Cameron holds an MFA in Graphic Design from California Institute of the Arts, a Post-Baccalaureate degree in Design at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and a BA from Princeton University. He stays active in the world of design academia by leading a variety of typography, branding and other similar design workshops.
TYPO Talks: What inspires you?
Cameron Ewing: Life, nature, beautiful experiences and things that are tangential to design. I get out into nature quite a bit, hiking, biking, snowshoeing, surfing; these are all things that get me going and give me time to think most clearly, from an analytically perspective but most importantly from a creative point of view.
TT: The theme of this year’s TYPO is Contrast. Can you give us an example of projects in your portfolio that contrast with one another? Or a project that contrasts with itself?
EW: In my personal practice I find that I am fascinated with subversion but also the contrast of natural disruptions applied in urban settings urban and nature. Most recently this has manifested itself in the form of Urban Birdhouses and also Urban Beekeeping. These have both been rewarding pursuits and tie my attraction to hyper-graphic real world installations. The beekeeping has been terribly rewarding and has yielded not only hundreds of pounds of honey but also a illustrative how-to book on beekeeping in the city (case study to come here). The birdhouses were equally rewarding, and still bring me pleasure when I see them up around town.
Cameron Ewing
TT: What other speakers at TYPO San Francisco are you most looking forward to?
EW: I’m really excited about Keetra Dixon, her work has a whimsy and sense of the fine arts that I’m drawn to. Also, Armin Vit is a great mind and I look forward to hearing his thoughts on Contrast in design. Oh, and Peter Bil’ak is sure to astound with his talk on type.
TT: What is your favorite thing to do in San Francisco?
EW: My most favorite thing? Impossible! San Francisco might be my favorite city in the world, and that’s because it’s absolutely full of amazing things to do. So many things in fact I’ve even written a chapter on just the matter in Graphic USA: An Alternative Guide to 25 American Cities. In it I discuss in detail all of my favorite things to do in town, mostly off the beaten path adventures. You can check out more about the project on my site.
TT: What are currently your favorite interesting/beautiful publications, books, movies and/or links
EW: Publications – Grafik Mag and It’s Nice That.
Books — At the moment, anything related to bees and/or beekeeping.
Links — http://www.vvork.com, http://butdoesitfloat.com/images/random
Good visual food to provoke creativity
TT: What does “contrast” mean to you?
EW: Contrast is the concentrated comparative analysis with the goal of illuminating differences.
Get your ticket to see Cameron and all of our other excellent facilitators and speakers here.