Marta Freire BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design Since we opened our eyes for the first time, we tend to confront outcomes that teach us correctness. Our behaviour is adapted to survive to social norms imposed on us. As well as the coordination of certain types of words and topics we should discuss with others. In theory, this so-called “the correct behaviour” would work to build a functional structure of a society. Therefore, if we think better about it, why are these specific characteristics be associated with “correctness”? In fact, what is correct? This matter not only applies to society itself, but the same problems also repeat in numerous other factors, such as design. The concept of design has been changing throughout the years. It has been evolving like any other thing on this planet. This article intends to explore how people’s perception changes with the evolution of design. In other words, what do we find politically correct? The word politically correct is a term used to define what a society considers acceptable. We can express this term in many ways, corporal language, specific words, gestures, colours, or any other type of expressionism. We all know how pressured someone can feel upon society judgement regarding differences. We forget that this type of “unusual” is going to evolve to the prospects of a future generation that will consider what once was “different” to “normal”. Like everything else, the meaning of “Politically Correct” changes to embrace the future. There are various attributions to the world of design. Depending on the field selected, this world can meet fashion, graphics, books, and some other more. Most of them had an upbringing in the world, both with good and bad between people’s eyes. Thinking about being different, Coco Chanel is remarkable for that. She was the first woman to take into consideration women’s comfort in dressing up. Although Chanel started by selling hats to famous actresses, Coco later would become an icon for her sporty, comfortable, and casual elegant clothes. She renewed fashion by presenting trousers and suits to the female public for the first time. At the time, corset was a must in a women’s wardrobe until it got replaced by comfort. However, during World War II, due to her affair with a German officer that resulted in the dispossession of her Jewish Business partners, Chanel became a disgrace in the public eye. American Vogue turned Chanel successful into the celebrity we recognise nowadays after she tried to come back to the fashion scene with mixed feelings from the public. Her fashion is still strongly predominant and keeps influenced multiple designers throughout generations. Ironically, Coco’s clients were very sophisticated ones, and her clothes came from the poverty she went through as a child: “Some people think luxury is the contrary of being poor. No, it is the contrary of vulgarity.” – Coco Chanel to TIMES. Since I managed to talk about Vogue magazine, I would like to specify a graphic designer that specialises in bookmaking. Her name is Irma Boom. I believe she is these artists that can prove how anti-design is more than collapsing rules. Her books consist of the exploration of typography at its best. It also includes the practicality of minimalism and the resources that it contains. Boom’s books go against all the rules that a “proper” book design should be: clean, readable, good content. So why is she so special? Well, that is what being a designer is. As an artist, her imagination to explore size, textures, space, and colours gave Irma the capacity to shape the rules against the right. Pic.1 – Irma’s book “Boom”. This rule also applies in architecture per se. Recently, I have travelled through Copenhagen. Sometimes, I would see myself walking between beautiful traditional buildings until one in the middle would surpass the traditionalist. I thought to myself – “Oh, that’s odd!” – but at the same time, I could not resist the temptation to appreciate how its differences would turn that house into an exceptional work of art. Right, maybe I just admired it because it was different from the remaining ones, but is it not what makes it unique for breaking the system? Pic. 2, 3 & 4: Copenhagen houses I found during my trip. Before a conclusion, I want to refer two of my favourite artists that I believe will help structure a better end to this article. I am talking about Walt Disney and Camilla D’Erico. Certainly different categories, one is an animator and, the other one is a painter but that is not what I want to mention. The adversities that we encounter as creative can be harsh, especially if no one believes in our potential. Walt Disney had the dream to make dreams come true by making his imagination alive with his cartoons. No one had faith in him at first since that was a crazy idea. People told him that no one would want to watch cartoons for a very long time. In a similar prospect, Camila had a specific style based on Japanese comic books. One day, her professor once said she would not become successful if she kept her way of drawing. Nowadays, she is an independent artist with exhibitions and selling products. Following a specific way of doing things does not mean it will give success. In conclusion, doing the things stated as politically correct or following certain tendencies sometimes would not lead to such success stories. The unusual becomes usual once created. I am writing this article for all the young artists that aspire to expand their art. We all have insecurities, especially if we do not get the support that we would like to. Remember all these great minds that changed the world, and people would criticise their ideas for not following what is typically correct. Different can be good too. Good luck to you all. References: Jennifer Latson - TIME - August 19, 2015 - "How Poverty Shaped Coco Chanel" - https://time.com/3994196/coco-chanel-1883/ Wikipedia - Last edit: November 28, 2021 - "Coco Chanel" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel Zena Alkayat and Nina Cosford - Library of Luminaries - 2016 - "Coco Chanel: An illustrated biography" - Book Rhonda K. Garelick - Random House New York - 2014 - "Mademoiselle Coco Chanel and the pulse of history" - Book Ovais Mehboob Ahmed Khan, Nabil Siddiqui, Timothy Oleson and Mark Fussell - Packt Publishing - 2021 - "Embracing Microservices Design: A Practical Guide to Revealing Anti-patterns and Architectural Pitfalls to Avoid Microservices Fallacies" - Book ICA - "ICA opens major survey of maximalist art and design on June 26" - https://www.icaboston.org/articles/ica-opens-major-survey-maximalist-art-and-design-june-26 Ruth Jamieson - Eye on Design - May 11, 2016 - "The New Wave of Anti-design Magazines Will Question Your Sense of Taste—and That’s a Good Thing" - https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-new-wave-of-anti-design-magazines-will-question-your-sense-of-taste-and-thats-a-good-thing/ Michael Johnson - Johnson Banks - March 3, 2020 - "Coping with irrelevance" -https://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughts/coping-with-irrelevance“All Eli Anapur - WideWalls - October 22, 2021 - "Creating a New Reference Point - Moderne Art Fair's Adeline Keit in an Interview" - https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/moderne-art-fair-adeline-keit-interview Ways of Working - Student Examples - http://www.diplomainprofessionalstudies.com/202021/archives/04-2021
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2022
Categories |