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“The great teacher inspires.” — William A. Ward
As a design director I’m exposed to lots of design solutions everyday. Of course, some are more effective than others. Some should hardly be called “solutions” at all. Every once in awhile, however, something is put in front of me that really sends me—to that place where art and graphic design become one—that elusive place where visual communication captures my brain and my heart and even a little piece of my soul.
This happened to me recently at the final critiques for a senior class project on “Designing Dissent: Advocacy Advertising” at the New England Institute of Art.
I was awestruck by the arresting beauty of Glen Charbonneau’s campaign project. Glen manages to give a new face to homelessness in a powerful and provocative way. After my initial overwhelmingly positive reaction to Glen’s work— the luminous grace of his sculptural forms, and their appropriateness to the subject matter—I wondered how on earth he arrived at such a brilliant and spot-on solution. That’s when I learned from Andrea Brenner, Graphic Design Assistant Professor, that Glen had some very specific first hand knowledge. With Andrea’s blessing I wrote to Glen to find out more about these specifics. Here’s what Glen wrote back:
“The idea for this project came from an interesting experience I had living ‘homeless’ for a couple months.
I was living in an abandoned depot (now a travelers squat) for a couple months or so down in Florida with Casey, a good friend of mine in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and a bunch of other squatters.
The trip came about when I ran into Casey back home. He told me that he had been train hopping on and off for a couple of years, and asked if I wanted to head down south with him for a couple months. Honestly, I just kind of went. I had just finished high school and college wasn’t a top priority yet.
The train rides were never really all that bad, (sneaking on a freight train is much easier than you could imagine) just loud and long. Sleeping was never really an option because someone had to look out for people checking the train and stops that the train would make. A good hiding spot is all you really needed, but it was better to be safe and stay awake than be kicked out on the side of the tracks not knowing where you are.
I ran into a lot of interesting people on that trip, but the fact that so many of these people and kids were homeless was pretty overwhelming. Most of the guys my age were just homeless cause they couldn’t get a job and, compared to other options, this was some decent community living. A few of the older guys were really mentally unstable and would scream and break things into the early hours of the morning. But the biggest problem everyone was facing was drug abuse. What most people don’t realize is that the drug abuse isn’t what made them homeless, its what they turned to on the streets because there was nothing else left for them—then they became addicted.
That fact alone is what inspired me to show other ways people become homeless.”
— Glen Charbonneau
Thanks Glen for inspiring me to see in yet another whole new way.
And thanks Andrea for inviting me into your classroom. It never fails. Each time I walk through your door with the aspiration to inspire somebody in this frenetic field of graphic design, it is I who is inspired.
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You are very welcome Will and thanks for all your contributions to my classes as well. Glen’s project was truly inspirational and gave me chills!! Glen is a very talented designer and when he shared with me his experiences, I was just amazed and inspired as well. When he shared his project, I was even more amazed at the time, diligence and patience it took to put together.
It is interesting to see and make connections between our life experiences and our design solutions. I’ve never really thought about this before, but looking back and ahead at my work I know it will be more at the forefront of my conscious. Thanks Glen for inspiring me as a person and especially as a teacher!!
Thanks Andrea. We’ve got a real mutual admiration society going on here. But so what. The world certainly can use more of that. See you in March.
I think that the true beauty of teaching is what we can learn from our students, which is often much more than we teach them.
Interesting story, but this seems like a replica of designer Dylan Roscover’s visual style, which he has been using for quite some time.
http://trueslant.com/coffey/tag/dylan-roscover/
Roscover’s Obama illustration in this style appeared in this week’s Time magazine.