Ray & Eames

"Artist is a title that is earned..."

Curious and driven by his curiosity. He did many things and many people wanted to be like him.Life was fun was work was fun was life. Multi facets of the career that makes them extraordinary.

Eames design process - the process of learning by doing. Never delegate understanding. The secret is to work/work/work. "We wanted to make the best, for the most, for the least." Furniture that was affordable for the common man.

Icon of modernism. Lingering question of credit. People felt they weren't recognised for what they contributed to the projects. "The Modern Eames Chair" - he was singularly given credit for it and there were so many people involved in the project.

Ran the office like a renaissance studio. No one got credit for what they contributed unless they went on to produce and incredible amount of work and say they got their start at the Eames studio. Feminism. Ray was a talented artist who participated in the business. The body of work would not have been the same without the participation of Ray. She contributed to the birth of abstract art in America.

One individual with two different special areas.

greatest design of all was the image of Charles and Ray. Happy modern coupe absorbed in their work. Cultural icons and a deep desire of privacy. The container for you life can be simple but that doesn't mean that your life is simple.

Was impressed at how everyone knew their place in the circus. "Never let the blood show". They didn't turn the circus into a chair but they did turn the Eames office into a circus. Herman Miller royalties allowed him to play how he wanted to. At heart a mixture of vanity of self expression.

"I'll do the film but you can't review it before it is shown..." WTF?! "this is a little something we've been working on yet there is blood all over the floor from the people who are working on it." Charles only truly happen when he was manipulating an idea...

Creation of a film about reducing the fear of computers for IBM. Logical evolutionary progression in the film. 1964 Worlds Fair. Never dissension and never questioning. Everything done on a handshake.

Wow! OK. Charles Eames was creative and a great mind, there is no arguing that. He wasn't brilliant though. I was really intrigued by this film because there were so many people in it who had been exploited by Charles and they were OK with it?! Where did the filmmakers get the truly overly eccentric woman who, very clearly, felt she hadn't gotten her fair share of the Charles Eames pie? There is no doubt that - whoa.

Ray - you can see Ray Eames hand in everything that the Eames Offices ever did, it really is remarkable. The funny thing is that the Ray and Charles relationship started with that failed chair of his. Charles Eames was a man who fed off of the ideas of other people and in many cases took all of the credit for collaborated projects. I feel, after watching this movie, that he was an idea man. He came up with ideas and had other people implement them and beyond that he did not allow anyone to review these projects before they were presented and that is wrong. If you are designing for yourself that is one thing but if you are designing for someone else they have a right to see how their dollars are being spend.

I have had my fair share of clients who think, honestly really think, they know better than I do but they still get to see what I'm working on for them. And if it turns out it is something that they don't like I don't go and sulk.

I understand eccentricities but I do not understand how so many people could be so enamored with a man who took advantage of them.

The work produced by the Ray Eames offices is amazing and it is truly remarkable that it is still very in our lives to this day. It is unfortunate that the people who also had their hands in all of the works that came out of those offices weren't properly recognized for their contributions to them.

Helvetica

I love how he compares type face to musical notes - it isn't the actual type face or the note but it is the space in between that helps to create the impact.

Helvetica developed because they were looking for a legible modern type face. It is clear and good for everything. Love the example of "I love you" and he is exactly right about the variations of a font.

For anything that had to spell out lound and clear "modern". 1950's post war real feeling of idealism for designers. Design is part of the need to rebuild and reconstruct - to be more open, run smoothly and be more democratic.

Early experiments of high modernest period. International typographic style. Swiss designers drove. 1957 is when Helvetica was developed.

Clarity - clear readable and straightforward. The Grid - but always along the line of the Grid. I agree with this completely. There is a specific way that the eye sees things and reads things. The rule of 3rds in design, but to design type face on a line and symmetrical.

The use of a neutral type face to allow the design you are working on the remain in the center stage, opposed to taking away from a design with a font with "too much".

Matthew Carter: Worked with MS on Verandia and Georgia. Made type in all the means that there are to make type. Really cool to see how a type face designer starts when designing a type face. Start with the "H", then to the "O" then to a "P".

Said of Helvetica Edward Hoffman wanted / Max Meetinger who did the drawings and designed the type face. Haas type foundry. Haasnoya Grotesque - the figure ground relationship. Swiss pay more attention to the background. The space between the characters is what grounds it. Meetinger wasn't working as designer but a salesman. Was selling foundry type.

Linotype owned Stemple and Haas and they currently own Helvetica. "The Swiss Typeface". Figure ground relationship executed properly.

Aprilia, Target, BMW, Nestle, AA, Muji, Energizer, The North Face, JCPenny, Staples.

Neutral and efficient - using helvetica more accessible transparent and accountable. EPA and IRS use Helvetica. Open interpretation to where it is used and what it is associated with it. Describe the qualitative parts of type face that are totally outside of what type face is.

Gotham type face. Casting director.

Everyone is saying the same thing - it is air and it is there and you need it. Interesting to hear who likes it and who really dislike it and why.

I do this with my clients and I didn't really realize what I was doing. I'll design a piece and then I will put the actual text message in a couple different fonts and allow the client to choose which they like better.

Helvetica - typeface of capitalism or socialism?

Corporate culture of design and ...

OK. I'm 58 minutes into this video and I think I am done. As a designer I use fonts that I think are appropriate based on what I am trying to communicate and what the piece I am working on is. I like fonts like Hawaii Lover and Hawaii Killer, Whitney, Century Gothic. I also use Futura and the variations of it and there is another "F" font that I like. I also like bleeding cowboys for certain things and paintball for other things. It just depends on what I'm designing and what I'm working on. So there it is - it was kind of an interesting video and I liked hearing what people like and dislike about Helvetica. I'm kind of over listening to it though... :(