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Inge Druckrey

Inge Druckrey

            As a design student I felt that the Inge Druckrey documentary was good to watch based on technique and how to improve your eye as a designer.  I thought the approaches she took towards teaching her class was really interesting. For example, starting the class out by training the eye and teaching them what things to look for and what they should be finding in the design.  I think a lot can be learned by looking at a work of art and determining the shape, the textural quality, and if your eye moves around enjoyably.  She mentioned that you should control the negative area, which is important because if you do not, then the viewer is not going to have a pleasant experience while viewing your work.  However, she also stated that if you love something, your work will be fine and for me that means that if you put time and energy into whatever you are making, that will be evident in your work. 

While looking at an object you may be about to draw, she challenged her students to go beyond what it is, what is it doing?  It is not simply sitting there, it is an object in a space, taking up space and creating space around it.  I think it challenges her students to interpret the object in a deeper way and to push themselves to not just see the object for what it is, but a piece of art in itself.  This creates a good learning experience for the students because it puts them through a series of experiences, but for a clear, common goal.

I thought it was cool that she let her calligraphy class make their own typeface.  She let them think outside of the box and come up with something of their own, and she said some of her students came up with the wackiest, out of this world things, but then she brought them back to earth.  She told them that if was fine if they did what they wanted, however, there were certain things that needed to be evident in their typeface.  I think should I ever create my own typeface, just a few of the key points she named would be very helpful.  She stated that the letters have to share a common structure, the letters should be distinct from each other, and they should have the proper geometric spacing. 

I enjoyed watching this documentary on Inge Druckrey because it made me think about things in a way I had not necessarily thought of before.  I loved the fact that she pushed her students to look at an object for something deeper than it really is.  Doing this as a class can definitely push students to create something meaningful and bouncing ideas off of each other can only help the learning environment.