I'm going to begin by reciting a poem. "Oh beloved dentist: Your rubber fingers in my mouth ... your voice so soft and muffled ... Lower the mask, dear dentist, lower the mask."
我将要朗诵一首诗 “哦 我亲爱的牙医 你的橡胶手指在我口中 你的声音如此温柔而低沉 请拉下面罩 亲爱的牙医 请拉下面罩
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Okay, in this presentation, I'm going to be putting the right side of your brains through a fairly serious workout. You're going to see a lot of imagery, and it's not always connected to what I'm talking about, so I need you to kind of split your brains in half and let the images flow over one side and listen to me on the other. So I am one of those people with a transformative personal story. Six years ago, after 20 years in graphic design and typography, I changed the way I was working and the way most graphic designers work to pursue a more personal approach to my work, with only the humble attempt to simply make a living doing something that I loved. But something weird happened. I became bizarrely popular. My current work seems to resonate with people in a way that has so taken me by surprise that I still frequently wonder what in the hell is going on. And I'm slowly coming to understand that the appeal of what I do may be connected to why I do it.
好的,在这个演讲中 我将严苛的考验 你的右脑 你们将要看到许多的影像 而这些影像并不全跟我的演讲有关 所以 我需要你把自己的大脑分成两半 用一半去感受影像 而另一半听我演讲 我是属于那种 那些生命中发生变革的人群 6年前 在我为平面设计和印刷业工作了20年之后 我改变了我的工作方式 我从遵循大多数平面设计师的工作方式 改变为追求一种更个人的工作方式 我低调的追求 能够做我喜爱的工作谋生 但是奇怪的事发生了 我变得 异常的受欢迎 我现在的作品 不可思议的 令人感到共鸣 我至今依然常常思考 到底是为什么 我渐渐的明白 我作品的吸引力 也许是源自我的做法
These days, I call myself a graphic artist. So where my work as a graphic designer was to follow strategy, my work now follows my heart and my interests with the guidance of my ego to create work that is mutually beneficial to myself and a client. Now, this is heresy in the design world. The ego is not supposed to be involved in graphic design. But I find that for myself, without exception, the more I deal with the work as something of my own, as something that is personal, the more successful it is as something that's compelling, interesting and sustaining. So I exist somewhat outside of the mainstream of design thinking. Where others might look at measurable results, I tend to be interested in more ethereal qualities, like "Does it bring joy?" "Is there a sense of wonder?" and "Does it invoke curiosity?"
现在,我称自己为平面艺术家 当我作为平面设计师的时候 我遵循商业战略 我现在的作品 遵循我的内心 和我的喜好 在自我意志的引导下 我创造了能使我和客户共同收益的作品 现在,在设计界 这是异端邪说 自我并不应该 包含在平面设计作品中 但是我在自己的作品中找到了自我 没有一次例外 我越加努力的完成这个作品 作品里就包含着更多的自我意识 并且越自我的作品 就越加的成功 越加的吸引人 越加的有趣和隽永 所以我创造了非主流的 设计思维 当别人追求可衡量的结果时 我追求一些更加虚幻的品质 比如,这作品带来欢乐么? 它会带来惊奇的感觉么? 它会激发好奇心么?
This is a scientific diagram, by the way. I don't have time to explain it, but it has to do with DNA and RNA. So I have a particular imaginative approach to visual work. The things that interest me when I'm working are visual structure, surprise and anything that requires figuring things out. So for this reason, I'm particularly drawn to systems and patterns. I'm going to give you a couple of examples of how my brain works.
