Revisiting the Avant-Garde

 Armstrong, Helen. “Introduction: Revisiting the Avant-Garde” Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. Pages 9-15

Questions/Promps

  • According to this author, what role should design play in society?
  • What distinguishes the field, or fields, of design from other creative occupations?
  • Why should designers concern themselves with unsolvable theoretical questions?
  • What role does technology play in shaping design?
  • What are the most urgent problems facing designers today?
  • How, and why, is a designer responsible for solving these problems?

Response

According to this author, design should be what the designer thinks is best in their design. They should also strive to improve on their work whenever they can. Designers should also engage with the surrounding world and communications towards who they are designing for.

Creating the field is about starting the foundation of your work and seeing if it will become successful, guiding yourself into the future. Mapping the future always has a discovery to be discovered since there are always new designs to bring to the surface and we always look into the past to see where we have gotten in the present and future.

Designers should concern themselves with unsolved theoretical questions because someone one day will come up with an answer to the unsolved questions and you will never know, maybe that person can be you. You might also be the first person to solve it. I think that would be very exciting for every designer to get an answer to the unknown/unsolved design question/theory.

Technology plays in shaping design because designers can reach out to many more people and they can also participate in events that are happening around the world without having to go there in person. Also, their design may reach people you never knew they can reach.

One problem that designers face today is that designers are trying to design something that would sell and sell them in mass quantities. Or trying to reach the right target audiences.

Designers are responsible for solving these problems because the seller came to you asking for help in selling their product because they can’t seem to design something to help them sell their product.

Annotations

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