Design Issues

Brigid Gallagher
Reading Response 1

The difference between an artists' book and an activist project in terms of authorship is, simply the NAME on the book, and the intent when writing the book to convey a certain message with that name or those names attached to it. An activist project (in my opinion) is no longer just "design" but is put into the realm of public art, which in many cases has been created to evoke a feeling or meaning from viewers, and does not have name(s) attached to it because that might disrupt the project's meaning. As far as pragmatics, I think it all depends on that specific book or project, so that is hard to say.
In my opinion, the intention of the makers of artist books, and participants in activist projects is to make people who see the work think about the message being conveyed, and I agree with the quote:
"Foucault noted that the figure of the author is not a particularly liberating one: the author as origin, authority and ultimate owner of the text guards against free will of the reader. Transferring the authority of the text back over to the author contains and categorizes the work, narrowing the possibilities for interpretation."
from the M. Rock text.
The whole point of designing is creating things that people will look at and comprehend a message from. The tricky part is creating things that get the message across to everyone. If the author always had to be attached to design, to tell you what he meant then he probably isn't very effective in the intended communication. The whole point of design is being anonymous. Designers are people with artistic talent/ creativity/ and the wits to get the point across through visual or "artistic" means. But often designers are creating someone else's idea, or are creating based on a need. So NO designers are not authors, they are simply the facilitators of the message.
I personally do not think that authorship matters. In the world that we live in we are constantly being bombarded with brands and logos that were created by someone, but most consumers will never know who drew the first Apple (Mac) logo or who came up with the Nike Swoosh. The designer(s) who created them have long since been paid for the job, and that is the end of it. Therefore, i think in design, there never was a "death of the author", i feel it simply never existed.
 

TRAVIS APTT

The difference between an artist’s book and an activist project in terms authorship is a very distinct one. First off, I would like to re-examine the definition of “Author” as stated in the text; the person who originates or gives existence to anything, also, an inventor constructor or founder. I feel that in an Author’s book there is an “implied totalitarian control over creative activity”. Meaning, you get a clear-cut, decisive feel and idea of what the author is trying to convey to you, the audience. There is almost a feel of closeness within the reader and the author knowing that everything he/she has done is intended for you. In the case of the activist project, some of the guidelines could be similar, but they differ greatly under the following areas. Most importantly, it lacks the “self-referentiality” of the artist’s book. I think the point made in the reading… “Whose voice is speaking... not an individual, but some kind of unified community? Basically the idea of an author as a whole gets a little more complicated.

I feel that authorship has very little meaning amongst the public anymore. The desire and demand for needs have greatly changed the ways things are produced. In some cases there are you classical authors who will create and provide for their own personal satisfaction knowing that they are doing what they want to do because they want to do it. On the other hand you have the authors that will say screw it… I’m going to make what people want. I am going to let them determine what I produce. This makes sense for the majority of author in today’s society because who would not want to make a dollar here and there producing something that is greatly desired. It’s how you make a profit. If you look at it a little deeper, you can come to the conclusion that the consumer has become the producer. As the consumer, you state your needs and wants, and therefore the authors will provide you with that because in the long run all they care about is your business to them.

“The death of the author” has affected the ways of approaching the consumer in a very big way. Like I stated above, it seems that the author does not create anything for his own self-satisfaction. Everything is determined by the consumer. Why do you think there are surveys just about everywhere? Questionnaires, and spam mail. Everything is used to profile people and find out their biggest needs, and desires. Then when all this information is collected, that’s when the authors begin to produce. It’s incredible to think of how far this has come and also what may come in the future. The author does not matter anymore. The consumer is of most importance.
 

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
 

Steve Voutsinas
Response 1

The "Designer as Author" essay goes into detail about the two examples of design production, referred to as poetic versus practical opposition, which are the artist's book and activist project. Each of these have different characteristics. "The artist's book offers a form of design authorship from which function has been fully exorcised. The artist's book allows for a range of visual experiements without the burden of fulfilling mundane comercial tasks." Artists books use words and images as a way to structure the story. This however is the poetic message, which the activist project is the practical, because while the artist's book conveys the difference between poetry and practical messages but only when "we correctly infer the intention, the activist design would be labelled as absolutely practical." The one main difference that stuck out was the idea that it was more of a "group voice" reaching out to the public in an activist project as opposed to one author.

