![]() It’s unbiased, showing exactly what is in front of the lens. By arguing that good design is invisible, by separating the design from the content, are we devaluing our own work, belittling the design process to mere styling and decorating? Are we refusing to take responsibility for the power we have in communicating, distributing, and translating messages? And perhaps more importantly, are we missing an opportunity to talk about the political, economic, and social impact of the work we’re creating?Ĭentral to the International Style’s system was the prolific use of photography. ![]() But as I’ve gotten further removed from my undergrad education, I’ve begun to distrust the notion of neutrality in graphic design. My earliest design classes were, in many ways, descendants of Warde’s ethos. I’ve been thinking about neutrality a lot lately. The container must not get in the way of its contents. “Type well used is invisible as type,” she writes, “just as the perfect talking voice is the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas.” Design should be neutral. Warde’s metaphor, despite being about specific printing processes in a specific time, has been used ever since to argue for the designer’s quest for neutrality. “In design,” Vignelli said, echoing Warde, “be logical, search for truth, be clear.” The style was based on simple typefaces like Akizdenz Grotesk, Univers, and Helvetica (always flush left, ragged right), photography instead of illustration, and a strict grid system. “You will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect wine-glass” she continues, “have a parallel in typography.”īeginning in Russia in the 1920s and later made popular in Switzerland in the 50s, the designers of the International Style-men like Massimo Vignelli, Joseph Muller-Brockman, and Max Bill-were driven to represent information without the influence of associated meaning. In pitting personal style (a decorative goblet) against neutrality (a crystal goblet), Warde’s essay became a manifesto of sorts for the International Typographic (or Swiss) Style that believed graphic design should be clear and objective and the role of the designer should be neutral. ![]() Originally published in 1932, Warde argued that design (the glass) should be an invisible vessel the contains the content (the wine). Such began Beatrice Warde’s metaphor in her seminal essay, The Crystal Goblet. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |