ENGLISH EDITION Graphic design is a territory that is difficult to take in with just one glance. Necessarily heteronomous, it presents itself not so much as a self-contained region with accurately defined confines, but rather as a nucleus from which and towards which different paths spread out as they relate to a variety of contexts, drawing a plurality of worlds. Although the history of graphic design is a short one, it bestows us with multiple identities, with a variety of experiences and names that have been shared to a greater or lesser extent, and that have gradually shaped the definition of graphic design as something poised between art and industry, between free expression and problem-solving, between creativity and the standard, between the banks of a professional sphere and institutionalized discipline, on the one hand, and those of amateur practice, on the other. Its current condition speaks to us of opportunities and challenges that call for up-to-date viewpoints and dictionaries. An ever-expanding landscape of products and places that fill our daily lives uses graphics to communicate and provide information on different scales and in different dimensions— from printed books to websites, from street posters to digital applications, from museums to shopping centers. Through them we are now surrounded by a wide variety of styles that brings together all the nuances, from good design to the “cult of the ugly,” from the excesses of kitsch to those of minimalism, from objets trouvés to generative decorations. At the same time, easier access to the tools that allow graphic production makes not just the fruition but also the development and production itself of texts, images and signs more and more widespread and participative. In a scenario such as this, where “graphics” seems to be just about everywhere, graphic design’s position is necessarily shifting. [...]
Graphic Design Worlds
Dalla Mura M
2011-01-01
Abstract
ENGLISH EDITION Graphic design is a territory that is difficult to take in with just one glance. Necessarily heteronomous, it presents itself not so much as a self-contained region with accurately defined confines, but rather as a nucleus from which and towards which different paths spread out as they relate to a variety of contexts, drawing a plurality of worlds. Although the history of graphic design is a short one, it bestows us with multiple identities, with a variety of experiences and names that have been shared to a greater or lesser extent, and that have gradually shaped the definition of graphic design as something poised between art and industry, between free expression and problem-solving, between creativity and the standard, between the banks of a professional sphere and institutionalized discipline, on the one hand, and those of amateur practice, on the other. Its current condition speaks to us of opportunities and challenges that call for up-to-date viewpoints and dictionaries. An ever-expanding landscape of products and places that fill our daily lives uses graphics to communicate and provide information on different scales and in different dimensions— from printed books to websites, from street posters to digital applications, from museums to shopping centers. Through them we are now surrounded by a wide variety of styles that brings together all the nuances, from good design to the “cult of the ugly,” from the excesses of kitsch to those of minimalism, from objets trouvés to generative decorations. At the same time, easier access to the tools that allow graphic production makes not just the fruition but also the development and production itself of texts, images and signs more and more widespread and participative. In a scenario such as this, where “graphics” seems to be just about everywhere, graphic design’s position is necessarily shifting. [...]
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