Face to Face

Gregory Vines was born in 1946 in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1953, like many other children in the US, he started a series of drawings directly on the TV screen (Winky Dink and You Show). His first 8mm film was made for an experimental design class taught by Muriel Cooper, at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. He received his BFA in 1968 and went on to work for publishing companies in Boston. In the early 70s he began his studies in the Advanced Class for Graphic Design at the then Kunstgewerbeschule Basel (KGS). He later started his teaching career in 1976. He was a member of the faculty that started the first HFG program in Basel and was head of the Advanced Class for Graphic Design between 1988 and 1990. He collaborated on many graphic design projects with Reinhart Morscher (1938–2004), and has lectured and given workshops in 2D and 4D design in and outside of Europe. 

Can you explain why you have chosen the Thesis Exhibition Poster of the Basel School of Design HGK FHNW and why you consider it a successful design process.
I didn’t pick this example because it was extremely successful, but more as an example of motivation. Anyone who has designed an exhibition poster for an Art/Design school knows that it is destined to be a confrontation of conflicting personalities, opinions, aesthetics and sometimes power! Getting every “design expert” to agree on one solution is a lottery. My intention was to make five “sketches” in a very finalized state, each one strong enough for me to accept whichever one was chosen. There was a 45-minute presentation meeting, foreseen with a possible second short meeting. I also knew that the design for the poster would be adapted into other print media as well as digital animation (Images P.37).

What are some influences guiding a design process? 
We find a diversity of opinions on this topic, ranging from the genius power of imagination inherent in an individual designer to everything being guided by cultural and social contexts, which are mirrored in the actions of the designer. What were some influences in the specific example of the Thesis Poster? 
Fear: The fear when presenting several solutions to a design problem, the weakest is always the winner!
Satisfaction: The need to be gratified by whatever I touch. 
Learning: Whatever it is, I want to do in a way I haven’t done before. Build upon what I know and am able to do. It is often only in a small way! But, that is OK.
Sometimes it is painful, frustrating or filled with uncertainty! 

Even if we accept the prominent influence of social and cultural context, it is still a mystery how a preconceived schemata can be overcome in the design process or in the general process of inventing something new. How does a leap over the familiar and conventional solution happen? How does sustainable visual innovation happen?
How long is “a sustainable innovation”?  Perhaps only as long as the next “sustainable innovation”! Did Muriel Cooper think she was designing a logo for MIT Press that had to last for the next 60 years?  What was sustainable was perhaps that she designed a logo that was a sign of “her” time. To leap over familiar and conventional solutions you need to be inquisitive; able to pose the question “what happens if…”, visual skills and a lot of other stuff.

If there is “her” time then there was a time before and after that. What I am trying to get at is what makes “a time” go over…
Well, she had a broad education, which for me means knowledge of what went on before, awareness of what was going on at the moment and inquisitiveness towards what was coming. I think she incorporated the Geist of the 60s. But, I believe this is the case for most designers, in any decade, that become well-known or just do good work. Of course there are always a few blips on the radar screen of designers who become very “famous” and then after a few years you ask “whatever happened to… ?” Maybe we need to look at why that happens! 

What is the other stuff? Can you elaborate?
Well, I knew I shouldn’t have said “stuff”! Without making a list of nouns and adjectives, I meant that there are so many personal factors that make up a creative person’s body and soul, that it becomes impossible to put them all into a design education program. I know that we as teachers are asking and trying to find out what and why something works or doesn’t work, in order to understand and improve teaching methodologies. One difficultly has been the speed at which the profession has changed. In my short life I have seen Commercial Art become Advertising Design, Graphic Design, Communication Design, Visual Communication, Advanced Class for Visual Communication, MFA in Design, PhD Graphic Design, PhD in Visual Studies, Doctor of Philosophy in Design…

You have worked for many years in close collaboration with Reinhart Morscher. How would you describe the moment when the unexpected leap towards an innovative solution happens? Is it always an individual, which makes the step, or is it between the involved participants working on the project?
First off, I only collaborate with someone I respect and who has the same design-thinking wavelength and a sense of humour. Working together with Reinhart always produced results that were a surprise to both of us. We were often more efficient in terms of time, and surprisingly, there were never long discussions or philosophizing! Having said that, collaboration with people from other disciplines, which is very exciting, requires a much different working strategy. 

You grew up in the United States and studied at the Massachusetts College of Art, with Muriel Cooper before coming to Basel. Do you think that growing up and working in two different cultures has facilitated your ability to go beyond conventional solutions?
Perhaps, but not entirely! What I brought from the USA was naïveté and fascination. I was looking for something that I couldn’t specifically define. Education in the States, and I am talking about the 60s, was in an upheaval. Educational forms were being questioned, not only by the students but by teachers as well. Many things were being thrown out the window; Basics for one. Basel allowed me to fill in the blanks and Switzerland provided the framework. I was very lucky. By the way, there are many well-designed and beautiful “conventional solutions”.

I agree but do they not initiate a “new” time?
Aren’t they part of the “new time” development, giving us a basis to which we react and use as a diving board?

You were teaching for 36 years with great dedication. What do you think is most important to teach to a student in order to enable her/him to create unexpected and innovative solutions in the best sense of the word.
Asking me what I think is “most important” to teach to a student is like asking me which I would prefer: to eat or to drink for the remaining years of my life! Any answer is deadly. Nevertheless, if I have to, it would be to create an environment in which the teacher can be a student and the student a teacher.

What do you think of the statement that schools such as the Bauhaus have molded their students in a way that many of them were not able to overcome what they have learned and just replicated what they were taught. 
The responsibility lies with the student. Always did always will. 

What importance does talent play in the context of creativity? Does it need a certain structure of personality or can it all be learned?
Creativity cannot be taught or learned just as talent cannot be taught or learned. All a teacher/school can do is to “create” an environment in which a student experiences moments of creativity in her or his self. If you experience it once you may understand it forever.

Would you agree with the statement that there is nothing new, everything is just a recombination of existing and known elements?  
Absolutely. But, your question is put forward in a negative way! Actually it is a wonderful statement and liberating. New combinations are being created, nuances refined, the not yet known or seen waiting to be explored. What a great job designers have.