The Netflix documentary series, Abstract, features an episode about Paula Scher, a graphic designer and painter in New York City. She works at a co-op firm called 'Pentagram' and has worked designing for the Public theater and Shakespeare in the Park for years.
In regards to typography, Paula talked about ways that changing small details in a letter can give the viewer an entirely different sense of time and feeling - the letter E can be moderne, vintage, classical, or illustrative. The small changes in typography can change the appearance and mood of whatever it is advertising or saying! This is important for me to keep in mind as i use a lot of text in my paintings and drawings, and should keep in mind the mood i want to display when i write on my work.
Paula's paintings still incorporate text, but more as a mass of information. She does paintings of maps that are covered in writing that dictates characteristics of the place -a map of demographics, a map of county names, and map of zipcodes, etc. She said she went back to painting because she missed working with her hands, and wanted the physical part of creation back, instead of just designing on a computer. I also thought it made a lot of sense how Paula combined what she grew up with - her father was a mapmaker - into her current artwork! Paula also mentions how important it is to be in a constant state of play - that ideas flow best when you let your subconscious take over.
"Design needs to take human behavior into account" - Paula says this in regards to creating signage that people can interact with, but I think it also applies to fine art. Thinking about how your painting will be received or viewed allows you as the painter to tweak it in a way to control perception of it. If I know viewers will be depressed by the content of my work, i add colors, i add funny text, i add other figures, and that will change the way people view it.
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