Graphic Design by Knut Olav

In 2008, Paula Scher gave a talk at the Art Centre Design Conference in Pasadena, California, named ‘Serious Play’. Today, it’s widely shared and referenced by graphic design educators because of its simple but also complex truth. In essence, it’s about the importance of play in graphic design (which is quite serious!) and not falling into a pit of design solemness. In this case, solemness means to design safe, predictable, and acceptable things.

I had to watch it and think of this :

In today’s lesson, we talked about the quiet before the storm in a project – where you have all the information you need, and you now have to think of ideas to communicate them visually. This is a delicate and precious stage in the creative process and will determine the way forward.

Keep Paula Scher’s talk in mind when thinking of ideas:

• Embrace play and the unexpected.
• Don’t repeat the same recipe for success.
• Don’t be afraid of taking on something a little beyond your abilities.
• Don’t be scared of being a fool.
• Experiment!

KOK-24