I strongly recommend the documentary "Abstract: The Art of Design" by NetFlix.
The first season has a total of eight levels, and tells about designers in eight different design fields, namely: illustrator for The New Yorker; shoe designer for Nike's Air Max; stage designer for Adele, Beyonce and Kayne West has designed the stage for the concert; an architect from Denmark has transformed the old atmosphere of Copenhagen with a very modern building complex; a car designer, the chief designer of Fiat Chrysler; a graphic designer and font designer from New York, The new visual system of Windows 8, Coca-Cola, Citibank, and the visual patterns of the MoMA in New York came from her studio; the photographer who shot the covers of past US presidents and bigwigs for Time Magazine; and the interior decorator of IKEA and Aesop .
This documentary by NetFlix may be about "design" because of its theme, and it was shot with a full sense of design. Every font, subtitle, music, and picture have been polished. The process of how these designers create is deconstructed and reorganized in the lens, and the visual effect is very good, like watching "Inception". The process of "design", as well as the lives of the designers, is revealed in this peculiar lens language. For example, when describing the pressure of work as an illustrator in The New Yorker, the protagonist is walking in the city, and then the scene turns, and a lot of large hand-painted pencils emerge from behind the graffiti-filled urban wall, chasing after him. It not only fits the design theme of "illustration", but also shows the daily work of the protagonist. The narrative language of this image has gone beyond the documentary.
The "how to design" thing is actually very delicate, everyone has their own way of working. For example, the illustrator of The New Yorker likes to work alone, staying in his Berlin studio from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, facing a blank sheet of paper all day; while the interior designer from London likes to work with Colleagues discussed that when she was choosing chairs for a restaurant, she put several chairs in front of the crowd, and then pasted sticky notes to them with the keywords "comfortable", "easy to sit up" and "armrests too short" Wait, very interesting.
Each design area has its own unique charm, as well as its own unique puzzles. Is it democracy to quickly build trendy architectural works with cheap building materials? When everyone can shoot concerts with their mobile phones, what is the difference between stage design and before? How did the art of photography change society? Ultimately, these questions are all about how design affects people and their lives. Designers in the eight fields have explored this question from their own lives and work. After watching it, you will find that this documentary may not give clear answers, but it inspires you to think.
Another feeling is that after watching the eight episodes, these most powerful designers have talked about the inspiration of "city" for their creations. Almost all of them are in big cities with a sense of design: Berlin, London, New York, Copenhagen, Milan, Detroit (automotive design), Stockholm…. Undoubtedly, an open urban environment has requirements for design. The unique open, convenient and fair environment of the metropolis provides designers with a steady stream of inspiration. And the design works in their hands - the unique "New Yorker", the buildings in Copenhagen, the industrial environment in Detroit, the restaurants in Stockholm... have fed back these metropolises and made them more attractive.
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