Graphic Design on TLC and ABC?
It seems that many of us graphic designers are concerned about how we are portrayed on the big and small screen. Jessica Helfand started several interesting discussions on Design Observer about this very topic. One of her posts was about the new Catwoman movie and the other about the design challenges on The Apprentice. While both of these seemed kind of negative, I saw a glimpse of hope for our portrayal recently.
Genevieve Gordor, who is a graphic designer among other things, is getting her own show on TLC this coming Saturday. Genevieve will get the chance to redesign an entire main street in Town Haul. Among interior design and building, will graphic design be able to give a supporting role? Will Genevieve get to design the store fronts and signage for this little town? Will the audience actually get to see a small portion of the design process, or will that part be left on the cutting room floor? Or, will the end product magically appear as if the enchanted graphic design elves came when the interior designers and builders sleep? Hopefully not. This kind of treatment can only perpetuate the idea that what we do is quick and magical. Of course “finishing touches” like this make for a more dramatic reveal. For now part of our public image rests with Genevieve and more importantly the editors and producers of Town Haul.
As I caught a few minutes of Extreme Makeover: Home Eidtion with another TLC alum, Ty Pennington, the word graphic designer was uttered more than once. One of the young girls on the show wanted to become a graphic designer. It sounded like she said she wanted to be an interior designer, but for the rest of the show they kept saying “graphic design” and designing her room around this theme. What most surprised me is that they gave her a small Pilot tabletop letterpress much like my own 6×9 Kelsey. This Chandler & Price Pilot is supposed to be one of the best small presses out there and I am totally jealous. If she learns how to use this press she will have a big jump on her classmates in design school.
They also gave her a very small laptop with all the current software. What doesn’t make sense is that it wasn’t a Mac. A hundred year old letterpress would be welcomed into many more design firms than any PC. If they really want to help her get into the profession they would have given her a Macintosh and more importantly a screen big enough for her to design on. As far as the design of the rest of the room; it was great. The various old sign letters scattered throughout the room reminded me of many a design firm I have seen.
Of course I know that most of the average viewers know that reality TV isn’t reality, but it is interesting to see graphic design mentioned on television and in the movies. Lets just hope that graphic design isn’t a part of Fear Factor or Who’s Your Daddy. Too bad viewers wouldn’t be interested in “The Biggest Logo Loser” or “Extreme Makeover: Identity Edition.” Well . . . back to reality.
January 20th, 2005 at 11:27 am
Yeah, that Apprentice Levi’s challenge was a joke. It completely trivialized what we do. They didn’t even show the actual design process.
On a positive note, at least the final products sucked… which is no surprise when suits try to art direct.
The wheel idea was at least somewhat original… but again… how do you make something look finished in 24 hours?
In a word: LAME
January 21st, 2005 at 12:17 am
Couldn’t resist the lure of the blog again and the chance to sound off – Although it’s a bit intriguing to see the television camera swung in the direction of things that sound like they might add up to exposing the field of graphic design, I think this all requires the reality-check of deciphering the difference between documentary coverage and pop-documentary coverage in the form of “reality programming”…
We’re only ever going to find the “what people kind-of think something is like” version of a profession in any of this programming – even the interior design that’s displayed on most of these is fairly surface-level at best. Anyone really worth their salt in terms of engineering an interior is probably looking at most of this with the same eye of disdain that we keep viewing the graphic design moments with…
Not having seen enough of the show to adequately use the reference, I wonder how “Monster Chopper” any graphic design feature would become – and as much as all of our hearts might glow a bit to see some major PMS number dropping and serious typographic consideration pop-up on ABC primetime, how long would it be before the novelty wore off for us and for the viewers…All of that is interesting to those that pursue the craft and seemingly overly anal and inconsequential to many outside of it (regardless of how much people are truly affected by the outcome of those processes).
