Something I found very interesting about these two readings by Helen Armstrong and Bruno Munari is that they both reflected on objectivity versus subjectivity in graphic design, and how designers have gone back and forth throughout the ages from one to the other and then back again.  I myself am a huge proponent of subjectivity in all forms of design.  This is because I think that so very many things have already been done in the world, and the average consumer has seen so very much already, that I believe the only way to really differentiate oneself as a designer is to put one’s deeply personal point of view or spin on everything one designs.  Plus I think there has been enough rational, plain, objective designs so far in history, and I love the idea of everyone getting very personal with their designs, even if just from the perspective of getting to know other people through their designs.

One part of the Helen Armstrong reading that really stuck out to me, was Kenya Hara’s quote that was paired with the advertisement for Muji that he designed, about how the blankness of the ads is there for the viewer to deposit their own ideas and wishes into.  Some people may absolutely love that blankness, but I think it is so boring (no disrespect to Kenya Hara).  As I stated in the above paragraph, I think there has been so much plainness in design for many years, that I am craving ads and other designs that are hyper personal to the designer and look totally different from each other.

Something in the Bruno Munari reading that I found really interesting was that the roadsigns for double bends in the Louis XIV era were at first quite decorative, as was fitting for the time.  However, as time passed and those roads became more and more used by more people, the roadsigns became less decorative and larger, so that they were more functional to all those people.  I love all that Rococo decoration from that era, and I find it striking that it is widely accepted that less decoration is more practical.  I suppose maybe there is a psychological reasoning for that consensus, however I would love it if highly decorative elements were allowed to be inserted in designed things that are highly functional.  I just feel like, why do highly functional objects like roadsigns need to be bare bones simple, plain, and devoid of any fun elements?