the ordinary pursuit: Design and Pictures. My Two Favorite Things.

So my major is kind of the best one to exist. I know you think i'm probably crazy to love school but I genuinely feel like I am learning to see differently every day. I love that my program pushes me to make things that are quality, and knowledgable. It pushes us to be better, to absorb truth, to expand your scope, to actually care. Yesterday we had a field trip to Salt Lake, which was quite fun! We started at Light Spot which is a modern interior design store and we talked a lot about quality, and moving forward in design. The conversation we had with the owner was inspiring because of his incredible passion for what he does, and the aesthetic choices he makes in every day for himself and for clients. Made me want to be more particular on what i choose to represent myself and my home. Good inspiration to actually simplify instead of just talk about it.

We then went to Ken Sanders Rare Books where we talked some more. he read to us some awesome poetry, and talked about some book making practices and some impressive innovators in the field. We talked about the future of the book and the incredible tactile quality that books provide for the user.

We then grabbed some food and headed to Adrian's (our professor) house for dessert, which was unsurprisingly, phenomenal.

In my program we talk about Quality alot, and how inseparable it is to good design. I leave each class feeling inspired to only produce things of quality because I truly believe in it. Here is a quote from one of the most influential designers to exist, that gives some insight on how designers view quality.

Quality, like Modernism, is an attitude, which means that one does not go below a certain standard. Quality is a way of living, a life attitude and a constant ﬁght to eliminate any hint of vulgarity from one’s mind. This is a constant job of enormous proportions because the bombardment that we continuously have, the amount of seduction that we receive from life, makes this ﬁght against crudeness a very heavy job. It’s like the devil. I suppose the priest would call [vulgarity] the devil, and call quality the state of holiness.

Quality is when you know that you have reached a high level in your work, when it really sings, when it touches you, when it responds. Quality is a level of intellectual elegance that is unmatched in other forms. When you see that there is no more vulgarity in it, you’ve got the sense of quality. So quality is something that you can achieve by continuously reﬁning your mind through exposure to things which are the best manifestation of people that came before you, or are around you. This is what you obtain by nourishing yourself away from anything which has vulgarity in it. Quality is when you solve all of the problems that you have to solve in a way that is beyond the expected. So it is the sum of many things, and the answer to many searches. Quality is a by-product of passion, curiosity, intensity and professionalism.

(Mossimo Vignelli takes a modernist approach in all that he does, the full interview that i found this quote from was in Eye Magazine, you can read this rest here. I suggest you do )