Design To Go—Oaxaca Part I

In this week's installment of Design To Go, Diane Burk visits Oaxaca. Oaxaca is located in Southwestern Mexico and is known for its richness of cultures, cuisine and arts.

December 2016—January 2017: Oaxaca Part I

Archive

November 2016 —December 2016: Mexico City

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This informal design blog began as I departed for a year long, around the world trip in October 2016. As well as a personal gap year, this travel time allows me to take a professional design sabbatical, following more than 30 years as a Graphic Designer/Art Director in the museum design world. "Design To Go" is a casual record of my design related findings on the road, likely to be eclectic, various and somewhat random. Some of the things I come across that stimulate my design thinking might be of interest to others. My goal is to return to San Francisco in October 2017 inspired with fresh perspectives and energized to restart my design career. In design, anything is possible!

—Diane Burk, Design To Go

Just a few examples of the wealth of bold, graphic street art. Some parts are painted, some parts are printed and pasted on the wall.
The Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca, Santo Domingo, is built onto the cathedral, with beautiful openings looking out over the regal botanical garden and the city streets below.
Mexico has the most art and design about death, anywhere. My favorite skulls ever.
"Graphic Arts" in Mexico refers to artists using print, which has a long, & often political history, not "graphic design" in the more global, modern sense of layout, typography, etc.
Museo de Felatelia de Oaxaca. OK, it's a STAMP museum. But almost a "perfect" museum, in terms of every criteria of museum design. It's the right size, too, with perfect pacing between active gallery and beautiful resting spaces.
The (actual) archive is in an accessible vault, with amusing multilingual interactive text on the side doors. This is where the serious stamp devotee can explore for themselves.
This exhibition is split between CASA and the Museo de Textil in Oaxaca, The textiles themselves are amazing and the building is extraordinary, using reflecting pools and other waterways, all working by gravity.
Most of the signage in the city is flat to the street walls. Typography cut out or carved deeply into the walls gives a welcome dimensionality, casting shadows.
This message, deeply and perfectly engraved, in outline, into a mud wall, is really subtle. The message: "Ya nunca volveras a enmudecer de emocion" (You will never repress emotions again).
The more humble DIY practice of hand painted signage is everywhere in Oaxaca. Here the artist decided to move the whole thing down.
Fonts are freely interpreted or invented in the process of painting words to fit the space.