Education

As a group of diverse individuals with a range of interests and influences, Education Team members chose a wide variety of items for this show. Everyone on the team has a design background: Angela was a magazine art director in New York; Angie received a degree in Japanese before becoming a graphic designer; and Anna, a recent graduate of SFSU, is a freelance illustrator, designer, and part-time DJ.

Angela’s items demonstrate three different designers’ impeccable touch in creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Paul Rand’s study for Fortune reflects both time and technology—now, it could be created digitally in about 10 minutes, but in 1950 it likely took him hours with gouache and string. Lester Beall’s Scope covers prove that metaphoric collage imagery can be most alluring, even (maybe especially?) when used in an unexpected place such as a technical journal for medical professionals. Angie selected two contemporary Japanese posters: one ranking sumo wrestlers, the other celebrating local fire brigades. While modest in their production, both posters are rich with information and calligraphic diversity! They feature Edomoji: distinctive Japanese lettering styles invented for advertising during the Edo period in Japan (1603–1868). The layouts organize rankings, hometowns, associations, communities, and geography into dense, compact spaces. Anna chose items from the collection that inspire her personal artwork. Each piece tells a visual story through collage and illustration in a highly stylized way. She says, “I always see something new each time I look at all three!”