Since graphic design is mostly a utilitarian and practical art, it doesn't get a whole lot of chances to get the museum treatment. So when an exhibit like this comes around it's a cause for excitement. I'd also never been to the Hammer Museum, so I got to kill two birds with one stone. It was a fairly large exhibit, divided into several sections such as Typography, Books, and Branding. Most of the exhibit was devoted to the avant garde and pie-in-the-sky production processes (fun stuff that most graphic designers never get to do—because of things like, oh, a budget) which were really interesting and fun to see, but the section that really got my attention was a display called "Brand New," where they showed the "before" and "after" of well-known logo after a redesign and had people vote on which they preferred by placing a yellow chip in a tube in front of the logo they liked better. This was something I could really relate to, as it is something that comes up fairly often for most graphic designers. There were some really radical redesigns, as in the case of the Nickelodeon logo, and some were very subtle, like the Pfizer logo. Each had a few comments that made the case for the old and new logos, so you can get an insight into some of the critical thinking behind the redesigns. Below are some of the examples, and to see all the photos I took from that day you can see them here. The exhibit runs through January 6, 2013.
Overall a worthwhile exhibit, especially for those in the graphic design business. It was fun, enlightening, and inspirational.
-Stephanie Han
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