Manuel Estrada Where ideas are born The Juggler`s Sketchbooks

Manuel Estrada Where ideas are born The Juggler`s Sketchbooks

Manuel Estrada
Where ideas
are born
The Juggler’s
Sketchbooks
Curated by graphic designers and design teachers Sonia
Díaz and Gabriel Martínez, Manuel Estrada. Where Ideas
Are Born. The Juggler’s Sketchbooks is an exhibition
structured around the notebooks and visual diaries that
graphic designer Manuel Estrada uses to register his working
process. In his designs, he seeks a balance between
text and image, thought and emotion. (Please, find more
information on Mr. Estrada’s work below.)
The exhibition was originally organized by the CAAM - Centro
Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,
Spain (www.caam.net), on view from June 11 to October 3,
2010. In 2012, coinciding with Helsinki 2012 – World Design
Capital, the exhibition was requested by Caisa International
Cultural Center (www.caisa.fi), where it opened from
January 9, to March 29, 2012. From then on, the exhibition
has travelled to Berlin (Universität der Kunste
(www.udk-berlin.de) – Instituto Cervantes (www.cervantes.de)
and Lisbon (MUDE – Museu do Design e da Moda
www.mude.pt).
The Jugglers’ Sketchbooks will be travelling to Miami
Dade College Museum of Art + Design (www.mdc.edu)
from November 15, 2012, to February 2, 2013.
The exhibition is divided into seven complementary
thematic sections which can work independently
from each other: 1. Doors and Windows; 2. I Logo
therefore I Am 3. The Juggler’s Sketchbooks;
4. Distilling Ideas 5. Worlds; 6. Ideas and Chaos;
and 7. The Juggler’s Words.
1. Doors and Windows
displays Estrada’s sketches
and final designs for
book covers and posters.
2. I Logo therefore I Am
presents Estrada’s logos
and related sketches.
3. The Juggler’s Sketchbooks
is composed by 534 facsimiles
of Estrada’s notebooks.
4. Distilling Ideas
analyzes Estrada’s research
and synthetic methods
by featuring the entire
design process for the logo
of Fundación Repsol.
5. Worlds
is composed by sketches,
animations, and wall
drawings made by Estrada
ad hoc for each venue.
6. Ideas and Chaos
is an installation composed
by white sheets of paper
and pencils.
7. The Juggler’s Words
features video-interviews
with Manuel Estrada
on design.
Basic information
Contact
Title
Exhibition Design
Labels and wall texts:
Manuel Estrada: Where Ideas
Are Born. The Juggler’s Sketchbooks.
The exhibition design has been created to
adapt to different spaces and dimensions.
The exhibition can be shown either entirely
or partially, according to each venue’s
specific needs and space conditions.
Each of its seven composing modules
can be exhibited independently.
Designed for each venue by Estrada
Design. Produced by venue.
Availability
Space needed
Lecture / Workshops
Curators
Sonia Díaz and Gabriel Martínez
(www.lsdspace.com) are two young
graphic designers and design teachers.
They have used the exhibition
as a didactic tool for design students
and amateurs.
Content
The core of the exhibition consists of
54 notebooks with sketches and drawings
by Manuel Estrada. Although this is an
solo show, it is not intended to explain
the work of a single designer but to
address the design process as a whole.
It requires a minimum space of
200 square meters (2,152 square feet).
Costs
Exhibition fee: none
Shipping: the venue is responsible
for covering the shipping costs to and
from the venue.
Insurance value: US$ 140,000, approx.
The exhibition will
be available from the second week of
February, 2013.
Manuel Estrada is available for giving
either a workshop or a lecture in each
venue.
Emilia García-Romeu
emilia @ manuelestrada.com
+34 91 559 15 78
www.manuelestrada.com
Manuel Estrada
and Estrada Design
Manuel Estrada (www.manuelestrada.com) started
studying architecture but soon shifted to graphic design
by creating, with five other members, the association
Sidecar, at a moment when design did not exist as a
discipline in Spain. In 1989, he founded his own firm,
Estrada Design.
Above: Logo for Simple computer
company
Below: Logo for Creators’ Meetings
Right: Collage for the poster
of Untitled Comedy, a play by
Federico García Lorca
Influenced by designers such as Paul Rand (New York,
1914 – 1996) or Daniel Gil (Santander, 1930 – Madrid,
2004), graphic designer Manuel Estrada rejects the
concept of a personal “style” in favor of a design that
puts itself entirely at the service of solving a given
problem. His work is characterized by his extensive use
of illustration and montage (of photographs, surfaces,
and objects). For him, drawing and collage are not mere
formal elements but actual thinking tools. They allow
him arrive at the formal and conceptual notions that will,
ultimately, constitute the essence of his projects. His
process is deeply speculative, using images to generate
and interconnect ideas and shapes which keep on
metamorphosing until reaching a synthetic resulting form.
Regarding Mr. Estrada’s relationship with images, his
good friend and fellow designer Frank Memelsdorff states
that Manuel “could iconize anything,” that is, transform
any concept or process into a coherent, synthetic image
(Manuel Estrada, El diseño no es una guinda, 2003).
