About
JoyEngine was created in 2005 to highlight good work and serve as a source of creative inspiration. Driven by an author/contributor base of like-minded creative professionals, the site is in a state of perpetual change, occasionally pausing to call attention to noteworthy ideas, individuals, and endeavors.
As JoyEngine enters its fifth year it hopes to continue to inspire, inform, and ultimately promote positive change in the world. The JoyEngine team holds the belief that access to information is one of the many factors limiting ideation and innovation. With this ideal in mind, JoyEngine strives to function as a platform for the exchange and the utilization of information.
While the content of JoyEngine spans a range of subject matter from graphic design to technology, from indy DIY fashion to contemporary art, from global events to local politics, it’s all bound by a collective consciousness. This collective consciousness shares the belief that change, while often challenging, is inevitable. That change is good and that change leads to progress – whether it be in the arts or in politics or in your own neighborhood.
Contributors
The Vignelli Canon
The Vignelli Canon (available for download as a .pdf) has recently been published and released in print by Lars Müller Publishers and is available for purchase. In two sections, The Intangibles, and The Tangibles, and over the course of 110 pages, Massimo Vignelli outlines his guiding design principles and their thoughtful application. This book serves as both a comprehensive reference outlining the Vignelli approach to mitigating “vulgarity,” and a more introductory tool to better understanding and addressing typography, grids, composition, paper choices, sizes and a number of other common challenges the designer faces. It’s a must read and an asset of any designer library.
It is not the intention of this little book to stifle creativity or to reduce it to a bunch of rules. It is not the formula that prevents good design from happening but lack of knowledge of the complexity of the design profession. It’s up to the brain to use the proper formula to achieve the desired result.
– Massimo Vignelli