Tashi Wangdu

Topic in Graphic Design

Author in Graphic design

Looking for an authorship in design world sound like looking for an central figure to obey the rules and try not to cross the line that he established. But did the authorship exist ? I would say it does and we may not call the same name as an author. There are similarities as an author of book to an author of a design but there are many things different too. Author of design to me is like someone’s style .

We have personal styles in today’s design world and that to me could be read as authorship but not as an ownership. And if someone is successful in their field with their own style then we as an designer always look at them as an inspiration and continue to create our own style.

If there is authorship for writing books then there can be an authorship for designs too. After all writings and design both are languages where one is purely visual and the other is more intellectual. But in today’s design world visuals and text is heavily intertwined that both could be seen as an design element. To answer if it is possible to be an author in today’s design world is a complex issue because the wide range of art and visuals that we call design. Design used to be problem solving and for commercials but now we have designers to inject their own feelings in their work like Marian Bantjes. Where she is producing her works that mostly deal with inner feelings and emotions of others. To define an author for design is largely depend on how are you going to define it but I believe there is an authorship for whatever you create , produce or invent.

“But the question of how designers become authors is a difficult one, and exactly who qualifies and what authored design might look like depends on how you define the term and determine admission into the pantheon”-Graphic Design Theory pg 108

To me author defines more on the content and composition rather then the text used. We remember many great writers and their work in the sense what they wrote about rather then what they wrote with. But the works created by artist most of the time we remember how they created it.

To qualify as an author to me does not make any sense. I argue that anyone can be an author of their own design. As long as you are designing means you are an author of your own design but to be a good author and to qualify for a good author is a different matter.

There is commonality between an author as a general and author of a design , where both composing new ideas and both have the ability to send a message or express once own ideas. There were times in the history where authors as ownership of the text .

” Once the authors began to be punished for their writings that is, when a text could be transgressive the link between the author and the text was firmly established. Text became a kind of private property, owned by the author.”-Graphic Design Theory pg 109

Where as the author of a design or a work of art they create their piece beginning from the colors. They create colors, canvas even brushes to produce the final piece. So with this regard it is clear to say they own their piece.

Ownership in today’s world is difficult because an author could write several books but the overall look and text to be used will be responsible for publishing house or book designers. So in that sense the author has nothing to do with text rather than the content. In the design world too beside the content and compositions created by the designer but the overall process has to be done with collaboration with others to the final project.

Whether you call personal style an authorship or you put authorship on an another level is depend on how you want to define as an author. To me I will end this by saying in today’s design world we have authors for design works but not necessarily exactly same meaning as an author of a book. everyone is an author if she or she is creating something and with an different approach or methodlogy cay say his own style. For example Picasso was an author of his work but not only that he created his own style and now I can say he was a great author or a good author.