Author: Alvin Valentierra (Page 2 of 2)

In these short essays from these former designers/artist associated with the Bauhaus movement, I found interesting how they honed in heavily on the art of type and language. The importance of typographic design mixed with photography and how it changed graphic design and is still very influential to this day. In Herberts essay he lets you know the importance of typography and how essential it is to a graphic designers and the need for typography to evolve and grow so the graphic designer to can grow and not become bored within design.

László coins the term typophoto the emergence of typography and photography into one art form. This to me is what graphic design is today, we live in a digital/visual age where we communicate with each other a lot more now than ever before. To László typophoto was a manifesto of visual communication and inspired by other forms of art. I found the Walter Gropius reading hard to understand but it seems that art is something that can be taught and mastered through education that it is a profession just like another.

This weeks reading assignment dealt with technology and vision for the future, artist, and design. In the futurist manifesto the ideals seemed very aggressive in nature and very linear in thought. The idea that one should not reflect on what has been don but to constantly think of moving forward, which I understand but I believe innovation comes from growing on what has already been done. He also focused on war as a form of freedom which I find to be destructive, I also found the reading to be very self centered in thought, and I believe are is a collective effort which comes from inspiration of not only the past but of what the future could be.

I believe that they all envisioned the future to be one where technology would take over, where man would be somewhat obsolete. To a certain extent they are correct in this thinking as we’re are in a technology driven age, and so much emphasis is placed on the youth and the ideas and views of the old are somewhat disregarded. El Lissitzky spoke on the importance of print, I still believe print is a very important and is still a great way of communicating to the masses.

In Who We Are he is focused on machinery and the spread of technological advancements to increase and advance design and the creation of things. I think he is right in this thinking because we use tools like photoshop illustrator and other apps and from of technology to output massive amounts of art and design daily, more than they could have ever imagined.

This weeks reading assignment I learned a lot the originals of language sound and symbols and the roles they play and it evolution to present day. I also learned the about the relationship between language, sound, and communication and how they differ form each other. Language is a very complex system, a system of signs that evolve from the activity of speech. It is the link between thought and sound.

Language plays a role in design because it directly linked to symbols, without symbols there would be no language without language it would be difficult to communicate. As designers we use the connection between symbols and language to portray a message to the viewer. Design is another form of communication similar to the numbering symbols used in the past used to count and show transactions. Symbols or iconography are directly related to language, they both are derived from one another, they both were essential to the form of spoken communication, as they both came from primitive beginnings then once thoughts and the need for communication evolved so did language.

Signs, signifiers, and the signified are employed in general communication because a sign is a combination of a concept and a sound-image. The concept is what is signified, and the sound-image is the signifier according to Saussure. The text provokes new ideas in design because it show the direct link of symbols sounds and language, so as these change so too will design.

Art is constantly changing, just as the world and technology does. Designers have always played a role in that change. In this weeks reading both Armstrong and Munari have views on what the designers role should be in society. Armstrong focuses on the 21st century and the relationship between clients and designers. How many designers now are more empowered through authorship by creating their own content and publishing it themselves and having their voices heard. Munari believes that the designers should be less egocentric and be more of a public service while implementing great aesthetics. Munari also believes that there are many different forms of designer and each play a specific role in the design process and tho they tell a different story they are all necessary to make things functional.  

A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense. Designers should absolutely concern themselves on unsolvable theoretical questions, because that is how problems are solved.  Advancements in technology has played a huge role in design it has opened a new level of creativity to be explored. Technology’s role today for designers is its biggest it’s ever been we live in a digital space where screens and monitors dominate our lives. 

I believe the most urgent problem designers face today is noise, meaning too many people having access and tools to create. Making it harder to stand out and be heard a little more difficult. It also allows for mis information to be spread. I believe designers can help solve this problem by simply being better at there craft, by using great design and aesthetics to stand out above the noise.