Lisa Mikulski - Freelance Writing : Cummings and Good

INK Publications – June 2007
Cummings & Good :: The Art and Grace of Graphic Design
By Lisa Mikulski
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If, as the saying goes… God is in the details, then the design firm of Cummings & Good is
doubly blessed. The posters, logos and design identities created by Jan Cummings and Peter
Good are familiar images to Connecticut residents and businesses. You only have to look to the
logo for the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Whalers, or the Special Olympics World and Peace
Games to see the quality of ideas coming from the collaboration of these two minds. Other
projects have included book design, collateral, packaging and work for Fortune 500 corporations.
Their posters for The Connecticut Impressionist Art Trail, The International Festival of Arts &
Ideas in New Haven, CT, and The Manchester String Quartet are testaments to beauty, elegance
and timeliness in the field of graphic design. In short the design work of Cummings & Good is
both masterful and artful.

Visual messages are prevalent in our culture. As today’s consumers we are surrounded by a
relentless glut of images and text calling us to action or attempting to influence our choices.
Good and bad graphic design meets us on television, magazines, newspapers, billboards, grocery
stores and packaging everywhere. But successful graphic design stands out from the
competition and grabs our attention almost immediately. What makes it do so?

Cummings & Good begin by embracing the
problem solving aspects of each design project.
Each client is unique and each project has a
specific mission. It is the client and the project
that dictates the direction of the design. An aspect
often overlooked when considering or discussing
graphic design is that of the idea and conception
phase of design work. This is the hard work.
This requires imagination and thoughtful
consideration. And it is this aspect that is given
special and individualized attention by the studio
and is emphasized by both Cummings and Good.

“That’s really the great part of what we do. We
don’t do a lot of design for ads or selling or
merchandizing. It’s mostly ideas. That’s why we
like to work for corporations and institutions in
that way,” says Good. “We consider ourselves
really designers who work in the trenches. In
other words, we don’t have a hard theory about
design, it really comes out of making something
work or having someone response to the message the way you’d like them too.”
“It’s about the needs of the project, which can vary greatly.
And the reader.” adds Cummings “Peter is often saying we really don’t have a style. The style comes out of ‘how do we make this
project work.’”

And work it does. Their design is not only effective but it is absolutely visually stunning.
Gathering inspiration from life, politics, history and current events, Cummings & Good look to
these sources for conception. “Life is dynamic and always changing.” says Good.
Unlike those who develop ideas directly on the computer, Good sketches by hand to develop the
initial conception for design. There is something magical in the act of drawing. “Sometimes
when you draw, and you don’t even know… there is a connection between your hand and your
mind, between your sub conscious and your conscious… and something happens that I don’t
think a computer could do. It’s not as intuitive. It’s not as immediate.”

Cummings however uses the computer and loves it because of the flexibility. “Peter and I are
different in that I don’t create identities, which is pure concept. I use the computer in a more arty
way… being able to photoshop photos and colorize them, change the scale of something, fine
tuning things. There are so many options.”

Incorporating items such as marbleized paper, found objects and enhanced photography provides
incredible depth of composition and interest in their poster design. This is not merely finding
stock photography from Corpis and dropping it into a design. The studio employs two other
designers who assist in the myriad of work at the office. Good explains the process of scanning
marbleized paper to create a textural effect in one of the Manchester String Quartet posters. “We
like to work on projects that support the arts. One of my favorite projects is for Merck and The
Manchester String Quartet. This poster could probably not be done without the aid of computer.
The time it would have taken without a computer would be impossible.” he says “I did a line
drawing of this violin from a photograph. Then we scanned marbleized paper and took sections
of the marbleized paper and dropped them into the design. We colorized them making them
lighter and darker. We used different papers and it created an almost stained glass effect. With
the computer you can move the effects around and drop them in getting just the right pattern and
effect.”

Everything is taken into consideration at Cummings & Good. They are very discriminating.
Paper, typography and materials are all scrutinized for quality and are utilized for best expression
of the project. “I love materials,” says Good. “I couldn’t do websites. It’s just not in my DNA.”
Another example of excellence is in another Merck poster (Cummings & Good have worked on
this series every year for 19 years.) Pictured on the poster is a photograph of a violin embellished
with a map and stamps which serves to document the quartet’s travels around Europe, New
York, Russia and England. It looks clean and elegant. What you might not know in looking at
the poster is that Good actually purchased a violin off EBay and hand embellished it with the
maps and stamps himself. This work is clearly a combination of both graphic design and art.
Cummings and Good are also fine artists. They do feel however, there is a differentiation
between what is graphic design and what is fine art. “While we like to consider ourselves fine
artists, the primary purpose of graphic design is to communicate. Art is a personal expression
and I don’t think the main thrust of art is to communicate. It’s to say something with the hope
that other people will relate to what you’re about but that isn’t the primary,” states Cummings.
“With graphic design the viewer really needs to get the message pretty quickly.”

“Graphic design is ‘other’ directed. We work on other people’s problems. If we do a logo for a
museum…that’s not our interest, it’s the museum’s interest. We get great satisfaction from that
project but it’s for someone else. It’s not for us,” says Good. What is for them are their personal artistic endeavors.

Cummings is an illustrator and artist. Her circle paintings are lovely and quiet and are created with that same imaginative spirit that you
might see in the couple’s graphic design. Good has created a technique of sewing fabrics onto
paper creating fabric paper collages. The result is quite extraordinary. Both Cummings and
Good have shown their work at several galleries.

The Good news is you no longer have to be a Fortune 500 company to partake of the world
created by Cummings & Good. May 4, 2007 saw the opening of their new clothing shop at 3
North Main Street in Chester, CT. Nestled on the first floor of the C&G offices is a wonderfully
decorated store which offers unique selections of men’s and women’s clothing, jewelry, hats
(some designed by Cummings herself), and shoes. The objects for sale are personally selected
by Cummings and have origins in England, Italy, France, Finland, and Cambodia. The visitor to
the store will also find art works by both Cummings and Good, and by their son Jesse Good.
The famous Cummings & Good yearly calendar is also for sale. The calendar hangs
approximately 3 feet vertical and Cummings & Good report that they have actually received fan
mail about the calendar. Each year the calendar has a different theme, this year being WORK.
Next year’s theme will be PLAY. When you are done with the year, roll the calendar up and put
it back in its canister and it becomes a keepsake.

Importance of the community is also something near and dear to Cummings & Good. Their son
Justin Good is very active in issues of sustainability, and issues of food productive, conservation
and infrastructure. “These are things we like to support,” says Good. “Don’t drive so far, shop
local,” adds Cummings.

Cummings & Good can be found at:
3 North Main Street
Chester, CT 06412
860-526-9597
www.cummings-good.com

Justin’s website Solar Clarity can be found at http://solarclarity.blogspot.com