“Design and Reflexivity”
Response to:
“Design and Reflexivity” by Jan Van Toorn. Appears in the book Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field edited by Helen Armstrong, published by Princeton Architectural Press.
The political in design is often looked at in a context of making a political statement but neglects the political process linked to design itself. The circumstances and intentions that lie behind the designer are assumed to be ‘transparent,’ but in a market economy the profit will always be the underlying factor. In this sense Van Toorn argues that in order for design to function it accepts the established order as the basis of its actions. Social order legitimizes design and in turn it becomes necessary for design to legitimize the social order as well, creating a system that denies a critical look into the system itself (102). Acknowledge this ‘realization,’ ‘reality’ becomes a concept that is separated from design – it becomes difficult for design to become much more that representations of the representations of the current system.
This concept is engaging and provokes a lot of thought centered around the ‘nature’ of design: Why do we design? Who are we really designing for? In our economic system, is it possible to actually design solely for humans? These questions are not easily answered and create a lot of room for debate: Something I think Van Toorn would certainly advocate. Throughout Van Toorn’s essay he doesn’t spend his time pinpointing how to go about design, but rather how to attempt to tear through the surface conceptions depicted in a highly ‘stabilized’ society. Design becomes a very complex system that is dependent on much more than the designer and the designer’s intent (if one values intent). When the notion of design being linked to political and economical systems in acknowledged, it seems to create a new problem: How can design change if it is tied so closely to a system?
For Van Toorn this is where opportunity comes in: he announces it is “time to apply our imaginative power once again to how we deal with communicative reality” (103). The references to theorists in the article points out his influences a great deal and explain his perception of design: much of the works he draws from are post-structural with focal points on class and reality, especially the distance between classes and realities. Society is some that is highly synthetic, virtually detached from a notion of reality and experience is guided by a ruling class. Given these viewpoints Van Toorn’s rigid enthusiasm about the power of design becomes especially relevant. Designers often take messages from a ‘ruling class’ and have an opportunity to communicate, all too often forgetting themselves and the audience.
Van Toorn’s argument is quite compelling but a few concerns arise in the areas regarding the audience and the notion or ‘originality.’ How can something that is unfamiliar be certain that it is communicating with the intended audience? Audience and their role as consumers isn’t really present in this essay, and is a critical component in most theory. Cultural theorist Michel de Certeau focuses most of his studies on ‘consumers’ and sees them in an empowering way that historically has not been present. Considering a lack of discussion regarding this area, it seems reasonable to claim that either Van Toorn 1) views the role of the audience within the mission of digging behind the surface of design or 2) views the audience as secondary to the content conveyed because he feels that the content ought to speak for itself. Either way, relating these ideas to the role of the non-ruling class he seems to value highly would create more clarity with his intent.
The second issue, originality, complicates itself because the word has become void of much merit in contemporary society. Van Toorn uses the cliche “off the beaten path” to describe and approach to a more critical design, but what happens if this becomes an adopted standard? Originality cannot be replicated and with the number of designed objects created an extreme amount of overlap would have to be present. Dot Dot Dot is a publication that is highly aware of this notion as much of its content is recontextualized from other publications to create issues with have meanings created through the linkages between articles. Content is not generated in an ‘original’ manner, but does the assemblage of content in a new way constitute as something original, or just replicating what the content is saying? Visual collage in design, for example, is a way of taking information and creating new ways of saying things (frequently deeper than what the original concept is) but it has become so overdone it has more or less become a stylized approach to making content attractive, masking the content itself. These issues become even more complex because they go back to authorial intent: if the designer aims to communicate something in a fragmented culture that doesn’t read things universally, how can originality even be conceived?
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