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Overall: Great Work!

These are personally the three most interesting video essays presented, in both analytics and aesthetics.

Jackson Macnevin- Punk Design 

The articulate and deliberate use of found video footage made Jackson's video essay appealing and attention grabbing. The use of punk music combined with the clear essay story telling feels nostalgic. The historical background and link to the impact of the era is strong and the use of emotive language ties the harsh aesthetic together.  It would have been great to see some key points highlighted through typography in the visuals of the video. At times, I got distracted from the points he was making, and focused on the raw video footage. If the raw footage was turned down in opacity, and key themed text layered over the top, the audience would be able to follow smoother. Some of the audio was crackling, so smoothing would aid the overall presentation.Overall, this is a great video essay and I learnt some pretty cool facts that I wouldn't have thought of previously. In hindsight, if I knew we were allowed to place music and video in, and not just our own created images, I would've included it.

Sarah Ramsey- The Success of Colour Psychology and Design in American Politics 

The immediate rhetorical questioning and supplementary visuals drew me straight into the topic. It was clear and well presented, very creative approach to the brief! It felt like I was taking a colour theory test! I believe that Sarah could have used more than stock footage in her video essay. It would have interesting to see how she could personally illustrate 'colour psychology' in her own way. It would have been interesting to see how American colour theory could cross over into our own Australian society. Additionally, more historical evidence would have made her points stronger.Overall, this is a very strong piece that should be commended!  In my essay, it would have been interesting to look into the psychology behind counter culture design. 

Gemma Cox- Women in Design

Gemma's clever use of soft visuals, paired with the societal 'male dominated colour' of blue compliments her point of women representation in design. I now have three more women designers I historically know about now!When analysing the strong female designers, examples of their work could have been shown to elevate her points. Additionally, their could have been more historical evidence and reasoning why women are not elevated in the field and the patriarchal shadowing from men. The impact of the depreciated women designers also could have been considered. Like my own essay, some video footage would have been great to support the soft aesthetic graphics. Overall, it was a calming but informative video essay. In my essay, I could have cohered some of the slides together more.Overall: Great Work!

These are personally the three most interesting video essays presented, in both analytics and aesthetics.

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Course Reflection

3 words- philosophical, conversant and omniscient.

Overall, visual communication design, histories and impacts has allowed me to understand a wide spread knowledge platform to inform my design practice. I believe that I have applied myself to go above the lecture teachings and dive into a theoretical design methodology.

The most enjoyable modules were Design and Last Century/Modernism and Defining Design as there was more freedom to explore eras that I am interested in - such as the Psychedelic Era and Art Nouveau Movement (as exemplified in my HD assessment). I love alternative art styles and I believe that is not only reflected in my design practice, but also myself as a person. I gravitate towards different and new ways as it excites me!

At first I used Blogger for my online platform, however I had major coding problems with font size, so I changed over to Tumblr (as it is a familiar site). Tumblr is directed at young people, which is my client based target audience. I am not fluent in code but it is something that I am interested in taking up.    

My goal for the holidays is to be comfortable with the Wordpress interface and some coding shortcuts for Blogger. This will develop my interface vocabulary and support myself into future years as a designer, through university and beyond.

I am completely stoked to have a high distinction in my first university assignment ever! It is super rewarding and a great motivator for me moving forward as covid-19 restrictions and online learning have made it hard for us all to engage proactively across courses. I am excited to see what next year holds!

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Metamodernism and Decolonised Design

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR.

ACAB.

This blog will slightly differ from my other articles. On the topic of meta modernism and decolonised design, I want to take the time to produce a case study for the Black Lives matter movement. It is current. It is happening. It is important.  

This is not a design trend. There a real racial and sexist injustices occuring worldwide and individually and as a movement we will not stay silent for the sake of comfortability. There is a call for justice for the murder of Breonna Taylor. George Floyd deserved BETTER.  As designers, we are influencers and have the power to shed light on human inequity and call for a reform.

A social media trend, called 'Black Out Tuesday' took over platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter where users would post a black square with captioned Black Lives Matter information. This was to educate and elevate POC designers, businesses and influencers to take a majority stage.  The expression of solidarity parallels with the intertwined terms of 'decolonised design' and 'diversity'.

