Reamscape
July/August 2006
photograph ©Mark Ostow
How grand were the artistic ideals of the graduating class in Yale's graphic design program?
Exactly eight and a half by eleven inches grand. For this year's MFA thesis exhibition, which covered the walls -- and floor -- of the art school's gallery space at 1156 Chapel Street, the student designers displayed their projects using standard letter-size sheets of paper. The exhibit was much discussed on the blog DesignObserver. One critic suggested it smelled more of fine art than "design as a practical, problem-solving discipline." But School of Art faculty member Dan Michaelson argued that there are plenty of problems to solve when 15 students adapt their work to letter-size paper and collaborate on an exhibit. He added: "If part of graphic design's job isn't to make the world a little more fun, then count me out."
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