Please Make This Look Nice

About

Design, lecture, and micro-exhibit participants include: Erik Carter, Pablo Delcan, Frank DeRose, Stephen Doyle, Elliott Earls, Experimental Jetset, John Gall, Carin Goldberg, Karlssonwilker [Hjalti Karlsson + Jan Wilker], Eric Ku, Sue Lee, Alex Merto, Paul Sahre, Paula Scher, Small Stuff [Joe Marianek + Dinah Fried], Alex Stikeleather, Zipeng Zhu, and ZutAlors! (Frank DeRose + Brendan Griffiths).

For Please Make This Look Nice: The Graphic Design Process as an Act of Drawing a simulated studio will be installed in The Drawing Center’s Lab gallery. Throughout the course of the show, a select group of professionals from throughout New York’s vibrant graphic design community will be invited to work on unique and original design assignments and in a variety of formats and media including typography, logos, books, posters, motion, editorial, and more. All work will be printed, displayed, and projected for the exhibition audience to view, discuss, and engage with directly.

This exhibition looks to expand the general and most basic understand of graphic design by turning attention away from finished design solutions—the “what” of graphic design—to consider the “how” and “why,” focusing on the myriad techniques and methodologies involved in the graphic design process, including writing, traditional drawing, photography, prototyping, assemblage, collage, and collecting. Rather than pointing to individual pieces in a designer’s archive as specific works of “process drawing,” Please Make This Look Nice considers the whole graphic design process itself as an act of drawing. As Milton Glaser explains in an interview for the related publication: “Drawing is a feedback mechanism to adjust your thinking. It’s a way of seeing whether what you’re thinking can become manifest.”

Curated by Peter Ahlberg, principal of AHL&CO and faculty at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

IN THE LAB
Design professionals from throughout New York’s vibrant graphic design community will be working on unique and original design assignments in a variety of formats and media including typography, posters, 3D, motion, books, and more.

Designers participating include Erik Carter, Pablo Delcan, Elliott Earls, Carin Goldberg, Eric Ku, Sue Lee, Alex Merto, Joe Newton, Small Stuff [Joe Marianek + Dinah Fried], Alex Stikeleather, and Zipeng Zhu.

MICRO-EXHIBITIONS
See work by the following designers:

Friday, February 19 – Friday. February 26
Select historical and archival materials from The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography

Saturday, February 27 – Thursday, March 3
John Gall, Collage materials & sketchbooks

Friday, March 4 – Sunday, March 13
Experimental Jetset, Preparatory drawings, prints, models, and photography

Wednesday, March 16 – Sunday, March 20
Paul Sahre, Screenprint make-readys