In the lead up to the Creative Masters Forum 2010, Andrew Hagan recently had the opportunity to speak with legendary futurist and artist Syd Mead about his career work and life. Syd Mead is headlining the upcoming Creative Masters Forum Special Event on March 19. Tickets are still available.
Syd Mead is possibly the most prophetic concept designer of our time; not only having an immeasurable impact on engineering, manufacturing, construction, transport, film, and multimedia industries, but also being credited for inspiring several generations of creative thinkers and future visionaries. This text is probably being presented on an electronic device that resembles the stylish qualities he predicted in his concept art decades ago. From his first drawing aged 2½, to the Advisory Board for the President, Syd continues to astound us with his extraordinary work and help define the world which we could live in.
Ron Cobb's designs has had a profound influence on modern popular culture being featured in iconic Hollywood films such as Star Wars, Alien, Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Back to the Future.
In the 60's and 70's Ron gained notoriety as a political cartoonist, creating visual commentaries on the hot topics and controversies of the time.
Ron is the founding patron of the Creative Master Forum and our first Creative Master. He was the keynote feature for the first Creative Masters Forum conference in October 2008.
Wacom's Creative industry evangelist and book author Ric Holland interviewed Ron for the Art of Making Marks. In this interview, the two discuss the early days, technology and Ron's old friends in film. It truly captures the warm nature of the man Ron Cobb.
Syd Mead is one of the most celebrated concept designers of our time, having been responsible for many memorable designs from feature films to interiors and even toys. His most well-known works include production designs for Blade Runner, TRON, Aliens and 2010, the pivotal science fiction movies that got many budding visual effects artists inspired to enter professional careers in this field.
Intro from Ballistic Publishing article. Click below to read the full article
Designer Profile - David Carson David Carson is an American graphic designer. He is best known for his innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography. He was the art director for the magazine Ray Gun. Carson was perhaps the most influential graphic designer of the nineties. In particular, his widely-imitated aesthetic defined the so-called "grunge" era.
He was born September 8, 1952 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Carson and his family moved to New York City four years later. Since then he has traveled all around the world but has maintained New York as his base of operations. Carson now owns two studios; one in Del Mar, California and another in Zurich.
I've often wondered how creativity works, and how it is channeled. Why it is not like our other traits such as knowledge and skill? Both knowledge and skill can be applied as needed , like turning on a tap. Creativity is not the same. It seems that when we try to plan for creativity we often fail to produce those moments. Inspiration can often seem like this holy grail that teases us with aparitions only to lead us in the wrong direction.
Amy Tan gave a speech at the TED conference that delivered that moment where the coin dropped in my mind. Creativity is more related to tragedy, grief, fear and hardship, and much less related to knowledge, skill and even talent. Creativity is our response to change, danger and our hunger. It is unleashed when we are forced to do things differently or we realise that the normal way of doing things, simply doesn't work anymore.