顺便一提,有一个科学图表 我没有时间解释 但是它跟DNA和RNA有关 所以我有一个特别的想象方法去完成视觉作品 我在工作中感兴趣的是 视觉结构 惊奇 和任何需要动脑解决的事 因为这个原因,我对系统和样式 感到十分疲惫 我将向你举例展示我的大脑是怎样工作的
This is a piece that I did for The Guardian newspaper in the U.K. They have a magazine that they call G2. And this is for their puzzle special in 2007. And puzzling it is. I started by creating a series of tiling units. And these tiling units, I designed specifically so that they would contain parts of letterforms within their shapes so that I could then join those pieces together to create letters and then words within the abstract patterning. But then as well, I was able to just flip them, rotate them and combine them in different ways to create either regular patterns or abstract patterns. So here's the word puzzle again. And here it is with the abstract surrounding. And as you can see, it's extremely difficult to read. But all I have to do is fill certain areas of those letterforms and I can bring those words out of the background pattern. But maybe that's a little too obvious. So then I can add some color in with the background and add a bit more color in with the words themselves, and this way, working with the art director, I'm able to bring it to just the right point that it's puzzling for the audience -- they can figure out that there's something they have to read -- but it's not impossible for them to read.
这是我为英国卫报 做的一个作品 他们旗下有一个杂志叫做G2 这个作品是为 2007年的解谜特别版所作 为了设计谜题 我开始创造一系列小方块 我特别设计这些小方块 使这些小方块的形状包含了 字母的形状 然后我就能 把这些小方块组合起来 造出字母和单词 并使他们呈现出抽象的图案 然后我就能够 移动它们,旋转它们 然后用不同的方式组合它们 造出它们的正常形状 或者抽象的形状 所以,这是文字谜题 然后周围是一些抽象图案 你可以看到,这很难阅读 但是我所要做的只是 将字母的部分涂上颜色 然后我就能把这些词 从背景图案中突出出来 但是这样也许太明显了 所以我在背景中再添加一些颜色 然后在单词中也添加更多的颜色 用这种方法,并且同艺术指导合作 我就能够达到完美的一点 那就是对观众来说这是个谜题 他们能够感到这里有些东西他们需要去读 但并不是不可能读懂
I'm also interested in working with unusual materials and common materials in unusual ways. So this requires figuring out how to get the most out of something's innate properties and also how to bend it to my will. So ultimately, my goal is to create something unexpected. To this end, I have worked in sugar for Stefan Sagmeister, three-time TED speaker. And this project began essentially on my kitchen table. I've been eating cereal for breakfast all of my life. And for that same amount of time, I've been spilling sugar on the table and just kind of playing with it with my fingers. And eventually I used this technique to create a piece of artwork. And then I used it again to create six pieces for Stefan's book, "Things in My Life I've Learned So Far." And these were created without sketches, just freehand, by putting the sugar down on a white surface and then manipulating it to get the words and designs out of it. Recently, I've also made some rather highbrow baroque borders out of lowbrow pasta. And this is for a chapter that I'm doing in a book, and the chapter is on honor. So it's a little bit unexpected, but, in a way, it refers to the macaroni art that children make for their parents or they make in school and give to their parents, which is in itself a form of honor. This is what you can do with some household tinfoil. Okay, well, it's what I can do with some household tinfoil.
我还对运用 不寻常的材料感兴趣 或者是把平常的材料用出不同的用法 这需要知道如何 物尽其用 如何使材料服从我 最后的结果是 我的目标是创造一些意料之外的东西 为此,当我为一个曾经在TED做了3次演讲 的设计师Stefan Sagmeister 工作的时候,我用糖作画。 而这个项目原本 是从我的餐桌上发起的 在我的一生中 我一直吃麦片作早餐 有些时候 我把糖洒在桌子上 然后用我的手指头画来玩 最后我用这一技巧 做了一副作品 然后我用这一技巧为 Stefen的书做了6个作品 作品的名字叫做“至今为止,我从我的生命中所学到的” 这些作品 没有底稿,全部徒手制作 我把糖倒在一个白色的表面上 然后熟练的描绘 创造出字体和设计 最近,我还用 用廉价的意大利面 做出了很有巴洛克风格的作品 这个作品是我为这本书做的一个章节 而这个章节受到了好评 这是有一点出人意料的 但是,用这种方式 这种意大利面艺术 就像小孩为他们的父母做的 或者小孩们在学校做好,带给他们父母 这种艺术模式本很就是一种敬意 你可以用家用锡箔体现艺术 好的,这是我用家用锡箔作出的作品
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I'm very interested in wonder, in design as an impetus to inquiring. To say I wonder is to say I question, I ask. And to experience wonder is to experience awe. So I'm currently working on a book, which plays with both senses of the word, as I explore some of my own ideas and inquiries in a visual display of rather peacock-like grandeur. The world is full of wonder. But the world of graphic design, for the most part, is not. So I'm using my own writings as a kind of testing ground for a book that has an interdependency between word and image as a kind of seductive force. I think that one of the things that religions got right was the use of visual wonder to deliver a message. I think this true marriage of art and information is woefully underused in adult literature, and I'm mystified as to why visual wealth is not more commonly used to enhance intellectual wealth. When we look at works like this, we tend to associate them with children's literature. There's an implication that ornamental graphics detract from the seriousness of the content. But I really hope to have the opportunity to change that perception. This book is taking rather a long time, but I'm nearly done.
我对惊奇很感兴趣 在设计中推动人们去探寻 我所说的惊奇的意思是 我质疑,我询问 体验惊奇就是体验敬畏 我最近在写一本书 这本书是关于文字的意义 我探究了一些我自己的想法 和闻讯 这本书的视觉传达 像孔雀开屏般绚丽 世界充满了惊奇 但是平面设计的世界 在大部分的情况下,并不是这样 所以我用自己的写作 作为一个试验场 使文字和图像相互依存 使之成为一个富有诱惑力的力量 我想宗教所 做对的一点就是 应用视觉奇观 去传达一个主题思想 我想这就是艺术和信息的最好结合。 但令人遗憾的没有应用在成人文学中 我困惑于 为什么视觉财富没有得到更广泛的应用 为了曾强理智的财富 当我们看到像这样的作品时 我们倾向于把他和儿童作品联想起来 人们总是认为装饰性的图片 降低了内容的严肃性 但是我真心希望 自己能有机会改变人们的这种感觉 这本书花了我很长时间 但是我就快达到那种境界
For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to put an intermission in my talk. And this is it -- just to give you and me a moment to catch up.
犹豫一些原因 我想现在 稍微暂停一下 我的演讲 只为给你一点时间去跟上我的思路
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So I do these valentines. I've been sending out valentines on a fairly large scale since 2005. These are my valentines from 2005 and 2006. And I started by doing just a single image like this and sending them out to each person. But in 2007, I got the cockamamie idea to hand-draw each valentine for everyone on my mailing list. I reduced my mailing list to 150 people. And I drew each person their own unique valentine and put their name on it and numbered it and signed it and sent it out. Believe it or not, I devised this as a timesaving method. I was very busy in the beginning of that year, and I didn't know when I was going to find time to design and print a single valentine. And I thought that I could kind of do this piecemeal as I was traveling. It didn't exactly work out that way. There's a longer story to this, but I did get them all done in time, and they were extremely well received. I got an almost 100 percent response rate. (Laughter) And those who didn't respond will never receive anything from me ever again.
所以我做这些情人节卡片 从2005年起, 我开始制作大量的情人节卡片 这些就是我在2005到2006年间 做的情人节卡片 我从做一个 像这样简单的图片开始 把这些卡片送给每个人 但是在2007年 我有了手制情人节卡片 这个难以置信的想法 每一个在我邮寄名单上的人 我将名单上的人数减少到150人 然后为每个人画一张 他们独有的情人节卡片 把他们的名字放在贺卡上 并签上日期和姓名寄出 不论你相不相信, 我把这作为一种节约时间的方法 在那年初我十分的忙 我不知到什么时候能够抽出时间 去设计和打印出单张的情人节卡片 我想我可以把用在交通中的 零碎时间利用起来做这些作品 但事实上没有那么顺利 这种方法花了我更长的时间 但是我仍然在时限内完成了 并且得到了极好的反响 我得到了几乎百分之百的回复率 (笑声) 那些不过回复的人 让永远从我这里得不到任何东西
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Last year, I took a more conceptual approach to the valentine. I had this idea that I wanted people to receive a kind of mysterious love letter, like a found fragment in their mailbox. I wanted it to be something that was not addressed to them or signed by me, something that caused them to wonder what on Earth this thing was. And I specifically wrote four pages that don't connect. There were four different versions of this. And I wrote them so that they begin in the middle of a sentence, end in the middle of a sentence. And they're on the one hand, universal, so I avoid specific names or places, but on the other hand, they're personal. So I wanted people to really get the sense that they had received something that could have been a love letter to them. And I'm just going to read one of them to you.
