Design is stupid
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- cinder0
OK, I've read some more responses.
First of all, any of you trying to say stupid art-fart crap like "design is you, it's me, design is art and love and life"
Shut. Up.
Design is a process by which things are improved.
By which things are made simpler, easier, more obvious, more useful, more profitable, more communicative, more streamlined, more efficient, more better.It's not always about making a message louder or more obvious - it's sometimes about becoming invisible and clearing the path between the 'listener' and the message.
I've been thinking about this lately after visiting the new Seattle Public Library.
It's definitely beautiful and definitely nice. And there are some things that are well-designed.
But really - the entire point of a library is diseminating information as fast, as accurately and as easily as possible and I dont think they did a single thing differently than any other library.
(although I could be wrong if there are hidden processes)The books are still in ugly booksleeves on boring non-descript shelves. There is little indicator what section you are in beyond the labels on the bookshelves.
Oh, and on the end of each bookshelf is a label giving you subject and the numbers - but in some of the aisles instead of the edge of a bookshelf, there is a square 'pillar' which the shelf is butted up against.
But guess where the label is?
It's still on the shelf! the edge of the shelf that is . . . BUTTED UP AGAINST THE PILLARso you'd have to peer into the 1 inch wide space between to potentially read the label.
How is THAT well designed?
It's not.
and the labels are very small. very hard to read.
why did they need to be small?I guess I'm starting to think that usability and clarity being below beauty and standardization is often a mistake.
We're standing around admiring how pretty this new library is but we still can't find the books we're looking for.
The graphic design books are in 4 different sections with no visual, locational or environmental cues on how to find them.
computers are spread at different points and if you find you're missing information - you have to go find one and start your search over.I guess I'm ranting now, but really - there is nothing wrong with design and everything wrong with you.
I don't think every designer has the capability to think outside of Photoshop - but a lot do.
and I think they need to start butting their noses into places where people tell them they don't belong so we can start making things work better.
- DutchBoy0
haha, thanks!
- devaur0
such a big thread for no content
- devaur0
150!!!!!
- Recycle0
Design is not about content, nor is it about graphics. Design is about solving visual problems.
As the AIGA puts it, "Everything is designed, but is it designed well?"
Design is not about Helvetica, either.
- jg_20
amen to cinder.
- devaur0
Thanks Black
Awesome point Recycle.
- BonSeff0
design is about controlling your message. how is there a message without content?
- 1977_c0
Wow, what do you know... Never thought I'd see José Ortega y Gasset mentioned at NT... ;)
- zedvox0
design is no content.
by the wya dutchboy got my copy of no content by rem koolhaas
interesting book soo far
- Recycle0
It's about coercing your audience to receive your message, no?
- johndiggity0
I don't think design is art, or a sub-product, rather I think design is everthing art isn't. Design is science, law, mathematics, politics. Art is expression by an individual. Design should by nature be anonomous, the voice of whatever is being designed should be the only one heard, not the designer's voice. It's about making whatever the target or your actions as a designer useful. But that is the Modernist theory of design, pushing towards some type of utopianism where there is a perfect typeface and everyone uses it to simplify the dissmeniation of the information we are bombarded with on an everyday level. Design has given way to advertising, which in turn has given way to branding, which finds us immeresed in theis corporate culture, where McDonalds, Wal Mart, and Starbucks pervade our everyway of life.
But like I said earlier, we are still making literature for worship, and it is a reflection of our times, whereas in the 1600's it was spreading religion and getting money to the church, nowadays, Starbucks charges $8 for water soaked in beans.
- s-l-t-w-i-n0
one thing i don't get here winter.
20 days ago you started a thread named: design is life.
have you got problems at work during this 20 days? we should investigate..
- winter0
maybe that's it. maybe that i'm just ackward that it's just about clients and that clumsy gymnastics and gettin' some pleasure by the end of the day.
but i still feel that it could be something else, and that all this web-community so-talk is all about selling t-shirts that carry a logo in a clumsy place.
now seriously. that sort of "nice job" talk is okay but is not to the point. the point is that design is more about tech stuff than real stuff and tech stuff is not real stuff. so i get this feeling of working in vain: something that is easily forgotten and comes to naught.
i think this is our challenge, making it happen otherwise. wisely. about stuff that matters.
oooooh, why was i born to be such a naive bastard!!
- 1977_c0
i think this is our challenge, making it happen otherwise. wisely. about stuff that matters.
oooooh, why was i born to be such a naive bastard!!
winter
(may 27 04, 18:10)
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You're missing the whole picture. People don't want stuff that matters, they want spoon-fed stuff easily forgattable and recyclable. Designers are not like artists, they work for people and what people demand is void ;) You can always express yourself as an artist to "clean up" your designer "dirt"... But then again, anything is art nowadays. So you better not think about it too much or you'll end up like Van Gogh ;D
- zeroblade0
design is how one delivers the content.
design can be content itself.
designers are contented with paychecks.
de sign is what you de way with.
you can quote me on this. ~: )
- johndiggity0
I wouldn't get discouraged Winter. All change comes from within. You can affect change within a community. We live in a world where we have to design mundane things, and I think as designers, only we understand their frivolous nature. The client never likes what we like and so forth. We are different than everyone else. But we all ahve to pay the bills. But that doesn't mean you couldn't contact a good cause and offer your services, or help teach a kid interested in design, or volunteer, or whatever to affect some sort of change. It doesn't really matter the scal on which you cause a change, it's the fact that it happened, and it can cause a reaction larger than you imagine.
- stormzealot0
But design can be art, don't you see? Art is not just the expression of the individual that's much too simplistic. If I go and write a musicval and then perform in it with dozens of others this is still art, just as in if that same musical was derived of completely impromptu lines. It would still be art.
with Design you have the same thing, the question is. is it meaningful? what impact does it have on the viewer? with my design there's no mistaking the bulk of the message, because I design most of my projects for a faith-based organization, whom lets me express myself as well through it, and thats just it. its the idea for every design that comes from within and truly "expresses oneself"
- Kuz0
Stupidist thread ever. Seriously. What a redundant statement. There's a million ways u cuda expressed ur grievances; instead of these blanket generalisations about "design". Guess u just wanted to provoke people. Anyway, seems to me u're obsessed with semantics. Get rid of the word and be free my son!
- zedvox0
Design is process. exploring ideas, cultires and people that surround us. we must absorb and observe and comment on it.
good? bad? funny? serious? that depends on the situation.
i do agree we do kinda live in a oooh that looks pretty or cool so lets go with the flow.
design is about engaging.
it does not need to be "-design -shall-save theworld" all the time.
it can be fun.
color
type
Design is Everything.