The Clip Art Design Method

The first mark placed on the prepared surface is arbitrary. It is the only arbitrary mark in the whole process that moves toward that point when the artist decides, by the act of no longer adding further marks, that no further change shall occur. This condition could be called stasis. The work is deemed finished. After the first and arbitrary mark all other additions are cumulative and recategorize the previous collection of marks into a new structure. In other words the totality of accumulated events occurring on the painting’s surface always adds up to ONE; one totality or singularity.

Rodick Carmichael, Orienteering: Painting in the Landscape. (Carmichael's emphasis)

In the Industrial Age, you started with a clean sheet. Literally.
'Back to the drawing board' means to start all over again.
Start and finish.
Past, Present and Future.
Re-invent the wheel.
Redraw, Redraw and Redraw.
Finish and start again.

In the Information Age, modify everything.
A new starting point that neither starts nor stops.
The time is always now! Be present.
Shape, guide and structure the flow of information that is already available.
Instant design prototypes.
Could the Coliseum become the basis of your next design?
A donut? A dog?
Morph the unconnected and existing into the new and the inventive.
A single column, drawn once in the history of your company.
Re-use, Re-use, Re-use.
Clip Art is the modern day library.
Borrow at your leisure, modify at your will.
Is it any wonder copyright is dead?
Have your cake and eat it, eat it, eat it…
May your designs breed like rabbits of all different shapes and sizes.
Go forth and multiply!


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