Discovery by DesignBy Zuzana Licko
This article was first published in 1994 in
Emigre 32.
"...Can new design - like new
science - discover phenomena that already exist in the fabric of
typographic possibility? If so, who owns discovery?"
- Ellen Lupton, The 100
Show. The sixteenth Annual of the American Center for Design.
Although science and design are both based upon
experimental investigation, the comparison is not altogether
straightforward; science investigates naturally occurring phenomena, while
design investigates culturally created phenomena. But if such a parallel is
to be made, then we might replace a falling tree by a typographic
possibility and thereby ask the question "Does a typographic
phenomenon exist if no one recognizes it?"
Potentially, if every graphic and typographic
possibility already exists, and each is waiting to be discovered, then we
need only create an appropriate context in order to bring life to any of
them.
For example, consider the 26 letters in our alphabet
and how they are combined to form words. There is a finite number of
combinations, or words, if we limit ourselves to words of a certain length;
say, five letters. Then, for the ease of pronunciation, let's omit
all words that contain a string of three or more consecutive consonants.
Even with these restraints to give some "meaning" within our
understanding of words, there will be many words that will have no meaning
to us. Does this mean that these are not words? Does a sequence of letters
not form a word when we do not recognize its meaning?
It is important to note here, that the meanings of
words are not intrinsic to the words themselves; the meanings are
arbitrary, since the same word may have different meanings in different
languages. In fact, the entire concept of using 26 letters is an arbitrary
one. We could just as well have used 20 letters, or 30 letters, or
thousands of ideograms like the Oriental cultures. Although these systems
of communication and meanings are arbitrary, once they are established,
they serve as the foundation for the creation of new meanings, and
therefore do not appear to be as arbitrary as they really are.
As another example, consider the grid of a computer
video display, or that of a laser printer rasterizer; each point on the
grid can be on or off; black or white. Given a fixed resolution, again,
there is a finite number of combinations that these on/off sequences will
compose. If a computer is programmed to run through all of the possible
combinations, some will appear to us as pure gibberish, while others will
be recognized as something that we already know or might be interested in
getting to know better. Even though all these compositions are randomly
generated, only those few that fit into our preconceived notions of context
will have meaning. Therefore, it is the meaning, and not the form itself
that has been created.
New design is the creation of new meanings; that is,
new contexts for typographic possibilities. However, must be linked to
existing ones. Even that design which "pushes the envelope"
must build upon existing preconceptions. For unless a critical portion is
understandable, the entire piece will be dismissed as complete nonsense. On
the other hand, if no portion of the design is new, then it will appear so
uninteresting that it might result in boredom and therefore be equally
dismissed. Intriguing consumers with just the right amount of
unrecognizable information spurs their interest. By initiating these
changes of meaning, design educates the consumer to the changes in culture.
Thus, design is a vet powerful component in controlling our collective
consciousness. However, design is also a subconscious process, and it is
therefore nearly impossible for a designer to intentionally alter a
specific cultural concept.
This process of reassimilation and adding or changing
of meaning with each step creates an environment in our popular culture
that is conducive to the assimilation of particular ideas. As this
environment changes, it makes certain ideas ripe, or "ready to be
liked."
In this manner, meanings change, and over time great
shifts take place. Since the creation of new meanings usually results in
the replacement, displacement or change of older meanings, we may also
wonder if some meanings become obsolete. We may ask, "Does
obsolescence exist in design, and can we plan obsolescence?"
It is possible to engineer the components of a car or
refrigerator to break down after a certain duration of use, thereby
defining the product's obsolescence. But is it possible to do this
with a design style, typeface, or typographic form? Unlike industrial
products that have a physical life, the lifespan of a typographic
possibility is purely conceptual. Designs become obsolete as they are
consumed by our culture, and subsequently forgotten in favor of other ones.
Yet what was obsolete years ago is often revived from obsolescence to be
reassimilated or expanded upon as appropriate to fit into new cultural
meanings. This process repeats itself again and again, making obsolescence
a temporary state in the world of design possibilities.
Because this ongoing change is affected by many
different forces from numerous directions, it is impossible to predict what
will happen next, or even how long-or short-lived any particular design
idea might be. Since the life, or lives, of a design idea are dictated by
its appropriateness for currently accepted ideas, it would be impossible to
specifically plan the longevity of a design without also controlling these
forces of style.
