april greiman thinking about perception i take perception to mean not only the visual from a fixed point but also the connection of the body the breath and of multiple perspectives to the symbols around us as well as their connection to the space of the field where the relationship activated if there was a very concrete symbol in a dream i d sketch it or i d write down a word which spoke the loudest if the symbology was so strong that i d be in that dream for a couple of weeks then i d write the entire dream down so that i would always remember it background april greiman born and raised in metropolitan new york city in 1948 is a rare individual in the world of graphic design she s someone who sets her own goals and so aspects of greiman s practice have little to do proper definitions of graphic design rather most of which comes from her research and personal agenda instead of following hardand fast rules or predictable solutions what s more valuable is the duality diversity abstraction experimentation and intuition greiman attained her bachelor of fine arts at kansas city art institute and later enrolled in basel design school in switzerland in 1970 while everyone was hesitant toward the use of computers greiman saw the computer as the real stroke of genius a tool that provided infinite choice changes and possibilities greiman later moved to los angeles in 1976 my personal research is about what in my heart i feel it is important to explore and discover i ll always be designing it s not what i do it s who i am and was introduced to Edith Sullwold who directed greiman toward research materials and ways to learn mroe about color myth and symbol that research became a part of my waking consciousness and daily agenda the reason for such emphasis is that when used appropriately color myth and symbol add meaning and content to visual communication greiman s definiton of design is all inclusive all form is is content so are emotion texture words symbols color and technology basel was completely non theoretical a profound educaiton in the perceptual it was what i call my first experience of zen because most of the teachers didn t speak english they taught in silence and i was teaching myself which was a really invaluable experience you don t have to give up your pencil when you switch to computer design the mac s just another pencil description april greiman s works range across a multitude of media from printed business cards to websites additional works shaping the future of healthcare inference corporation pacific design center westweek pikes peak la county museum of art la olympics committee pc world magazine limbex and web compass computer visualizations lux and us west fresco restaurant cal state student union digital campfires japan pga gold club cover for 1988 aiga annual studio identity vitra workspirit bellini lifetime television sci arc walker art center nicola design quarterly 133 mak center us postal serivce miracle manor wet magazine cerritos center dorland mtn arts colony carlson reges residence vertigo the china club moma urban revisions california institute of arts tse cashmere sci arc april greiman has worked on identity and publishing projects at sci arc in la since 1989 my first commission at sci arc was to design the identity from then on i was responisble for the majority of graphic material produced for the college cerritos center the cerritos center for the performing arts in california was my first largescale environmental project the architect barton myers needed someone who could not only work with four inch square ceramic tiles but also produce a graphic identity and stationery system he trusted me enough to make the leap from two to three dimensions design quarterly 133 does it make sense design quarterly is a publication of the walker art center in minneapolis directed to the international design community each issue takes on a single topic or occasionally represents the work of a single designer mickey friedman offered me an issue of my own to see what i woulde do my idea for the issue was to do it as a 2 x 6 poster that folds down to fit in a sleeve the size of a regular copy of the magazine the poster was to be a personal experiment in which oen side was a life size collage created entirely on the mac and the other side carried a variety of related text and video images april greiman is internationally recognized as one of the world s most innovative and influential designers today she brings a unique approach that blends technology and science with symbol and myth words and images with texture and space her expertise lies in color surfaces materials consulting trans media identity as well as branding projects symbols i include letters here are not only stand ins for a concept or elements in a whole but things in themselves for instance O is not only a letter but also something which one can step into a void a condition in space that relates to the body O is also related to the breath when spoken it hollows the throat hangs then evaporates in the air different letters and sounds are directly connected to various organ functions in the hu I ve always been a science friendly person but also man body likewise a word can be an image not merely appended to an image to explain fascinated with magic with technology today we can it a sheet of paper isn t merely a neutral receiver of symbols but a field or space that is tra float ideas text and images in time and space versed the eye walks jumps journeys through inside and outside of it it is where relation analysis conclusions ships are established not simply communicated references Liz Farrelly 1998 April Greiman Floating Ideas into Time and Space New York Watson Guptill Publications April Greiman 1990 Hybrid Imagery The fusion of technology and graphic design New York Watson Guptill Publications AIGA 1998 April Greiman You can t fake the Cha Cha The American Institute of Graphic Arts http www aiga org content cfm ContentID 2263 accessed 05 23 06 Erfert Neilson April Greiman Riding A New Wave http www mkgraphic com greiman html accessed 05 23 06