I decided I should probably try to blog more so here's an attempt to do so.
The Designer as Catalyst:
There are two strategies of a designer, one to sedate customers and one to activate citizens. To sedate customers is to have a client-designer relationship with the design and to activate citizens is to have an agency-catalyst relationship, where the design becomes the agency and us as designers are the catalyst. In the catalyst mindset, the design needs to argue, not just to state. It allows the recipients to talk back, ask questions, and even disagree. I really like the idea of design being invoking. I think that's what we all aim to do with our work. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way but we should aim for it. With the idea of agency/catalyst, we would be able to see so much change in the world just through design, one step at a time.
Now That We Can Do Anything:
"The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of
political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to
think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective." - Arnold J. Toynbee.
Love that quote and what a great way to start an article. Design is changing its place in things. It is evolving from a small aspect of businesses to the biggest project. Design is no longer bout "one", it is about being collaborative, plural, and distributed. It is evolving into something bigger than ourselves probably. The term "designer" could be applied in many different areas now and essentially, everyone can become a "designer" if they have a good idea or product of any kind. I feel like this is the time to really differentiate between a learned/taught designer and a self-proclaimed/self-learned designer. It is still our roles to direct them to better designs but we should still be open to their ideas.
Towards Critical Autonomy:
Organizations, companies, businesses, places, and competitions used to be distinct. If they aren't defunct, they can be interchangeable. The critical edge to design has disappeared. With the resources out there today, everyone and anyone can create something and put it out into the world, no matter if it is good or not. This is where graphic design comes in. Graphic design should be seen as a discipline capable of generating meaning out of its resources without reliance on other means. We as designers are responsible for good designs. I don't know if there was an order to read the articles but this one basically contradicts the previous one I read. This one was all about being critical with design and how it is important to have good design made by designers. The previous one was open to all kinds of ideas. Between the two, I like the previous article more.
Quantum Leap:
I think we take design for granted. We see it everyday and interact with it everyday but we never really appreciate the thoughtfulness of the designer when we use it or read it. I love the part of this reading that talked about viewing a thing as a "space" instead of as a "page". With this idea, the world opens up to many design elements. I think that we constrain ourselves to the norm and not really think outside the box when designing artifacts. We should break out of the conventions and really create a memorable piece. I feel like I never really consider white space when I design and I feel like when the writer was talking about it, it plays a big part in the design even if I knew it or not.
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