       Social constituencies must be ridiculed.  

Danah Abdulla, who is a member of a research group 'Decolonising Design', perfectly defines the term-    

“decoloniality is about shattering the familiar.”

As a designer I need to consider what ethnicities would respond and relate to my design work. I strive for it to be inclusive and I pledge to continue to elevate minorities and educate myself on my own privileges.

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Design is an ever-changing practice.

The design frontier is a blurry and amorphous line. It makes up the past and the future, but skips the present. Graphic design, as Buckley (2019) labels it, is becoming obsolete. The vitality in a traditional sense is depleting. Whilst I do acknowledge the stand point Buckley refers from, I believe graphic design is changing, not dying.  

The statistics don't lie, according to IBISWorld, the graphic design industry is growing at a rate of 3.5% annually. It's prevailing importance upon brand identity, communication and marketing which conjures an urgency for businesses stand out. It's a temporal, visual aesthetic that constantly changes and develops as new trends and innovations alter marketed society.

I can understand why some people may think graphic design is dead. Social media has become a cultural shock for the design world. With generic design platforms such as Wix and Canva, small businesses have the ability to 'cheap out' and same time on marketing design. While these tools are a great starting point, or for small segment of  brand design, it does not give the ability for businesses to stand out due to the platforms cohered templates. This new age of pre-made design is great for saving time, money and energy, however, this new generic and uniform style can make intentions lost.

Note the uniformity of the above Canva designs, they stand out in their own way, but when pushed against one another they sink back into autonomy.

So what can we do as designers to adapt to the ongoing changes?

Virtually, in every industry, there have been innovative and sometimes devastating changes. The world is becoming personalised and about the individual demographic. From Airbnb's impact on the hospitality industry to Spotify's push from iTunes downloads, the design industry is no stranger to these technological advances.

The process needs to change from a cyclical initial idea to final resolution, to an ongoing conversation and trend based examination.

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Icons, Indexes and Symbols: Visual Semiotics

Seeing comes before words.

Images and words conjure a perceptual synthesis.  Publicity is never of the now, as Berger (1972) states 'they refer to the past, and always... speak of the future.' For we are so accustomed that we are numb to the total impact that such visuals represent.

'I am currently sitting in the middle of a busy shopping centre, with lights, colours, sale signs and product icons engulfing my morning coffee.  The visual information presented to us is not a free choice, it is carefully curated for us as consumers to autonomously respond to. Most of the time, we are not aware of it as it is so ingrained into every aspect of our daily life. Upon realising this, I feel almost detached from what is present, 'awake' as such. Right now I feel in control, but I know once these fleeting thoughts pass, I will sink back into autonomy of our consumerist Western world.'

Do we need to pay more attention?

 Images present something that is, in that moment, absent. Our own cultural capital makes up parts of our assumptions/perceptions, and sometimes what is originally intended, is not what the message is translated to be.  Art and design is so vital to our societal complex, as it express more of humanity than what words could ever describe. The cultural literacy and relationship between encoding and decoding messages must be explicitly embedded in my own design practices. To have faith in my own representations to employ meaning, without having to physically narrate the meaning is a foundation of a good designer.

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A Modern Post about the Post Modern

Rejection of the Past, a Warning for the Future.

Contemporary design partially conjures a valuable disturbance in order to successfully critique conventional views. To my understanding, this weeks key concepts were 'truth is relative', ambiguity, and anti-convention which all fall under the three 'posts'

- Post Modernism

- Post Digital

- Post Human

This is one of my favourite art/design periods, with two key artists that I connect with, the tutorial-discussed Patricia Piccinini and a personal design interest, Janet Laurence.

Therefore I ask, what can possibility come after a post relative and trans-self design reflection? How can we as designers question our own post modern condition? Is society a linear continuum or will we circulate back to past ideals?

Perhaps this is a question to direct to the term post-digital, where the revival of 'old media' (Cramer, 2014)₁ has moved from the niche hipster movement into a mainstream functionality concept. There is also a rejection and critique of contemporary design innovations, much like Jnet Laurence and Patricia Piccinini's evaluation upon cultural, environmental, political and social concepts.

