Armin’s birthday and my visit to the Hollywood Bowl last night made me ponder: does age make graphic designers better? After all, the older we turn, the wiser we should get. Right?
It all started last night, when I went to the Hollywood Bowl and saw The Dave Brubeck Quartet. I looked at it as a lesson in music history. Mr. Brubeck is in his eighties, and if history proves right, he won’t be around forever. So, I figured, I might as well see him now… The event was billed as “Piano Masters” and the Bowl was filled. Brubeck was the main attraction. At the end of the night, a few of us commented to each other that while Brubeck was the main draw — the legend — of the evening, we liked the other two acts, Ramsey Lewis and McCoy Tyner, better. Both accomplished acts of course. However, Brubeck, in his eighties got most of the attention.
I think jazz and graphic design have much in common. For starters, there seem to be grid systems, common understanding among the players which leaves room for improvisation in between. What Brubeck is to jazz pianists, Saul Bass might have been to graphic designers. And as an added bonus I’d say that on both fields there are practitioners and critics playing along.
If Brubeck would play crap today, some would probably still applaud. If Bass designed something bad towards the end of his career, many in our field would still comment on how well designed it was. Because history and age has given them the credibility to do anything they want(ed). And let’s face it, both fields are hard to grasp. What makes great jazz? What makes great design? Sure, there are theories, but does the audience care about them?
Let’s look at someone on the other end of the age spectrum: our very own Armin Vit. He puts on Speak Up, (and by the way: let’s not forget, he is doing it with Bryony, who never gets as much credit), Speak Up looks at the graphic design landscape with, if not always a critical, certainly with a commenting, eye and reports back to the community and opens it up for discussion. Because Armin is a young guy, he and his forum might get discredited by some folks who feel he just does not have the experience that he should have to critique. And that “rule of age” of course applies to many participants in the forum that contribute with their comments in here. At some point the “they’re just a bunch of kids” was flying around, a comment which now, with Speak Up having gained recognition, can be looked at as amusing, but needless to say is based on the opinion of “too young, inexperienced, no understanding yet.” Armin a few weeks ago commented himself, that he was quite happy to get more “age” on his résumé, as it will help him to be recognized as a valid design critic and not just a young kid.
In the end, are we just like a good bottle of wine, getting better with age?
Well, as I am (part of) the subject of Peter's post I think the quick answer is yes. There is no doubt about it, as I get older — and I seriously consider being 27 as being old — I feel like I get better, in general. Because of some of the things I have done over the past couple of years I sometimes feel ashamed to divulge my age, like at the IIR conference in NY where I spoke back in June, I was praying that nobody would ask how old I was… because I think it is then easier to discredit anything I might have to say. And it's other small things where I kind of like to avoid the age question. Getting to 27 gives me a little more confidence. I know this might sound kind of silly, but that's how it feels.
(For those who missed it or didn't know about it, I wrote an article for VOICE along the lines of this subject).
I'm really looking forward to hitting thirty! I will freak out surely but what the hell…
On Aug.05.2004 at 05:11 PM