Annotated Bibliography

Gall, John. “The Nabokov Collection.” Design Observer. November 9, 2009.
This is a brief article articulating the structure of a project that was given to designer John Gall. His project was to redesign Vladimir Nabokov’s twenty one book covers. Each cover that was created consisted of a photograph of a specimen box that was filled with paper, ephemera, and insect pins. Each photograph was created to evoke the content of each book. This article and the slideshow images that are incorporated in the article are an example of how design can be suggestive of a book’s content rather than a forthright depiction of a book’s content.

Baldessari, John. “Systems John Baldessari.” Art 21. This is an excerpt from an Art 21 book that describes and discusses the work of John Baldessari. The article is a discussion of Baldessari’s process of design,and how he creates his work. This article relates to my research of how intentionally omitted information in a design can activate a viewer. Baldessari eliminates much of the information in his paintings or photos, forcing the viewer to fill in the purposefully incomplete story.

Lawrence, Rinder. “Felix Gonzalez-Torres.” Queer Cultural Center. This article describes the work in the MATRIX exhibition of the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres. More specifically, this article discusses his photograph turned public work, called “Untitled 1991.” The photograph of an empty but slept in bed was made into a billboard for all to experience. This article relates to my research because it helps portray how suggestive and metaphorical design differs from straightforward design concepts. This is an example of how simple icon, index, and symbol do not activate the viewer as much as other design concepts can.

Mau, Bruce. “Panama Museum of Biodiversity.” Bruce Mau Design. This is a brief excerpt from Bruce Mau’s design website. It is a description of creating the world’s first museum of biodiversity and what kind of conceptual model was used for the design. The article communicates why the museum was built the way it was, and what affect the design has on the visitor. This article relates to my thesis research because it describes how Mau intentionally omitted certain aspects of the museum that traditional museums usually uphold to activate the visitor’s experience.