Pressley-Jacobs presents graphic design advice, style

Wendy Pressley-Jacobs describes her landlord as a “patron of the arts.”

The Chicago-based design specialist, who graduated from IU in 1975 with a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design, presented “When Vision Acts: Thoughtful Communications” at the School of Fine Arts on Friday.

Pressley-Jacobs’ design firm, Pressley Johnson Design, was founded in 1985. She said she aimed to enlighten students with her over 25 years of professional experience.

“Vision, without action, is just a nice idea,” she said.
Pressley-Jacobs articulated how professional design has changed since she entered the field decades ago.

Today, 40 percent of the design industry revolves around websites and interactive marketing. Fifteen years ago, zero percent of design work revolved around them, she said.

“People need to market,” Pressley-Jacobs said. “They need to let people know what they’re doing, and that’s where they’re spending their money.”

Despite the changing times, Pressley-Jacobs said the graphic design and publishing industries will still thrive if talented individuals are present.

“We hire the best talent we can find, and then we let that talent get used,” she said. “In the last four years, the economy was tough. Really tough. But it’s getting better, and that’s what we like to see.”
Pressley-Jacobs said she recommends students should keep trying to change the status quo of design. Her most notable example was work commissioned by Evanston, Ill., a city in need of a new look and various logos.

“Our world today is so sick and full of stock photos,” she said.

Interestingly, Pressley-Jacobs and her company recommended the city use hand-drawn logos.

The results were a tremendous hit, since they reflected Evanston’s citizen identity as creative and intelligent, she said.

“That’s why brainstorming is good,” Pressley-Jacobs said. “Because you feed off each other.”

Jenny El-Shamy, a senior lecturer of graphic design at the School of Fine Arts, said she felt IU students could benefit from Pressley-Jacob’s real-world experience as an IU graduate.

“I’m the one who invited her and brought her,” El-Shamy said. “I’ve been an admirer of her work for many, many years, and I thought it would be great to come and have her share her experiences.”

Ian Meares, a visiting faculty member and ceramics teacher, said his students could learn from Pressley-Jacob’s thoughts on design and the visual element.

“There are some things that are best left to the visual medium and never said,” Meares said. “Things don’t need to be so literal. They can have soft beginnings and very full realizations that carry impacts beyond language.”

Some of these visual campaigns can have unforeseen errors in communication, Pressley-Jacobs said.

When the American Library Association teamed with Pressley Johnson Design for Banned Books Week, the design company presented books with “BANNED” and “FORBIDDEN” scrawled across the pages in bright red.

“We didn’t want to damage books,” she said. “The interesting thing is this was a huge hit. The T-shirts sold out.”

The banned-book campaign took place from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, just weeks before the 2012 presidential election. The juxtaposition of the word “FORBIDDEN” against book spines led to some confusion.

“Is the ALA ‘for Biden?’” Pressley-Jacobs said with a chuckle, alluding to the Democratic vice president re-elect.

However, Pressley-Jacobs and her company took the incident with stride, as it focused more eyes upon what she and her company were doing in the design world.
“Any conversation about what you do is good,” she said.