Author: Anchal_Kc (Page 2 of 2)

Without moving our lips or tongue, we can talk to ourselves or recite mentally a selection of verses. Because we regard the words of our language as sound images, we must avoid speaking of the “phonemes” that make up the words. Language develops from symbols to writing and eventually words and speech. All of these create a language for humans to use. Whether we try to find the meaning of the Latin word arbor or the word that Latin uses to designate the concept “tree,” it is clear that only the associations sanctioned by that language appeal to us to conform to reality, and we disregard whatever others might be imagined.  Of course, Language has its outliers such as Jargon and Dialect which vary in different parts of a civilized country or world. In ancient times, civilizations depended on symbols rather than letters to communicate via writing with such examples as The Egyptians, The Sumerians, and The Aztecs. These symbols or icons were called Hieroglyphs, a writing form composed entirely of pictures. Icons and symbols become extremely important as Hieroglyphs were one of the first forms of writing before humanity developed Phonetic Written Languages and thus was a way to communicate with other people in the simplest way. Techniques for visualizing numbers tend to appear in cultures long before efforts to reproduce the full spoken language. Techniques for visualizing numbers tend to appear in cultures long before efforts to reproduce the full spoken language. Graphic Communication is a visual that aims to send a message to an audience. A popular example of this is the hieroglyphics in Egypt or the carvings that cavemen left behind.

The Ellen Lupton & J. Abbot Miller essays demonstrate this idea by having both words and symbols set in between. One of the realizations that I have concluded from the reading is that I found myself understanding the vision quicker when given both words to comprehend and a sign that comprehends it for me. One of the reasons for that is unlike simple words in a language, a design places language into a vision. It’s not left in the ambiguity of the mind when you are presented with the idea through eyesight.

Anchal Kc

According to these authors, what role should design play in our society? 

Design plays an important role in our society. Technology plays the role of a bridge between designers and the people in the present. According to Helen, all designers have impacted the past, present, and future of Graphic Design. Armstrong says digital technology puts creation, production, and distribution into the hands of designers which enables bold assertions of artistic presence. “El Lissitzky, whose posters, books, and exhibitions are among the most influential works of twentieth-century design, had a huge impact on his peers through his work as a publisher, writer, lecturer, and curator.” In the mid-twentieth century, “Josef Müller-Brockmann and Paul Rand connected design methodologies to the world of business, drawing on their own professional experiences. Wolfgang Weingart, Lorraine Wild, and Katherine McCoy have inspired generations of designers through their teaching as well as through their visual work. Kenya Hara has helped build a global consumer brand (Muji) while stimulating invention and inquiry

through his work as a writer and curator.” When Armstrong says “In the early 1900s avant-garde artists like El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Herbert Bayer, and László Moholy-Nagy viewed the authored work of the old art world as shamefully elitist and ego-driven. In their minds, such bourgeois, subjective visions corrupted society.” and because of that: “As the graphic design took shape as a profession, the idea of objectivity replaced that of subjectivity.” Munari said the analogy of: “the artist must step down from his pedestal and be prepared to make a sign for a butcher’s shop”. Both Helen and Bruno Munari claims that design has a huge impact on the modern-day world. Design indeed has been through lots of ideological changes. Armstrong states “Early models of graphic design were built on ideals of anonymity, not authorship.” She also quotes “Design is visible everywhere, yet it is also invisible—unnoticed and unacknowledged.” Designers and design have evolved throughout the years. 

What distinguishes the field, or fields, of design from other creative occupations? 

Some graphic designers have refreshed their field by producing their own content and signing their work, and branding themselves as makers. Some graphic designers continue to champion ideals of neutrality and objectivity that were essential to the early formation of their field. Such designers see the client’s message as the central component of their work. As the field shifted toward a more subjective design approach, a social responsibility movement emerged in the 1990s and 2000s. Designers joined media activists to revolt against the dangers of consumer culture. Helen says creating the field traces the evolution of graphic design during the early 1900s, including influential avant-garde ideas of futurism, constructivism, and the Bauhaus. Building on Success covers the mid to latter part of the twentieth century, looking at International Style, Pop, and postmodernism. The design has become more informational than creative at times, gathering knowledge of past works and ideas while learning about the present’s values and thoughts of what makes good design. Looking back across the history of design through the minds of these influential designers, one can identify pervasive themes like those discussed in this introduction. Issues like authorship, universality, and social responsibility, so key to avant-garde ideology, remain crucial to contemporary critical and theoretical discussions of the field.

