After seeing a recent article about graphic design hero T-shirts with matching iconography, I couldn’t help but feel a certain cliche ringing in my ear. Although the t-shirts themselves are sorta cool and I would semi-reluctantly wear one (as a personal hatred of trends) I couldn’t help but feel these t-shirts literally embodied the current status of students solely being able to list off the all too familiar cast of Design Watchmen without any real context or information about what these designers really stand for. Is it a credit to the life of Milton Glaser to just “heart NY”?

As a student I sometimes find myself massacred by a world of over stimulated design inspiration and reliance on trends and hero designers. This over stimulation I find quite damaging with developments of a personal voice and style. Over fixation on the designer hero model can sometimes be quite irrelevant and sometimes just plain trendy. It is only when we study the concepts and applications of a piece of known design can we find any relevance. It is only a designers approach and work flow that we should find relevant, not the graphical end product.

For me design exists in tangent to a painting or the world of fine art. The function of a piece of design is somewhat selfless. A concept has been developed and it is the task of the designer to communicate and maintain relevance. A great piece of design can only anchor that relevance when viewed in its original context and one should look at all the considerations that have been finely tuned in order to reach his/her conclusion. By simply looking though catalogs and books we are doing no justice to these designers nor to ourselves. We have failed to gain conceptual relevance and by flicking though visually inspiring imagery we have also failed to take a moment to contemplate the fine tunings and under-workings.

Ultimately it is argued that everyone has their own perception of reality, thus everyone’s perception and take on communication is slightly different. Therefore, it should be the task and goal of every designer to establish a series of principles and ethics on what communication means to them. “How should a piece of design work?”, “What do I want to say with this?”, “That’s great but its just not my thing”. When we study a famous designer, we shouldn’t be concentrating on the end result that is a piece of design, but rather trying to piece together their perception of what design and communication is to them. By understanding this we can gain a much deeper insight into our own work.

Execution is only the end result, but what seems to hold true to all famous designers in the past is their stubborn nature and persistent editing and self criticism. Their persistence to a certain vision and their refined approach. They have ultimate conviction in what they believe is the right solution. These are some principles that give birth to style. Strangely, it is only when we realise this do we see that principles are not a necessity to designing, but they are necessity for blocking out the visual clutter that can confuse and dazzle. They help refine your editing and they block out the unnecessary. The infinite styles and considerations for design is overwhelming. The ironic thing is: obtaining a true style means establishing your principles and ethics first.

Personally, I hate the thrown-about nature of a name like Paul Rand can get in the design community. He was a great designer, but he’s not the only designer that has ever lived. Sometimes I cringe when I hear the name shortlisted, only because I feel there’s more to be learned on a day to day basis above one single hero model. I don’t believe in famous designers. To me, a designer should be as malleable as a gymnast, constantly bending and adapting to new forms of variety and research. Reliance and infatuation on fame can put an objective blank between the viewer and any designers work, making it twice as difficult for us to objectively critic anything. Fortunately for our generation, the arrival of the Internet has revived a level playing field. Nowadays the Olly Moss’s of the world need only upload photos on flickr to gain worldwide recognition.

In saying all this, I have absolutely no problem in stating that Paul Rand is one of my favorite designers. However I’m not a huge fan of his work. You might find that contradicting but it completely rhymes everything I have been saying so far. If we say design is a lifestyle, shouldn’t the designer be the focal point and his work secondary? From what I could see in the personality of Paul Rand, it was evident that he exuded a confidence of principles. Years of dislikes and discards have molded his style into absolute principle and perfection. Something that can only be respected and admired. Definitely something that can teach you a lot about yourself.

This video below really sums it all up, by moving away from visuals and focusing on the personality. Although it is Steve Jobs on Rand, I think its quite inspiring to hear someone from a non-design background discussing design with such accuracy and revelation.