Author: Taneisha Bailey (Page 2 of 2)

A language is a form of communication created by humans to help civilization comprehend different communicative methods such as writing and speech. Language can also be defined as a tool used by specific cultures to help depict meanings of worldly things and can have different or similar pronunciations that can become understood through separate contexts, depending on the culture. Other forms of communication include written and visual. We can distinguish these forms from verbal and non-verbal communication by understanding that language is a structure that relies on verbal and non-verbal social interactions that help us process information. Whereas, communication is the information that is being processed. The basis of communication does not change but new information or words can be added to communicate more information in a comprehensive manner.

Symbols and icons are a direct source of the initial beginning of language and speech. They help create a sense of connectivity and easy access to information to help humanity comprehend meanings in a simpler form and to navigate life in general. An independent form of language that is represented through metaphors. Icons and symbols can represent a word or an object without any actual written words or verbal communication. Signifiers and the signified can be defined as arbitrary, having a signifier without a signified can produce no actual meaning, which is understood as the signified being changeable with each person and the context that they use.

Language shapes design by bringing information to design concepts. Instead of onlookers admiring just an aesthetic, they are also able to process the message that is being incorporated into that design. Colors, fonts, icons, and shapes are all elements of visual designs. Designers use these visual design elements to communicate their message. A design allows for experimental stylish ways of conveying information, from the typography of words to color schemes, illustrations, and photography. Design can grab the attention of consumers that words just cannot. In today’s culture, people need language to understand a design, they go hand in hand. Not only do you need the information but a great design concept to really sell the whole package.

According to Bruno Munari design plays an essential part in discovering the importance of how a simplistic natural design can take part in the most common areas of our of day to day lives. Munari helps us understand a deepening connection between design and machinery and how one functions as needed and through that process, the other is effortlessly created (designed). To equate design as an organic offspring of a natural occurrence, distinguishing a connection between artistry and people. Whereas, Helen Armstrong depicts design as a role that designers are creators of what the term design and its attributes consist of. It’s an ever-changing process that became influential through time and history. Dating back to the Bauhaus and its emotionless design concepts to reach a universal concept that was designed to evoke a change and how designers today are pushed and pulled into different concepts and creative outlooks on what the norms are. Restricted by industry-standard software yet given creative control and to document their works as ownership.

Designers should concern themselves with unsolvable theoretical questions to broaden their idealistic way of designing in general. What distinguishes the field of design from other creative occupations is the thought process and concepts behind designing. Taking into account how a design is created and what is its purpose? It’s a plan to convey an idea for a reason, a combination of elements to produced something. The role technology plays in shaping design is a BIG one. Design and technology go hand in hand in a lot of areas. Communication, marketing, and research to logo design, coding, and UX. All of these factors are contributed through the works of technology making our design process so much easier to create, shaping the way we view design in the modern world. 

Just as Helen Armstrong wrote “ look beyond formal concerns to the global impact of their work. No longer primarily led by restrictive modern ideals of neutral, objective communication, the design field has expanded to include more direct critical engagement with the surrounding world.”  With this in mind, the most urgent problem designers are facing today is the restrictiveness of how they are able to design and the demand for designs in a strategic business way. It leaves no room for the creativity of the soul just to produce without a concept and without reasoning and in the same way, we as humans feel emotions just to express. Modern Design concepts lack the depths of what could be rather than what is. It is our responsibility as designers to once again determine what design is and how we can allow a design to transcend into newer concepts that challenge today’s way of designing.