Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Good Design isn't marred by bad concepts

Recently, I've started to chirp. I mean, I've started to use Twitter a lot. I'm going to base this blog post on this tweet:

Basically, the concept I wanted to convey is the notion that good design doesn't have to be symbolic of good products or purpose. Good design is what we perceive ourselves, through objective examination of colors, shapes, angle, depth, font and spacing. Our eyes do not judge the merit of the purpose in these designs. I think that this quote here sort of extends my idea further out:
Because design is ingrained in our psyche to serve purpose, it becomes difficult to separate it apart when it we need to look at a design objectively. Even still, by designing something to serve an unjust purpose is to also try to utilize design to spread the unpopular message. Design is for a purpose, but it's also possible to design something good for a bad idea without explicitly having the aim of promoting the bad concepts. For example, the overall design for Breaking Bad, a hit show about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth lord is based around the green chalkboard and the periodic table. It's a very respectable logo and it is extremely symbolic of everything the show is about. Along with the promotional covers for the show, the usage of green white shows an example of purposeful color combination and an overall aesthetic that's respectable. The creators of these logos could simply create some other arbitrary logo or overall design, but they went with a very respectable design. While the show apparently garnered widespread acclaim,  there are a group of people that argue that the premise of such a show (about drugs) contributes to the stereotype of popular media as glorifying America's drug and gang culture. In this aspect, the attention to design, promotional artwork seems to some people as a ruse for the immoral content of the show. It's not the best example of a good design being used to promote something bad, but I think that this example rings true to my case. In fact, the very design of the latin alphabet is but what we append the meaning to; they can also be mere scribblings that have no logical explanation for their form. I make such a deal out of the logo of the show because the logo has commercial value; the unique design is what attracts the viewers to the show and allow them to identify with it. It is on the front line of the marketing efforts of the producers of this show. It would be analogous to compare this kind of promotional work to somebody creating a brilliant logo for the devil, though this example is rather extreme.


The overall statement is that, even with the context of drugs, the Breaking bad logo and related merchandises succeed in representing what it seemed to represent and the overall aesthetics reveal a careful and refined approach to design that makes it appealing to us. The design aspect isn't marred by what it represents. However, in everyday life, it's not practical to apply these distinctions because it's easy to simply permanently bind the design and the concept together because of society's conventions.


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