去年 我用更概念化的做法设计了情人节贺卡 我有这个想法让人们 接受到一种 神秘的情书 就好像在邮箱里找到一个纸片 我希望这个纸片 没有署名也 也没有寄信人 这张纸片是他们疑惑 这到底是什么东西? 我特意写了 没有关联的四页纸 这有四个版本 我使这些版本 从一句话之中开始 从一句话之中结束 从另一种角度来说,他们能无限组合 所以我避免了一些名字或地点 但是从另一个角度来说,他们是独特的。 所以,我希望人们能感到 他们收到了一封 属于他的情书 我来给你读一段
"You've never really been sure of this, but I can assure you that this quirk you're so self-conscious of is intensely endearing. Just please accept that this piece of you escapes with your smile, and those of us who notice are happy to catch it in passing. Time spent with you is like chasing and catching small birds, but without the scratches and bird shit." (Laughter) "That is to say, your thoughts and words flit and dart, disconcertedly elusive at times, but when caught and examined -- ahh, such a wonder, such a delightful reward. There's no passing time with you, only collecting -- the collecting of moments with the hope for preservation and at the same time release. Impossible? I don't think so. I know this makes you embarrassed. I'm certain I can see you blushing. But I just have to tell you because sometimes I hear your self-doubt, and it's so crushing to think that you may not know how truly wonderful you are, how inspiring and delightful and really, truly the most completely ..."
你从没有确信 但是我可以担保 你的自我意识 是这样的美好 请收下这部分的你 尤其是带着你的笑容 我们这些注意到这一点的人 很高兴接受并传达这一点 和你在一起的时间就像同小鸟嬉戏 但是没有那些抓伤和鸟屎 (笑声) 这就是说 你的思想和语言是不定的 有时不安的让人难以琢磨 但是当思想被抓住,被审查 啊 真令人惊奇 有这样一个令人愉快的回报 与你在一起的每一刻 都不仅仅是度过,而是我的珍藏 我希望珍藏这些时刻 同时也回味这些时刻 不可能?我不这样想 我知道这令你尴尬 我确信我可以看到你在脸红 但是我必须告诉你 因为有时候我听说你感到不自信 这真是一种悲伤的想法 因为你自己不知到你是多么美好的一个人 你是那样的给人以灵感和欢乐 真的,你是最完美的
(Laughter)
(笑声)
(Applause)
(掌声)
So Valentine's Day is coming up in a couple of days, and these are currently arriving in mailboxes all around the world. This year, I got, what I really have to say is a rather brilliant idea, to laser cut my valentines out of used Christmas cards. So I solicited friends to send me their used Christmas cards, and I made 500 of these. Each one of them is completely different. I'm just really, really thrilled with them. I don't have that much else to say, but they turned out really well.
再过几天就是 情人节了 这些贺卡将要 到达世界各地的信箱 我必须讲讲我今年想出的 非常好的主意 用激光刀 用激光刀从用过的圣诞节卡片中 雕刻出新的卡片 所以我请求我的朋友 讲他们过去的圣诞节卡片寄给我 我收到了500张卡片 每个卡片都完全不同 看到这些卡片我感到非常激动 我没有什么别的语言形容 但是做出来的结果十分好
I do spend a lot of time on my work. And one of the things that I've been thinking about recently is what is worth while. What is it that's worth spending my time on and my life on in this way? Working in the commercial world, this is something that I do have to struggle with at times. And yes, sometimes I'm swayed by money. But ultimately, I don't consider that a worthy goal. What makes something worthwhile for me is the people I work for or with, the conditions I work under and the audience that I'm able to reach. So I might ask: "Who is it for?" "What does it say?" and "What does it do?"
