OUR WORKING STATIONS #3

On paper, the center of things

Sheets and notebooks are never missing from my desk. Recording thoughts in real time —my own or others’— forces me to apply a filter of schematization: arrows, cross-references, impression maps create a first connection with the project. Even a visual starts on paper, or a layout: a grid, a couple of lines to sketch out text, a square for images — enough to see if it all works.

The page is a matter of posture, of distance from the medium. Making messy sketches on paper is more immediate than using a computer, and it gives a full perspective on things. “Learn to draw, or you’ll spend your life looking for difficult, monotonous solutions,” Saul Bass told his students. I can’t draw, but in the confusion and imprecision of a doodle, I find the center of things — and that will remain true even when, flipping through my notebooks, all I find are hieroglyphs.

— Cristina Ortali

Published: Dec 19, 2023