I don't feel as if authorship matters anymore when it comes to design, or if it ever really did. As a designer, or artist, you are simply creating a piece of art that ultimately has a already thought of message or train of thought. All you are doing as an artist is conveying that message artistically for your audience to understand. The message is not the artists own, rather it's an opinion on an already developed idea. The difference is that where authors write their owns words, artists build off ideas that were already there. However at the same time, while the message the artwork conveys isn't the artists' own, the work itself is and they way they go about conveying it is infact their own.

The idea of "the death of the author" is a very interesting one. The consumer is a big factor in this idea, as they are the ones seeing the products. I think that a lot of people don't care who designed the brand new logo for Taco Bell or who designed how the new iMac was going to look, as long as it's appealing to them. I've never heard one person say "oh I like that design, I wonder who did it?" But I think that it's not a big issue either, and I'm sure the person that created the Taco Bell logo isn't mad that he/she doesn't get enough credit for it. So i feel the idea of "death of the author" is a vaugue one becuase I don't feel as if it was ever a huge issue in design. Not like it would be for a creator of a comic strip, where that is something that has a distinced author and people do care.
 

Nicolette Kulba

Here we have the catch-22 of the role of the “designer” in the creation and use of any given man-made object. What a designer intends for the use of a certain object is only a portion of the realm of possibility for the use of said object. The consumer creates a sort of additional part of the object through how it is used (or, perhaps, how it is misused or abused – relative, of course, to the designer’s intentions.) It is impossible for a designer to be able to consider every possibility of use for whatever they are creating; however, it would be detrimental to the goal of creating an object that is optimally designed for use if every possibility outside of the intended use is ignored. Such is the realm of “the everyday” to the designer: once the object is placed into an environment beyond the control of the place where it is created and re-worked until it takes its finished form, that control shifts from the designer to the consumer. Thus, the consumer also becomes a designer: rather than creating its form, they create its purpose, and each consumer may do this in a different way. It becomes clear that the credited “designer” is not the only one responsible for the object.
Given this conundrum, we realize that the question of authorship is likely to have a rather complex answer. I personally have found it frustrating that design is taken for granted. For example, someone who finds a painting they like is quite likely to ask, “who painted this?”; however, how often is it that someone who finds a magazine they like the layout of will ask, “who designed this?” The chances, of course, are slim to none. Similarly, I created covers and inserts for my friend’s vocal ensemble’s new CD, entitled “Vowel Movements”, and many people congratulated me, saying they loved the pun, but the title was not my idea. Although I’d created a hilarious visual representation of it with my photograph that showed plastic letters being flushed down a toilet, and designed all the other elements of the covers and inserts, I could not accept full authorship. The same happens when we consider that often, designers are given a set of guidelines when asked to create an object for a corporation or other organization. Can they assume full authorship, even if they had no hand in the concept or basic causes for the creation of the object? I believe that in today’s society, it seems authorship does not matter much anymore, if at all, with a few exceptions: one being to use a certain “designer” to sell a product (as Blauvelt mentioned with Target’s promotions touting designs by Philippe Starck and Todd Oldham). Very few “designers” become “rock stars”, especially in graphic design. Some fashion designers do, as do some interior designers, but in graphic design, people can turn that entire world upside-down and not one person outside the field will ever know their name. (Comparatively: David Carson, April Greiman, Tibor Kalman: three designers who greatly impacted the future of their field. Ashlee Simpson, L’il Jon, Jennifer Lopez: three musicians who did very little to impact the future of their field. Which three are household names?)
Quite simply, the “death of the author” actually ushers in a power shift from the designer to the consumer, but does not leave the designer powerless. We have the phenomenon of synergy between the creator and the user that redefines the concept of purpose.
 

