Abstract: The Art of Design with Es Devlin

This post is in response to viewing Es Devlin’s episode of the Netflix Show Abstract: The Art of Design. The more I learn about environmental design, the more I love it and grow almost fearful of it. Watching Es created these beautiful and huge experiences, I wonder how I could ever do something similar. Creating digitally does not pose nearly as many physical challenges as environmental design. Clearly from some of the well known artists that Es has gotten the opportunity to work with, money and funds are a huge part of what allows her to create such huge visual aids for concerts of Kanye West, Beyonce, U2, and more. As I begin to study environmental design I am always surprised of the places it shows up and how I never realized before that even concerts collide with environmental design. Maybe that’s how you know you have been to a good concert, you didn’t even get the opportunity to think past what you’re watching visually, you’re mesmerized by the visuals and how they take the music to a new hight. 

I really enjoy the insight into Es’s process and even specific recaps of working with artists like Kanye West. I have experienced a kind of block that comes after listening to your client talking about what they enjoy, what they need, who they are, and so on, and then later beginning sketching and not knowing what to do. It’s the feeling of when things aren’t moving in your brain and you just get frustrated and have to take a break. It’s a great idea to have a pen and paper in front of you to draw and sketch as the artist/client is sharing their thoughts with you, that way you can’t judge yourself on what you translate onto the page, you are moving quickly with the client and not overthinking. Further into her process, I connected with her example of beginning with the materials around her to create ideas for her designs. Looking at a blank piece of paper as the curtains to the stage, and physically tearing out a piece in the middle to show where light would come through the projection — a break in the design to offer room for a new one. I am inspired by Es and her ways of taking simple things around her and combining them with the abstract and larger than life ideas to bring a visual experience to an audio experience. I especially enjoy that she connected her main “ingredients” throughout the episode too. Talking about scale and repetition reminds me as an artist that while what Es does is magical, we all have the same ability to create and working with the essential ingredients of design is always a good starting place.