Graphic Design as Conceptual Art?
by Paul Berkbigler, (9 comments)
Photo taken by Melody Simmons and provided on Weekend America’s site
This won’t be the first time I’ve confessed my NPR addiction and posted something drawn from it, and I’m certain it won’t be the last one, either, but I was struck recently by a short segment on Weekend America.
Among the newer programming offered by NPR, Weekend America is an even more freewheeling cousin of Weekend Edition or even All Things Considered from an “article” standpoint, and they offered up this curious and fascinating story a little over a week ago now about a Baltimore effort to garner money to fight homelessness in the city.
First, I’m struck by what an artful and highly conceptual fundraising effort this is (much like Benn Ray is in the story), and second, I’m struck again by this almost purely typographic physical illustration of the point Baltimore is trying to get across. As I listened to the story I was really fascinated by how much these parking meters successfully landed in a place in between fine art and design, and also captivated by a certain conjecture: what must it be like to walk up to one of these meters without any of the background on what they do, what they are, and what purpose they serve?
I’m curious to know what the BA readers make of them as well…
Although we’ve touched the art vs. design nerve here before fairly recently, I actually find these meters cross that gap far more effectively and insightfully without resorting to hitting someone over the head with their message or blurring that message to such a degree that few would tend to decipher it.
What do you think?
Comments (9)
Joe Moran said:
Great idea. Nice touch with the meter messages, too. I wonder how much attention this has gotten in the local media?
I remember another project (can’t remember what town) where homeless people were photographed holding signs on corners to the effect “Bet you wish I weren’t here.”
Hope this makes a little dent and glad to see the money is going where it should.
VR/
Posted on December 1, 2006
Christa said:
Brilliant.
I was disturbed at first to think they were installed in parking spots- which would have reduced fighting homelessness to a burecratic nusiance….but they are on pedestrian walkways, which makes them compelling!
Posted on December 1, 2006
Richard Layman said:
This has been done before. In Georgia maybe. And it generated very little revenue. Cool design though.
Posted on December 2, 2006
Dave said:
It is always interesting to me to learn of someone’s reaction to something that is totally different than mine as is the case with viewing the parking meter and your fascination with it. I am a guy who does not wear a watch, considers coins to be something to throw in a jar and has experienced too many negative encounters with parking meters to consider it a positive image.
Surfing for change under the mats of my car, rushing to get through shopping to return to beat the meter, the ticket that is an annoyance to pay and the real terror of having one’s car towed comes to my mind when I see a parking meter. The destructive role meters have played in the larger cites where patrons left to shop at suburban malls, with their free and abundant parking facilities, also comes to mind.
Actually the meters in a strange way are an excellent choice to associate with the homeless in the city. One can theorize that their jobs disappeared with the customers who made the choice to avoid the parking meters!
I think Richard Layman has hit on my second reaction, how much is this going to make in terms of money? Sell the meters and maybe folks who want to decorate their interiors, or driveways, will pay more for the machines than you will collect in this display. Of course I realize the meters play a role in focusing attention and not just as a collection site.
You ask, “What must it be like to walk up to one of these meters without any of the background on what they do, what they are, and what purpose they serve?” Why would I get involved with these meters … because they are blue? Why would I put money in them, because they are providing a wonderful interactive video experience? What attraction do you see in the meters? Maybe folks with fond memories of wind up toys will help here.
Meters and homeless; I guess I am missing the direct link … even symbolically. The meter is an annoyance and as such a poor choice to associate with the homeless.
You state,” I was really fascinated by how much these parking meters successfully landed in a place in between fine art and design.”
Sorry, it is a gimmick heading toward kitsch. If the meter makes it, the parking meter will take the place of large metal milk cans and decorative mail boxes at the local craft fair. But that is just my opinion and what is it worth? Twenty – five cents an hour?
Posted on December 3, 2006
p.berkbigler said:
Fair enough, Dave - I hadn’t detailed a lot of the specifics of my fascination with the meters simply to leave the conversation more open to reader interpretations first, but I’ll dig in a bit to put the thoughts into better words than the agreeably vague “successfully landing in a place between fine art and design.”
