Music is My Boyfriend

Posted on May 29, 2008 by C Lin
Design

I was reading a blog post about the relationship designers have with music on Design Observer. Adrian Shaughnessy writes: “I’ve never worked in a design studio where music wasn’t being played pretty much constantly… What is it with graphic designers and music?” Adrian has a good point. The image of a room full of designers with headphones on while staring at the computer screen is almost becoming cliché.

So, what is it with designers and music? Designers often listen to music to drown out ambient noise for focus and concentration. In Shaughnessy’s post, he also talks about the fact that music feeds a designer’s creative sparks. Music has influenced many artists. Paul Rand often cites jazz as a major influence in his work. Jackson Pollack has done the same. And in motion design, music often dictates the visuals of title sequences.

On a grand scale, however, I believe that design and music have always had a symbiotic relationship. For example, I grew up in a household where music was very important. As a result, I gravitated toward the visuals of records and CD covers. The artwork was often imaginative and more creative than anything I had ever seen. One of my favorites was Peter Saville, the English graphic designer most notably responsible for the Factory Records covers promoting such bands as Joy Division and New Order. Saville’s designs were inspirational. In fact, they taught me about graphic design and eventually inspired me to become a designer.

Whether or not music directly affects the creative conscious is still debatable even amongst musicologists. I do believe that there is a connection between design and music even if it’s not measurable. Maybe we’ll never know why designers need to listen to music while they work, but we do know that it’s important and that it has the possibility of being influential.

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