Environmental activist Janet Laurence² presents a highly valuable examination into the implications of despoliation and loss of ecosystems through her multidisciplinary and wunderkammer practice criticizing societies impact. She discerns the 21st century organic shift of Anthropogenic global warming through her environmental awakenings (see the installation 'Theatre of Trees' , 2019). In a similar way, Patricia Piccinini³ appraises the contemporary and futuristic acceleration of genetic engineering through her transgressive biotech fantasies - likening to Elon Musks' neuralink architecture. She critiques the ethics of genetic mutation, questioning societies manipulation of the natural world, likening to Laurence’s empathetic relations (see her installation 'Doubting Thomas' , 2008).  These contemporary visionaries move throughout the art/design spectrum appropriating, defining and judging our ethics, modern convenience and attitudes.

Therefore are we as designers living post (past) or present? How can we alter society's directional focus?

REFERENCES

Cramer. (2014). What is Post-Digital? What Is Post-Digital, 1, 1–5.

Laurence, J. (2014). ARC ONE Gallery. ARC ONE Gallery. https://arcone.com.au/janet-laurenceartist-profile

Micheal, L. (2016, July). Patricia Piccinini | MCA Australia. Www.Mca.Com.Au. https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/artists/patricia-piccinini/‌

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Soft Power.

What kind of influence do designers actually have?

The contoured aesthetic environment, trends and moulded public opinions are all deliberately and in-deliberately a direct devise of a designers work. This is an extension piece upon week one's delegation of cultural capital whilst highlighting a variety of key ideas of design throughout history.

What truly grabbed my attention in light of this 'soft power' concept, is that it is schemed across the entire 'grand narrative'. It blends (as Alice Rawsthorn states), 'design [as] an intellectually dynamic practice'₁ with the accumulation of cultural capital to form a coherent projection of subtle power. This coercive persuasion makes me question specifically, social medias indelicate influence over my decision making.

One case study I have personally experienced outside of the main lineage of 'histories and impacts' course, is the soft vs hard activism of the 'black lives matter' movement. Graphic designers in particular, are acting in solidarity and using their platform in combination with their practical skills to aesthetically procure the movements message.

So how does this concept relate to my design practice?

My design practice is both instinctive and politically conceptual. Its methodology as highlighted by the indigenous design charter, revolves around respect for individuals and cultural groups.³ . Therefore, this 'soft power' concept is imperative to understand, utilise in the grand market and respect in full awareness of its consequence.

ARE YOU DELIBERATELY DELIBERATE?

REFERENCES

Rawsthorn., A., 2013. Hello World: Where Design Meets Life. Penguin Books. [Accessed 13 August 2020].

Hitti, N., 2020. Graphic Designers Share Illustrations In Support Of Black Lives Matter. [online] Dezeen. Available at: <https://www.dezeen.com/2020/06/03/graphic-designers-illustration-resources-black-lives-matter/> [Accessed 13 August 2020].

Kennedy, D, M and P., 2018. International Indigenous Design Charter. [ebook] Deakin University. Available at: <https://www.ico-d.org/database/files/library/International_IDC_book_small_web.pdf> [Accessed 12 August 2020].

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Beneath the Bauhaus

The Mad and Moderne.

The design evolution of the 'machine age aesthetic' is and will always be a catalyst for our postmodernist design world. Streamlined production methods emerging from the industrial revolution were a heavy source of inspiration for this new 'form follows function' aesthetic. Modernisms neutrality mirrored the industrial abstraction which was so commonly associated with black and white.

* I must note that although my design practice does appreciate geometric minimalism, I especially love the 1960's pioneered, counter cultural rejection of modernism! Its youth exuberance and artistic freedom is far more personally liberating than the societal norms that so religiously reflect swiss/international style.

                                       Bauhaus? More like Bored-House!

The euclidean geometric purity that the Bauhaus so 'artistically' introduced, embeds art, design and production together. Whilst I appreciate this on a design development level and its prolific use of negative space, this neutral approach seems spiritless?  