Why should designers concern themselves with unsolvable theoretical questions? 

Helen says “Mapping the Future opens at the end of the twentieth century and explores current theoretical ideas in graphic design that are still unfolding.” Jessica Helfand charges the present design community to become the new avant-garde. Helfand asks that we think beyond technical practicalities and begin really “shaping a new and unprecedented universe.” Just like how designers in the early twentieth century rose to the challenges of their societies, we can too take on the complexities of the rising millennium. Delving into theoretical discussions that engage both our past and our present is a good start. Looking back at the history of design through the minds of these influential designers, one can identify pervasive themes like those discussed in this introduction. Issues like authorship, universality, and social responsibility, so key to avant-garde ideology, remain crucial to contemporary critical and theoretical discussions of the field.

Designers have much to learn from those discourses as well, but this book is about learning from ourselves. Why theory? Designers read about design in order to stimulate growth and change in their own work. Critical writing also inspires new lines of questioning and opens up new theoretical directions. Such ideas draw

people together around common questions.

What role does technology play in shaping design?

According to Helen, technology is fundamentally altering our culture. But technology wrought a radical change in the early 1900s as well. Digital technology puts creation, production, and distribution into the hands of the designer, enabling such bold assertions of artistic presence. These acts of graphic authorship fit within a broader evolving model of collective authorship that is fundamentally changing the producer-consumer relationship. Out of this recent push toward authorship, new collective voices hearkening back to the avant-garde are emerging, because of this technology content generation by individuals has never been easier. At the same time technology is empowering a new collectivity and is also redefining universality. Technology through which designers today create and communicate has quietly thrust universality back into the foundation of our work. Designers are currently creating through a series of restrictive protocols. Software applications mold individual creative quirks into standardized tools and palettes. The same digital technology that empowers collective authorship and enables a new kind of universal language is also inspiring a sharpened critical voice within the design community. Munari says designers’ job is to invent a new education system that might lead away to a new kind of specialized teaching of science and technology to complete the knowledge of human needs and universal awareness around them.

What are the most urgent problems facing designers today? 

The most urgent problem facing designers today could be how some of them may be unable to express themselves. Munari says that today has become necessary to demolish the myth of the ‘star’ artist who only produces masterpieces for a small group of ultra-intelligent people. It must be understood that as long as art stands aside from the problems of life it will only interest a very few people. “Culture today is becoming a mass affair, and the artist must step down from his pedestal and be prepared to make a sign for a butcher’s shop (if he knows how to do it).” All artists must cast off the last rags of romanticism and become active as a man among men, well up in present-day techniques, materials, and working methods. So it is up to us designers to make our working methods in dear and simple terms, the methods we think are the truest, the most up-to-date, the most likely to resolve our common aesthetic problems. Anyone who uses a properly designed object feels the presence of an artist who has worked for him, bettering his living conditions and encouraging him to develop his taste and sense of beauty. Technology plays the role of a bridge between designers and the people in the present. Communication is incredibly quicker than it was prior allowing ideas and design to reach people all over the world in a timely fashion. Helen Armstrong says that the theory is all about the question “why?” The process of becoming a designer is focused largely on “how”: how to use software, how to solve problems, how to organize information, how to get clients, how to work with printers, and so on.

How, and why, is a designer responsible for solving these problems?

Designers are responsible for solving these problems because as we know design has evolved throughout the years with the use of new methods and technology. They are the ones who design anything and everything. They should know how to tackle or solve the challenges of their task. Designers are constantly expected to be aware of their surroundings and to be ready to establish themselves. Armstrong writes that tackling these problems leads to “more direct critical engagement with the surrounding world”. Munari also says the same in his paper, stating that a designer must create a “sign for the butcher” shop if it is needed of him.