Left: Logo for the
Cervantes Prize
Right: Poster in
homage to graphic
designer Daniel Gil
Below: Poster in
homage to artist and
poet Joan Brossa
For Estrada, typography is yet another palette, both
an essential plastic element and a repertoire with
which to continue drawing and composing images.
This becomes literal in certain cases, like
the Cervantes Prize, in which the letters
in “Cervantes” compose the portrait
of the writer. (Awarded with the prize
from the Art Directors Club of Europe,
www.adceurope.org).
Clean, defined lines and silhouettes as well as bright,
flat colors are often present in his designs, yet he is
also fond of the boldness and clearness provided by
black and white and of disarraying compositions by
introducing “foreign” elements, such as thick color
hand strokes or playful pencil doodles.
Manuel Estrada’s work has been included in recent
design surveys, such as Meggs’ History of Graphic
Design, by Philip B. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis
(5th ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2012),
and the upcoming (March, 2013) Design Firms Open
for Business, by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico.
Above: Logos for Laureate
International Universities,
Olé Imports (oil and wine),
and an event of the
Regional Government
of Madrid
Right: Poster in homage
to poet Miguel Hernández.
It features the poem
“Your womb”
In addition to his work as a designer, Manuel Estrada
is Chairman of Asociación de Diseñadores de Madrid
(Association of Designers in Madrid (www.dimad.org);
member of the Consejo Superior de Enseñanzas
Artísticas de España (Higher Arts Education Council
of Spain, www.educacion.gob.es), and Executive
Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Latin
American Design Biennial (www.bid-dimad.org).
His work has been awarded with prizes such as the
Laus Award (Barcelona, www.fad.cat), AEPD award
(Madrid, Asociación Española de Profesionales del
Diseño (www.aepd.es), and the award from
the ADCE (Barcelona, Art Directors Club of Europe,
www.adceurope.org).
Estrada Design
Since its beginnings in 1989, Estrada Design has
been mainly involved in editorial design and visual
identity projects for corporations, small companies and
institutions, although the studio has also undertaken
projects related to product and packaging design,
signaling, and environmental graphics.
Logos for the Army
and Costume museums
and the Museum
of Human Evolution
Left and below: Covers
and spines for the collection
of crime novels for the
El País journal
Right: Covers for the
pocket book collection
of Alianza Editorial
Editorial Design
Most of Manuel Estrada’s work has developed in the
editorial field. His studio has designed collections for
well-known Spanish publishing houses, among them
Alianza (pocket books and philosophy collection,
www.alianzaeditorial.es);
Anaya (Spanish and worldwide classics collections;
philosophy and aesthetics collection,
www.anaya.es); Marcial Pons (history and law
collections, www.marcialpons.es); Alfaguara
(literature for teenagers collection, www.alfaguara.com);
Almed (travel and current affairs in international
politics collections, www.almed.net). For El País,
a major Spanish newspaper (www.elpais.es),
the studio has realized several fiction pocket book
collections (adventure, crime, history, Spanish classics,
20th century worldwide classics); as well as a
non-fiction collection (La Mirada del Tiempo, devoted
to 20th century history essays).
For some time now, Manuel Estrada has been responsible
for the design of the Spanish version of the books by
Nobel Prize writer José Saramago. Before the writer’s
death, they worked together in a special edition of
The Elephant’s Journey (Madrid: Santillana, 2010),
with illustrations by Manuel Estrada.
The studio has also designed or/and acted as art
director in periodicals such as Spain Gourmetour
(ICEX - Institute of Foreign Trade), Cuadernos del IVAM
(Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia), Ingenio
(Professional Association of Civil Engineers, Madrid),
to name only a few.
Cover, double pages
and collage for José Saramago’s
The Elephant’s Journey
Qualytel
AFI. Analistas Financieros Internacionales
Salón de la Formación Continua
Boa Music
Punto de Pesca
Emprende
IED. Istituto Europeo di Design
Bibliometro
IED. Istituto Europeo di Design
Centro de Ahorro
Teatro de La Abadía
Fotoshow Madrid
Metrovacesa
Fundación José Saramago
CRECE
EOI. Escuela de Organización Industrial
Feria Internacional del Mueble de Madrid
La senda de los Elefantes
IED. Istituto Europeo di Design
Doble C Encuadernadores
El País-Aguilar
OEI. Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos
Museo del Traje
Estrada Design is responsible for
the logo and corporate identity of the
15th Latin American Summit of Heads
of State and Government; Laureate
International Universities
(www.laureate.net); Museo del Traje,
Madrid (http://museodeltraje.mcu.es);
Carmencita (spices), Alicante
(www.carmencita.com); Fundación Repsol,
Madrid (www.fundacionrepsol.com);
Teatros de la Abadía, Madrid
(www.teatroabadia.com); Metrovacesa,
Madrid (www.metrovacesa.com);
Museo del Ejército, Madrid (www.museo.
ejercito.es); AFI – Analistas Financieros
Internacionales, Madrid (www.afi.es); and
Museo de la Evolución Humana, Burgos
(www.museoevolucionhumana.com),
among many others.
Museo del Ejército
Visual Identity