The Barnes Foundation
This field trip provided a wonderful opportunity for me to actually visit the Barnes Foundation for the first time. The building is beautiful yet imposing on the outside, and the interior only complements the overall contemporary and secret-agent-esque aesthetic of the place. I did not get a chance to walk around much, but from the little I have seen of the space inside, I cannot wait to come back one day and fully admire the splendor of the galleries. The space was cast in a cozy, warm lighting, which highlights the numerous artworks on display along with the many eccentric decorations accompanying them. The room we were led into was a small but functional space, and there we got to meet two lovely and talented in-house designers — Olivia and Pauline.
It was an entire other experience to be able to listen to Olivia and Pauline's everyday experience as working graphic designers. I learned so much about their creative process and the collaborative nature of their job. What was most impressive and meaningful to me was hearing about their struggles, especially in communicating their ideas to people outside of their field. There are so many obstacles between their initial visions and the final product, like the multitudes of copyright laws, or having to completely shred a fully-developed design concept and recreate everything from scratch. They were very passionate about their work, and it was evident through the beautiful designs they have created and presented to us. This trip definitely increased my interest in potentially becoming an in-house designer in the future.