Doug Pashley

The question of authorship is one that has often plagued me in my pursuit of graphic design. Most projects I've done has had one or more elements that are not original to me nor are they my creation (like photos from photographers and font designs I did not create). As a student this has only mildly bothered me, but in the real world this question of authorship is much more important. Is my final packaging design original or is it a combination of ideas and pre-existing solutions that I put together? In other words, how much of my designs are truly mine? The article on authorship addresses this very issue--it basically pointed out that authorship is held by whoever aided the creation of the art. The activists put together a book of their idologies to distribute to the world so that their voice can be heard. Most likely, however, they did not create every nuance of the book (ex. layout, cover design, navigation design), but rather dictated it to a book designer. Who gets the credit for being the author then? Yes, the ideas are the activists' (IF they are purly theirs and not borrowed in any way), but the realization of the physical book was made possible through the collaboration of a book designer. This really made me think about how graphic design happens in the real world: a group of artists, all with their own specialization, collaborate and create the final design for the client. What that means is the the design is no longer just the designer's, but the creative director's, the production artist's, and the group as a whole. Who is the author then? The whole team. And what does it matter who the authorship goes to when the design is innovative, effective, and strong? I don't think it does.

The other article about innovation being put into the everyday mundane realms of life was also interesting to me. Blauvelt talked about "the concept of everydayness revealing the ordinary in the extraordinary", and "making the familiar strange". I like the approach he took on the mundane, illustrated by the many innovative, completely unique "inventions". The Paper Loghouse is one that was one that I found both unique and serving a practical purpose. The more outrageous designs, (like the Airborne Snotty Vases and the Metal Chair) show a real "thinking outside the box" which was most interesting to see. All in all, the question of the relationship between design and the everyday was one that motivated me to see that within the everyday there IS innovation. The things we take for granted are the things that are innovation, like cell phones (indutrial design), new toaster models and coffee makers (product design), and furniture (interior design). I think that its in the the everyday we see innovation if we just open our minds and ask the questions like in the article: "....we sit at a table in order to eat, we lie down on a bed in order to sleep. How? Where? When? Why?"


# posted by Stephanie : 8:01 PM  





Zach Kaitz

An artist’s book has the artist or designers complete and purest authorship. It is their endeavor, thoughts, technical work and overall poetry of the page or visual. The artist who makes their own book is only tied to their visual subjectivity with no need to satisfy the commercial and all need to satisfy emotions for reader and/ or author. An activist project in terms of authorship can be closely related to the authorship in film except the director of the project is a message or unified community. It is the creator(s) intention that holds authorship in an activist group. The message in a group is more important than the authorship, they are working for a better place, their views etc. The group conducts research and collaborates making the final product a work of art without a single author, a project so big one person could not control every aspect of it. Activists groups are working to speak up about an issue or against one, they use collaboration as a means to create a more identifiable message. These projects are practical as opposed to an artist’s book that can be influenced purely by emotion.
The author has always mattered in art and design even when Barthes says, “the reader is born with the death of the author.” Foucault doesn’t believe the author ever really dies either, “The figure of the author reconfirms the traditional idea of the genius creator; the status of the creator frames the work and imbues it with mythical value.” Foucault explains that the variety of authorship is the only difference of how the reader relates back to the author. In my theory the author doesn’t die because the readers understand that someone or a group and a head of the group or an anonymous revolutionary must have some human characteristics that can frame a work of art. Sylvia Belanger a photographer and teacher of mine once said she had to miss class because the people who buy her work want to meet her or talk. I explained that her readers have not killed her completely and probably still felt half of what she felt in her photos. The activist group has no figural identification; they have declined personal recognition to make their cause the genius creator to further the authentication of their ideas.
Postmodernism with the “death of the author” in our consumer experience economy gives the company or product the mystique rather than the designer in high fashion or furniture. Even then that designer name is synonymous with a lifestyle. This endless cycle has had companies like the Japanese company Elephant want to break it. Elephant asks the consumer what they want and makes it if the demand is high; Elephant gives the consumers the ability to say what they want rather than being told. David Carson who according to Sarri doesn’t have the proper criteria of being an art director because, “it is difficult to discern a message in [his] work that transcends … the studied inelegance.” I may be wrong but Carson does have inner meaning, he is being innovative, provocative, narrative and deconstructionist on the medium that used to be the ultimate (paper) that now has a competitor (the computer). If David Carson is just associated with a lifestyle than “not so death of the author” is sad and it should be up to designers to reeducate the visual audience.

