Design Matters - Steven Heller

Debbie Milman interviews Steven Heller

Graphic design was an unprofitable sideline of the printing industry and didn't emerge as a profession till the early 20th Century.

Evolved into an autonomous profession - However working in commercial boundaries limits this

'Accidental industry'

When aesthetics came in it became a profession

PushPin
Inspiration
Ended up being a financial failure
More successful if it was online? -

Magazine aesthetics

Eye magazine creates provocative covers


Emigre - Rudy Vanderlands

Experimental digital typography and design
The Mac made it possible
Provocative
'Shape changing'

Just as important as Jan Tschichold's 'New Typography'
Pushing politics away
Pushing away all rationale thought

'Started as a subversive journal'
Made a statement - got more people involved in graphic design than anything else in that era.

Positioned the designer as artist, as provacator, as cultural commentor

Design as Author - Entrepreneur, author of content, design was their content.
Evolved - Didn't stand still
Natural evolution - Organic
World redesigned after the design came out

Critique - Reacting against the fact that most professional journals revolved around personality, techniques, materials and awards
No discussion or criticism of the internal experience of being a designer
Looks like a corporate annual report
Traditional design principles