|
.
Seeing
often has more to do with understanding than it does with
observing.
In
the visual idiom, understatement is more powerful than overstatement.
Those
who understand visual language often make those who do not
to feel insecure.
Perceptual
and conceptual are interdependent—one without the other
leads to transitory or vacuous imagery.
Graphic
design, as with language, can reflect intelligence or ignorance.
Good typography and design reflect intelligence; poor typography
and design reflect ignorance.
To
look and not see the illusion of space or form, nor recognize
the elegance of shape or to distinguish the quality of line
is a form of illiteracy.
Typography
is the visual translation of verbal communication. Traditionally,
function and technological limitation have dictated style.
With computers, typography has become movement, color, texture
or shape, and too often communication has become subservient
to decoration or cleverness.
There
is nothing wrong with using type or letterform as design elements
as long as the communication remains intact and clear.
Typography
from the past was conceived within parameters dictated by
technical limitations, and the finest examples from the past
reflect typography as the “art of the minimum.”
Today, most of the traditional limitations are removed and
“art of the minimum” has become the “forgotten
art.”
Difference
for the sake of being different, cleverness or novelty are
not to be confused with creativity.
If
design is judged by how it meets its objectives, in advertising,
any design that sells is therefore good design. Graphic design
is based in problem solving and visual communication; advertising
is based in market research and sales. Objectives and values
between the two are substantially different.
Whenever
someone tells me that the Bauhaus is out of date, I always
know that I am dealing with an individual who never understood
the Bauhaus. To understand the Bauhaus you must be able to
separate philosophy from product.
In
graphic design, conceptualism, intellectualism or technology
can never be substituted for a visual education. Visual acuity
is the platform upon which design practice in communication,
problem solving or technology are superimposed.
|
