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The end of another year...

So as we reach the end of another school year, I can say that I'm fairly happy with the progress that my students made this year. It was an improvement over last year and with the crop of students coming up, I think that next year may be even better.

I'm sorry to see my best student leave... I've had Jessica as a student for six years now, since she was in seventh grade and I was still teaching art. She's going on to Rutgers now and has a solid interest in design, although I don't know if she'll be able to turn it into a career. She's an excellent writer, so who knows? Maybe there's a design critic in there somewhere.

After school lets out, Dawn and I will head to San Francisco for a few days without the kids, then I'm back for a week and start grad school - my MFA in Design from Marywood University. I've accumulated $5000 in scholarships and $2200 in tuition reimbursement, so besides my own goals, I have a lot of financial backers I will have to keep satisfied.

I'm not exactly sure what my primary goal is - I have many goals for this MFA and I'm hoping the program will help coalesce them into one primary goal I can focus on. I know that whatever I do will only help my students, but I also want some personal gain as well. I've spent my entire career using my skills in the service of others - for pay and pro bono - now, I'd like my skills to come to my service a bit. I'm grateful for the many opportunities that I've had in my career but a little financial gain would be nice too.

It's my goal to start posting on a regular basis now, to form my own thoughts and see if they become part of the focusing process.

National Design Policy

A group of very smart people got together back in the Fall and developed a list of ten Policy Proposals to increase the face of Design in the U.S. This Proposal was delivered to members of Congress and the White House back around January 22 with the goal of increasing the awareness of how much Design is vital to the future of this country.

If you're interested in learning more, check out this website. Read the Proposal, make a comment, write your legistlator. There's something in there for all of us.

http://www.designpolicy.org/usdp/

Simple Brilliance

Who said you can't have fun with some imagination and a few cheap blocks of plastic?

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/i-lego-ny/?em

By this time next week, I should be the proud owner of two posters that span two generations, but share the same ideals.

Through the miracle of Ebay, I purchased (what I hope are) original prints of Milton Glaser's iconic 1967 poster of Bob Dylan and a surplus print of Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" poster, left over from the Florida campaign. I have my doubts that the $20 purchase price for each is going to get me good copies, but I suppose it was worth the risk to have these two pieces of history.

Both will stand side by side in my classroom, a reminder to my students that idealism can persevere, even in the most difficult of times and against the slimmest of odds.

In 1967, the crown princes of ideas were Dylan, Lennon, MLK and Bobby Kennedy. When King and RFKwere gunned down, the country and possibly the world fully entered the dark era that started when JFK was assassinated and continued for many years, possibly until now.

Glaser's poster of Bob Dylan back in 1967 was an attempt to not only portray the immeasurable ideas that flowed forth from the mind of a musical genius; it was also an attempt to share those ideas in a visual language that the common man could comprehend.

Fairey's poster series are also attempts to use the visual languages of the past to put Obama in the same pantheon as Dylan; but while Glaser's poster is contemplative, with the slight downward tilt of Dylan's head, as if he is deep in thought, Fairey's posters owe more to Nazi and Soviet propaganda, with their strong, powerful images of men and women who were the ideal humans. Heads straight, jaws thrust forward, proud and determined.

Obama may just span the generations - strong and proud, yet thoughtful and contemplative. But even if he is not, these images will last; they will remind us of the ideals that we hold onto - that ideas, free thought, intelligence and forward thinking are worth striving for.

Danziger gallery

Regardless of your political leanings, there can be no doubt that the presidential campaign that was run by Barack Obama is one of the most powerful, creatively inspiring campaigns in all of history. A new exhibit in New York City has tried to compile the best of the drawings, illustrations, graphics and photography that were officially recognized by the Obama campaign.

Since it is likely that all political campaigns from this point forward will adapt or adopt the Obama campaign strategies, regardless as to whether they are Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc…, we stand at a point in history where graphic design will never be the same again.

I invite you to take a visit to the website below to view a small selection of images from the exhibit.


http://www.danzigerprojects.com/exhibitions/2009_1_can-and-did/

The Polaroid PoGo is a Go!

Before there were digital cameras, humans had to get their impatient photographic ya-ya's out using Polaroid cameras. The images were lousy, couldn't be reproduced or enlarged, were frequently blurry and completely devoid of realistic color.

But, since Dr. Edwin Land perfected his revolutionary chemical miracle in 1932, Polaroid has flourished as a company. That is, until February of 2008, when the digital revolution caught up to Polaroid and it announced that it would halt production of all of its instant film production. While the art world mourned the loss of a beloved creative medium, Polaroid was working behind the scenes to reinvent itself.

The first steps towards that reinvention were unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, as Polaroid announced the creation of the world's first instant digital camera, using a whole new instant photograph substrate that harkens back to the days of their instant film.

Called the PoGo, the device is a 5 megapixel digital camera that can print 2x3 sticky-back photographs on a new instant developing paper that uses what Polaroid has called "Zink" (zero-ink) technology.

What's more, as a fully digital camera the PoGo allows you to preview your shots before you print them and will allow you to download the images to your computer for printing on another device or for future uploading to a website. None of these options were available with the previous generations of instant photography.

If the PoGo takes off (and at a $199 retail price point, it should), I would imagine that Polaroid will be able to advance the options available with their Zink technology to include larger prints that can be used by both consumers and professionals.

Just when you thought that printing technology couldn't get any more exciting or interesting, something comes along and fools you.

www.polaroid.com