For everyone who’s willing to give up a half-hour to watch big-personality “designers” slop paint on the walls of a homeowner just begging for a makeover, there’s likely only 1 in 25 viewers that would make the same time to watch Charles & Ray Eames draw the schematics to their home or decipher the tension points on a plywood chair…The former experience will always and only be a facsimile of the real thing while the second will fully be that thing – and who wants real when “real” is so much more expedient and colorful?
January 21st, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Or could it be that people would rather watch someone slop paint on a house/apartment because EVERYONE has a place to live.
Not everyone wants to design a logo and looks at a blank piece of paper all day.
Just food for thought.
January 22nd, 2005 at 1:18 pm
It’s a good consideration, Bill – the home improvement variety of reality programming will always touch that perfect DIY nerve in everyone…It relies greatly on the “If it could happen to those poor schlubs on TV, it could happen to me!” sort of enthusiasm that builds around the programming.
Although people don’t directly work in practices that resemble professional graphic design daily / regularly, I know the mass public is far more familiarized and attuned to marketing / advertising concerns and has been logoed so steadily that they also have a general sense of what does and doesn’t strike them very much.
I’m sure if each of us had a nickel for every DIY card with a homespun logo on them we’d have a healthy side income going – it’d be nice to see some of those urges promoted in truer / better directions than the Apprentice competitions or something similar.
January 22nd, 2005 at 5:26 pm
I think you are both hitting on some good points. Along the same lines are shows like Car Talk and American Chopper. I have no interest in cars or choppers, but I tune in to these shows because of the people. I want to be entertained. The advice or end product still have to be top notch, but in the end it is entertainment not education. I guess that is why you never hear TLC call themselves “The Learning Channel” any more.
January 22nd, 2005 at 10:25 pm
After just watching the first episode of *Town Haul*, I can’t say I was too disappointed. If the first episode is any indication, I don’t think graphic design is going to be a major focus. At least they acknowledged that the sign is part of the process. Genevieve did meet with the sign painter to discuss the sign outside of Kelly’s Kones. The only design direction that made the cut was Genevieve saying that the sign needed to be more “age appropriate”. My favorite part of the show is Mike (the hippie sign painter) saying, “A business with no sign is a sign of no business”. Good stuff.
February 4th, 2005 at 11:13 am
An interesting read, everyone. … but what if DIY or other channel had “The Biggest Logo Loser” show? That would be great! However, they would need good lawyers in case the Logo Loser was a Sore Loser.
February 17th, 2005 at 12:45 am
I wanted to post this comment on Design Observer’s archived Cat Woman post but the comments are closed. I can’t say that I blame them. Anyway here is my review of the Cat Woman movie. I thought this review fit in well with the “Graphic Designers on TV” theme of this post.
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Well, I finally watched this movie. I wanted to see how they actually portrayed a graphic designer in this movie. The timid designer turned super hero wasn’t a great portrayal, but not as damaging as one of her lines in the movie. If think her answer is in response to someone asking “Patience” if she is happy. Her reply is something on the lines of . . . What do you think? I am the practical application (graphic design) of my passion(art) . . . She is an artist not a graphic designer. The movie has been misrepresented in the previews. I am an artist and graphic designer, but I do not see graphic design as the practical application of my art. Of course they cross over, but they are two different things. In the end Patience is a painter who is supporting herself through graphic design. I couldn’t imagine a worse portrayal of a graphic designer. I have worked with artists who just do graphic design to support their art, but I think they are in the minority and usually not that successful. Thank you Catwoman for perpetuating the myth of “Commercial Artist”.
The only good thing is that it would be hard to take this movie seriously. The characters are hardly developed and the plot is week. Luckily the movie didn’t do to well and critics blasted it.
July 12th, 2005 at 11:58 pm
Apparently I wasn’t the only one noticing the letterpress giveaway on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It was interesting to read the entire story of how they gave this girl the letterpress and who contributed what. I hope she is taking advantage of a year’s worth of platemaking services from Boxcar Press. They do amazing work.