![]() Joanna Krystyna Nowicka Graphic & Media Design @jesusdetonator Design without Hope ‘It is hard to say what today’s dreams are; it seems they have been downgraded to hopes—hope that we will not allow ourselves to become extinct, hope that we can feed the starving, hope that there will be room for us all on this tiny planet.’ (Dune & Raby, 2013) Modernism, the design without hope. Aiming for functionality, simplicity and the reduced colour palette, it was meant to fit in with the modern lifestyle and be useful, but unobtrusive. It asks us to shrink ourselves, or sometimes even erase ourselves – everything has to be neat and readable and make sense and have a grid. Everything needs to black and white, maybe with a hint of red or pink for some spice, to throw people off. Everyone needs to be clean and have a 9-5 job, have a mortgage, two kids and a house. Everyone needs to be neurotypical. Even in design, that is supposed to reward creativity, only the very specific, minimalistic type of creativity is rewarded. Hope is all we have left – and although design is about problem solving, like many people say, the problems that are fixed with modern design are not the ones that need fixing. As Micah Bowers said, ‘Design impacts humanity. It affects our spaces and places, professions and pastimes, friendships and families’. By shrinking ourselves and adjusting to those design norms, we lose ourselves and others in the process. I recently joined a an integrated medicine and biohacking centre as a graphic design intern. Although health is not really one of my main interests, I did it mainly because of my liking of their branding. It was bold, colourful, had nice textures, amazing futuristic fonts. Unfortunately, I quickly found out that what the Head of Marketing wanted was simple, like every other luxury medical company. White and gold, black and silver, toned-down pictures, luxury aesthetics. With each day passing the visual aesthetics I was drawn towards started disappearing when I was working on them. My passion for the brand started sinking and I started seeing it for what it actually was: another luxury company getting money out of people for treatments that barely work. Company with employees renting in South Kensington and not liking their flats as they’re so close to work they can’t drive their nice cars. Design, instead of showing the negatives and conforming to what was already established is supposed to be the opposite of that. ‘Design’s inherent optimism leaves no alternative but it is becoming clear that many of the challenges we face today are unfixable and that the only way to overcome them is by changing our values, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.’ (Dunne & Raby, 2013) We are meant to adapt, face those challenges and change the way we think – not conform. Not fight against each other. Not create another luxury medical brand with white and gold branding. To summarize, we need to go beyond modernism. We need to go beyond conforming, back to the designers that solve problems that actually need solving. Back to helping people, back to standing out, back to having colours and funky forms. Back to fighting for hope with every drawing and every design. SOURCES: 1. Micah Bowers, ‘Design Ethics’ https://www.toptal.com/designers/design-director/design-ethics/ 2. 99% Invisible Podcast, 2016, Episode 219 ‘Unpleasant Design & Hostile Urban Architecture’ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/unpleasant-design-hostile-urban-architecture/ 3. Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby, 2013, ‘Speculative Everything. Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming’ https://readings.design/PDF/speculative-everything.pdf 4. Elena Martinique, 2016 ‘Anti-Design Italian Movement’ https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/anti-design-italian-movement 5. Joshura Comaroff, 2017, ‘Defensive Architecture’ https://artreview.com/ara-winter-2017-opinion-joshua-comaroff/
1 Comment
sarah temple
1/6/2022 08:19:05 am
Wonderful and optimistic position on the potential of design Joanna - useful to consider how design is evaluated - Design Effectiveness awards and more consumer feedback from non-typical human beings welcomed as you so reasonably suggest. Design = 99% responsive which is why your recent work is so important.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2023
Categories |