The city of Newton is looking for a design for 20 banners to be hung along 20 street lights along Walnut and Washington Streets in Newtonville. Details
A design competition is open to artists who live, work, or attend school in Newton. Proposals must be submitted in hard copy by 5 p.m. on July 31, 2012. For design specifications and application, checkout the competition announcement.
A Call to Boycott the Newtonville Street Banner Competition
I’m sure that The city of Newton’s idea for a Street Banner Competition was well intentioned, if not enthusiastically hailed as a great way for the city to save some money. However as a resident and business owner in Newton, and a design professional, I am strongly apposed.
A street banner program is one of the most visual, high-impact projects that a city can undertake. Based on the competition flyer the design should “Brand Newtonville as a cultural destination, thriving small business district, and livable village that is idenfiable to both residents and visitors”.
From a visual standpoint, these banners also need to be designed specifically to be viewed at a distance and integrate with the flavor and pride of the neighborhood.
I just completed a street banner program for the city of Gloucester, MA that was hung just last week. Designing a professional-level banner program requires a high level of design skill, strategy, research and knowledge of materials and printing processes.
Newton’s banner design competition is disrespectful to true design professionals who live and work in Newton. A design competition is a process where work is submitted, reviewed and critiqued by qualified professionals as a part of a public process that benefits both the contestants and the commuity.
The Newtonville Street Banner Competition looks to me like the city of Newton misjudging the importance and level of skill required for project – And looking for some free work. The result is likely to be a missed opprtuity for Newtonville.
Is this really how we want to operate?
Would not a boycott of design professionals generate exactly what you’re concerned about? Help me with that one…
But can anyone with do the art for my “Bongs not Banks” eye catcher?
Ok, maybe you’re saying this should have been a RFP? I’d wonder if Newton would in fact buy the best design as opposed to hiring “the most worthy” firm.
I’m with Mike all the way. Imagine this notice a few years back:
Calling all you Architects!
Designing NEW Newton North High School Competition
What are your design ideas for creating a new high school? To help identify a compact area in Newtonville that students can learn in?
Together with Mayor Setti Warren, the Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs, the Department of Public Works, Aldermen, traffic control, the people at the Salisbury Beach Fried Dough Shoppe, my cousin who walked by a design school once and residents and businesses in Newtonville, the Planning and Development Department is sponsoring a design competition to create a new high school for Newtonville that will be displayed for all the world to see. Competition is now OPEN! The competition is open to architects who live, work, attend school in Newton or dream of one day winning a design award. You can expect to spend years on this process, and we’re not paying for this. BUT you MAY get an auditorium named after you in ten years!
Proposals must be submitted in hard copy by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31, 2012, which gives you about 22 working days. Because, after all, it’s just drawing! How many days do you need for goodness’ sakes?!
This surprises me. Charity does not cheapen one’s brand. Giving to the community is in fact a business generator. So some unknown with no book will get 15 minutes and start a portfolio with a community that everyone knows has high standards. Missed opportunity guys.
Thing is I’m all about giving back and I’m not ego driven about design at all.
My point is that this is a highly visible public project requiring professional-level of design skill and experience to execute well from start to finish.
This is not a job for an unknown with no book – And if this community *really* had high standards, we wouldn’t leave such a project to chance.
A design competition isn’t charity. So yes an rfp should have gone out – Or an honest request for a local firm *qualified to do the project* to step in for little or no pay.
I’ve got one right here….
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In all seriousness, while this is a grand idea and all, what I’d really love to to replace those 20 streetlamps with something less ugly. And to put in better garbage cans. And to expand the sidewalks. And clean up the streets.
At least we FINALLY got street trees…which is a nice improvement. Still not sure why they let the new bank remove one of them…
We are getting a new pub and a new yogurt shop, which is nice.
Maybe the folks at the painting pub will make this contest part of an event!
Mike is right: the public art must be of high quality and the high quality of art can only be created by the best professional artists. If you want to see the opposite example look at the recently painted utility boxes in Newton. Pathetic!
Those boxes and now the banners are political games, they have nothing to do with real art. What are the criteria? Who will judge the designs? Politicians and bureaucrats, I bet!
Why do we demand a high quality of health care from doctors but not a high quality of art from artists?
@Anatol: I understand exactly why we want medical professionals to be licensed. Surely you are not suggesting that we need to license artists as well?
