I had the great opportunity to go see and listen to Milton Glaser at BYU last night. He has had a powerful impact on graphic design since 1954 and is probably best known for his logo. He has designed everything from album covers to packaging, from posters to newspaper designs, from books to logos, from web sites to restaurant interiors, and from theme parks to calendars.
At the lecture, Glaser did not stand up and speak but he sat down with Steven Heller and they had more of a conversation and question / answer dialogue. Some of the key points that I got out of it were;

1. Just enough is more. It's not the idea of "less is more". That was more of a movement that was an attempt to counter Victorian fussiness and so on. It's more of the idea of, "Just enough is more".
2. Don't get labeled doing something that you don't want to do. "If you don't want to do Cocker Spaniels, don't do them"
3. When asked about his thoughts on the difference of images and typography, he stated, "Words are as powerful as images because they are images".
4. Speaking to the students, but to all, he stated, "You have to be realistic and ambitious". Meaning, when starting out you became a designer to make a living, so you can't forget that.
5. You have to activate the mind because most people are asleep. When they look at something they don't see it. But when ambiguity is present, they try to figure it out.

Overall the event was very successful and any designer should have walked away with a desire to do more as a graphic designer.

Labels: AIGA, designer, Milton Glaser

When asked where he was going as a designer, Milton Glaser answered, "That is hard to answer...Because nobody has the ability to set our path until it is over."
If you are truly into graphic design, you have probably heard of names such as Milton Glaser, Paula Scher, and Stefan Sagmeister. Well, now you can listen to interviews from all these designers and many more. The well know New Media Designer, Hillman Curtis has made some shorts with interviews from these great designers and many more. You can view them on his website. Go check them out and learn from some of the great designers.

Also, if you are in the salt lake valley, Milton Glaser will be speaking at BYU on Sept. 28, 2006. Visit the SLC AIGA website for more info

For all of those designers who haven't noticed, the reflection is the new design craze. With Mac using it all over there site, you start to hundreds of other sites following along. Even though I think it looks nice and have used it myself, it will probably get old really fast and become as the drop shadow, which you should hardly ever use. But like the drop shadow, if you can use it so it is not distracting, then no harm done.
If you are interested in having this effect, there are many photoshop tutorials that can explain it to you or there is even javascript that will achieve the same effect.
Also note that everything on your website doesn't need to have a reflection on it. Use it on items that you are highlighting or that you want to draw attention to. It's all about heirarchy and where you want your visitors eyes to go.