A Snapshot of Olivia Bee

Olivia Bee was 15 years old when she shot her first photographs for Converse. Now 18, she’s captured photos for Nike, Fiat and Subaru. Levi’s has used her photos. She did a campaign for Adidas and she worked with TeenNick and the cast of Degrasi. Photos of her friends will appear on the cover for Le Monde d’Hermes. But she didn’t start out taking beautiful pictures.

Image taken by Olivia for Converse.

In her TED talk this past December, Olivia talks about high school, following your dreams, and disregarding reality. In middle school, Olivia was only mistakenly placed in a darkroom course. She didn’t think anything of her photos, except that they weren’t very good. But she stuck with it because she was passionate. And despite being told later in school by some unconvinced teachers that  “taking photos is silly,” and “you need to go to college to be successful,” Olivia continued taking photos.

Image by Olivia for Hermès Paris.

For an 18 year old, she has some wisdom that I sure wish I had back then. She understands that what we are taught is “smart” in school, is not the only way to be smart. She is a firm believer in self-motivation and learning through doing. In her TED talk she says, “You have to do stuff besides the stuff that you have to do.” I believe that is the key to being successful in anything in life.

Image by Olivia for Levi’s.

Her photos have been featured in so many ads because they resonate with the consumer. She captures the feeling of youth. If you are young, you want to be young and cool. And if your youth has escaped you, you want to be young and cooler. Everyone would like to be young forever. Olivia’s photos capture reality and present it in a way that is dreamy and mesmerizing. Olivia’s work stands out in the industry because her style is the opposite of many big name photographers. She doesn’t work with supermodels, but her friends. In a world saturated with models and glamour shots, ads that have real people, living out real adventures, are very appealing.  I think this is an exciting direction for advertising, where ads no longer look like they are selling a product at all, but a lifestyle, a story. Olivia’s photos are so seductive because they are so representative of our lives at any given moment, making them resonate in our minds long after we’ve viewed them.

Image by Olivia for Fiat.

Thinking Made Visual

In The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, she encourages artists that are trying to find their way to make lists of their imaginary lives – who they wished to be in the past, who they wish they were now. A part of me has always wanted to be a designer. Not necessarily a graphic designer in the marketing sense of the term, but in an “art for art’s sake” type of way.  One of my favorite designers was able to combine both the beauty of art and marketing as one. Saul Bass and his breakthrough use of illustration and typographic design continue to be a source of inspiration.

For a long time, I thought I would be attending the Rhode Island School of Design, but my business-minded parents combined with my less than stellar skill set landed me at Emerson to study Marketing. I still do graphic design work in my free time, but I often find myself feeling like it’s a lost cause. The technical skills of some designers are outrageous. And with Photoshop at their disposal, they can make anything look real. Personally, I like to experiment with type and I have recently started drawing illustrations again. But that can feel so passé in a field saturated with high-tech images and designs.

One of the most notable graphic designers of the mid-20^th century, Bass was a master of illustration and typography. He is best known for his movie posters and title sequences, but is also responsible for the design of some of the most iconic logos in North America. “I don’t give a damn if the client understands that that’s worth anything, or that a client thinks it’s worth anything, or that it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me, ” said Bass when speaking about the importance of beauty in good design. “That’s the way I want to live my life. I want to make things beautiful even if nobody cares.”

And that’s just what he did. Only lucky for him, people did care. Bass created beautifully crafted movie posters including West Side Story, Love in the Afternoon, The Shining, Vertigo, and The Man with the Golden Arm. He used kinetic typography in a way that had never been done before when making the opening title sequences for Hollywood’s greatest films, including Psycho, Ocean’s Eleven, Goodfellas, and Around the World in 80 Days. Many modern designers, most notable in the design of the American period drama, Mad Men, have emulated his work.

Bass once said, “Design is thinking made visual.” So while I may not be able to design like Saul Bass, I can certainly inspire myself to think like he did. If I enjoy doing design and I think it’s beautiful that’s all that matters.

In looking into Bass’ work, I stumbled across this example of kinetic typography in the style of Bass. The love message and the design, especially for those of us trying to be more creative, but I’d watch it without sound, I think it’s stronger that way. Enjoy.

Created by Japanese motion graphic design studio TO-FU