Author: Dasom Kim (Page 1 of 2)

Designer often pride themselves in the uniqueness of their cruft. The subjectivity of their creativity remains the top shield they love to yield when criticism strikes. Design is not one man’s playfield to show off creativity brewing in their mind. Sure expressing one self is definitely an important aspect of design and art all together. But every designer, first, should treat design as a service rendered to society. A set of rules that allow us designers to be better servants rather letting our imagination run wild. We are our best when our design speak to everyone ion need of our expertise. A silent instruction that speaks to the viewer, without effort. Transmit a message without any ambiguity or hidden rules to decipher. Jan T. Describes the essence of typography as clarity. Not beauty, or puzzle, but direct expression. Ornaments are great ways to create distraction. Karl G. In Designing Programmes view design as solution to problem. But he dopant stop there, he elaborate further on the improbability of solving problems with design solution. Given the numerous variables of a problem, designing a solution would seem rather insufficient, like putting a band aid on cracking wall. He instead suggested designing programmes for solutions. As a directive, designers can ultimately refer to when they’re solving a problem or improving upon an existing solution. Joseph M. With the grid system invites us to entertain a rather mechanical and less emotional approach to design. Not a complete elimination of creativity, but instead the introduction of a blueprint in a way. A foundation that makes our creativity flow more naturally but still within the margins. This approach indicates knowledge, application and mostly the ability to integrate clearly all forms of creativity in our design.

To recap, these designers we have cited throughout are all making a similar point. A guideline to good design, not a cookie-cutter process but a set of principles that makes our design easy to absorb and foremost to become better servants.

IMPORTANT TERMS:

• Semiology
• Connotation
• Counter-taboo
• Syntagm
• Metonymy
• Diegesis

UNCLEAR POINTS:

• “The idea that what we have in the scene represented is a return from the market.”
• “The absence of code desintellectuazises the message because it seems to find in nature the signs of culture.”
• “In other words, the denotation of the drawing is less pure than that of the photograph, for there us no drawing without style.”

LIST OF QUESTIONS:

• What is the difference between the cultural code and the natural non-code?
• How vital is the linguistic message to the overall reach of an advertisement?

The transmission of thoughts and ideas has evolved over time and society has to adapt to new means for sharing information. We communicate through various mediums, making our interactions much more efficient. McCluhan has the value of the message being more than just the element transported through different mediums. As the media became more accessible, it became very easy for people to gain access to new information and make learning much easier than it used to be. The easy access to new knowledge or belief may not always be in the greater interest. Media has challenged our beliefs and core values, pushed people to question their morals and stances.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we have to adapt to changes consistently occurring in our surroundings. New trends emerge every day and old skeptics become new believers every single day. The power of innovation cannot be halted nor paused. Every new technology or trend was born out of risk. The will to affect a change that fits our current way of life, fixing a problem that perhaps not many has foreseen. Every creator, artist needs the gut to create something new even if they will be faced with backlash, as it is a right of passage.

The more we extend the reach of the media, the less grasp we have on our free will. Not that we feel forced to change or to adapt to new ways but rather carried into the masses. We start to lose grip on what we believe to be true and what we are told to be a certain way. From the way we educate ourselves, inform ourselves, and navigate our everyday social life, we have become part of a giant spinning machine that we created rather consciously or not.

The artist and the medium through which they express themselves are always evolving. Whether the artist evolves and changes their medium or the medium evolve forcing the artist to adapt or reinvent themselves. As society continues its course through modernism, changes will be inevitable and thus a stand-up against technology would be futile. Typography throughout its history has played different roles in conveying messages and ideas. Over time, its role changes, and the stoplight has often shifted to a point where its relevance questions have risen. And its role in the mind of the reader.

Beatrice Warde defined the role of printings as the courier of thoughts, ideas, and images from one mind to other minds. Before there was photography, the type carried the duty of providing scenery, and visual ideas. Through the rise of technology, we’ve come to succumb to our own laziness and lost touch with the art of the written word. Ideas and thoughts have nonetheless not stopped its transfer from one mind to another.

Machines will not get better than they were yesterday and become even proficient at accomplishing their tasks. Their intent was to make lives better and provide precision that humans otherwise couldn’t. While some see machines as a threat, another approach would be to utilize them for their core functionality; aid. It applied to art as well, to create new and more meaningful experiences.

The absolute constant in Art will always remain its inconsistency. The never-ending changes, some abrupt, and other expected are the root of Art. Its essence derived from challenges and risks, mankind seeking meaning to its existence. Every generation finds its way to communicate through art, but they don’t all share the same beliefs. Every artistic wave immerses from the discontent of an existing one. Herbert believes we’ve come to appreciate less with time. His prediction of the future entails the death of books that are ultimately replaced by microfilms which will change the design of libraries. 

While Herbert described technology as the decline of all types, Lazslo on the other hand not only embraces technology and states it will play a key role in the advancement of Art. In his view, photography can communicate some emotions better than typography could. The relationship between humans and machines is a very complex one. Cohabitation seems like the best path to adopt but it certainly is not a smooth one.

Evolution is inevitable, whether we choose to adapt or not is one aspect we can control. The skills to adapt to change are simply acquired by repeating the same task or the same technique over time. It’s gained by understanding the true nature of our craft. As Walter Gropius explained, the best artists do not rely on technique and study, but the mastery and the understanding of forms and theory to truly grasp the knowledge of the field. 

Marineetti’s manifesto of Futurism is mainly about rebelling against tradition and praising the sense of speed and movement brought by mechanical civilization. In his manifesto, he demanded that Futurist artists abandon all the frameworks and become free and improvised. It is obvious that Futurism in Marineetti’s Manifesto was an international phenomenon at the time in the world. At the same time, a wind of futurism blew in Russia as well. Similar to other historical trends, this futurism seems to have different directions and textures in different countries.

From Rodcheko’s manifesto, Russian constructivism seems to have pursued various ‘experiments’ in the art, industrial machine, aesthetic and utility by accepting the optimism of European technology at that time. Constructivism is no longer limited to fine art such as painting and sculpture, but based on experiments in various fields of art such as design and literature. As such, it seemed that it was positive for the intervention of art in reality, and tried to achieve a new reform of politics beyond art for mere expression. It is believed that a close relationship between people’s lives and art was established.

El lissitzky’s writing is similar to Rodchenko. By developing a new painting style, graphic design was used as means of expressing the ideals of socialism. Constructivists considered and rejected works of art as products of the old age for the bourgeoisie, armed with a new way of expression, abstraction, and tried to eliminate the distinction between art and labor. In that respect, it can be said that the production method of machinery, especially photographic technology, fits the constructivist ideals.

As such, constructivism is characterized by geometric and abstract forms in the trend of avant-garde, which was the mainstream of Russian art. Constructivism, characterized by geometric and abstract forms, pursued ‘space and time(speed)’, and industrial materials and practicality. Art is no longer made only of canvases and paints, but has become a story of the times we live in with various materials. In a radically changing society, the perceptions of artists changed, and constructivism was seen as one of art experiments. It is clear that geometrical and mechanically praised works began in this period and have influenced the present day.