Insights 2019 Design Lecture Series

Insights Design Lecture Series 2019 (buy tickets now)
Tuesdays in March

“All of them share the same business of having to be intriguing. … But this constraint to be intriguing is due to … the powers of unexpected emotion that lie dormant within colors, surfaces, lines. … It’s the artist within the graphic artist who cannot help awakening them. … [The graphic artist has] to be intriguing too because they have to deal with passersby, with eyes that wander, with minds on information overload, bored, threatened by a sense of disgust with everything new, which is everywhere and the same, with thoughts that are unavailable, already occupied, preoccupied, notably with communicating, and quickly. Graphic artists have to arouse them from the comforting slumbers of generalized communication, to slow down their unfortunate speed of life, to make them lose a little time.”^*

Redefine your understanding of graphic design with the Insights Design Lecture Series, presenting four leading designers from around the world. Dive into the thinking behind their work, then hang out after the lectures to meet the speakers, grab a drink, and chat with your fellow design lovers. The lineup features designer/brand consultant Forest Young, fashion and culture guru Mirko Borsche, prolific illustrator Bráulio Amado, and magazine expert Gail Bichler. Copresented by the Walker Art Center and AIGA Minnesota. This year’s Insights is sponsored by 10 Thousand Design.

WATCH ONLINE

If you can’t make it in person, please tune in to our live webcast at walkerart.org and participate through Twitter (#InsightsDesign).

SCHEDULE

Tue., March 5, 7 pm: Forest Young
Tue., March 12, 7 pm: Bráulio Amado
Tue., March 19, 7 pm: Mirko Borsche
Tue., March 26, 7 pm: Gail Bichler

Forest Young (Wolff Olins)
March 5, 7 pm (tickets)

Forest Young, a quintessential design thinker, is both global principal and head of design at Wolff Olins, the acclaimed branding firm named “the most innovative company of 2018” by Fast Company. Young brings together a love for psychology and humanity with an interest in design, technology, and culture. When he’s not working for global brands such as Uber, Google, or Microsoft, Young is writing on design and serving as a visiting critic for Yale’s MFA in graphic design program.

Bráulio Amado (BAD Studio)
March 12, 7 pm (tickets)

Bráulio Amado’s prolific output manages to blend highly agitated typography with warped and wonderful illustration styles, all within a framework of rigorous layout, concept, and communication. Originally from Portugal, Amado moved to New York to work for design consultancy Pentagram, then to Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, and finally advertising agency Weiden + Kennedy. Now with his own studio focused on illustration and design for cultural clients, his wildly diverse and constantly morphing work never fails to exude an overwhelming sense of joy.

Mirko Borsche (Bureau Borsche)
March 19, 7 pm (tickets)

The work of Bureau Borsche seems to float effortlessly between contradictory worlds: the broad appeal of corporate clients such as Nike and BMW; the avant-garde experimentalism of the art world; and the luxurious conceptualism of fashion brands such as Balenciaga. In all of these spheres, Borsche’s typography and art direction shines through, always fresh and always relevant. Other clients include Zeit Magazin and Kaleidoscope magazine, as well as the German daily newspaper Die Zeit, which Borsche himself creative directs.

Gail Bichler (NY Times Magazine)
March 26, 7 pm (tickets)

For years, New York Times Magazine has set a high bar for sophisticated editorial design, bringing together world class writing with daring typographic systems and captivating art direction. Gail Bichler has worked for the publication in many roles: as a designer, an art director, and now currently as the magazine’s design director, leading a team of talented designers and typographers, while collaborating with some of the world’s best creatives.

Printing of the 2019 Insights poster courtesy Shapco Printing, Minneapolis

Notes

^* Jean-François Lyotard, “Paradox on the Graphic Artist,” in Postmodern Fables (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 33–47.