How Much Is Your Work Worth?

Feb 6
Shot Of Paul Rand Behind The Book Cover He Designed For The Origins And History Of Consciousness
Designer Paul Rand Behind The Cover Of The Origins And History Of Consciousness Featuring His Design — Courtesy Of Print Magazine

Jayme Odgers is a graphic designer most known for his work with collage and new-wave in the 1980s. Also notable, he was an apprentice for one of the most famous designers of all designers, the visionary Paul Rand.

Odgers had a hell of an anecdote about Rand in Print recalling his first day on the job (recounted by another hall of fame designer, Steven Heller, in one of his columns):

On that very first day I began working for Paul, he had a book jacket design due. I watched as he reached into a drawer and chose two sheets of colored paper, … a red-orange and a complementary green color. Using scissors, he cut three smallish green shapes and in seemingly random manner glued them onto a square of the red-orange paper. With a circle cutter he cut out a doughnut-like shape about six inches in diameter and one inch wide, which he glued onto a sheet of white paper. It was like watching a magic act. I was mesmerized.

Covering the entire doughnut shape with acetate, he used a rather large nib pen dipped in white ink to deftly draw a linear serpent eating its own tail over the torus shape — an ouroboros appeared as if out of nowhere. Done. No sketches, no indecision; in less than 15 minutes, with minimal material, he had created the cover art for Erich Neumann’s book The Origins And History Of Consciousness for Bollingen Publishers.

Jayme Odgers
The Daily Heller: The Assistant, Jayme Odgers, Works for Paul Rand

Here is that work:

The Origins and History of Consciousness by Erich Neumann
The Origins and History of Consciousness by Erich Neumann as designed by Paul Rand

What would pay him for that? Would that number change for you if it were the same outcome but he spent 15 days on it instead?

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That Shot Of Cassie From Euphoria

Feb 3
Sydney Sweeney as Cassie Howard in Euphoria
Sydney Sweeney as Cassie Howard in Euphoria

In the second season of Euphoria, a hard cut towards the end of episode four showed Sydney Sweeney’s character, Cassie Howard, staring forlorn towards nothing in particular, face tabula rasa, brain bridled with overwhelming anxiety.

It’s so good. So so good.

Director of Photography Marcell Rév spoke about this shot directly, with the framing and positioning built from imagery prominently found surrounding Mary, the mother of Jesus. “(This episode’s) montage I really like: iconic images of our characters in a setting that’s not totally real or in a light that’s not totally real. … Our inspiration was Mexican murals.”

Director of Photography Marcell Rév looked to Mexican murals for inspiration in framing this shot of Cassie Howard

The subtle nod to this spiritual realm — you see the references in the shot when you’re told about them, and maybe it was even in your subconscious before that, too — is propping up a vein in the second season of the show, too, as Levinson introduces religious undertones and alludes to spiritual purpose in the plot.

“Mexican murals from the turn of the century, Cassie with all the flowers… It became a way for us to be inside their worlds without having to break down everything on a logical level and to allow for a slightly more metaphysical perspective to take over the show. It became a way of exploring that on a visual level as opposed to just words, words, words.”

Sam Levinson
Writer and Director, Euphoria

Even if you cut all that out and it was only the shot as a frame, you’re still fixated on it, fascinating and angelic.