Who are your favorite graphic designers and why?

Honestly, I did not know of any famous graphic designers, much less have a favorite one, but after I did some research I came across a few whose work really caught my eye. One of them was Saul Bass. One thing he is most famous for are his designs for movie posters. Some of which include West side Story, The Shining, Love in the Afternoon, The man with the Golden Arm, and Spartacus. He also designed the movie poster for Vertigo, which is one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies. I like his designs because they are interesting, but their not intricate and outstanding pieces of art. They are simple, yet they get the point across. This gives me hope because I'm not a great drawer, but his designs show me that I can still design something interesting that people would want to look at. Sadly, Saul Bass passed away in 1996.

Another graphic designer that caught my eye was David Carson. I like his designs because no two were the same, they all were completely different. I love all of the bright colors and how everything is all over the page, yet they still make since. They were definitely my style; something I would love to model my own designs after. He designs for The Surfer's Journal, which is also something I find really cool. Something else I found on his personal website was his design for a surf board. It was amazing! Other famous companies that he has worked for are Pepsi, Ray Ban, Budweiser, and Quicksilver, just to name a few. Another thing I liked about David Carson is that he has a studio in Charleston, SC, which is about two and a half hours from Greenville, SC, where I'm from.

I also like the designs of Scrojo. He does a lot of posters for many different bands and music artists. He's the main designer for The Belly Up Taverns and he has done over 1000 posters advertising the different artists that play there. He is very versatile, creating posters for rap, rock, and everything in between.  I like that he can continually change up his style, while still maintaining his own personal touch in every piece. 

Another graphic designer that I admire is Rob Janoff. He created the Apple logo in 1977. It's a simple design, consisting of an apple with a bite taken out of it. The Early logo also consisted of many different colors. This logo has stood the test of time, and now it's more popular than ever. If you can create something that simple and it stay popular for that many years, you know you're a great designer. 

Bo Lundberg is also a great graphic designer. His designs are very bright and engaging with a retro feel to them. He uses a variety of different shapes to make up larger shapes which has your eye constantly moving across the page to take in all of the different things that are going on. He does everything from glassware to play posters to decorative envelopes. All of his designs are very playful and child-like.

Why are you a graphic design major?

I chose to major in graphic design because it seemed like the major that could give me a job that I would actually not get bored with. Although I do not know much about art, nor am I very skilled in it, I find it fun to create my own designs. I think that by becoming a graphic designer I can constantly get better at it and like it more and more, rather than slowly starting to get tired of it and eventually hating my job. I realize that work is not always going to be fun and that there will be times that I want to quit, but hopefully I can learn to love graphic design so I will have the desire to get better at it and to stick with it for a while. 

Who would you design a CD sleeve for and why?

There are many artists I would love to design a CD sleeve for but if I could only choose one I think it would be Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson lived in Hawaii, so the way he dresses, his hobbies, and most importantly; the style of his music, are all reflections of the island. I visited Hawaii a few years ago and I absolutely fell in love with it.  I feel that I would be able to portray the Hawaiian style that Jack Johnson would like to have on the cover of his CD. I think that it would be a really fun job for me because I love the Hawaiian culture so much. It would be a way for me to bring something I love into my work.