When I heard about these meters on the radio show, I was really struck by how they functioned as a sort of typographic illustration for the idea they’re designed to convey: your quarter / your money is being used to help change despair into hope. I felt the people who developed the project had cleverly used a piece of common urban visual vernacular, the parking meter, as a means to get that point across. I also felt it was a clever way to take a piece of existing technology for public money collection and convert it into a conceptual mechanism as well as a coin box.
In some way, I think your reaction to the meters hits on an unexpected kinship between these objects and the people they are intended to help: both the meters and many homeless are common sights on city streets (unfortunately common in the case of the homeless population). They’re also fairly likely both things that people commonly pass by and don’t give much notice to.
I think the meters are utilized as art in the way they take common materials and change them into something that speaks to ideas beyond the materials themselves - at the same time that these still function in the expected way that a parking meter would function, they’re using that mechanical way of collecting money to focus on far bigger concerns / issues. They are simultaneously a work of design (graphic, industrial, and conceptual) in that they are evidence of a plan / schema applied in order to accomplish communication and call a viewer to some sort of action.
You’ve highlighted, however, a lot of additional connotations to the image of the parking meter that were clearly not in the minds of those who came up with these: all of the negative implications of life with parking meters.
I’ll also admit to the fact that my mind entertained exactly what Richard pointed out: whether these would actually collect any sort of significant funds for the purpose they are devoted to. I suspect only the city of Baltimore will really know the answer to that question…
Posted on December 3, 2006
Dave said:
You have in our exchanged identified the reason I wrote when you stated, “You’ve highlighted, however, a lot of additional connotations to the image of the parking meter that were clearly not in the minds of those who came up with these: all of the negative implications of life with parking meters.” How very important is that! That the designer is sensitive to the “audience” and how they are going to react to the visual that is presented. Do they understand the same language as you? I agree with you that, “the people who developed the project had cleverly used a piece of common urban visual vernacular …” But we need to remember just as words have multiple meanings and so does a visual. For accurate communication to take place there must be a common language / experience shared by artist and viewer of a work. If the primary meaning of the word, or visual, is being used in communication that connection has a lot more chance to be completed. For me the primary association with meters is as an annoyance. I agree with your observation, “… it was a clever way to take a piece of existing technology for public money collection and convert it into a conceptual mechanism as well as a coin box.” For me the hook would have to create an association between my frustrations of finding money and keeping track of time and the obstacles faced by the homeless to do the same.
Posted on December 3, 2006
p.berkbigler said:
I agree that designers certainly have to make sure they’re aware of some of the most common connotations / reactions to what they present visually to an audience, but I’ll also make the argument that there’s always the strong possibility of overcoming negative connotations via design choices and by enabling new associations / connections to be made with common, familiar, and established portions of our visual lives.
You hit on a couple of the possible “problem” connotations that designers certainly could have factored into their solution in this case, but I also wonder how much those things were brought up in the discussions that surrounded this project. (Also precisely your point in this discussion!) I haven’t really been able to find very good information about the team that concepted this piece or brought it to realization, so it’s tough to report much more than conjecture about how these came to pass.
I have to also say that designers have to weigh considerations of majority and minority reactions to projects as well - we have to be able to distinguish reactions which might be simple spikes in the data from those that really start to indicate a large trend of reaction. While that seems to drive most towards a focus group / survey review model of doing things, I can’t say that I’m a big fan of the results that such surveys are used to produce and would favor preliminary research coupled with good insight over end-product reviews any day.
Posted on December 4, 2006
Howard said:
Slightly veering from the topic, NPR and American Public Media are not the same thing, and Weekend America is not an NPR show. For what it’s worth, I think APM stuff is generally better and less self-important than most of the NPR offerings.
Posted on December 22, 2006
Woody@flywheeldesign.com said:
I think the use of parking meters was brilliant, and although -like all of you - I hope it raised lots of money, I suspect that it raised awareness as well. And in the long term that may be just as important. Thanks for taking the time to write about this!
Posted on February 1, 2007