Let’s give this a chance fellas. It is a good idea in concept. Newtonville needs all the help it can get!
Coming from a family of professional musicians, artists, architects and design professionals, I have to say the objections to this competition are overwrought. The submissions will be judged by a jury which will select the best design. Presumably, the selection will be based on merit. And I have to say that public art by professional artists is not always well received nor does it necessarily stand the test of time.
And, ironically, some examples of public art are initially reviled but grow more popular and appreciated with time. For example, the Vietnam War memorial in Washington DC, designed by a then 21 year old, inexperienced, unknown, woman, Chinese-American architecture student, is perhaps one of the most visited and best loved pieces of public art in the nation’s capital. It was controversial and despised in many quarters when it was first proposed and built, as was her ethnic heritage, youth, inexperience and bold, novel, disturbing design. A more traditional statue depicting soldiers was placed nearby in response to protests, and it does not, IMHO, even hold a candle to Maya Lin’s “Wall.” Many years later, in 2007, the AIA ranked it 10th on the list of great American architecture.
Applying the standards Mike, Mark and Anatol are espousing, Maya Lin would not even have been allowed to submit her proposal for the Vietnam War Memorial. In hindsight, that would have been a travesty. So, loosen up, guys.
Greg Reibman — For tattoos, YES!
@Hoss: But that’s not about licensing them for their art it’s for safety (medical) reasons. Same reason you’d want to license plastic surgeons, who might argue that they’re also artists.
If we’re switching to boob jobs (plastic surgeons), the issue is that someone is proud to have sold D-set to a well-known stranger based on professional credentials and now this girl “Newton” is asking for a free set done by anyone who she thinks has talent. I get that. The professionals see a crooked rack coming when naive Newton just sees a free result. But there is a great chance these won’t be crooked because what shows up in the proposals is in fact when naive Newton gets — just a mini version.
Ted
Your firm is hired for a high profile class action suit – Lots of eyes on it, and the outcome effects the lives of many people. Are you saying that in your firm you hand such cases over to interns to see what they can do with it?
We are talking about 20, five-foot long banners that hang from street lights along Walnut Street and Washington Street that residents and business will look at every day for as long as 2-3 years?
The process for such a project should begin with the designer working with the city on the theme, message & visual direction – Then do a site visit and speak with a few residents and business owners.
Two or three design directions should be explored and presented with city and residents providing feedback.
The final artwork files then need to be produced meet meet the specifications for large format outdoor printing. Proper materials for permanent outdoor banners need to be specified and chosen, and finally the designer should check that the banners are printed and hung correctly.
With 20 banners being hung, it might be nice if they were a series of images that related to each other and communicated something about the character and history of Newtonville. Something interesting ad memorable.
A design competition does not allow for the collaboration and process needed to deliver a great banner program.
Coming from a family of artists and designers, I would think that you might have an appreciation for the amount of time and skill required to produce professional-level artwork – Equal to preparing for a complicated class-action suit.
And as far as Maya Lin is concerned, she collected a prize of $50,000 for the her winning design.
I like the painted utility boxes. They’re whimsical and give me a smile.
As far as Maya Lin is concerned, if you read her book, you would know that if she had signed her name to her design instead of all the proposals being assigned a random number she would never have been awarded the commission.
All I am saying is that Maya Lin provides a perfect example of someone who was not a professional designer who came up with an extraordinary design. She was still an undergraduate when she submitted her proposal, even though she was and is quite obviously talented. I still think your opposition is overwrought and it sounds like you don’t want to have to compete with “amateurs” even if that is not the case.
And, with all due respect, a banner for a village center is not the same as prosecuting a class action lawsuit, although I have to say that I have seen pro se plaintiffs win in court more than once.
Have a safe and happy July 4 holiday, y’all.
ANY judge that would start the process of accepting legal briefs from pro bono class action lawyers with an assumption before briefs are received that they MUST be flawed because they were submitted for free, is not worth of his professional status.
And no client seeking for profit class action prosecution would find that a pro bono lawyer is not worth hiring because of giving away services for others for similar tasks.
And that is exactly my point Ted.
With all due respect, I clock the same very long hours that you do, using skills in research, strategic planning, technology, printing processes, materials, client interviews and presentations and finally the development of creative design that communicates, inspires and in most cases creates a measurable result.
