Milena Georgieva BA Graphic and Media Design 19013119 Design and anti-design are constantly battling while at the same time being entangled and dependant on each other’s co-existence. In recent years graphic design has slowly started to turn its back to well-known approaches and increasingly appreciating their contraries more. To understand anti-design better, I consider two aspects of it - a way of thinking and a visual style. Both aspects’ core principle is challenging ongoing stereotypes. In the heart of the design/anti-design discourse is the fundamental goal of design - successful communication. When design becomes monotonous cliched graphics that replicate one another, it starts to lose its purpose. At this point, anti-design comes into play. It calls for questioning the trends and liberation of thought. According to the Anti Design Festival Manifesto (2010) “generic culture hypnotises us all into generic patterns, where control is visibly invisible” and “we are now left with a spiritual hollowness”. It goes on about consumerism’s role in the issue, which relates to the First Things First manifesto (Garland, 1964). In it, pointless advertising is rejected and focus is switched to meaningful projects. First Things First Manifesto (1964) Source: http://www.designishistory.com/1960/first-things-first/ This aspect of anti-design (anti-commercial) thinking, aligns with my hopes for my future as a creative. I want to work on meaningful projects that align with my values. Even though this is relatively difficult to achieve, I find inspiration in the studio that I currently intern in. We have some less exciting clients that pay well which permits us to work on cultural briefs during the rest of the time. But let us come back to design as part of commercial culture that follows trends. One can say that by making all graphics look alike, practitioners disobey another main goal of graphic design - communicating identity effectively. We need to remind ourselves of these basic principles because otherwise, our craft becomes meaningless. A parallel can be drawn between this scenario and the irrelevance of designers in some situations, like for example during a pandemic. As the article ‘Coping with irrelevance’ argues, these are times when we need to even more ‘prove that design CAN still offer help, strategies and solutions’ (Johnson, 2020). Therefore, design thinking needs to be constantly challenged in order to sustain itself. Apart from the thinking side of the discourse, another aspect to consider is the purely visual representation of anti-design. As a movement, it is characterised by using irony and kitsch (Moffat, 2011). However, as a term, I would say it is fluid – it changes its meaning according to the discussed timeframe. Nevertheless, its principles stay the same - experimentation and breaking free from established rules. The process of anti-design and design chasing is interesting to follow. Minimalism that was considered genius years ago is now deemed boring and ineffective. At the same time, what used to be described as ugly is making its way into the design scene as a groundbreaking approach. This happens because the audience gets tired of seeing the same repetitive style, and when something breaks this norm, it communicates more effectively. And successful communication, as we established earlier, is at the core of good design. As a very recent example of anti-design in practice, I want to mention the typographic decisions in the new Spotify Wrapped. There is an ongoing discussion about whether this is genius design or absolutely horrid. Some wonder how Spotify’s design team has let it leave their department, while others believe it is brilliant. An article titled “Spotify Wrapped is a Design Nightmare” (Creative Bloq, 2021) believes the choice of type is bad. However, at the same time, they comment that maybe Spotify “chose an awful font on purpose to get people talking”. Source: Personal Archive, Spotify Personally, I have no doubt that they did it intentionally. It is anti-design in action. Thanks to their clever approach, now people are discussing the brand, and design has served its purpose. As for its aesthetic appeal, I do not like it, but I appreciate its function and believe it is good design in that sense. Moreover, now that Spotify has adopted anti-design, more and more brands (that have not yet) will start implementing it in order to stand out. And perhaps… one day stretched type would become the norm.
To conclude, I believe that every norm needs an opposition, and at some point, every opposition naturally becomes the norm. Then the process is repeated. And again. And again. This is how design and anti-design intertwine and flow in and out of each other, empowering and sustaining one another. As long as there is design, anti-design will be inevitable. Bibliography ‘ADF MANIFESTO’ (2010) Anti Design Festival. Available at: https://antidesignfestival.wordpress.com/adf-manifesto/ (Accessed: 4 December 2021) Bamsey, A. (2021) Spotify Wrapped is a design nightmare. Available at: https://www.creativebloq.com/news/spotify-wrapped-font (Accessed: 4 December 2021) Garland, K. (1964) ‘First Things First’, The Guardian. Johnson, M. (2020) Coping with irrelevance. Available at: https://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughts/coping-with-irrelevance (Accessed: 4 December 2021) Moffat, Ch. (2011) Anti-Design. Available at: http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/antidesign/ (Accessed: 4 December 2021)
1 Comment
Robert Urquhart
1/7/2022 12:19:39 pm
Written on other blog already - great, as ever, to see Ken Garland's first things first manifesto - interesting from an. anti-design standpoint as well - thanks for sharing!
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