# posted by Stephanie : 1:14 PM


Alyssa Crick

An artist's book is created to evoke emotion. Through story-telling or pure aesthetics, an artist attempts to deliver a message to the reader. Whether it is through words, images, textures, etc., an artist desires to connect with an individual, one-on-one through the book. The authorship of such a book is very important, as it can change the meaning within. A reader may desire to know who made the book because of the emotions that initially went into its creation. In contrast, an activist project is created to spread information and evoke change. An individual or group may formulate ideas and spread them through the community through writing or art. The authorship of such projects is less important than an artist's book because the individual fades from the wide perspective. While an artist desires to connect with a single reader's emotions, an activist attempts to create with a wide range of readers and create new concepts of thought.

Authorship is a complicated concept and can change with the context of work. When considering design, the author commonly is forgotten because the notion of design is forgotten. Everything in our day to day lives from printed material to clothing to furniture and architecture was designed by someone. Careful planning has gone into so many objects that we see so often and consider commonplace. The authorship of the majority of design has faded from importance. The function of an object takes the authority, and who made it is not important. Within the last decade, design has taken a shift from this idea. Designers are now creating everyday objects and branding them with an identity. Chain super-stores are selling these objects and marketing them under that identity, which is commonly the designer's name. The authorship of the design is now the advertising campaign and while the form of a Michael Graves stapler may have a specific function, the form of design and name brand may attract more consumers. The authorship of design has gained more attention in mass media because a designer's identity may effect a consumer more strongly than an anonymous stapler.

"The death of the author" leading to the "birth of the reader" has become an important theory in design practice. Consumer's are becoming more and more important in the production process, with companies such as Elephant basing their whole purpose upon the consumer's wishes. With the spread of communication, a company or designer can more readily research what consumers need or at least what they will purchase. Authorship is less important because the consumer has authority. Designers must design with their audience as a priority, rather than as a passive observer. Rather than "the death" of the author, and "the birth" of the reader, I think the "demotion" of the author and the "promotion" of the reader would be more appropriate. The author will always exist, but the individual's importance may lose authority. As Michael Rock states, "the primary concern of both the viewer and the critic is not who made it, but rather what it does and how it does it."

# posted by Stephanie : 12:23 PM


Doug Pashley

The question of authorship is one that has often plagued me in my pursuit of graphic design. Most projects I've done has had one or more elements that are not original to me nor are they my creation (like photos from photographers and font designs I did not create). As a student this has only mildly bothered me, but in the real world this question of authorship is much more important. Is my final packaging design original or is it a combination of ideas and pre-existing solutions that I put together? In other words, how much of my designs are truly mine? The article on authorship addresses this very issue--it basically pointed out that authorship is held by whoever aided the creation of the art. The activists put together a book of their idologies to distribute to the world so that their voice can be heard. Most likely, however, they did not create every nuance of the book (ex. layout, cover design, navigation design), but rather dictated it to a book designer. Who gets the credit for being the author then? Yes, the ideas are the activists' (IF they are purly theirs and not borrowed in any way), but the realization of the physical book was made possible through the collaboration of a book designer. This really made me think about how graphic design happens in the real world: a group of artists, all with their own specialization, collaborate and create the final design for the client. What that means is the the design is no longer just the designer's, but the creative director's, the production artist's, and the group as a whole. Who is the author then? The whole team. And what does it matter who the authorship goes to when the design is innovative, effective, and strong? I don't think it does.

