Hello from Chris
Hello! My name is Chris Cherrie and per customary Hypenotic tradition, I am sharing a bit about myself and my practice in this introductory note. I would also like to thank everyone here at Hypenotic for a wonderfully warm welcome to the team.
My approach to graphic design draws from my artistic roots. I grew up in Toronto and studied drawing, painting and sculpture at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts. Play, in contrast to work, evokes a process of experimentation, failure, and innovation. Our hands are our tools to play with, and through them, we meet unconclusion while simultaneously having google maps direct us to a new destination. We can teleport to untouched areas, and although economics often lifeguard the creative process, there can be great value in exploration.
As an artist, I’m an active producer and reader of visual culture. My role as a producer is to visually translate an idea to an audience, and as a reader, I critically observe and analyze the products of others. In a community of producers and readers, there is an exciting dialogue of sharing and learning.
Though I aim to communicate my ideas with clarity, as a walking symbol I understand that I will never have complete agency over them. Everyone will complete my work with their/her/his own bias. As this historical, political and social context occurs, I am diligent in researching an idea. Education ensures that I am sufficiently knowledgeable about a subject, and I can confidently design under a strongly supported thesis.
By collaborating in the discourse of post-post-modernism, I believe that I have a major responsibility concerning the work that I contribute. Designer William McDonough argues in his article A Question of Design that “Poor design on such a scale reaches far beyond our own lifespan… over future generations through the effects of our actions today.” As design itself has the potential to change a culture, it is irresponsible to be careless or unconscious in practice.
After moving to Los Angeles I began dedicating my time to projects that rallied on the social justice side of public health and sexuality. I continue to be dedicated to the equality and responsibility of our communities and I am extremely excited and honoured to be joining the Hypenotic team. I aspire to use graphic design as an educational tool to broaden a dialogue about design as I believe that design is something that should seek to be shared.