我花了好多时间在制作上 我最近想的一件事 十分有价值 这种形式的创作值得我投入时间 甚至投入我的创作生涯么? 我要挣扎的工作在 商业世界中 对,有时候我为钱而动摇 但是我终究不认为钱是一个有价值的目标 让我的工作变的有价值的 是我为之工作的人,是同我一起工作的人 是我工作的环境 是我作品能够传达到的观众 所以我问我自己,这作品是为谁而做? 这个作品 这作品有什么用?
You know, I have to tell you, it's really difficult for someone like me to come up on stage at this conference with these unbelievably brilliant minds, who are thinking these really big-picture, world-changing, life-changing ideas and technologies. And it's very, very common for designers and people in the visual arts to feel that we're not contributing enough, or worse, that all we're doing is contributing to landfill. Here I am; I'm showing you some pretty visuals and talking about aesthetics. But I've come to believe that truly imaginative visual work is extremely important in society.
我必须告诉你,像我这样的人 上到这样一个台面 是很困难的 面对的都是让人难以置信的奇思妙想, 大家想的都是 真正的大画面 来到这个舞台,这个会场 主意和技术 设计师和 视觉艺术工作者 常常感到自己 并没有做出足够的贡献 或者更糟, 我们感到自己在制造垃圾 但我在这里向你们展示 一些漂亮图像 然后讲述美学 但是我开始相信 真正富有想象力的视觉作品 对我们的社会是十分重要的
Just in the way that I'm inspired by books and magazines of all kinds, conversations I have, movies, so I also think, when I put visual work out there into the mass media, work that is interesting, unusual, intriguing, work that maybe opens up that sense of inquiry in the mind, that I'm seeding the imagination of the populace. And you just never know who is going to take something from that and turn it into something else, because inspiration is cross-pollinating. So a piece of mine may inspire a playwright or a novelist or a scientist, and that in turn may be the seed that inspires a doctor or a philanthropist or a babysitter. And this isn't something that you can quantify or track or measure, and we tend to undervalue things in society that we can't measure.
就像我被 书本、 各种杂志 与他人的对话或电影启发的方式 所以我想 当我把有趣的 不同寻常的 吸引人的 能够在脑中引起思索 的作品放入大众媒体时 我找寻民众的想像力 你永远不知道 谁会从你的作品中获益 用你的作品进行再创造 因为灵感的传播 类似花粉的传播 就像我的一部分 会给一个剧作家 或者小说家,科学家以灵感 然后这种灵感又变成一个种子 来启发一个医生 或者一个慈善家 又或者一个保姆 灵感不是一种你可以 量化,追踪或者测量的东西 我们倾向于低估 那些不可测量的事物的价值
But I really believe that a fully operating, rich society needs these seeds coming from all directions and all disciplines in order to keep the gears of inspiration and imagination flowing and cycling and growing. So that's why I do what I do, and why I spend so much time and effort on it, and why I work in the commercial, public sphere, as opposed to the isolated, private sphere of fine art: because I want as many people as possible to see my work, notice it, be drawn into it, and be able to take something from it. And I actually really feel that it's worthwhile to spend my valuable and limited time on this Earth in this way. And I thank you for allowing me to show it to you.
但是我真的相信 一个成熟并丰饶的社会 需要各方面各文化背景 带来的启发 去保持整个社会的 灵感和想象力 不断循环般地的被激发 这就是我做我想做的事情的原因 也是我投入大量时间于其中的原因 这也是为什么我在商务和公共领域工作 而不是单独的,自我的 创造艺术作品 因为我想让更多的人 看到,注意到,和参与到我的作品种 并且从这一过程种获得一些东西 事实上我真的感到 像这样把我宝贵的 有限的存活在地球上的时间 投入到这项事业中来 是有价值的 感谢你们允许我将这一切展示给你
(Applause)
(鼓掌)