Precis: Graphic Design Theory “Design and Reflexivity”

Precis Graphic Design Theory Design and Reflexivity by Jan van Toorn, 1994. communicatory and Visual Rhetoric, University of Baltimore Publication Design Masters Program, Spring, 2011 Dutch graphic designer Jan van Toorn is known for his radical ideas about what the function of design should be, and what qualities designers should possess and promote with their designs. wagon train Toorns distinctive style is messy, peculiar, and deeply interwoven with political and cultural messages, unapologetic with their intent to force critical thinking upon viewers.Van Toorn advocates design which encourages the viewer to exceed their own conclusions, insisting that designers shouldnt function as objective bystanders, but instead, designers have an important contribution to make. Design is a form of visual journalism and van Toorn urges designers to take responsibility for their role as journalists. Van Toorn begins his argument by stating that all professions contain a certain level of sch izophrenia unavoidable contradictions, including graphic design, which must balance the entertain of the public with the interests of the client and the general expectations of the media profession.To survive, design must strive to neutralize these inherent conflicts of interest by evolution a mediating concept aimed at consensus . to accepting the initiation image of the established order as the context for its own action. (Page 102, first paragraph) By reconciling the differences of confused ideals and opinions, and establishing a cultural norm, design develops a practical and conceptual coherence in mass media, thereby legitimizing itselflegitimized in the eyes of the social order, which, in round is confirmed and legitimized by the contributions that design make to symbolic production. (Page 102, sulfur paragraph) The cultural industry, comprised of corporations, the wealthy, the educated, and the powerful elite, dictate to the rest of society what is popular, distastefu l, and overall socially acceptable, imprisoning design in a false sense of reality. Design becomes stagnant as it conforms to the ideals put forth by the ruling class. Van Toorn refers to this stagnation as intellectual impotence and designers tend to deal with it in two ways.Designers either resist the assimilation into popular culture by attempting to redefine or renew the vocabulary or they integrate smoothly into the existing symbolic and social order. (Page 103, first paragraph) The lines separating these two approaches have become blurred with the rise of post-modernism and proliferation of niche marketing, as competitors try to class themselves. Van Toorn observes that official design continues to be characterized by aesthetic compulsiveness and/or by a patriarchal fixation or reproductive ordering. (Page 103, second paragraph) Van Toorn then begins to examine what he refers to as symbolic productions, specifically ads, commercials, etc. , which misrepresent reality. These symbolic productions are ideological instruments, serving private interest in the guise of a universal one. (Page 103, last paragraph) The so-called dominant culture doesnt serve to integrate different social classes rather, it contributes to the facade of an corporate society, by forcing all other cultures to define themselves by an established set of rules, fostering a communicative dependency. (Page 104, first paragraph) Van Toorn argues that everyday life is wrongly represented and causes tension between ethics and symbolism. In order to make what van Toorn refers to as an oppositional cultural production, the designer must take care non to create a specific alternative to an established convention, but to simply present it in a creative and new way, while keeping the universally accepted concept intact.A designers opportunity to upset the status quote can and be sought when a political or ideological shift is underway, which results in creating new public polarities, usua lly targeting real social problems. (Page 104, last paragraph) Now the designer can encourage an oppositional stance, one that goes against the communicative order. The ultimate goal of this approach is to evoke questions and reflection among the public and encourage a more pragmatic view of reality, forcing them to identify their own needs and desires.Van Toorn cautions that patronage the ever-changing nature of culture, design has to be realistic in its social ambitions. (Page 105, paragraph 3) The awareness of the unstable relationship between the symbolic and the real world requires a high level of discernment and critical thinking ability. Design must recognize substance, program, and style as ideological constructions, as expressions of restricted choices that only show a small sliver of reality in mediation. (Bottom of page 105, to top of page 106)