Group Members: Angela, Shivonne, Jennifer, Simon
TOPIC: After reading “Revisiting the Avant-Garde” and reviewing the videos “History of Graphic Design: 1888-1930,” do you notice similarities between avant-garde movements of the past and the design field (or the world) of today?
Let’s look at a few terms we came across in the first reading. In what ways do today’s designers participate in, facilitate, or reject the following? Provide specific examples if you can (ie: specific designers, social media tools, design trends, advertising campaigns, etc). Check out AIGA’s Eye on Design to find out what contemporary designers are working on.
- Authorship
- Universality
- Social Responsibility
What idea(s) or concerns do you think will drive the Avant-Garde of the near future? Who will lead the charge?
In the comments, add your thoughts about these questions, including links to related material as needed. Ask a follow-up question to generate dialog with your group members. Respond at least 5 times in your discussion group — ideally more. Feel free to jump into other groups, but you must contribute meaningful discussion within your assigned group too. Note: free sharing of ideas helps us learn and it’s also part of your participation grade. 🙂
Please add your comments before by Friday, Sep 10th at 11:59 pm to allow time for replies. Check back often to read and reply to the comments.
Designers from time to time reject authorship in a way because many of them do work or projects for other people or clients. For example, designers are asked to make posters, cover art, etc without their names attached to them (example in image link below) because these projects are more client-focused.
Image Link
Designers participate in universality by doing things such as using similar software or using similar platforms to share their work. For example, millions of graphic designers use Adobe programs every day to create their work, these software have basics that they all must learn. Social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram are platforms that many designers use to put themselves out there and/or share their work.
Designers participate in having social responsibility by creating works that relate to social issues or injustices in our current society. Currently, we are facing issues like police brutality and the BLM movement, and the CoronaVirus pandemic. A multitude of Designers has already gotten on the task of creating their projects for both issues.
LINK
An idea that might drive the Avant-Garde of the near future is semi-automated design. This allows a client to choose and combine between hundreds of pre-made designs and choose which one they like best. Ultimately, I think that consumers will lead this change because, today, people want things fast and easily accessible.
Agreed, Simon! Even though we as designers work for clients (their mission, their causes, their brand) can or do we imprint our individual aesthetic on the work we produce? What if we collaborate with others to produce an idea, object, campaign, or technology? Are authorship and anonymity opposites?
Following the readings of “Revisiting the Avant-Garde” and reviewing the LinkedIn Learning videos of “History of Graphic Design: 1888-1930”, I’ve noticed many similarities between the avant-garde movements of the past and the design field of today, down to certain aspects such as forms of creating design and using shared tools to communicate a common message. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, almost every working family handmade their own household items and clothes, meaning that every individual household was unique, free of the impacts of mass production. In today’s design world, and especially thanks to the rise of social media, the movements to individualize are just as prevalent as they were prior to the Industrial Revolution. From designers that intently create their own clothes for wear, to artists that utilize their own forms of media for their statement pieces.
In terms of authorship, I feel as though there are fine lines between understanding oneself in terms of whether a designer participates and facilitates authorship. Designers today are much more open in identity when it comes to creating work. Cortney Cassidy of Eye on Design communicates the line between authorship when it comes to being both an Artist and. Graphic Designer: “…like playing a game of chess as both players”. Cassidy explains how the artist plays a different role, with the embrace of authorship, embodying one’s own views, internalizing and examining experiences and emotions, and even exploring unconventionality. On the other hand, the graphic designer takes an almost opposite approach, through the facilitation of authorship in order to execute the aspects of their job. In this meaning, graphic designers reject authorship due to the fact that they need to create work for clients, employers, or a generalized intentional purpose, and in some cases, cannot use their own name on their work, entirely giving it up in exchange for a payment. Link:(https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/can-i-be-an-artist-here/)
Universality is another form that designers use in the way that they embrace it with the use of media formats like Simon says in the post above: designers across the world utilize and share programs such as Adobe, Apple, and Windows software. Social media is another form of using universality, seeing how designers create their own work in their processes, when I click on certain hashtags, I can see millions of videos of how people use Adobe Illustrator to create certain line art, or Apple’s Final Cut Pro to do quick edits on video bloggers. There are constantly revolving trends that are easily shared amongst social media platforms and the use of common platforms such as Adobe software allows for both individuality and evolving forms of art.
Social Responsibility is another approach that designers have greatly increased in participating within. With the importance of social media comes the importance of self-image, being that the internet allows for total insight into a person across platforms. More people, designers especially want to upkeep a positive and socially conscious image of themselves, so with that comes social responsibility: creating work that promotes important causes such as helping those in need, becoming aware of environmental causes, and many other world issues.