Illustration: Graphic Design’s Poor Relation

Admit it. Oh, come on. Everybody knows that illustration is nothing. Nothing compared to graphic design. Nothing compared to photography.

The first time I applied to RISD, in 1973, I was rejected. The following year (after a bizarre experience at the California College of Arts and Crafts) I was accepted. In California, all I remembered was doing lithographs and that I had a little white dog. Photo Realism was all the rage and I hated it with a vengeance. Since my questionable skill as an artist had deteriorated, if anything, during that time, the reason for RISD’s change of heart remains a mystery.

There I decided to major in Graphic Design, because I loved type. I had discovered El Lissitsky, Lebedev, Malevitch and Rodchenko- those were my gods at the time. Also, it was a political decision. I came from a privileged and artistic family, so naturally the pursuit of “Art” with a capital “A” I considered suspect; an indulgence only the elite could afford. Surrounded by books on Matisse and Picasso, I vowed to create the world’s loveliest pizza box. Give them art where they didn’t expect it- not on a gallery wall, but on shampoo! Maybe something influenced by Stuart Davis. But nobody ever asked me to design a pizza box.

Basel, Shmazel. At RISD in the ‘70’s, what I called the Swiss Miss style prevailed. Among other peculiar assignments was a concrete book (as in concrete poetry) and I was immediately aware that I had been catapulted into an even more rarified artistic environment. “Univers” was the only acceptable typeface, and then there were the grids. Grids! No pictures allowed, unless they were grainy black and white photos. Here’s a word I’ll hate forever: “conceptual.” I think it means “un-stupid.” Design turned out to be even more snobbish and existential than painting. I longed for a down-to-earth project, like a new candy bar or something. Besides, I missed drawing.

So I transferred to the Illustration department. There, luckily, I met Mahler Ryder, a teacher who encouraged every possible kind of artwork, up to and including things that looked kind of like graphic design. I feel sad because he died so young. Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Warhol and Ed Ruscha, were my influences. My theory will always be this: look for the passionate teachers. It doesn’t matter what they teach. Of course the other Illustration professors encouraged me to return to the Graphic Design department, since every single piece I produced included typography, and they didn’t think that was Illustration, really. Uh, okay. I was young and insecure. Now I’m old and insecure. It’s much better!

Here’s the absolute worst thing you can say to the head of a Graphic Design department: “Oh, Come On! It’s only graphic design! It’s not like engineering! A building’s not gonna fall on somebody’s head or something because I missed a few weeks.” They wouldn’t let me back in the department, unless I took a whole extra year. (!) ($!) Clearly, Graphic Design is a very Serious Thing. It was a Big Deal. The choice had become such an issue, such a source of contention that the fun of making art was nearly gone forever.

There was nowhere to go but Painting, where no one was minding the store anyway and I had time for a few Graphic Design electives. Thank God for the late Michael Glass. He was the teacher responsible for my own acceptance of the possibility of a lighthearted and tolerant world, where illustration and design and painting could live in Peace and Harmony Together. I brought drawing into my design work, and type into my drawings, and I’ve done that ever since, with happy results. It’s a tough sell, but what gets through can be something complete, something my own, and not a little picture in a block of somebody’s badly-designed text.

Did anyone call Paul Rand an illustrator? Just check out his “El Producto” ads. Cassandre? What about Herbert Leupin, Bruno Munari or Milton Glaser? Some more respected names in our field include Paul Colin, the Stenberg brothers, Herbert Bayer.

If you’re good, they call you a Graphic Designer, even if you use drawing in nearly every piece. If this were a matter of semantics, it wouldn’t matter, but thousands, perhaps millions of students are registering as Illustration majors. What does this mean?

Reprinted with permission of Communication Arts, ©2002 Coyne & Blanchard, Inc. All rights reserved. Coke and Holiday images by the author Laurie Rosenwald.