Australian design legend Mimmo Cozzolino on the importance of continuing your design education as a professional
The Design Manual third edition is now available. Australian design legend Mimmo Cozzolino kindly wrote the foreword and agreed to this post.
“I wish David Whitbread’s Design Manual had been around when I was getting a design education in the late 1960s in Melbourne. It would have come in extremely handy and I would, I am sure, have turned out a far more erudite designer, quicker.
Instead I was taught mainly by ex-professional graphic designers and retired ad agency art directors with little or no teaching experience. They knew their stuff but mostly didn’t know how to pass it on. In any case very little was written down. I basically started learning real stuff on my first job but in an ad hoc way.
The first indispensable book that I found in my search to become a better professional was Paul Rand’s Thoughts on Design (Studio Vista, 1970, third edition). This became my bible when, in 1973 (with no teaching experience), I was asked to teach a half day a week class to first year design students. I had only worked for two years and didn’t know much. But what I lacked in knowledge, I made up for in enthusiasm, and the little book on the Thoughts of Chairman Rand. I wasn’t surprised to see quotes by Rand sprinkled throughout David’s Manual.
“... Maintaining professionalism is an on-going endeavour. The changes that have happened in our profession even since the 1980s digital revolution are mind-boggling.”
In the 40 years I have been in and around the Australian design profession I have seen a great many changes. The formation in 1987 of AGDA (the Australian Graphic Design Association) was one such change. AGDA’s primary aim was to raise the standards of design professionalism in our country. As one of the founders of AGDA I feel very proud of that achievement. But maintaining professionalism is an on-going endeavour. The changes that have happened in our profession even since the 1980s digital revolution are mind-boggling.
This is where I see the value of David’s reference Manual playing its part in assisting designers become informed and keep up to date. As a guest lecturer over my entire career my mantra has been that we need to train young designers to not only make eloquent marks but to speak eloquently about their mark-making to their colleagues, clients and the media. Critical awareness of tradition helps to build this eloquence. Equally, a mighty, sound and easily accessible 647-page Manual is a boon for entry level designers as well as seasoned operators.
Get into it!”
Many thanks to Mimmo for his glowing review. See Mimmo’s breadth of graphic design and artistic works at mimmocozzolino.com and buy The Design Manual online now.