Peter Seitz: Designing a Life

Just wanted to spread the word about the book of the life and work of graphic designer Peter Seitz! Designed by MCAD-alum Ryan Nelson and published by MCAD in 2007 (with support from the Walker Art Center and AIGA Minnesota), this book is a must-read for understanding a key figure in the design history of MCAD and Minneapolis. More background information on the project can be found here.

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Peter Seitz (1931-Present) is a legendary graphic designer, author, teacher and business owner who served as the first Design Director at The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), helped establish the graphic design curriculum at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and took out the very first listing as a Graphic Designer in the Twin Cities Yellow Pages. His life and work is chronicled in "Peter Seitz: Designing A Life" (published by MCAD, 2007, ISBN-10: 0980089301).

Seitz followed the road less traveled in all aspects of his career, starting things rather than joining them. He began his design studies at the Ulm School of Design (a Bahaus offshoot) in Germany, studying with celebrated graphic designers Tomás Moldonado, Max Bill, and Otl Aicher. He received a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design and Photography from Yale University in 1961, studying with Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson and Herbert Matter.

Upon moving to Minneapolis in 1964, Seitz became the first Director of Design at the Walker Art Center, where he created pioneering exhibitions as well as the groundbreaking journal Design Quarterly. Seitz went on to organize the Minnesota Chapter of AIGA, Siggraph, and the country’s first interdisciplinary design firm, InterDesign— producing the identity programs and signage systems for the Minneapolis Parkways, the downtown St. Paul Skyways, the Minnesota State Capital and the Minnesota Zoological Gardens. From business, Seitz moved into education, serving at various times as the Chair of Design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design from 1971 until 1998.

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Peter Seitz: Designing a Life can be purchased from the Walker shop as well as from Amazon.com. Be sure to pick one up if you haven't already!

design + drinks + fun!

WHAT: Aesthetic Apparatus Studio Warming Extravaganza
WHEN: Saturday, November 15, 2008 - 6PM
WHERE: 2215 Snelling Ave, Minneapolis MN. 55404
WTF: FOOD, DRINKS, AESTHETIC APPARATUS PEOPLES

Come hanggggg and support some of our favorite Minneapolis designers, Dan & Michael!

Ryan's First Screenprint!

(above) Sami teaches Ryan how to screenprint!

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Screenprinting in the Printshop on Sunday went super well! Thanks to those who came, and many thanks to Sami, Elliot, & Max for keeping things organized.

REMEMBER, we have the Printshop reserved from Noon - 4pm on the upcoming two Sundays as well. So stop on by, bring your wrapping paper pattern (designed at 18 inches x 18 inches), and get printing! If you haven't been super involved with Design Club thus far, no worries! Better late than never. We'd love to see you there!

In Minnesota AIGA news--

"DESIGN CAMP® SCHOLARSHIPS
NEW THIS YEAR
AT PORTFOLIO 1 ON 1

Apply to be one of two students selected
to receive $600 each toward attendance
at Design Camp® in 2008! Submit by
Monday, April 7, one paragraph (200
words or less) describing “Why I want to
go to Camp this year.” Include your name,
school, major, and year in school. Email
to: education@minnesota.aiga.org

You must attend Portfolio One on One to
win. Winners will be announced along with
portfolio scholarship recipients on Friday
evening, April 11. Design Camp typically
occurs the first weekend in October."



(P.S. Design Camp is ummm pretty cool and everyone should come this year. Okay. Cool.)

Walker Insights lecture series comes to a close,

THEN

and

NOW


Buy your Ed Fella ticket ASAP if you haven't already! His lecture is at 7pm on Tuesday, 3/25. It will probably sell out. But if you're going away over spring break, don't fret! You can catch Ed's lecture later via video on the Walker's website.

Work Worth Doing-- lecture tomorrow night!

7pm! Tomorrow! At the Walker (as part of the 2008 Insights Design Lecture Series)!


(more info on the Walker design blog here)

A bunch of us from Design Club are going to all the lectures together. But even if you weren't one of the 12 who committed to buying our tickets together with the discount from the MCAD Design Department, you could still come along with us for the fun times! We'll be meeting in the Emeritus Room at 6:15pm to carpool over to the Walker. See you tomorrow!

'SUP

Pretty great magazine title.

'Sup Magazine.

Ha.

Acidhaus!

Pub

CalArts graphic design student publication.




Shall we order it n see? May be a good model.

wa75

I've really been admiring the work of the Paris-based design studio wa75 since I stumbled across their website the other week.


