The first time that I was introduced to graphic design it made absolutely no sense to me. I kept wondering what was so creative about arranging photographs and words (especially if they were not my own). The concept made designers sound like creative custodians. Ironically, most of this mentality was still swimming through my mind while I was sitting in a design class taught by Glen Cummings at Yale. After explaining the first assignment, he asked if we had any questions. I had a million questions. Throughout the following weeks, Glen patiently answered each one, never raising his brow or temper, which is exactly how and why my love affair with design began. He taught me not only the basic skills that I would need to survive, but also to appreciate the art of concise (visual) communication.
Last year, as I was sitting across from Alexander Gelman, he asked me how I initially made the leap from fine art to design. I told him about Glen’s class and his face lit up. As it turns out, he knows Glen rather well. Later, as we said goodbye, he told me that Glen was in Manhattan and encouraged me to look him up. I decided that I would - once I had designed something worth talking about.
Recently, while I was cleaning out my closet, I found an old project from that class. I decided that even though I haven’t created anything incredible (yet), it was silly not to at least reach out to Glen. Long story short(er), we’re now Facebook friends and the image above is his glorious default. So there he is - the man who single-handedly transformed me from a floundering artist, into a passionate designer. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I still have an immeasurable amount to learn about design. However, instead of starting my questions with why, they now tend to start with why not…
