ROUGH, ROUGH, ROUGH STATEMENT

<Brief note> I don't know if it's just me, or if everyone found this unbelievably hard... it is so difficult to write about myself! Anyway, I worked on this over the weekend and am not happy with it, but I forced myself to not touch or revise it until after class today. I feel like I will probably have to write two or three (or four... or ten...) revised versions before I settle on one that feels and sounds like me and actually works as a design (or, for me, art & design) statement (I don't think this does, yet). </note>

Design Statement

If there comes a point in my future when I am asked to choose between being an artist and a designer—a line of distinction which I have found many people are eager to draw—I will find myself without a ready answer or, even, a way of separating the two parts of myself. Though I boldly labeled myself an “artist” long before I had ever been introduced to the concept of graphic design, these two ways of seeing and communicating have become irreversibly linked in my consciousness. Art is a form of expression and design a type of informed articulation; although the production of each is limited to those who are literate in such forms of communication, both inherently need to be accessible to all.

I have always been told I am “creative” and “artistic” and “talented,” but until I developed a firm understanding of basic design principles, my art was unstructured and uninformed. My approach to art is a deliberate blend of precision, clarity, and wit. The “natural talent” people see in me is, truthfully, a sort of chronic perfectionism and a demand for personal excellence; I value care and thoughtful construction in all my work. I try to bring the directness and articulation of design into my art without directly spelling anything out for the viewer, and I find subtle, intelligent humor to be a powerful and accessible communicative force for reaching others. My artmaking is directly informed by the expressive functionality of design, even as I seek to make others pause before my work and, hopefully, think a little deeper than they were a moment before.

So, too, have many of my artistic preferences crept into my design tendencies. My demand for precision crosses all disciplines, and I savor the ability to manipulate individual pixels and lavish attention on minutiae. Despite this, I favor elements of physical production over strictly digital work: if I have the opportunity to create a tangible object, I nearly always choose to do so. Feeling that I had a personal hand in a piece’s creation, beyond moving a mouse on a desk, is the most rewarding part of a process for me. I keep myself open to suggestion and influence, and allow myself to draw inspiration from all aspects of my life and consciousness. Design is, by nature, a multidisciplinary field. My tendencies in both art and design are an informed response to my perceptions and experiences, whether spanning the course of a single day or a lifetime.