This evolution of meanings is also unpredictable over
time. Some meanings change very quickly, like the second hand on a
stopwatch; others change so slowly that we don't even see them
change, like the hour hand on a grandfather clock. These slow changing
ideas are seen as timeless, while those that change quickly are perceived
as being timely. The words "timeless" and "timely"
often have very strong negative or positive connotations, although neither
is good nor bad, per se. The value of either of these qualities lies in the
appropriateness of use, and appropriateness is usually a question of
efficient use of design resources, or financial viability.
For example, if it costs millions to change the signage
in an airport or subway system, then a timeless design is appropriate.
However, if a design can be changed every time it appears on, say, an
interactive television platform, and especially if such change will
stimulate interest and add levels of meaning to the audience, then a timely
design would be appropriate.
However, more often than not, it is timelessness that
is seen as most valuable. Timeless creations are seen as the result of the
process of refinement, and give us the impression that we are always
working towards an ultimate goal of perfection, independent of the whims of
fashion. This may appear so because history is told as a logical and
progressive development. However, histories are composed in hindsight;
actual events do not occur with such 20/20 vision. For example, once we
identify a design idea as being fully developed, historians then work to
explain its development by referring to the appropriate chain of events.
However, this process also involves the filtering out of inappropriate
events; events that nonetheless occupy the same time line. The
inevitability of design ideas is therefore never so apparent when
we're standing on the other end of the time line.
Although each development can be explained as an
outcome of any number of preceding factors, this does not mean that any
particular course of development is therefore inevitable. The sometimes
arbitrary choices that are made along every step subsequently become a
foundation for future developments, but there are usually many parallel,
equally viable paths not taken.
So, who owns these design discoveries, if we are
facilitating their existence through the appropriate contexts? It may be
true that all designs exist in the fabric of typographic possibility.
However, since not all possibilities can exist at the same time, there must
be some way to intelligently choose possibilities that will have meaning;
that intelligent force comes from designers.
The discovery of a design possibility is therefore
largely a matter of the designer being in the right place at the right
time. However, it is the designer's ability to recognize the
opportunity, the talent to apply the idea to a specific creative work, the
willingness to sometimes go out on a limb, and the perseverance to convince
others that the idea has validity, that deserves claim to ownership.
Because, in the end, it is the expertise to communicate new ideas to others
that gives credibility to the designer's existence.
|
 |
A Selection of Essays from Emigre Magazine
Ambition/Fear
By Zuzana Licko and Rudy VanderLans. Published in Emigre 11.
Neomania
By Anne Burdick. Published in Emigre 24.
Fallout
By Rudy VanderLans. Published in Emigre 30.
An Interview with Steven Heller
By Michael Dooley. Published in Emigre 30.
An Interview with David Shields
By Michael Dooley. Published in Emigre 30.
An Interview with Edward Fella
By Michael Dooley. Published in Emigre 30.
An Interview with Mr. Keedy
By Michael Dooley. Published in Emigre 30.
In and Around: Cultures of Design and the Design of Cultures
Part I
By Andrew Blauvelt. Published in Emigre 32.
Discovery by Design
By Zuzana Licko. Published in Emigre 32.
In and Around: Cultures of Design and the Design of Cultures
Part II
By Andrew Blauvelt. Published in Emigre 33.
An Interview with Rick Poynor
By Mr. Keedy. Published in Emigre 33.
Radical Commodities
By Rudy VanderLans. Published in Emigre 34.
Copping an Attitude
By Rudy VanderLans. Published in Emigre 38.
Graphic Design and the Next Big Thing
By Rudy VanderLans. Published in Emigre 39.
That was then, and this is now: but what is next?
By Lorraine Wild. Published in Emigre 39.
Graphic Design in the Postmodern Era
By Mr. Keedy. Published in Emigre 47.
Skilling Saws and Absorbent Catalogues
By Kenneth FitzGerald. Published in Emigre 48.
First Things First Revisited
By Rick Poynor. Published in Emigre 51.
First Things First Manifesto 2000
Various authors. Published in Emigre 51.
Saving Advertising
By Jelly Helm. Published in Emigre 53.
The Emigre Legacy
By Rudy VanderLans. Published in Emigre 56.
Sustainable Consumerism
By Chris Riley. Published in Emigre 59.
|
