When I started reading the introduction entitled “Revisiting The Avant-Garde”, I was met with the familiar theories and values that we’ve discussed in classes such as History of Graphic Design in regards to post WWII Swiss graphic designers. These values included the withdrawal of individual personality in ones designs and aimed for a universal, anonymous look. This was one of the reasons why the art from that period is known by its style more than it is known by any singular designer (though there are some designers that did make their mark in that time). Neutrality and objectivity was the name of the game.

Personally I think that can be rather boring as a designer. I was very pleased to see that the section continued and focused on either voicing the emotion and imagination of one’s personal approach to design, or encouraging a balance between the neutrality and universal approach along side individual voice.

I believe designers are different from other creative fields because of that balance. Kenya Hara stated his philosophy behind many MUJI designs, by saying “Communication becomes effective only when [it] is offered as an empty vessel and viewers freely deposit into it their ideas and wishes.” I believe this is true to an extent. The more universal your design is the more you can engage with a wider range of people, and the more liberty you give for people to bring in their own ideas and interpretations the more you can let them build the connection and association they want with it. However, I believe that designers are also a vessel in which so much exploration and life can be brought to people all over the world. I do believe we have the responsibility to showcase “…the emotion, self-expression, and multiplicity of meaning that cannot be controlled within the client’s message,” just as Katherine McCoy does in her work.

Design influences every single nook and cranny of our world. Design is communication, another language just like English, Japanese, Russian, or even sign. I believe our role a designers is to hit a balance. A balance of allowing easy interpretation between cultures, backgrounds, ways of thinking, and anything else that might serve as a wall between us by creating a bridge, and allowing ourselves to be a voice that unconsciously or consciously allows others to voice their own. Human expression and perception is meant to bring life and spark the imagination, not be confined into a box. However, sometimes there is freedom in limitation; the freedom to grow out and invent from your own mind.