The union between all of the arts (i.e architecture, graphic design, fine art and construction) under one single creative expression to achieve 'arts to industry' is oxymoronic.¹ Its mass productive eye contradicts its own artistic utopia, where the simplicity of form forgets the humanity. Where is the consideration for the people? The user experience? Although some stylistic aspects are of great influence today, transforming function into a simple aesthetic does not radicalise societies everyday life - the high art world? yes! but not for the benefit of humanity.² Don Norman states that 'we need a design that ... focuses on people's... underlying needs.' ³ The mere exclusion of the end user creates a gap between everyday society and the 'high status' of a designer. Therefore there are some critical gaps in the Bauhaus' utopian ideology, as it focuses on the communal, rather than the everyday individual.

I am grateful for what the Bauhaus movement revolutionised, but it does not address the complex issues humanity has faced in everyday life.

REFERENCES

Griffith Winton, A. (2016). The Bauhaus, 1919–1933. Metmuseum.org. Retrieved 22 August 2020, from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm.

Norman, D. (2017). Why we need so much more than the Bauhaus. Bauhauskooperation.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020, from https://www.bauhauskooperation.com/magazine/experience-the-bauhaus/why-we-need-so-much-more-than-the-bauhaus/.

Norman, D. (2017). Why we need so much more than the Bauhaus. Bauhauskooperation.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020, from https://www.bauhauskooperation.com/magazine/experience-the-bauhaus/why-we-need-so-much-more-than-the-bauhaus/.

Quito, A. (2020, April 16). Bauhaus design has a legacy beyond its style. Quartz. https://qz.com/quartzy/1598278/bauhaus-design-has-a-legacy-beyond-its-style/

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The Grand Narrative

Lineage is Cyclical. Beauty is Truth.

The essence of design spans the very fragments of our linear determinant. From the earliest of homosapiens, to our 21st century post-truth defacto, design is omnipresent.

In my own understanding,  this week combines the historical development of design (both conscious and unconscious) with its corresponding evaluation of beauty.  

                 What is the conscious? What is the unconscious?                                      

Alice Rawsthorn suggests that 'design decisions are instinctive to human nature'₁, therefore design is not about the functional object or concept, but rather us as people. This is a primitively vague statement, not merely omniscient. What about us as people? Does design exclusively relate to the essence of human nature, or is it simply but beautifully solving our problems? Such instinctiveness is determined by the level of impact good design (and 'bad' design for that matter) has on our daily routines. This conjures a prolific consideration into my 21st century lense and my personal western canon into which design styles I naturally gravitate towards, thus cautioned by my cultural capital.

Therefore, I believe that the dissolved boundaries of art have consequently lost the meaning of good design. The beauty of design should not just encompass the aesthetics, but whether or not the final resolution has achieved its goal.₂ This delegation between 'pretty' and 'good' is of effective importance because of the ever changing definition of what is considered beautiful.

What is western-ally beautiful?

Design in relation to beauty parallels the material and immaterial with John Keats' coined 'truth' for example₃. This sublime state of rhetorical questioning reflects the evolving timeline of the growing complexity of beauty in design. Furthermore Alan Powers parallels this notion that 'beauty... does not depend on things being new'₄, it's the accumulation of past histories and movements and the absence of total originality. Therefore, design is accustomed to our past, present and future, embracing the entire nucleus of human nature itself.

                 WHAT IS YOUR BEAUTY DETERMINANT?               

REFERENCES

Rawsthorn, A. (2013). Hello World. Retrieved 18 August 2020, from https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Hello_World.html?id=-svnIAl0VkEC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Fiell, C., & Fiell, P. (2019). "We have lost sight of what design thinking actually is". Dezeen. Retrieved 19 August 2020, from https://www.dezeen.com/2019/05/10/design-thinking-opinion-charlotte-fiell-peter-fiell/.

Powers, A. (2010). Beauty: a short history [Ebook]. Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Retrieved 18 August 2020, from https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/asset/document/beauty-short-history.pdf.

