Recently, 3st announced a partnership with Hedrich Blessing and their photographer Dave Burk in a series of short architectural films called The Moving Image. The first installment focuses on Jeanne Gang’s Columbia College Chicago Media Production Center.

Each film in The Moving Image will feature a unique soundscape from intermedia designer John Pobojewski / 3st. Below are excerpts from a conversation with John on how he created a consistent sound identity for this series.

Why was there a desire for a bespoke soundscape?

JP / 3ST: In early conversations with Dave Burk, Rick Valicenti, and Hedrich Blessing President Jon Miller, we agreed that any sound or music for these films had to be as unique as the photograph itself, and ideally tied directly to the quality of light found in these moving images. The artful mastery of Hedrich Blessing’s imagery could not afford to be commodified by stock music.

I also felt that a consistent timbre was needed to unite the film series. So we began searching for the right context… the right historical precedent to play against.

What proper precedent exists?

Jon and I discovered a shared love for the neue jazz world of recording label ECM, and their tremendous relationship with art photography. For over 40 years, ECM has been exhibiting the most beautiful austere photographs within album artwork for most of their artists: Bill Frisell, Dave Holland, Keith Jarrett, Marc Johnson, and many more.

It only seemed fitting to reference the ECM sound across all these films… the sizzle of the ride symbol, the upright bass, the sense of mystery all provided the right flavors.

How did the soundscape you created connect to the image?

Any soundscape, like any design, needs an structure to build from. How Hedrich Blessing captures light quality is the unique aspect of our film series and it’s what makes their work timeless.Therefore, it seemed like the perfect question to ask was: what does light sound like?

And how did you answer this question?

Rather literally, actually. We began by choosing the key moments in the film, and then sampled their light values in dark, mid, and bright tones.

From these tones, I took the hue values and matched them to degrees on a color wheel. By then mapping those same percentage values onto a music composition tool called the circle of fifths, we were given pitches that matched directly to the color of the light.

From the color of the light comes the pitches of the sound.

How did it all come together?

The poetry then comes in how you connect these pitches with horizontal melodic lines and vertical harmonic lines. Those decisions were influenced directly from the architecture. Layering plays such a critical part in the success of Studio Gang’s building: layering of translucent textures, layering of view orientation, layering of spaces.

This layering led me to the sound worlds of Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, and the overlapping washes of guitar paired with delay.

From here, I added the upright bass and sizzle ride cymbal as our minimalist rhythm section and a vibraphone duet with the lead guitar in framing the highest tones in our chord set. This “soprano” of guitar and vibes then dialogues back and forth with sounds from the space itself: the reflected conversations off of the concrete walls, the construction sounds of the soundstage sets, the traffic driving by.

Altogether, the soundscape helps propel the film forward, woven tightly together with the moving images. And hopefully leaving the viewer wanting more. — JP/3ST

-Bud

Download audio file (rickonmiltonglaser.mp3)

It was a sad day last week to read of the demise of Paul Rand’s seminal YALE PRESS logotype.

While I have always loved the simple magic inherent in these four constructed letters, a few years ago I decided to channel Mr. Rand’s spirit into a collection of typographic experiments and expressions including the Thirst logotype. Whenever I work within the Yale Press linguistic typology, I think of myself as someone who is carrying the spark of life belonging to someone else. It has been a personal and professional pleasure leading me to creative places I could never have imagined two years ago and therefore, I am both changed and grateful to this Mr. Rand’s press mark.

Now, upon re-reading the dialog that surrounds the announcement of Yale’s decision, I am disappointed by the decision to put this iconic form to pasture and in turn swap it with the ubiquitous/generic. The only question that comes to my mind is why didn’t they adopt this typographic brilliance to represent the university? Cowards all of them.

from yale daily news:
The two organizations, which have “complementary missions,” may be trying to bring together paths that have diverged in recent years, University Printer John Gambell said. Although Gambell said he was fond of Rand’s logo, he added that the design had plenty of critics.

“A lot of people didn’t like it,” Gambell said. “A lot of people found it kind of asymmetrical and untraditional and kind of a little bit hard to decode.”

i4 Design Editorial Spreads

AIGA Miami Lecture Poster and Classic Color’s Las Vegas Poster

Lyric’s ’09 Season Poster

Jessica LaGrange Valentine

Moving Design’s Logo

A quick thank you to our friend Rodrigo Corral at the New York Times.

