Design as a Conversation

An example of design as a conversation, is this video I watched a while back about the late John Lennon, though the interview is very insightful and philosophical, it was the visual animations following the interview that made me admire it. The overall work was a group effort made by director Josh Raskin, illustrators James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina. The style is almost collage-like, showing ideas Lennon talks about relating to society. The short film uses many different art styles from photographs, 3d objects, and illustrations as means of emphasizing Lennon's speech. Almost every word gets own segment in the film. Therefore the main meaning of the animation is to emphasize Lennon’s view of our current social status.

                Design in this case relates to conversation; in that it amplifies the conversation already there, and makes viewers second guess at their own thoughts. As I viewed this video I became more aware of Lennon philosophies and almost felt like I was in the room with him during the conversation. The animation shows Lennon’s possible imagination as he is being interviewed. Although the animation is very detailed, it cannot communicate the same way without the interview’s audio. This shows the unity the animation and audio have with each other. The audio provides the words and then the film provides the context. The animation is unified by these pen strokes that connect all the ideas together. The animation has a sketchy feel to show sort of a brainstorm on paper. Soon after it’s make this film was nominated for a academy award and won a emmy.