Glossary – Page 19 – Ways of Seeing

Quandary

Quandary (noun)

a state of perplexity or doubt

“Quandary.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. m-w.com.

In “Nontsikelelo Mutiti on Interrogating the Euro-centric Design Canon”, Nontsikelelo Mutiti is quoted saying:

“There’s now a substitution which attempts to start bringing in some work – such as from Mexican cultures – but I still wonder, what kind of work has to be done? It’s a quandary that I’m trying to grapple with now. I’m making those points using ideas on hair braiding, thinking through them, thinking about even that visual form as writing, as meaning making, and thinking about how that relates to typography, or pattern, all of those things.”

What Mutiti is trying to get across is, that we have to ask the confusion questions and to see how we can take concepts further beyond what we think we know. She talks about how she’s attempting to bring in some work into the current canon of graphic design by using ideas on hair braiding and even thinking about how things relate to patterns.

Understanding this word helps us to understand the complexity of an obstacle in design, so that we may be able to figure the different ways to overcome said obstacle.

Rectilinear

Rectilinear (adjective) : moving in or forming a straight line

In, “Nontsikelelo Mutiti on Interrogating the Euro-centric Design Canon”, Samarskaya states, “But what if we think about kente in relationship to that, in relationship to modernism and a rectilinear approach to design motifs?”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rectilinear

Samarskaya meant that us designers have to take a more clearer approach to designing

Pointillism

Pointillism, noun

the theory or practice in art of applying small strokes or dots of color to a surface so that from a distance they blend together

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pointillism

“Nontsikelelo Mutiti on Interrogating the Euro-centric Design Canon ” Question 3 paragraph 1 line 4

“When we’re talking about color mixing we’re talking about Pointillism, Impressionism .”

The author is stating to the reader that when you are playing with or talking about using multiple different colors you are also playing with or talking about using those colors to make small dots that become one large picture .

camp

camp: (noun) 1a : something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing This version of the play is camp: outrageous in concept and wild in its execution with double entendres flying every which way.

b : a style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture a movie that celebrates camp”

“Camp.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. m-w.com.

In “Today’s Design Grads Are More Woke Than Ever–and It’s Looking Great,” Emily Gosling quotes Kayley Kemple as saying :

“It would be a creative space in Dublin for women to educate themselves on different topics—perhaps a talk on [Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on Camp], or looking at campiness in hip-hop,” she says. “There’s all these rappers who actually embody a lot of things that are really exaggerated or over the top that could be seen as ‘camp’ [by Sontag’s definitions]. Then alongside that I’d want to explore it as a space for things like journaling and art therapy. It would just be so cool to have somewhere for women to go and draw together, and just to relax.”

In other words, Kemple wants a space for people–women specifically–to come together to talk about different topics relevant to the the work they do. She gives as an example talking about a well known essay, “Notes on Camp,” by Susan Sontag, and shows how the ideas about camp, something over-the-top in its design or expression, can help them talk about a more contemporary example, hip-hop, as it becomes part of their work, interests, art, etc.

This is an important word to understand because it relates to art and design, and because it gives us the reference to the Sontag essay that would help us learn more about camp and how to talk about it, think about it, use it in our writing and designing.

Aestheticism

Aestheticism – (noun)

Definition 1: A doctrine that the principles of beauty are basic to other and especially moral principles

Definition 2: Devotion to or emphasis on beauty or the cultivation of the arts

Sentence: “Camp Is A Certain Mode Of Aestheticism, It Is One Way Of Seeing The World As An Aesthetic Phenomenon.”

A over dramatic person expressing them self — Notes on Camp, Girls Club, Zine Issue 2, Kayley Kemple, 2019

Alice Garcia

Depth-

Noun: the quality of a deeper meaning, top to bottom of layers, intense,color and more varies.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/depth

I found this word in “Today’s Design Grads Are More Woke Than Ever–and It’s Looking Great”

Alice garcia

Typographical-

Noun: Relating to the style, appearance, or production of the printed matter.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/typographical

I found this word in one of the hand outs from the first day of college called “Grading Guidelines for ENG 1101 and ENG 1121”

Zine

Zine (Noun)

•a noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter.

Things are looking great, and not so great when I speak to Irish designer Kayley Kemple. She’s just graduated with her BA at TU, Dublin School of Creative Arts and scooped the Best Visual Communication Student award; but she’s also just got chicken pox (naturally, she mocked up a zine about it.)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zine#synonyms

Emily Gosling is talking about how Kayley Kemple created a zine to express how even though she has chicken pox, she graduated with her BA and an award.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy (noun)

-a ruling body of clergy organized into orders or ranks each subordinate to the one above it

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hierarchy

Reading ” Nontsikelelo Mutiti on Interrogating Euro-centric Design Canon”

paragraph number 4 ” It automatically placed a Hierarchy among forms , ways and language. So for me growing up in post independent Zimbabwe we still dealt with all of those same issues ..”

What Mutit was trying to explain to the reader was that her education was affected by Hierarchy. Other people with higher status and authority control what they learn and never really go the opportunity to stick with one form of education .

Malnourished

Malnourished (adjective)

supplied with less than the minimum or an unbalanced amount of the nutrients or foods essential for sound health and growth: marked by malnutrition

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malnourished

In “Today’s design Grads Are More Woke Than Ever-and It’s Looking Great” Emily Gosling states: “The children there, as was later revealed, were mistreated, malnourished, and buried in unconsecrated ground.”

In other words, Gosling’s point is many of these kids they were being treated unfairly by their unmarried mothers.

Category: Glossary