Rodrigo

THANK YOU SO MUCH

you went beyond all of my expectations by framing this little gem, and i am so grateful! it hangs on our wall next to Frank Gerhy, Sagmeister, and above Weingart.

you’re the best.

r

I had always wondered how Melanie (summer 2009) became so accomplished at applying those pesky illustrator gradients. Well, on her last day as Thirst’s summer apprenticeship, she told us that she had once worked at a packaging firm where she did the packaging for my favorite candy: DOTS! (sweet).

The O pictured above is one of 26 new characters for Classic Color’s forthcoming UV Coating sample book.

Margaret, Steve, Barbara. and friends…
it is an honor to be here with you this morning.

it’s been twenty eight years and three months and seven days 
since i worked under Bruce as his last full time employee at bruce beck design. 

In those three and a half years, i had the life-changing privilege of learning
in the same studio with Bruce, his partners Hayward and Jack, you, Margaret, 
and the many other young designers mentored by these seasoned professionals. 

but it was my time with Bruce that holds the most undiminished pleasure— 
one that I will never let go of, for you see, I know Bruce as a mentor 
who’s gift of time illuminated a way of life for me.

today I really miss Bruce. 
he was such an important yet undescribable life force. 

on so many occasions i remember him coming out of his office, 
holding his felt-tip drawing on a piece of tracing paper in his hands 
and a big smile under his mustache.
it was clear that during all of the day to day office stuff of professional practice, 
Bruce still delighted in the joy of making. 
thank you, Bruce, for showing me how it should feel.

—-

a few years after working with Bruce we met in the city.
he had just produced his STA keepsake for Robert Vogele… 
and he was obviously thrilled with his design — it’s craft, it’s simplicity—
especially the language he used to describe Bob. 

and on that day, I could see that Bruce was rich 
with the unique reward which comes from bringing respect to life.

another fantastic lesson…
thank you, Bruce.

—-

Bruce was a distinguished gentlemen in life and within design.
while he held high the values of craft, tradition, history, 
he also embraced modernism.
he transcended service with friendship… 
and delighted in the most current innovations.

today, Bruce just might have loved the connections found online 
in the web of social networking 
and simultaneously seen the whackiness of it all.
I know he would have loved this connection.

Here’s a little something from someone I have never met…

On 5 AUGUST 2009 AT 9:49 PM BRIAN SAUNDERS posted this on my website.

hi Rick,

i’m one of the recent graduates from Northern Illinois University’s 
visual communications program, and having heard you speak on a few occasions 
i recall you mentioning Bruce Beck’s name. 
at the time his name held no special significance for me, 
but it is only now, upon hearing of his passing, 
that an interesting story revealed itself.

it turns out Bruce was my grandpa’s best friend in life! 
they both grew up in harvard, illinois and knew each other from the age of three. 
they served in World War II together and remained good friends 
until my grandpa died in 1995. 
my grandpa was even mentioned in the very nice obituary that was printed
(though not by name). 

my Dad has fond memories of going over to Bruce’s house with his family 
and being very interested in the printing press that he was running 
from his basement, and just listening to the way Bruce talked and carried himself.

who would have thought? 

it’s a shame I only found this out after Bruce’s passing, 
because it would have been wonderful to meet Bruce and hear some of his insights. 

i’m sure he would have been a wonderful help.

—-

yes, Brian, Bruce was a wonderful help.

on the day I first met Bruce he said to me after he reviewed my wanna-be portfolio, 
“I really don’t like your work, but I love your (personal) style.”

ever since then I have asked, what type of person actually says something like this 
to a young person upon first meeting?

the only answer I have come to live with is that this type of person 
is brutally honest and one that sees himself in others.

if in fact, Bruce saw a bit of me in himself on that day—
i know for a fact that i see quite a bit of Bruce in myself everyday.
and for that I am a better person.

—-

once when I was thanking Bruce for all he had shared, 
he told me the best way to say thank you 
is simply to pass on whatever you were given to someone else.

and so I have, and will continue to pass on to designers of the next generation, 
the spirit of Bruce Beck.

on this day, Bruce, let me say it to you once again…
thank you.

Rick Valicenti