Diary of a Teenage Girl – Sara Gunnarsdottir

I’ve always been a fan of movies and TV but since studying Graphic Design, I’ve become more aware of the entire product when watching something. While other audience members are absorbed in the story, I find myself admiring the costume, set design and little details that make up a really well put-together show or film.

One of my all-time favourite shows is Mad Men. As well as being really interested in the subject matter, I think it looks incredible and really does transport you back to the world of advertising in the 1960s. Interestingly though, I read a little article recently discussing the flaws in their use of typography (why oh why did they use Arial?!) – something the average viewer wouldn’t even notice – but it makes really interesting reading for us Typophiles.

Moving on from the design discrepancies within Mad Men, I came across a brilliant little film the other night. Set in the super cool San Francisco of the 1970s, The Diary of a Teenage Girl is cited as a “coming-of-age comedy drama art film” directed by Marielle Heller and based on the graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner.

The most striking part of the movie for me was the use of animation that tied in so perfectly with the story and the era. After watching the movie, I decided to find out who was responsible for the beautiful animations and came across a really interesting article talking about the work animator Sara Gunnarsdottir did on the film. Impressively, it was her feature film-art debut – fresh from graduating from California Institute of the Arts.