Lis Charman work examples. See full size examples below!
Lis Charman's website is here.
Please tell us a little about your education?
BFAs in Graphic Design & Photography, Florida State University
How did you break into the field?
While in graduate school I put together packages of my work I mailed them to designers who inspired me. I answered ads in trade magazines and newspapers. I asked everyone I knew — Are you a designer? Do you know any designers? I made contacts through friends and family. I requested informational interviews—I asked for input on my portfolio and insight into our profession. Work for David Carson Design and Ray Gun magazine, a 9-month stint in northern California for Émigré and many exciting friendships were the product of the packages I mailed out.
Please tell us a little about your design work history?
After working at firms in LA and then in Northern California at Émigré I excitedly pursued a teaching position at
Herron School of Art | IUPUI. My studio designed for both cultural and corporate institutions including the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Thomson Consumer Electronics.
In 1997, I moved to NYC and worked for Belk Mignogna Associates (later named Red Sky Interactive). Projects included design of corporate shareholder reports for American Express, The Neiman Marcus Group and RJR Nabisco. My interaction and collaboration with other professional designers, writers, illustrators and photographers offered me greater perspective on the skills needed for the art direction. Designing extensive collateral programs exposed me to projects that demand simultaneous concentration on big-picture concept issues and day-to-day project management challenges. These particular experiences were possible only in a large-scale firm capable of servicing Fortune 100 companies and serve as references in my teaching.
Please tell us about your work:
My work has received recognition from Art Directors Club, AIGA, ACD, and How magazine. My work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally in Europe, Japan and South Korea. My work has been published in London’s Duncan Baird Publishers’ Type: No Borders No Boundaries No Limits, Typographics 3: Global Vision, and Big Book of Typographics 1 & 2, Louis Ocepek’s Graphic Design, Vision, Process, Product, Steven Heller and Anne Finks’ Faces on the Edge: Type in the Digital Age and That’s Entertainment, David Carson and Lewis Blackwell’s The End of Print, The Best in Cutting Edge Typography, One, Two, Three Color Graphics and Rudy VanderLans’ Emigre: The Book, [X•Years] Graphic Design into the Digital Realm. My work for p:ear received a grant from Sappi’s Ideas That Matter. My most recent published writing and public lectures address community-based learning.
What is the focus of your research and teaching?
I am committed to community-based learning (CBL). My CBL graphic design courses focus on understanding the influence and relevance of graphic design to society and culture. Students in my courses have researched and designed to assist local civic concerns including Portland’s homeless youth population; the region’s sustainable food systems; Portland families under care related stresses; Tualatin watershed research, restoration and maintenance; our region’s high tech industry’s evolution; at risk and underprivileged youth; documentary, independent and women filmmakers, sexual assault victims, and abused immigrants.
What is your teaching philosophy?
Make, make, and make. Research, analyze, interpret, discuss, redo, and create, create, create. Teaching, learning and making design are fundamentally about developing narratives and investigating ideas and the forms that mediate those ideas. It is important for us as designers to explore ideas from multiple perspectives and develop a strong points of view. In teaching I balance practice and theory. I structure syllabi and projects to assist students in gaining the critical thinking skills, practical abilities and courage to accomplish their personal professional and academic goals.
What classes are you teaching this year?
ART 320, 321, 354, and 470
What inspires you?
- people who are highly engaged and passionate about their work
- highly creative thinking — looking at situations from multiple points of view
- experiences and ideas that change the way we see our world and ourselves
- design that considers human beings, society and our environment (before and/or as well as the bottom line!)
- design thinking and cross-disciplinary teams that address community, society, environmental and global concerns
- studying systems and situations to understand where design can contribute, help or intervene
Please share links to sites that inspire you:
Design [comp] of cover for international design magazine,
Metropolis,
March 2010 with Brad Trost
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