The other article about innovation being put into the everyday mundane realms of life was also interesting to me. Blauvelt talked about "the concept of everydayness revealing the ordinary in the extraordinary", and "making the familiar strange". I like the approach he took on the mundane, illustrated by the many innovative, completely unique "inventions". The Paper Loghouse is one that was one that I found both unique and serving a practical purpose. The more outrageous designs, (like the Airborne Snotty Vases and the Metal Chair) show a real "thinking outside the box" which was most interesting to see. All in all, the question of the relationship between design and the everyday was one that motivated me to see that within the everyday there IS innovation. The things we take for granted are the things that are innovation, like cell phones (indutrial design), new toaster models and coffee makers (product design), and furniture (interior design). I think that its in the the everyday we see innovation if we just open our minds and ask the questions like in the article: "....we sit at a table in order to eat, we lie down on a bed in order to sleep. How? Where? When? Why?"

# posted by Stephanie : 5:17 PM


um it doesnt help when some1 writes over what the questions we were supposed to answer for the response....

# posted by Stephanie : 6:06 PM


Megumi Hattori


The artist book is using words, images structure and material to tell story or invoke an emotion. It is concrete, self-referential, and purest form of graphic authorship. It is important to create emotional feelings by using much kind of visual experiments rather than daily commercial tasks. On the other hand, activist project is the work that individuals or group create to show their intention. It is difficult to define who has the authorship because the project was created by several individuals’ ideas and works. It is more important for activist group to tell their message than the authorship. Collaboration work creates meaning and message stronger. Michael Rock wrote that “Proactive work has a voice and a message, but in its overt intentionality lacks the self-referentiality of the artist's book yet several problems cloud the issue of authored activism, not least the question of collaboration.” There is conflict about authorship between individual work and collaboration work.

The importance of authorship has been changing with increase of commercial production and customers. Authorship is getting less important than the brand or company that design the desire of consumer. Designed objects are not emotional things anymore. It becomes a part of everyday life object or material such as cloth, furniture, tools, so that the importance of authority is faded out. Designers collaborate with companies and create their brand and identities to popularize the products. Design does not pursue the emotional meaning and implication, instead, it controlled by the demand of consumer. Design becomes a product that is known as a name of specific company’s brand, but never known who designed or who has the authorship.

"Death of the Author" creates theory that based in readers response and interpretation. This theory expands in postmodern design field. Today, the consumer is the most important part of the production process. Designers no longer create self-referential, emotional aspect of work. Instead of that, they create demands of consumer. The good example is Elephant design in Tokyo. They researched and crated what the consumer want, so that there is no authorship in the products that they made. It is more important to response needs of consumer than the authorship of designer. Michael Rock mentioned that "The real challenge is to embrace the multiplicity of methods - artistic and commercial, individual and collaborative - that comprises design language." This challenge will be very hard, but it also helps designers rethink the meaning of design and authorship.

# posted by Anonymous : 6:16 AM



Yun Wa Chan (please disregard previous post)

Artists' books use words, images, structure and material to tell a story or invoke an emotion. Activist projects convey a clear political message and agenda. While artists’ books can be an example of pure graphic authorship, activist projects are less clear examples because they are usually representative of and organized by a group of people. Artists’ books are self-referential, allow for visual experiments and have less clear functions. They don’t have a commercial goal behind them. They are regarded as being more poetic and avant-garde. At the same time, artists’ books are commonly seen as a sub-standard type of design. Activist projects are direct and intentional. They are seen as more practical. Because of this, they are less open to interpretation and complicate the idea of self-expression. Since activist projects have specific messages, they are successful only if the specific messages are conveyed and received by the viewer.

Artists’ books are seen as examples of authorship because they are self-referential, experimental, allow for open interpretation, and have no hidden agenda. Activist projects are less perfect examples of authorship because of their overt intentionality, practicality, and collaborative nature. Personally, I agree with Rock when he states that activist projects are also “self-motivated and self-authored.” Activist projects can also be self-referential, experimental, and open to a certain degree of interpretation. I think activist projects can also be good examples of authorship even though they are practical, intentional, and sometimes collaborative. If it is the voice of a unified community, then the author can be the unified community. The definitions of authorship should not be so narrow and confined.