Powers, A. (2010). Beauty: a short history [Ebook]. Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Retrieved 18 August 2020, from https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/asset/document/beauty-short-history.pdf.  

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Designers are Deliberate

Soft Power.

What kind of influence do designers actually have?

The contoured aesthetic environment, trends and moulded public opinions are all deliberately and in-deliberately a direct devise of a designers work. This is an extension piece upon week one's delegation of cultural capital whilst highlighting a variety of key ideas of design throughout history.

What truly grabbed my attention in light of this 'soft power' concept, is that it is schemed across the entire 'grand narrative'. It blends (as Alice Rawsthorn states), 'design [as] an intellectually dynamic practice'₁ with the accumulation of cultural capital to form a coherent projection of subtle power. This coercive persuasion makes me question specifically, social medias indelicate influence over my decision making.

One case study I have personally experienced outside of the main lineage of 'histories and impacts' course, is the soft vs hard activism of the 'black lives matter' movement. Graphic designers in particular, are acting in solidarity and using their platform in combination with their practical skills to aesthetically procure the movements message.

So how does this concept relate to my design practice?²

My design practice is both instinctive and politically conceptual. Its methodology as highlighted by the indigenous design charter, revolves around respect for individuals and cultural groups.³ . Therefore, this 'soft power' concept is imperative to understand, utilise in the grand market and respect in full awareness of its consequence.

 ARE YOU DELIBERATELY DELIBERATE?

REFERENCES

Rawsthorn., A., 2013. Hello World: Where Design Meets Life. Penguin Books. [Accessed 13 August 2020].

Hitti, N., 2020. Graphic Designers Share Illustrations In Support Of Black Lives Matter. [online] Dezeen. Available at: <https://www.dezeen.com/2020/06/03/graphic-designers-illustration-resources-black-lives-matter/> [Accessed 13 August 2020].

Kennedy, D, M and P., 2018. International Indigenous Design Charter. [ebook] Deakin University. Available at: <https://www.ico-d.org/database/files/library/International_IDC_book_small_web.pdf> [Accessed 12 August 2020].

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Designing the Designer

The outcomes of the creative process are certainly shaped by the intertwined lineage of  history and the reappropriation/reimagination of culture.

To my understanding, this week's evaluative concepts are; cultural capital, autonoetic consciousness and the actualisation of designer identity.

Initially, the ideas felt foreign, but once I questioned my personal narrative, the theory clicked!

   I ask; 'what social agents contour the identity of a designer?    

CULTURAL CAPITAL

Bourdieu in his work ‘Distinctions’ elucidates this concept of ‘cultural capital’, in which to my understanding is the knowledge acquired/influenced through one's societal environment, then stylistically transmitted in order to be socially accepted₁ Although Bourdieu expresses the links between the individual and cultural canon, I believe to further the theory of cultural capital, communicative resources also need to be considered. This is the middle link between a designer's knowledge canon and the impactful world in which they reside in. The materials that a designer utilises in order to have a political opinion, or rather express individual creativity, is an alternate perspective on Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital₂. ‘Certain characteristics of materiality expose meanings beyond that visually”₃ like Kate Moross transposes in her energetic use of typography and block lettering to express political nuances.  

I wonder what cultural conformities autonomously influence my design practice?

The theory of cultural capital significantly impacts my own design development as it makes me deeply consider what material and stylistic features I automatically submit to, and where this particular likening is culturally derived from?!

KEY TAKEAWAY

Cultural Capital is heavily impacted on the communicative and material resources society is reflected by.

                                      WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE LINK?                                 

REFERENCES

Then & Now, 2019. Bourdieu: Cultural Capital, The Love Of Art & Hip Hop. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th0eYWnGZ_4> [Accessed 9 August 2020].

Van De Werfherst, H., 2020. Cultural Capital: Strengths, Weaknesses And Two Advancements. [online] Taylor & Francis. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425690903539065?needAccess=true> [Accessed 8 August 2020].

Gazzard, B., 1999. The Significance Of Materials In Modern Painting. (Doctor Of Creative Arts Thesis)[online] Research Online: University of Wollongong. Available at: <https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1939&context=theses> [Accessed 7 August 2020].