You are a freelance writer for AIGA Eye on Design (Links to an external site.) magazine. You have been asked to review a single piece of design (poster, book, building, furniture, industrial product) by a designer of your choice. This will require you to do your own research, and become very familiar with the work and the designer.
Requirements
Format requirements
Introduce the designer
Explain the historical context of the work
Explain what the designer is saying through their work
Critique the work
Summarize
Content requirements
Choose a poster, advertisement, or book cover work by one of the following designers that you are interested in (do not choose a logo or icon).
Paul Rand
Saul Bass
Stefan Sagmeister
Paula Scher
Massimo Vignelli
Milton Glaser
The review should be an aesthetic review in the genre of a movie review or a record review, except in this case you are reviewing a piece of design.
Limit yourself to reviewing a single piece of work. Do not review multiple pieces of work. You may refer to other pieces of work, but only as they relate to the single piece of work you are discussing.
Observe and comment on specific formal details of the work.
Explain to us why the work is an important part or the message or philosophy by the designer. In other words, explain why the designer was creating this type of work.
Include some biographical information, but the article is NOT to be simply a biography of the designer, but rather a review of a single piece of her work.
Must be two to four pages: The review should be as long as necessary to convey your understanding and opinion of the work.
Separate page: Include a color image of the work you are critiquing on its own page.
Don’t just tell me what you like or dislike, explain WHY.
Use a critical approach appropriate to the work. For instance, if the designer is trying to be messy on purpose, don’t criticize her for coloring outside of the lines. If the design is a building, don’t criticize it for not being a chair. If the design is a curvilinear and intricately detailed poster from the Art Nouveau period, don’t criticize it for not being a rectangular and minimal poster from the modern era.