Although Foucault’s theory is valid, authorship does matter in terms of design. The designer should not be seen through the narrow criteria of “origin, authority and ultimate owner,” but as an initial collaborator and communicator. The designer does create and shape the works to a certain extent, but it is true that a work should allow for interpretation and participation of the viewer. It is still important to acknowledge the designer as author, but the definitions of “author” need to change. An author can be someone who initially begins a work, or puts together a work that consists of materials originating from other people, or even a collaborator of a work. In this way, the author can be more than one person, even a group.

Rock points out that a designer’s role is similar to a film director’s. Even though the designer should not be seen as the “origin, authority and ultimate owner,” he/she does have an impact on the work produced. Although the designer works with materials that are usually collaborative and convey the view of the client, the designer does have a role in the creative process. For example, several different designers can work on the same project using the same materials, but the outcomes will be different. It is also valid to see the collaborators and even the client as authors also. I do not believe that the birth of the reader “the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author.” It is important to acknowledge the reader and create works that allow open interpretation, but it is equally important to acknowledge the author(s) and their intentions. I believe that author and reader are equally important. Some Postmodern theories believe that a work of art is actually a collaboration between authors and readers. In this way, the differences between author and reader are not so definite. Based on this theory a reader can also be author, and vice versa. So authorship still matters in terms of art and design, but its definition and purpose need to change.

“The death of the author” has led to works that are more interactive and collaborative. Instead of one genius creating a work that has a specific meaning and the consumer as a passive receiver, designers have become just a link in the chain. They collaborate with many other people, who can also be seen as authors and create works that are less definite, more interactive, and open to interpretation and analysis. The consumer becomes an active participant and also co-author of the work. The works in Andrew Blauvelt’s “Strangely Familiar: Design and Everyday Life” are examples of such Postmodern practices of this theory. As Blauvelt states, “these projects force us to look at our everyday world anew, challenge our own presumptions about what is possible, and reconsider our relationship to things that once seemed so familiar.” These projects focus on the reader, ask them to contribute to the projects, and focus on how they are affected by these works. The traditional and separate roles of author and reader are challenged. There are also many great examples of interactivity and multifunctionality tailored to the user, such as Anastassiades’ Social Light and Anti-Social Light; Walczak, McAllister, Segen, and Kennard’s Dialog; and Koers, Zeinstra, van Gelderen’ Tumble House.

# posted by Stephanie : 10:19 AM
 

Niki Zengerle

Let me start by saying that I think that the whole issue of authorship is a controversial hornets nest and is confusing as hell.

With that said, the difference between the artist’s book and an activist project: the artist’s book is usually either a solo project by a single artist, or a project undertaken by two artists working as partners. Because of this, the authorship of the Artist’s book is much easier to prove, as well as to define, using conventional terms. The activist project is a larger collaboration involving numerous artists banded together into one “voice” to convey a specific message or point of view in a practical or factual message with a “problem solving” approach. It’s interpretation by the viewer is intended to be much more specific than that of the artist’s book, whose composition and message are intended to be open to interpretation. The point of an artist’s book is to tell a story or evoke an emotion in the reader, and it is thereby much more whimsical than an activist project with an “in-your-face” message. It is vague as opposed to specific.
But does authorship really matter in design? Yes, I think it does. I do think that Foucault has a point – that authorship attaches a set of preconceived opinions and ideals to a work, based on the ideals and viewpoint of the author – but I don’t think that this effects the functioning of the product or message in today’s consumer based culture. I think that graphic authorship isn’t all that different than any other design authorship, and I think that often the consumer is more receptive to a message or a product based on who the author or designer of the product or message is. As consumers, we “buy” the authorship as an important part of the product. How often do we desire a specific product over a lesser-known generic just because it is designed by Armani or Ralph Lauren, who probably didn’t even actually design it they? Once I almost bought the Bruce Mau book mentioned in the reading (S, M, L, XL) because I thought it would be interesting to have on my coffee table even though I had no real desire to read it. We have created a whole society based on the “sign value” of products, and authorship is a part of that culture. Besides, the only way that authorship would stop mattering is if we lived in a socialist society where products were created only on a need basis for the good of the people as a whole. This is in part because of simple human nature. As authors, we’re prideful and selfish. If we made it we want people to know that we made it (in most cases!) and therefore we want our name on it, even if we have to list it under a corporate brand.

