Monday, September 10, 2012

Chelsea Henshaw, Reading Week One

Initially, before delving into the first chapter of Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming, I may have been able to think of only a few ways to generate ideas. My idea of brainstorming was making a list and doodling a sketch or two. As I turned each page of the book, I was pleasantly met with many alternatives to my boring and generic brainstorming process. Lupton offered an array of approaches which will be tools that I bring with me into the professional world. I understand that as I dive into the design world, I will be in a position where quality work will need to be produced quickly. These strategies listed will certainly aid in my growth as a designer. The format in which Lupton presents the material is an efficient and effective display of information as she simplifies ideas into a concise, numbered process. I particularly enjoyed the section on Visual Research as I found it intriguing how analyzing common themes in the mission statements of several companies could be used to launch the creative process (38). I was astonished when I discovered that a component I originally classified as completely irrelevant could be so vital to the success of a job.

The article entitled “McLuhan/Fiore: Massaging the Message” also captured my attention as I drew a parallel between this reading and another course that I am taking this quarter, which focuses on Semiotics. Just last week, I learned the theories behind the studies of Semiotics and the arbitrary relationship between a signifier and the signified. For instance, the word dog is only used to describe a four-legged canine because that is how our language finds meaning in that particular pairing of alphabetical letters. In other words, nothing about the letters “d”, “o”, or “g” suggests Clifford the Big Red Dog. Furthermore, once this theory pertaining to how communities comprehended signs was introduced, the art community jumped at the opportunity to challenge the accepted norms to which society adhered. Hence the connection that I found between semiotics and the concepts that Fiore illustrated in his work with McLuhan. Fiore, like artists rebelling against the logical nature of signs, challenged the generic structure of a book. With his work, Fiore wished to “explore the space of the book as content” and instilled “layouts that destabilized the traditional hierarchy of image and caption” (5). Fiore was a pioneer, paving the paths for generations of designers to create work that does not become ordinary, but instead inspires them to think alternatively, to push boundaries, to break the structure that is so firmly set by the foolish conventions of a monotonous society. Ironically, this blog post is going to end neatly tied in a bow as I realize that in order to achieve the extraordinary, like Fiore, one could institute the techniques listed by Lupton to incubate their ideas to the fullest extent.

1 comment:

  1. I also enjoyed the section on visual research, especially the visuals. The spectrum with the logos is very cool and a unique way to display other company logos. That section made me realize that color, or lack of color, is more important than we think. While looking up random company logos online, I came across http://cindyli.com/site/comments/designrabbit_logo_redesign/ which shows their brainstorming process for their new logo. Notice the last image where they offer a few different color variants. It's always good to have different options. Some just work better than others, and in order to find the one that works best, there has to be a few to choose from.

    Your class on semiotics sounds really cool. I always think about if people did different things than the norm. For example, what if saying "dog" to people actually greeted them. For me, it's hard to picture that because of what you said above, the "meaning in that particular pairing of alphabetical letters". I find it funny that most people just accept everything for the way it is. Sometimes it's good to ask "What if?"

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