Mas Context Analog Disscusion/meeting

Mas Context Analog was a very interesting discussion and meeting of the mind in the graphic design world. There were many influential people that talked about their past projects and all the work and revisions that went into the final product. Along with this, many of the designers talked about and showed examples of good and bad designs today. One example that Jason Pickleman talked about were the park signs that were all replaced in recent years. He said that the old designs were very pleasing to look at, and had a 50’s style to them by their trapezoidal shape. Along with that, he stated that those signs were very sturdy and withstood the dramatic Chicago weather, from the scorching summers to the brutal winters. He also went on a rant for the Millennium Park logo and talked about how he hated the logo. He talked about how the typeface did not really help out the logo and how even the logo was poorly designed. He stated that Mount Prospect should still that logo and use it for their city and have the city of Chicago create a new logo on a clean slate. He also talked about how designs of signs and wording can effect the interpretation greatly. One of his main examples was that when someone sees a red octagon they automatically assume it means stop even if there is no type on it. Another example he gave that stood out to me was the wording on street signs. He showed a picture of a sign that said wrong way, but then he flipped the text around to say way wrong, which made the sign still have the same meaning but it made the sign comical. Overall this discussion was very helpful in seeing all the different types of projects one can do in the graphic design field. It was also interesting and educational to hear first hand from designers about what the field requires and how much work and skill goes into creating designs.