The one thing that has occurred as a result of the post-modern “death of the author” theory is that a dialogue has begun between the reader and the author. We are being questioned for feedback, opinions, and often even for ideas about what to create. The author in turn is beginning to consider the reader, the consumer, and what their wants and needs might be. Just as the definition of an author is being overhauled in today’s design world, designers are looking at the needs of everyday life and consumers and then adding their own unique perspective to products and messages.

This assignment, these questions, the numerous books and papers still being written on the subject, all lend credibility to the fact that we are being asked our opinion as readers and designers. As a result, how we view authorship, and what defines it in today’s society, is changing.


# posted by Stephanie : 5:56 PM  0 comments   
 

Kevin Casanzio

Defining authorship seems to be the most lurking question in the back of my mind while reading Rock’s article. What is an Author? Though the definition has changed over the centuries, one key phrase cannot escape my attention. That is, ‘giving existence to anything’. The birth of an idea or object should all be given credit to its rightful creator. It is their expression, thoughts, and overall idea coming to life. However, distinguishing rightful ownership of design styles, and concepts is left open to interpretation. Almost every designer borrows ideas, and reinvents styles that were created before them. Every modern Graphic designer has arranged a layout that mimics the grid system created by Jan Tschold, or an arrangement of pictures that reflects an earlier Bauhaus design. In agreement with Sarris’s criteria for an auteur, Carson, borrowed from concrete poetry with his playful arrangement of type. Rock gives credit to Vanderlans for being an innovative author, although he borrows heavily on new typography created by earlier Swiss designers. Though each designer creates his/her own inner meaning based upon their objective, sole ownership of style should be reserved to the few who created design movements and not the people who create a varied reproduction of certain forms. In so, defining a designer as an author should be assimilated in the same contexts as an author of a book whose ideas come across on text. The meaning of the design process is what should signify an author of design and not the visual outcome.

Blauvelt’s article on design and everyday life describes a time when formalism was exhausted and new innovation takes it’s place. Its seems that the creation of desire and simulacra have taken that place in the 90’s. Big business’s have used clever advertising to create desire of a certain lifestyle. Baudrillard theorized that consumers would want the image of the product more than the actual worth value. Lefebvre called it empty consumerism. The products featured in the exhibition not only offer a unique spin on everyday life, they allow the consumer to take an active role in how we live. In a way, these products break us away from the mainstream high-tech and portable lifestyle to help re-examine our expectations of what defines everyday life. The Composite Housing example offers variations on room space design that offers a practical view on the changing pre-fabrication process. By rethinking our everyday lifestyle, vernacular design can serve a more beneficial role in making familiar products better. These concepts challenge old techniques of design and give the graphic/product/industrial designer more control on the overall design, and less concern on the profit they will make for their employer.

# posted by Anonymous : 9:31 AM
 
 

diane lee_reading responses
January 23, 2005 9:01:38 PM EST

What is the Difference between an artist’s book and an activist
project in terms of authorship, pragmatics and intention?
The Difference between and artist’s book and an activist project is
the difference of where the orgination of the author’s idea is, his
thought process of how the idea is to be worked out to his audience,
and the definition of who the idea belongs to.

So then does authorship really matter anymore? In terms of design?
Authorship is still important in today’s society because in many
situations authorship defines the origination of an idea and
legitimizes scientific documentation. In terms of design, authorship
is not usually something that is of great importance unless it is the
work of Paul Rand or someone of high notoriety. In today’s world of
design the process of creating a piece of work is based on a
collective of people who come together with different resources to
produce one single piece of work. Authorship in design in the most
part is not of much importance today.

