Presenting 2 texts about graphic design previously made.
TEXT 1
Live discussion of subjects is an essential part of a field of practice that develops in a sustainable way. SUSTAINABILITY is the first word to memorise.
I wish Graphic Design would develop in a more organic way.
I believe that the average level of discussion is low, there are not academical publications being published (at least it’s not a standard procedure in most faculties), promotion of individual thought is addressed but in many cases not in a totally effective way, the level of critical writing is actually going down, while the visual part is getting more attention within specialized publications.
Above everything else I believe that Graphic Design lives in a limbo, if in one way it answers direct communicational needs on another it may be jeopardising its true value when most of its attention is focused on the marketing side of life.
The market plays too much of a role in the development of Design itself. It influences everything, reshaping and redefining Graphic Design itself. With this I don’t intend to say that the market is somehow an artificially imposed system that undermines the potentiality of Design, instead I embrace it as something natural, an Era that we are living, just like any other.
And it is also natural as obstacles come across our destinies, for us to understand them and assimilate their presence and ACT ACCORDINGLY.
What I believe that is happening in Graphic Design is a TOTAL ACCEPTANCE (on average) of the current state of things WITHOUT MAKING THE NECESSARY GLOBAL ASSIMILATION and CHANGE accordingly.
Let’s promote talk! Let’s promote thought!
So that intrinsically we change Design.
We as individuals are a collective of all the experiences that we’ve had so far. So everything we do defines us continuously.
If communication is triggered in a vast scale, within the field, it gets easier for Design to develop fundamental principals that are coherent with the designers themselves.
TEXT 2
WHO ARE WE?
We´re the collective off all the experiences we’ve had so far! All of them!
Of course each event has different level of importance to the narrative of our own lives.
But the main thought here is that ALL happenings play their role in the continuous definition of WHO WE ARE!
We define ourselves continuously!
This organic development is common to many aspects of our lives including most fields of practice.
So … in our case…
If graphic design is defined by those that make part of it, and it is happening in a continuous rate… one question naturally arises.
HOW ARE WE DEFINING IT?
Many books have been written about it and many theories have been formed on how Design is defining itself over time.
But above everything else what I believe it is pertinent TODAY, is to:
Promote DISCUSSION
So that we promote THOUGHT that then generate IDEAS,
So that we interact with the outcomes and redefine ourselves and Design, in the process.
Newton started thinking about gravity when an apple fell onto his head.
Instead of accepting that fact and just eat the fruit, he processed the information in another way.
This is a great example on how can we react when something is presented to us and how we can either accept or question information.
In many cases the instant acceptance of facts may be reductive of what just happened.
Plain acceptance within the industry is an ever growing phenomenon and it has directly undermined the natural development of Graphic Design…
The general feeling that we don’t have a word in what we are doing is completely FALSE and together with the idea that us as individuals cannot change anything is completely DECEIVING, since it shapes our behavior, what we do and how we do it.
If you ever felt that your thoughts, opinions or beliefs play no part on the reshaping of the world.
Think again.
Like Newton
I ask you to look at the bigger picture, and try do understand WHY are these occurrences taking place.
Don’t just eat the apple!
Think WHY it fell, so that next time it happens, you know that there are more options than just total acceptance of what just happened.
MAKE QUESTIONS!
DEMAND ANSWERS! (Timothy Leary)
