According to Munari, design and practicality should be intertwined with each other. He says “there should be no such thing as art divorced from life, with beautiful things to look at and ugly things to use.” They should be one. I agree with his statement, however, I think l understand why it isn’t. That is because an object doesn’t necessarily need to be designed aesthetically pleasing for it to still be useful. That is also what distinguishes it from other creative occupations.

Where art is made to be either aesthetically pleasing, emotionally provoking, or both, design is not. Design is a marriage between art and practicality. Design is used as a solution to a problem in communication. According to Munari, a designer “responds to the human needs of his time, and helps people to solve certain problems without the stylistic preconceptions or fake notions of artistic dignity derived from the schism of the arts.”

In the reading, Lupton says that graphic designers should concern themselves with theory because it’s a necessary reflection on us. It is a way to reflect on ourselves, our work, and ideologies. The questions raised in theory, whether they are philosophical, political, or aesthetic have inspired the work of their authors and also the work of the people around them. Thus, it is certain that theory can do the same for us in present time.

However, while theory can be inspirational, I don’t think graphic designers should concern themselves with it very much. The particular reason for this is that theory typically isn’t a piece of knowledge that is actionable. It provides you with something to think about, that can inspire a certain technique or style of design, but not the technique itself. While it can be valuable, I personally haven’t found theory to be useful in design. When I read about Avant-Garde, I view it as a piece of history with no direct application to pieces of work. It tells me why some designs or artworks are styled a certain way, but it doesn’t tell me how to replicate them or apply the knowledge.