design... not that I know anything about it.
To the untrained eye, the varied multitude of objects and motions that populate our world and bring us so much visual pleasure may seem, in many cases, to be happy coincidences or, at best, to be the result of a sort of freeform creativity possessed by the gifted among us. To a more trained eye, especially when training denotes Art Education in institutes of higher learning, these coincidences are broken down into their many subordinate parts, separated out and categorized by the particular aesthetics employed, purposefully or subconsciously, by these accidental designers. A beautifully handwritten note on a Post-it, skewed counterclockwise on the door, just by the frame becomes an amalgam of calligraphic art, composition, the emphasis of the yellow and the juxtaposition of something worthwhile written on something so disposable.
This sort of analysis leads directly to so many people with natural senses of what might be mistakenly called style spending their time trying to create things with obviously intentional beauty. While there is nothing wrong with understanding the techniques of analysis, and with wanting to be in control of the work we produce, it is important not to stifle our spontaneous creative urges. Edit to your hearts' content, but when the mood strikes you to draw a foot, whether or not you have some reason to be doing it, draw a foot. Draw a retro-futuristic couch. Doodle on your interoffice correspondence and write your mother a letter by hand. Sign your name ridiculously largely and laugh about it out loud.
In the interest of fostering more design in this world, find products that you create repeatedly in the world around you and take the time to make them pretty. And don't avoid the word pretty. It may not seem very sophisticated, the purpose of design is not, as we so often fall into thinking, to properly use the elements of design. Such a recursive concept does not lead to the furtherance of design, but instead serves to hole it up inside a bunker made of the design ideals of the day. Design is the use of those elements to most effectively do whatever it is you were going to do anyway. Design is a more conscientious method for accomplishing any goal you have set out for yourself, and creating something that is aesthetically pleasing, without the need for stimulating intellectual analysis, is an entirely worthwhile goal.
I'm sure that many people would argue that such an "empty" pursuit should not be given the same weight as more socially significant goals, such as political satire or education. I would agree that, when it comes to the allocation of money for these projects, more resources ought to be given to those that have more than beauty as their purpose. I would agree, however, based on the idea that it costs less, in most situations, to create something that is pretty. Ideas with more complex messages require more planning, and are harder to execute in most cases. So many of us have a natural inclination to create beauty out of the chaos around us, but so few have a similar inclination to depth. That Post-it note is a thing of beauty, but the irony of a typeface that reminds us of simpler times used on faux parchment spelling out, in the layout of a town edict, the virtues of racism and sexism takes a great deal of work. That work is well worth it, but the beauty of that note is no less so.
This sort of analysis leads directly to so many people with natural senses of what might be mistakenly called style spending their time trying to create things with obviously intentional beauty. While there is nothing wrong with understanding the techniques of analysis, and with wanting to be in control of the work we produce, it is important not to stifle our spontaneous creative urges. Edit to your hearts' content, but when the mood strikes you to draw a foot, whether or not you have some reason to be doing it, draw a foot. Draw a retro-futuristic couch. Doodle on your interoffice correspondence and write your mother a letter by hand. Sign your name ridiculously largely and laugh about it out loud.
In the interest of fostering more design in this world, find products that you create repeatedly in the world around you and take the time to make them pretty. And don't avoid the word pretty. It may not seem very sophisticated, the purpose of design is not, as we so often fall into thinking, to properly use the elements of design. Such a recursive concept does not lead to the furtherance of design, but instead serves to hole it up inside a bunker made of the design ideals of the day. Design is the use of those elements to most effectively do whatever it is you were going to do anyway. Design is a more conscientious method for accomplishing any goal you have set out for yourself, and creating something that is aesthetically pleasing, without the need for stimulating intellectual analysis, is an entirely worthwhile goal.
I'm sure that many people would argue that such an "empty" pursuit should not be given the same weight as more socially significant goals, such as political satire or education. I would agree that, when it comes to the allocation of money for these projects, more resources ought to be given to those that have more than beauty as their purpose. I would agree, however, based on the idea that it costs less, in most situations, to create something that is pretty. Ideas with more complex messages require more planning, and are harder to execute in most cases. So many of us have a natural inclination to create beauty out of the chaos around us, but so few have a similar inclination to depth. That Post-it note is a thing of beauty, but the irony of a typeface that reminds us of simpler times used on faux parchment spelling out, in the layout of a town edict, the virtues of racism and sexism takes a great deal of work. That work is well worth it, but the beauty of that note is no less so.