Laurent Meszaros of wa75 had some really great things to say in response to an email I sent to him (+ other designers) asking about the influence of the Bauhaus on his work. He brought up an interesting point about graphic design in France that I hadn't thought about before:

"...in France, the terms 'design' or 'designer' doesn't apply to graphic designers. We are bound to the whole history of painting, carving, printing, etc. We are supposed to be artists that have failed… (creepy isn't it ?). Graphic design (in France) doesn't have the same history as in Germany, England or Netherlands, and of course in America."

Lecture at the Goldstein—this Tuesday

Design for Design's Sake-Design Authorship in Experimental Publications

Design professor Steven McCarthy will give an illustrated presentation on works from the Goldstein Museum's graphic design collection. Centered around the concept of design authorship—where designers' roles are expanded from professional service providers to socially, culturally and politically engaged communication initiators—the collection spans 70 years of innovation.

Space is limited, so please be sure to RSVP on the AIGA website.

6:00 p.m. exhibit
7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. lecture
8:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Q&A and refreshments

University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus
McNeal Hall
Room 274

AIGA members, free; nonmembers, $10; nonmember students, $5.Tuesday, December 4, 2007
for more info: http://www.minnesota.aiga.org/events/2007/12/15851542
[image from AIGA/MN website]

Midwest a Book

Mike Perry has started a nice little blog focusing on Midwest design. You might see quite a few MCAD grads featured as well as interesting work out of Detroit, Chicago and ex-patriots of the Midwest who are now on the east coast.

Bookmark it!

C_YK

So in the Netherlands, T-mobile is apparently trying to claim Magenta as THEIR color, therefore forbidding anyone else to use it EVER!

FREE MAGENTA!
http://www.freemagenta.nl/

be a design group podcast!

a new podcast is up!
kinda cool,
shaun inman is the guest, he is a pretty rad dude who has a pretty cool website
http://www.shauninman.com/
you should listen to the podcast, cause its good....



and while you are on the interweb, maybe give my blog a look??
http://justinmightbeagiant.blogspot.com/ i just started it... but its kinda cool maybe?

AIGA 30 year Anniversary Party

Friday, November 9, 2007 06:00 pm - 12:00am
Five Restaurant & Street Lounge
2917 Bryant Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408

You may want to consider the party portion of the event——ONLY $10!

Cocktails and Dinner
6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and dinner
$75 for members - $150 for nonmembers

Party
9:30 p.m. - Midnight
Cocktails, desserts and live band*
$10 for members, $20 at the door - $20 for nonmembers, $40 at the door
*Included in the price of the dinner

Featuring
The Melvilles – a rich mélange of rock, country, rockabilly and folk.
A new book, Peter Seitz: Designing a Life, will be available for purchase.
A visual history of our chapter.

Ignore the deadline notice, as registration is still available online. . If you need more information, visit minnesota.aiga.org

AIGA Student Chapter Guest Lecture

Kelly Munson
November 7, 2007
2:00-3:30 pm
Art Gallery, Art Institutes International Minnesota
15 South 9th Street
Minneapolis MN 55402

All design students and faculty are invited.
The event is free but, unfortunately, there is limited seating, please RSVP to aiga.aim@gmail.com.

http://aigamnstudent.blogspot.com/

AIGA Minnesota's student blog, established by student board representative Audry Wolters.

"So uhh what do you think of the new Against Me! album?"

OH HEY, IT'S FALL.

For me, the highlight of Friday at Design Camp in Nisswa, Minnesota was hearing Jason Munn of The Small Stakes speak. Most of his contacts were established through a punk house he lived in during his time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as the short one-year run of the small venue The Ramp in Berkeley, California (held in the basement of a church). With the likes of Deerhoof and Danielson passing through, he was surely meeting up with the right people.

He also coined the word "dramastic" for me during his lecture, a clever mix of uhmmm dramatic and drastic. Thanks, Jason.


Bought it. Love it. Metallic ink for the 'Sound of Silver' poster.


Oh, and it was super crazy to discover that Jason designed these Death Cab for Cutie shirts that infiltrated the halls of my high school::


JT: "I had no idea that you made the raining-skulls Death Cab shirt. After I saw them in 2004, that shirt became such a thing around my high school. Nearly everyone who went to the show had one (although I bought the t-shirt with this design), and people would all ask around the day before they were going to wear it-- 'Are you going to wear your Death Cab skulls shirt tomorrow? Don't. Because I'm going to wear mine.'"

JM: "Yeah, I didn't really like that design."

JT: "Okay good, neither did I."