{"id":17447,"date":"2010-05-31T15:46:39","date_gmt":"2010-05-31T22:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/?p=17447"},"modified":"2011-07-23T17:57:39","modified_gmt":"2011-07-24T00:57:39","slug":"defining-terms-design-is-not-decoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/archives\/17447","title":{"rendered":"Defining terms: Design is not decoration"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’ve said this in the critiques in my design classes: <\/p>\n

‘Are you a designer or a decorator?’<\/em><\/p>\n

The distinction is a designer is a problem solver.<\/em> In graphic design, a designer is a problem solving communicator.<\/em> Graphic design is a communication field and the nuance in definition is what can separate novice from professional. <\/p>\n


\nDwiggins<\/em><\/p>\n

dwiggins and gd<\/strong>
\nThe term ‘graphic design’ was first coined in 1920s by William Addison Dwiggins<\/a> and it doesn’t really say what it is. At least not today. Graphic<\/em> goes back to Latin, and was originally derived from the Greek graphe,<\/em> translated as ‘writing or drawing.’ <\/p>\n

Today, graphic design is believed to have something to do with computer programming. It isn’t. Throw in that ‘graphic’ could be porn or a violent movie – our own industry’s defining moniker doesn’t communicate very well. Not today.<\/p>\n

The newer terminology, visual communications<\/em> means much more – but hasn’t caught on. As a term, graphic design<\/em> sounds cool, so we still use it.<\/p>\n

Graphic designers communicate – visually. And my litmus test for any classroom critique of design is the simple question, ‘Does it communicate?’<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s a shortened form of ‘Does it communicate its intended message to its intended audience?’<\/em> Either way, the answer to the question drives student critiques.<\/p>\n

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being a good communicator<\/strong>
\nI have this take on graphic design today: Good graphic designers should know how to write, should know how to talk, should know how to explain themselves.<\/em> And if they wish to use decoration, it should be done for a purpose.<\/p>\n

For further reading, check out (Typekit<\/a> guru) Jeffrey Veen’s The Art & Science of Web Design,<\/a><\/em> Jens O. Meiert’s blurg here<\/a> as well as the introduction (which defines graphic design) in Patrick Cramsie’s The Story of Graphic Design.<\/a><\/em> And if you haven’t, go back and watch my last post.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Good design has meaning, purpose, function. And if that function is to irritate, confuse and mislead. That’s part of the game too.<\/p>\n


\nDavid Carson<\/a>‘s infamous Zapf Dingbats-set article<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\t

\r\n\t\tTweet<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\t