DIVERSIONS | 04.2023

DESIGN

With the unfortunate abandonment of Milton Glaser’s  ‘I heart NY’ logo recently, I started thinking about seasoned logos that  still last. Probably best known for his work for ABC and IBM, Paul Rand was a prolific designer and design thinker. Even the IBM bee is still being used as a favicon on IBM’s website. These logos and many others that Rand designed are still ticking. Paul Rand is well worth referring to – to remind us as designers, artists, people – that what isn’t broken, doesn’t need to be fixed. Take a creativity break and dwell a little while on his work and wisdom, here. There is so much inspiration to find in his work, and for me especially, his words. Sometimes his words are just gentle reminders not to forget the brilliant tools we possess in our minds and hands in a very computer-y, device-y, world. But, tracking back to my original train of thought – I think that NYC Mayor, Eric Adams, might have benefitted from his words. Rand asserts in the book, Design Form and Chaos, that  “...quality is concerned with ideas not techniques, with the enduring not the ephemeral, with precision not fussiness, with simplicity not vacuity, with subtlety not blatancy, with sensitivity not sentimentality.”  ‘I heart NY’ is a logo mourned.



READING

I have learned that gardening is perhaps not just about growing plants  successfully, but unsuccessfully too. Discovery, connection to nature and skill-building is key. Learning which seeds to sow when, monitoring the furiously changing weather patterns, how light falls and from what direction. Initially I never gave much consideration to these things when I first began sticking plants in the ground with high expectations. I feel joyful gardening, pitfalls and all. If you’re curious about where that joyful feeling is rooted, I recommend picking up Sue Stuart-Smith’s, A Well Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature. Intertwining the study of psychology with her personal relationship to gardening, Stuart-Smith has written a truly fascinating book that easily makes the case that while the garden is often thought of as a place of beauty, refuge and sustenance for the body, that it is also nourishing for the mind. Married to a well-known garden designer, Tom Stuart-Smith, it’s well worth a look into their garden project, The Barn Garden.