Recommend - Abstract: The Art of Design

I recently started my Netflix account again and have been watching the popular shows you all would see under the 'Trending Now' list, and honestly Pokemon too for nostalgic reasons. I was curious if there was anything about art and design on Netflix as I wanted a break from the shows I was currently watching. Luckily for me there is a documentary section on the site and came across 'Abstract: The Art of Design'.

Each episode from the documentary series focuses on a leading designer and their practice. For the Graphic Design episode the designer was none other than Paula Scher. Great insight is given into her life, work and her love for typography. What immediately stood out to me from the episode was how active and hands-on she is with the designers at Pentagram and advising them on how their work can be improved.

"Typography is painting with words" - Paula Scher

Regarding the identity she designed for The Public Theater in New York, the influence came from American wood type. She was particularly looking at a sequence of R's in a book which went from a thin form to a thicker and wider form. Using the various weights and applying it to 'public', Scher believed this would represent all of New York. That followed with creating the visual language for the theatre which was and still is typography heavy.

Paul Scher's poster design for The Public Theater's production 'Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk'.

I don't want to give too much away in case anyone hasn't seen this documentary series or this episode in particular, but it is truly inspiring to see Scher going through the archives of her work and explaining the choices she made and the impact her work had. The way finding system for Rockaway Beach and the logo design for Citi which was a merger between Travelers insurance company and Citibank, are great examples which backup what I previously just mentioned regarding Scher. If anyone hasn't watched the series or this episode, I would 100% recommend it as you will definitely get something out of it that will inspire you and/or your work.

I'll end this post with a quote Scher mentioned about logo design which truly appealed to me and emphasised the difficulty but also the importance of logo design.

"The design of a logo is never really the hard part of the job. It's persuading a million people to use it" - Paula Scher