Westphal Event Assignment: A Talk with Mark Venezky!
Immediately diving into his postcard collections of the moon, I was amazed by Mark at the very beginning. Mark talked about his fondness for the moon at a young age and his collection varying from postcards to stamps. He further showed us examples of how his collecting hobby led as inspiration to his works. What really drew me in was Mark’s topic about having to push for your ideas as a graphic designer; the fact that Mark ended up making the “stamp collection” book in order to prove that his idea was worth investing really showed his dedication. Towards the end, Mark rounded us back to his moon reference in which I could not remember specifically, but in the moment I thought was so clever, because it truly showed how his love for the moon/collection was not a one time idea, but a constant source of inspiration.
When Mark showed us his “stamp collection” book that portrayed patterns like M. Night Shyamalan scenes to hats from the 1920s, I was honestly stunned. There is so much repetition around us that we sometimes fail to acknowledge; when put all together in a collage or a fun stamp collection, it is satisfying to the eye and it makes me wonder why and how. I absolutely love hearing how Mark usually created works by hand and then scan it to render on Photoshop. Although it was a tidbit of his “work style”, it felt nice knowing there was an amazing graphic designer that worked similarly to me. In the end, Mark’s words about visuals/design over concept resonated in me for some odd reason. He made a point that concept shouldn’t be your centered focus, sometimes a visual design will work more in your favor and that it will eventually represent the concept by itself.
Towards the very end of the talk, a couple of friends and I decided to linger back to talk to Mark and ask for photo. He once again didn’t fail to engage us in a conversation asking us what design means to us and how did we figure out that we wanted to major in it. He emphasized how we will be the new generation of Graphic Design and how we will control our audiences and to put it in simple terms: I’m excited.