arethe quotes and examples well picked, but the way it is arranged is extremely well thought out. Definitely worth the investment…

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The Shock Doctrine

Image courtesy of The Shock Doctrine

When Naomi Klein came out with her second major book, The Shock Doctrine, I was skeptical. Klein had built her name through the publication of No Logo, a well-researched investigation into the impact of globalization. No Logo was excellent, and I wrote about it here. So, I just did not expect The Shock Doctrine to be as good since a lot of folks go on reputation alone to sell books…I was wrong. Once again, Klein has written a well-researched and deeply interesting book about a topic I think we need to spend more time caring about…disaster capitalism. Disaster capitalism is built on the teachings of Milton Friedman. Friedman believed in a truly free market. He felt that government should have a minimal role and just let the market act on its own. With many countries already entrenched in a political and economic system, Friedman’s dream of a “blank slate” to try out his completely free market was almost impossible. During political upheaval in Chile in the 1970’s, many people who studied under Friedman were given the chance to run this completely free market system with Chile in disarray. The idea was that while the people of the country were reeling from political uncertainty and questions of freedom, true capitalism could be installed and no one would question it.

Starting with Chile, Klein examines how installing a completely free market while the country is in a state of shock makes a select few people money and sends the rest of the poor and middle class into a time period of mass layoffs and financial uncertainty. Believers in the teachings of Friedman have received many chances over the years to try out this system during times of political chaos. Argentina, Poland, China, Russia, South Africa, and, most recently, Iraq have been laboratories for this type of free market. And while a select few make a ton of money, the poor and middle class are set in a tailspin. More often than not, the United States backs these markets because so many American corporations end up benefiting. Sadly, many of these policies are set in motion behind closed doors (often, the countries trying to “help” will only provide aid if the country in chaos agrees to a free market) while the politicians and media focus on the newly found freedom of the people. Klein contends

I feel that this is an important book because it sheds light on why the United States has such a bad reputation in the rest of the world. It has also made me think differently about what I saw in the media during the fall of Communism, the destruction of apartheid, and the student blocking all those tanks in Tiananmen Square. Even as we celebrated the triumph of freedom, the real story was taking place outside of the headlines…the establishment of a free market. While I agree with a lot of the reasons behind establishing a free market, I also believe there are some systems that should be taken care of by the government like health care and schools. And, I do not believe that you should ruin the livelihood of your own people just to make money. Klein relates a story about fisherman being displaced from their homes in Sri Lanka while huge tourist resorts were built after the tsunami. I think a lot of people in our government and in our corporations would like to privatize as much as possible and that is scary. It is even more scary that they try to install these free market rules and regulations while some people are just trying to survive.

I wish I could do a better job of encapsulating all that Klein writes about, but I guess that is hard to do in a couple paragraphs. I think it is awesome that she can take these seemingly heavy subjects and write it in a way that makes me not want to put it down.

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Children at Play

I recently read a book called Children at Play by Howard Chudacoff that was really eye-opening. It sort of spoke to something I think we all already know, but are afraid to admit. And, since I’m a former toy designer, goes against everything I did for three years of my life. Here is the write up from Amazon:

Throughout American history, argues Brown University historian Chudacoff (The Age of the Bachelor), parents have sought to control their children’s games and toys, but kids have been determined to set the terms of their play. In the colonial era, children typically played with improvised toys, and parents tried to prevent play from degenerating into idleness, insisting that games must serve God or family. In the 19th century, consumer culture intersected with a new conception of childhood as a distinct, adorable life stage to be cherished, while children increasingly played with toys that brought them into contact with the market. By the 20th century, adults, influenced in part by the new field of child psychology, focused on educational toys and directed kids off the streets and into playgrounds, where they could be carefully supervised. The tension between parental prerogatives and children’s autonomy manifests itself still, says Chudacoff: parents try to keep children indoors for fear of dangers lurking outside, but children take new kinds of risks playing in cyberspace. While a bit dry and broad, Chudacoff’s work gives historical depth to debates that continue to rage over what constitutes appropriate child’s play.

I had just finished this book before going on a trip to visit family. The family included a 11, 8, and 5 year old, so I sort of had a chance to actually see what Chudacoff was talking about. While the kids played with their toys like any “normal” child would, they seemed to be most interested in coming up with their own games or using their toys as they saw fit. It got me to thinking about what I was most interested in as a kid…searching through houses being built in my neighborhood, coming up with sports games with my brother, exploring the woods in Tennessee…these were the great memories of my childhood. And while I certainly enjoyed my toys and played with them, I always made up things to do with them as well. I was big into G.I. Joe, but I think my favorite part was taking the vehicles apart and then putting them back together. In this day and age where parents feel the need to buy everything for their chiild, this certainly gives me pause. And while I’m not that big into education books, I think this speaks volumes about some of the failings of our won education system in and out of the classroom.

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Half the Sky Designs uses Recycled Materials

Image courtesy of Half the Sky Designs

I very rarely get into fashion…especially purses, but I really like these bags from Half the Sky Designs. I know they have received some publicity because some celebrities have been seen with them, but I could care less about that. The bags are made from woven juice boxes. They take an item that is easily thrown out, and make something interesting and useful from them. I know recycled items can look just like that…recycled, but I think these bags do a good job of avoiding that stigma. Check out this book for more Cool Green Stuff.

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Sideways: A Smart Art Project

Image courtesy of Gestalten

Here’s another cool project I came across on Cool Hunting:

Sideways: A Smart Art Project assembles a fresh collection of work that evaluates the way in which we think about the environment and mobility by 100 international artists curated by 11 top international magazines. The rich diversity of work from photography, illustration and graphic design to painting, sculpture and architecture presented in this anthology show how we can promote greener modes of transportation and shape our future path in a positive way.

I strongly suggest checking out some of the artwork on the Gestalten web site…some of the most innovative artwork I have seen in a while…I will be looking forward to adding this to my collection.

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The Rise of the Creative Class

I’m reading a book I wish I would have read a while back called The Rise of the Creative Class. The quote I’m actually going to place here is a quote Richard Florida pulled from The Creative Mind by Margaret Boden, but I think it is great. She says that
creativity

involves not only a passionate interest but self-confidence too. A person needs a healthy self-respect to pursue novel idea, and to make mistakes, despite criticism from others. Self-doubt there may be, but it cannot always win the day. Breaking generally accepted rules, or even stretching them, takes confidence. Continuing to do so, in the face of skepticism and scorn, takes even more.

A quote like this keeps giving me juice to be a creative person and keep creating. There is something about having a blank “canvas” and having the confidence to create something. They aren’t always going to be masterpieces, but sometimes you have to put yourself out there and make mistakes in order to have your successes.

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Chuck Close

After talking about one of my new favorite artist’s earlier this week, I got to thinking about my other favorite artists. My list has grown over the years, and I can’t believe I have not mentioned Chuck Close before. Drawing faces was one of my great loves when I was a kid, and I think Close takes portraiture to the extreme. He takes ordinary faces and blows them up to this enormous size that just looms over you when you see his work in person. It leaves me awe-struck. I’ve especially liked the direction he has taken recently with the more “pixelized” faces. It is amazing how he can make each square unique without losing the integrity of the portrait. I’m looking forward to getting the retrospective of his work soon.

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The Monster at the End of this Book

This was one of my favorite books as a kid and it is still one of my favorites. With my attention to characters lately, I think this book offers up tons of possibilities when thinking about a character’s personality. It is such a simple idea…I wish I had thought of it first.

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