2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspirational, Insightful, and Inspiring, December 14, 2009
As designers, we are generally cultural anthropologists: we love to collect visual bits and pieces, the ephemera of our observable world. We take a lot of photographs. Some of them of seemingly odd things. Feet in a crowd. Found type on a building. So forth and so on.
These photographs are a visual log of our world, the bits and pieces many of us pass over or ignore, things proposed and preserved in new light. They are not only insightful to the process of a designer, but also inspirational. And it is Bucher's goal to collect this mass of anthropological data into one, cohesive volume, a goal he succeeds greatly in.
From the cover and the end sheets to the pages itself, the book is beautifully and transparently layed out, with a strong grid, subtle typography, and beautifully layed out (and printed) images. Bucher shows his more subdued, clean side here (versus the off-the-wall aesthetic of his Daily Monsters), but the style is still, undeniably, Bucher's (take a look at the seemingly random halftone pattern on the reverse of the cover from afar for a lovely visual suprise).
As for the photographs themselves, they are diverse in subject and style, in intimacy and in disconnectedness, internal and external. Whether the photographs be intensely personal or merely snapshots of the surrounding environs of their respective designers, whether they be artistic compositions shot on analog film or quick documentarian snapshots, each one gives new insight into the process and visual mind, and often sometimes the dynamic life, of the designer. Far from the typical detached nature of the photographic coffee-table book, Bucher's collection is intensely personal and individualized. The voices, inspirations, and stories of each designer all ring out clearly and cohesively, whether it be in mere photograph, or additional textual commentary.
A wonderful tome of inspiration and insight for the curious, The Graphic Eye is highly recommended towards any with a visually-inclined mind.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a beautiful collection that incites to rediscover our own surroundings, December 31, 2009
in 2009, adrian shaughnessy and tony brook gave us a rare glimpse into the studios of graphic designers. stefan bucher gave us something much more intimate: an insight into their minds.
"the graphic eye" is not about people who set up a darkroom, painstakingly preparing the perfect shot. this is not a compilation of professional photographers' work.
this book is about people who follow their hearts (and trigger fingers). they show us what interests them, take pictures which expose their obsessions, tell us a story, reveal something intriguing and sometimes take a photograph just because it looks beautiful. it's a compilation of graphic designers' views of the world. (think of it as "being john malkovich" without the disadvantages.)
since it's that kind of subject, its design shouldn't go unmentioned: it is delicate, yet playful with its use of color. the layout is very generous to the images and their sequence invites serendipitous discoveries. utilizing the typeface univers on a solid grid, there's nothing left to second-guess. as they said in the sixties about brubeck: "bravo! bucher!"
"the graphic eye" is not just a demonstration of how graphic designers view the world. it's a manifesto to rediscover our own curiosity in the subtle and often unnoticed things surrounding our daily lives. this book incites us to look for all the beauty we might miss otherwise.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get your Graphic Eye(s) OPEN!!, December 23, 2009
Stefan outdoes himself on a regular basis. Seriously. I am amazed at the constellation of artists and imagery in his latest work: THE GRAPHIC EYE. He has this way of approaching his work with equal measures of reverence for the "thing itself," simplicity and total aesthetic extravagance. Buy two, so you can avoid that awkward moment when one of your closest friends tries to wrestle you for your only copy. [...]
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