I love murals: Finding Home

This mural is called Finding Home and was created by and for the homeless. It is located at  21 S. 13th in Philadelphia.

Again I love the varying experiences when far away to up close.

And the meaning imbued by it's creators.

This is the front and around the corner is much more. The large letters at top say IN, as in Invisible.

Eww, what's this? It's lumpy and odd.

Oh cool, it's woven, then painted.

Listen to the artist and she will tell you that the homeless wrote their stories on each strip of fabric before it was woven in. "I carries the spirit, the message, the hope, of all the creators." Not my favorite treatment but very meaningful. 

On the side it says visible...

...and dignity. Being seen and visible gives dignity to humans.

All coming together to make things grow. I am someone, you are...

...are me together. Finding Hope.

Finding love

Finding family

Up close on one of the many black and white photos of family life

Bracelet up close. Prisoners helped create this mural.

It's what the homeless feel.

e

The new buzz word is Engaged

In the corporate environment being "engaged" is the new buzzword and means being an employee who is involved, focused, energize and committed to the work you do.

For an in-house design group this is especially challenging. So much is design-by-committee, the highest paid person's opinion (hippo) often overriding expert design opinion or user research results, and lack of appreciation for the value designers bring to the company.

The studies say having a best friend at work is an important part of feeling committed and engaged. Many conversations in the office (and laughs) have centered around this idea. And once I understood and paid a little more attention to friendship and being a friend, my own outlook improved a bit.

Here are a few more drivers to consider...connect, shape, learn, stretch, achieve, contribute:

Feeling Blah About Work? Don't Blame Your Boss--Get Engaged

I'll have to say appreciation tops my list. Mark Twain said "I can live two months on a good compliment."

I agree.

Well, maybe not two months.

What keeps you engaged in your work? How do you increase engagement in your design team?

e

I love murals

The reason I love murals so much is that they are two experiences in one...the traveling-quickly-catch-a-glance experience and the up-close-and-personal-with-the-artist one. They almost always have several levels of messages and they are free art for everyone.

My daughter and I recently walked the Philadelphia Mural Arts "Mural Mile" walking tour (with those gigantic museum cell phones for punching in codes to listen to descriptions). It was more like 3 or 4 miles, with detours for ice cream, drinks of water and resting our feet. We were tourists in our own city on Memorial day weekend when everyone else was at the shore. It was kinda nice to "have the place to ourselves".

We learned that there are 3,000+ murals in the city, both private- and public-sponsored, produced over the last 25 years. There are books to buy but seeing them in person is an experience like no other and we got to listen to the stories too.

First we stopped to get tickets at the Gallery shopping mall and learn a little of how murals are made

 

It starts out like paint-by-numbers for the undercoat.
The grid was used to enlarge and transfer the design from a smaller version, just like you learned in school.

Then the artist blends and creates the painting.

Another example partially finished.

Then we were on our way. It was like a treasure hunt with a map. Of course, my photos cannot give you the same experience as in-person on foot, but here's a go at it.

This one at 13th and Market is called "The Tree of Knowledge" by Michael Webb.
I love how it blends with the building above. All those bricks are painted to look like the bricks above.

Murals usually have social, political or historical messages.

This gives the idea of scale. Like I said, it's a different experience from afar than...

...the experience close up.

Being a tourist in your own town is a must. We do it all the time. Don't miss what's in your own backyard.

I have many more to share in upcoming blog posts. In the mean time enjoy these resources:

Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
...on Facebook too
National Museum on Murals and Mosaics
MuralFarm.org - search the database of 1,757 Philadelphia murals
Other views of the Tree of Knowledge

e

Video: 12 Steps to Hell

According to Milton Glaser, these are 12 steps to hell for a designer.

The music for this video is by Yann Tiersen, and the song is called "Naval".

The animated design is by Amanda Keenan.



 And I would have to agree.

Can design be a moral issue? Do designers have a responsibility to the greater good? What part does personal integrity play in design decisions?


More Milton Glaser:

Milton's most recent show at School of Visual Arts, which is a 50-year retrospective of nearly 100 works he created for the school.

Milton, the Work

His source of inspiration, video conversation

Intro to Inform and Delight, video clip

Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight, 73 min. documentary

Google does not own the web: Search vs. Discovery

What?! Google does not own the web? Oh, thank goodness. For a minute there I heard, "Gee, Google, what do you want to do tonight?... try to take over the web!" Look out Brain, search on the web is changing.

I personally find Google search results are a thick muddy bog to be slogged through before I reach something useful, with so many spam sites to be sifted through, having to carefully pick and choose by looking at the design and content, clipart, flashing banner ads and user comments. It's just too much.

There is too much information online, too many pages filled with stock images and no context. Search engines provide significant utility, but we still have to exert energy to find what we need after results are algorithmically surfaced. The new crop of social media companies help discovery come online and threaten traditional search. With these new tools, users are able to clip and collect the bits of the web that they are most interested in and, in the process, disregard the rest as noise. The Shift from Search to Discovery

Pinterest is one of those social media companies. It's been picking up steam in the mainstream lately. There are several reasons Pinterest is on a rise, including that it's a beautiful and brilliant way of cataloging your ideas and tastes, based on a "recommendation" of sorts.

What is Pinterest?
Pinterest provides a way to make your favorite things easy for friends and followers to navigate. And similarly it’s like walking into a virtual tapestry of people’s favorite things. It's a way to discover what you love. And, you can organize the "bookmarks" in the ways that make sense to you.

When you find something on the web while browsing, you "pin" it or save it to your profile. You look at the collection of images others have found and "repin" to one of your boards, or best yet, use one of your own original photos. You follow others after perusing their collection to see if it fits your tastes and interest, and they follow you based on your pins and activity.

Why
I like it because it's visually appealing. You are exposed to images and ideas you would never have found on your own. The discovery is so stimulating and rewarding. When I find an image (which is usually linked back to the original website) I can "repin" it to a "board" like a scrapbook or cork board of things I love or find interesting.

It's full of positive reinforcement and validation. Followers can "like" your pin, comment, or repin.

My daughter said it makes her feel smart and creative. "I think I like Pinterest because it makes me feel like I too could do awesome stuff, but then I don't actually have to do it." Or, " I should probably ease up on Pinterest...but it's so fun!"

There are fun crafts, great places to visit, fashion, amazing art and things that will make you smile. Oh, and great recipes and food..."I shouldn't browse Pinterest when I'm hungry," my daughter told her Facebook friends.

It's something you talk your friends and family into joining so you can share cool new things with them. My daughter's friend posted "Your pinboard on things that make you smile totally made my evening :)

It's helped get me out of a rut with my cooking with this pin (and others).

 

I made this quinoa dish...yum!

A rocket ride
But it's a love/hate relationship, right now, with Pinterest. It's "beta-ish" (my daughter quips) and requires an invitation to join. The iPhone app is buggy, crashing often; the app icon disappears and reappears on my phone; it freezes or comes up with gray squares or blank pages. Not sure this company is technically ready for activity and growth. But I'm willing to be patient.

While I'm enjoying my feast for the eyes on Pinterest you can slog through the Google results of what everyone else is saying about Pinterest. Poit!

e