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Abstract The Art of Design_Season 2 (Netflix)

Updated: Sep 13, 2021


Continuing Abstract The Art of Design season 2, a Netflix show, for design inspiration. This show contains innovative designers that have impacted our culture and way of life. Inspiration is important in the process of improving my art. Here is what I have learned:



Episode 1 – Olafur Eliasson The Design of Art


1. Evaluate your space

2. Colors effect mood

3. Play with lighting

4. We create reality

5. Ask “Why do I make what I make?”

6. Take inspiration from nature

7. Create rough sketches

8. Ask why and work with people who know how

9. Analyze your past

10. Look for geometric shapes in nature

11. Change perspectives

12. Analyze other peoples’ past

13. Make abstract thoughts tangible

14. Doodle your feelings

15. Listen to your fantasies

16. Use art to help others & solve problems

17. Daylight is different in different areas of the world



Episode 2 – Neri Oxman: Bio-Architcture


1. Design solution to serious problems

2. Design new materials

3. Mimic nature’s behavior

4. Think small (microscopic)

5. Try to omit plastics

6. Give other permission to change & experiment

7. Create space to think of the future

8. Work in pairs

9. Imagination has a responsibility to work faster than tech

10. Leave home to discover home

11. Bring back the wonder you had as a kid

12. Ask questions about space & time

13. Combine art, design, science, & engineering

14. Great designs & scientific knowledge are based in myth

15. Study the past to discover how beauty & function

16. Build self-confidence

17. Ask “why?” & “why not?”

18. Show what is possible

19. Nothing & everything is a miracle



Episode 3 – Ruth Carter: Costume Design


1. Take inspiration for art that is not similar to yours

2. Take an idea & bring it to life through wardrobe

3. Make it look natural in the environment

4. Read the material given to you

5. Do extra research

6. Create light-weight alternatives

7. Create outward emotions

8. Projects are never done, they change & evolve

9. If you are good, you will be pursued

10. Know when to take an opportunity

11. Re-write the negative to the positive

12. Make your creations tell a story

13. Honor the human through your designs

14. Visit your family

15. Enjoy your education

16. Create stuff out of nothing

17. Re-invent your outfits

18. Observe people to gain ideas

19. Do rough sketches on paper then take it to digital for details

20. Collaborate with communicative individuals

21. Look at the past to create inspiration as the future

22. Go to the source of your inspiration

23. Put in unique details

24. Try a different medium for personal art

25. Loss can be freeing

26. Art is prayer

27. Look at your past work



Episode 4 – Cas Holman: Design for Play


1. Inspire imagination

2. Give people tools to explore new ideas

3. Design for play

4. Look at old exercise equipment

5. Make as many rough sketches as you can

6. Play with size (small to big & big to small)

7. Make your subject feel understood

8. Be open to let people with money help

9. Easy is boring – engage your thinking

10. Be aware & pay attention

11. Don’t be afraid to trust by not making so simple

12. Play is intuitive, sometime there is no physical outcome

13. Encourage curiosity

14. Enjoyment is essential

15. Make weird stuff

16. Make things open-ended

17. Question gender roles

18. Good toys make good people

19. Try partnering with people “ripping you off” before jumping to lawsuits

20. Empower thinking outside the archetype



Episode 5 – Ian Spalter: Digital Product Design


1. Bring things far away closer

2. See what is new

3. Think about user experience & user interface

4. Create easy & pleasurable design

5. Think about human factor & how tools are used

6. Access can be limited so use your time wisely

7. Create system to improve habits

8. Understand why & what you are solving for

9. Look at what’s already out

10. Look at the overall shape

11. Make a lot of bad stuff

12. People will sometimes hate your change

13. Loving your design will take time

14. People should know what to do quickly

15. Think about how people consume images & stories

16. Use porotypes similar to the end products

17. Re-designs can be good or disastrous

18. Study the user as much as possible

19. Use as many different kinds of testers as possible

20. Study the behind the scenes of special effects

21. Pick one thing & do it extremely well

22. Look at details in a different way

23. Pay attention to what you gravitate towards

24. Think about how people think

25. Emotions can be a metric

26. Sometimes your creation can be abused

27. Think about the consequences of your creation

28. Design is continuous



Episode 6 – Jonathan Hoefler: Typeface Design


1. Every letter you have read has been designed by hand

2. Study heights & weights

3. Look at shapes that type will be contained in

4. Re-using the same typeface for everything can drive people crazy

5. Take a microscope to small font sizes (such as pocket watches)

6. Inject humor to open your life

7. Re-tool pre-existing designing into different iterations

8. Start with books

9. Look at type that reemerge through the ages

10. Look at small details & adjust

11. Think of the many uses: digital, paper, wayfinding, buildings, ect.

12. Find acentric features

13. Study inconsistencies

14. Experiment with proportions

15. Look at the empty space between

16. Think of movement

17. When you hit a snag, see if you can add item to make it more flexible

18. Consider optical illusions

19. Exact measurements & optics can conflict

20. Present in a way that show how people will use it

21. Does the letter give meaning to the word?

22. Walk to see how your work will be used


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