rantcliff

Random thoughts on curiosities, creativity, design, and the occasional rant.

Inside Out or Outside In

I’ve started this essay a number to times, writing it various different ways but kept scrapping each iteration because in the end it was much too negative. What I want to talk about is uncomfortable. It’s hard when you work inside a large machine to not get caught up in

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Postcards from the Future

Problems can be inspiring. If I can’t work something out in my life, I take it to language. I take it to melody. And sometimes, well, it all can be going to the Met and standing in front of that painting of Joan of Arc. That painting has inspired me.

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So, what did we learn this week?

With all the rationale design thinking being bantered about these days, The lost art of designing for pleasure is totally refreshing. In college I took an intro to business and my mentor thought I was nuts. Why Designers Need to Learn about Business seems to agree with my thought all those years

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There are Only Two Kinds of Design

I discovered a podcast called My Favorite Album that is about music critics, or other smarty pants-types in the industry, talking about albums that had a huge impact on their lives — the records they go back to time and time again. Being a self-proclaimed music snob, I’ve been choosey

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What did we learn this week?

We learned about redesigning the business of advertising from Cindy Gallop. It’s Nice that taught us that Logos date like clothes and six designers debate what makes an ideal brand identity. Our friends at 99U told us to Check Your Ego to Making Meetings Less Scary for Introverts. Wolff Olins tells us why

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And the best logo of 2018 goes to…

No one. I look forward to Under Consideration’s Brand New list of the best reviewed logos at the end of every year. What an incredible disappointment 2018 was. Little was interesting, revolutionary, and worse, most of the marks reviewed revealed a disparaging amount of parity. There are a few marks

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The Rich Visual Feast, Part 2

As stated in a post published in 2017, an artist should always strive to create “The Rich, Visual Feast” according to my printmaking professor, Lynwood Kreneck. I want to revisit this idea. Over the holidays I saw two of the most visually compelling movies I’ve seen in a long time:

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You Know You’re a Designer When…

In March, I went for an eye exam and after confirming that my vision was in fact getting worse, and went to select a frame to hold the new prescription. I’d been wearing these modern Oakley frames and wanted to go for a different look. Something more bookish is what

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