Page 20 - REVIVAL Magazine

MODEL CITIZEN | CORRI SKILLINGSTAD
The Girl with the
Swirl
We have an expression in graphic design: “How do we/I spark a storm in a tea cup?” It’s a snappy, sexy little catch phrase, that essentially means “How do I take an idea and develop it into a concept that has a marketable application, that resonates with people on some level?” Saying it
that way is pretty wordy and corporate- sounding. It doesn’t have much “zing” to
it. I much prefer the other phrase...It’s got some zip and zowie to it. It’s because of one those “storms”, sparked in a tea cup
20 MAGZSTYLE, JUNE 2014
nearly two tears ago that you’re reaing this now. We’d been tasked, toward the end of our rst year in the Graphic Design program, with designing our own ctitious editorial layout. The choice of subject matter and related content was left to
us. There were certain nonnegotiable technical and industry requirements, of course, but baring that, we’d been given the keys to the city and let o the leash, so to speak. That’s how I approached it, anyway. It was a pivotal moment, for me, in many ways; and it made me fall madly in love with magazine and editorial layout design...a love a air I’m still involved in.
There was a period,
blessedly brief (for me), of brainstorming. Anyone who knows me in this capacity can tell when I’m thinking deeply;
I either look catatonic or angry (it’s a
long standing joke, between a former instructors and me...she knows who she is). My trance was broken when a class- mate of mine came and sat down beside me. Her name was Corri Skillingstad (it was Corri Woods at the time). I didn’t know her well, but I always admired her sunny, pleasant a ectation, and respected her design talent and personal style.
BY TODD GOODNER