I do not value prosecuting a class action lawsuit higher than designing a program of 20 banners for my community’s village center that are intended to “Brand Newtonville as a cultural destination, thriving small business district, and livable village that is idenfiable to both residents and visitors”
Ted I go through my day with the same level of passion, focus, professionalism and desire to improve the quality of people’s lives as I suspect you do.
I’m sure there are amateurs out there that can do this project – But if you were building an addition onto your home would you hire an amateur? This isn’t a single banner for a street fair but 20 permanent banners that residents will see every day.
Honestly, this is not about competition – I have more work than I know what to do with – This is about wanting the best for my community and a frustration with intelligent people who misjudge the level of complexity and skill required to do what we do.
Greg – There is a movement in the design community for some sort of licence or certification. I’ve seen errors in a design project cause a company to go out of business.
If you are a small business and hire a ‘bad’ designer for your identity, website or advertising, your chances for success can be seriously compromised.
Clients trust us with their lively-hood and I don’t take that lightly.
Mark – I originally used the EXACT same Newton North example as you did in your post and the removed it as I was going too long
I am very glad to see this project moving forward, just as I was happy to see the utility boxes painted. I wholeheartedly agree with executing a project to its highest level but at the end of the day, there are so many folks in Newton doing highly skilled work (artistically and administratively) to try and pull the arts together and to the forefront in the City that I think it is safe to trust those in charge. Newtonville’s goal to be a cultural district is a lofty and admirable one and the banner program is just one step in that direction. If anyone wants to see a stellar example of a declared cultural district check out Pittsfield (http://www.pittsfield-ma.org/). Pittsfield’s local government and residents have put themselves behind the transformation of a deteriorating downtown to a vibrant, creative community. Newton may not be deteriorating but it certainly could benefit from public art, street and music festivals and shop local campaigns. I look forward to the banners brightening the streets. Maybe the garbage cans and street lights will come next.
Kara:
Completely agree. Although I still like my design above… 😉
Greg and Ted,
I think licensing artists is a good idea, and some of them, like interior designers, are licensed already. Architects have very tough license exam, almost as hard as doctors – and architecture is art as well as science, as you may know. But before that happens to all artists, our society needs to create a set of flexible CRITERIA. The lack of criteria destroyed the quality of art all over the world.
Newton utility boxes are a good example of that. MGWA wrote: “They’re whimsical and give me a smile.” They’re whimsical all right and they give me a smile too. I smile at the failed attempts to express the artists’ own ideas, because I did the same when I was 12 years old. Then I graduated from 2 art schools and 2 architectural schools, and I’ve practiced and learned art for the past 60 years.
So, when I found out that the paintings will be judged by politicians and bureaucrats, I didn’t enter that program, though I was tempted. Still, I hoped for some decent art but even that didn’t happen. These boxes belong to MOBA (Museum Of Bad Art), but they’re democratic, free of charge and politically expedient.
Anatol: Really? Licensing art? Aren’t we risking the essence of a free society when we are licensing expression?
Should we license poets too? There are many really bad poets out there. Maybe we need a Congressional empowered committee to establish some criteria for what makes a good poem. How about novelists? Editorial cartoonists? Violin players? Comedians?
… and definitely bloggers.
…amen, Jerry.
Greg,
A free society doesn’t mean that it has no taboos and prohibitions. If a poet incites violence or racial hatred, he or she would be arrested. If an artist sprays paint on a wall without a permission, he or she would go to jail for distraction of property.
I’m all for freedom of expression and I don’t want to forbid anyone from expressing him/herself. But if those artists, poets, comedians, violonists, novelists, etc. want to contribute to societal values they would willingly take exams like doctors, builders, engineers, architects, interior designers, veterinarians, etc. to prove that they possess minimal skills to express themselves.
Also, a license can help artisans to make living within their beloved PROFESSION, not just a HOBBY.
@Anatol – I commend your commitment to your art and appreciate your comments though I respectfully disagree that artists should be licensed. Amateur artists can and do add vibrance to a community. To illustrate, I would like to invite you to the next New Philharmonia Orchestra concert. Now, it isn’t until November but that’s because we give our volunteer musicians the summers off as they are hard-working doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, computer programmers, and more who have made it their life’s work to positively contribute to society through their careers and their beloved “hobby.” I guarantee you a performance where the personal expression of 60 people, some conservatory trained though most are not, will come together in a moving and individual experience for each audience member. I really do hope you’ll take me up on this offer, it’s going to be a particularly stellar season.