unambiguous designer

NATASHA KUMAR

GRAPHIC DESIGN WAS THE FIRST PROFESSION TO BE IMPACTED BY THE INTRODUCTION OF THE PERSONAL COMPUTER.

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 23

The computer’s efficiency

exponentially increased both the

number of variations designers

thought possible and the amount

of changes clients deemed

necessary. Its synthesis of formerly

discrete function in the process of

designing promised designer a

return to control over the craft

and execution of work without

properly preparing them for the

types of skills that were formerly

outsourced.

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 23

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET

Problems were deemed to be too

complex and beyond the scope of

the kind of communications that

conventional graphic design, even at its

most beautiful and sophisticated, even

at its most modernist and disciplined,

had ever been called upon to solve.

“UNRAVELING”, LORRAINE WILD, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 20

Design is becoming universal as well,

losing its expert edge and slipping into

the mainstream culture.

“READING AND WRITING”, ELLEN LUPTON, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 67

General awareness of the activity of

designing increased, thereby fueling

broader interest and producing more

designers.

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 23

IF WHAT YOU PRODUCE COULD BE DONE BY ANYONE WITH A COMPUTER, WHAT DOES ANYONE NEED A DESIGNER FOR?

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 24

ANTHONYBURRILL.COM

The answer was to be found not

in production, but in the realm of

conception.

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 24

The entire panoply of digitization

pointed at editorial, imaging, design

and printing processes had been

reinvented, and radically democratized

the tools of design, so that anyone

could jump in and make things that up

until that point had been the territory

of the trained.

“UNRAVELING”, LORRAINE WILD, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 20

The ability to use this information

to communicate to both the client

and the audience would be what

distinguished the professional, degree-

laden graphic designer from a mere

workaday user of desktop publishing

“UNRAVELING”, LORRAINE WILD, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 20

WALLPAPER OPEN DESIGN, GOODSUNDAY.COM

WALLPAPER.COM

The world of self-publishing, user-

generated and aggregated content,

open source systems, distributive

platforms such as app stores, and the

networks and connectivity of social

media, cloud computing, and file

sharing.

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 23

MODONO FONT, CHRISTINEGERTSCH.NET

FREE FONT INDEX, THELEAGUEOFMOVEABLETYPE.COM

The designer in the realm of post

production is a producer or orchestrator

of frameworks, systems, and actions

that enable design to happen.

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 24

The speed of information and the

constant flow of new material and

reactions to it create an intense feed-

back loop, like a call and response of

graphic design. It isn’t surprising then

that so much of the work looks and

feels of the same spirit.

“TOOL (OR POSTPRODUCTION FOR THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER”, ANDREW BLAUVELT, GRAPHIC DESIGN: NOW IN PRODUCTION, PG 26

NEUE GRAFIK, 1958-65, MAGAZINEARCHIVE.CO

HELVETICA FOREVER, LARS MULLER PUBLISHERS

PROMAX BEYOND, PROUDCREATIVE.COM 2007

GQ STYLE GUIDE, TRIBORODESIGN.COM

The world is full of good

designers. The computer has

made it possible for every single

one of us to attain perfection.

Given a reasonable deadline and a

big enough budget, we can make

anything, anything at all, beautiful.

“WE’RE HERE TO BE BAD”, TIBOR KALMAN AND KARRIE JACOBS, PRINT MAGAZINE, 1990

TO BE GOOD IS TO BE AVERAGE

“WE’RE HERE TO BE BAD”, TIBOR KALMAN AND KARRIE JACOBS, PRINT MAGAZINE, 1990

IMG: AESTHETIC APPARATUS, AAXI 2010

One of the biggest problems

design faces is that the people who

are capable of doing great design

have two standards: one for clients

that allow them to do good work

and another for clients that will pay

the freight.

JOE DUFFY, TIBOR KALMAN VS JOE DUFFY REVISITED, PRINT MAGAZINE PRINTMAG.COM

Even mediocre design is a cultural

force. When design is good, it

celebrates the intelligence of the

audience. When it’s mediocre, it insults

that intelligence. It deals with limited,

perverse, and convenient frames

of reference.

TIBOR KALMAN, TIBOR KALMAN VS JOE DUFFY REVISITED, PRINT MAGAZINE PRINTMAG.COM

ALBUM ANATOMY, DUANEDALTON.COM 2011

STACK ARCHITECTS, TYPETOKEN.NET 2011

1PXCLOCK, MINIMALISSIMO.COM 2011

KEMISTRY GALLERY, PROUDCREATIVE.COM 2004-2009

Staying independent and not seeing

design as a business or as a career or

as an opportunity but who are lighting

to return design to the idea of art and

making it part of culture.

TIBOR KALMAN, TIBOR KALMAN VS JOE DUFFY REVISITED, PRINT MAGAZINE PRINTMAG.COM

Every curatorial decision, every

convention, every rule about what is

good design and what is bad design

works to narrow your perceptions. You

become blind to most of what’s in

front of you.

“WE’RE HERE TO BE BAD”, TIBOR KALMAN AND KARRIE JACOBS, PRINT MAGAZINE, 1990

Every rule about what is appropriate

narrows what’s possible. Appropriate

design is design that pleases the

largest number of people. Appropriate

design is normal design. It’s about

keeping things more or less the same.

“WE’RE HERE TO BE BAD”, TIBOR KALMAN AND KARRIE JACOBS, PRINT MAGAZINE, 1990

DON’T DO IT, SAMANTHAMOLA.COM

PROTEST, COLORS MAGAZINE, COLORSMAGAZINE.COM 2014

RENA OIL SPILL MEMORIAL, GREENPEACE.ORG

RENA OIL SPILL MEMORIAL, GREENPEACE.ORG

BLUEPRINT FOR A GREENER LIFE, SAMANTHAMOLA.COM

Design shouldn’t be an accessory to

the marketing process. It should be

the opposite. Design should be a

way of making things truly different,

distinctive, individualistic, and

interesting. Design should be about

the creation of real choices.

“WE’RE HERE TO BE BAD”, TIBOR KALMAN AND KARRIE JACOBS, PRINT MAGAZINE, 1990

DESIGNED BY NATASHA KUMARMAY 2014