OUGD502 - Summer Reflection

Over summer, the most influential experience I had was going on holiday to New York.

I went on a trip for my mums 50^th birthday with her, my grandma and my sister. We visited all the usual tourist hot spots – Statue of Liberty, Empire State, 9/11 Museum, etc. Amongst doing all these things, I kept my eyes peeled in terms of graphic design around the city. There were so many great and different examples of contemporary design. I visited the MoMA, but I have to say I was quite disappointed. The actual exhibitions did not live up to my expectations – obviously art galleries are very personal and everyone views and experiences them differently, but the kind of work on show was not to my taste. I personally wouldn’t have said the art was ‘modern’ as such – it was full of Picasso paintings and other really old work! I thought that a ‘modern’ art gallery in the centre of the thriving creative city that is New York would be full of really cool and interesting pieces… it wasn’t. However, the graphic design for the museum’s identity is something I thought was really nice – it was contemporary and minimalist yet very effective. It really didn’t match with the actual work displayed inside the museum though! Two totally different vibes.

Overall, I had a fab time and it was really cool to see how the creative industries are portrayed in a different country.