How has postmodern theory with regards to the death of the author
affected current design practice in terms of an interdisciplinary
approach and the consumer as part of the production process?

Postmodern theory with regards to the death of the author has given
design an anonymous background. The significance of what is created
rather then who has created what is of more importance to the people
who find the product. The result of a long thought out process that in
today’s society is not very important. There is no relationship
between the author and its reader. What is important to the reader is
the content of the book and how the book is presented to the reader.
Yet, the most interesting aspect to this whole process is that the
author plays such an important role in manipulating the reader’s
opinion of how he sees the book.

Authorship is important because you have the role of manipulation. He
who defines and creates the value of something that is impacting
someone else. Today because the designers of a product has does not
come in contact with it’s product users it is hard for the users to
actually understand that the products that they use on a everyday
basis came from a collective of ideas. Therefore, the users of these
products aren’t understood by these people and have no real concept of
where these idea come from unless they take it upon themselves to find
out who created the things they encounter on a day to day basis.
In truth, the knowledge of know what came from where isn’t of
importance in today’s world. It is the content that is more important
then the author of the product.
 

Kristina Nosal
Art422-Reading Response 1
Sunday January 23, 2005

Readings:
Andrew Blauvelt essay from “Strangely Familiar Design”
Michael Rock essay “Designer as Author”

What is the Difference between an artist’s book and an activist project in terms of authorship, pragmatics and intention?

An artist book uses words, images, structure and material to tell a story or invoke an emotion; it may be the purest of graphic authorship. Also an artist’s book offers a form of design authorship from which function has been fully exorcised. In an artist’s book there is an exterior function usually or an overt intention, whereas an activist design is completely and absolutely practical. It has a main intention that is the goal of the piece. Though the authorship in an activist design can be that of a personal voice or a wide distribution.

From the M. Rock text, "Foucault noted that the figure of the author is not a particularly liberating one: the author as origin, authority and ultimate owner of the text guards against free will of the reader. Transferring the authority of the text back over to the author contains and categorizes the work, narrowing the possibilities for interpretation."

So then does authorship really matter anymore? In terms of design?

As a designer I feel that as the author I try to persuade someone to think as I do, or I could try to persuade him or her to buy something. That is really not leaving a lot of room for free thinking. Also if I was designing a piece a lot of times you are talking for a company as one, or a specific group, I don’t feel that there is a need for authorship anymore. Authorship should belong souly to things such as self-promotion, or artist books.


Based on both readings:
How has postmodern theory with regards to "the death of the author" affected current design practice in terms of an interdisciplinary approach and the consumer as part of the production process?

I feel that design is more commodity based now than every before, I mean the commodity fetish started with Andy Warhol, who is a postmodern artist, and he was a perfect example of how the consumer is part of the production process. His pieces were mass-produced because he wanted to change the way art was. Now you could buy cheap prints of his work instead of expensive originals. I believe that that changed they production process a lot. Also of work is now mass produced unlike artist book which sometimes there is only one of them.
 

Neiler, James

It appears that there is a great deal of debate when determining whether or not one can be called an author. This is something that has not really come to my attention much throughout my years as an aspiring artist and designer, however I have now quickly developed an interest in this area of discussion.
The different styles of authorship have been divided into two categories: Artist�s books and activist projects. Artist books have been described as individually influenced writing and experimental use of graphic style, typography etc. This style is a pure form of authorship as the writer/artist uses a style to evoke emotion and unmatched creativity. Activist projects are more pragmatic, as they deal with messages that are clearly stated, leaving no room for reader�s interpretation. The authorship in these projects is questionable as one may not know if the information is coming directly from the author or from another source. The intent for activist projects is to deliver a practical and impliable message.
With these different styles comes a question of the importance of authorship. I believe that, like music, any original composition of the written word should be credited to the author, or �composer.� However, I also feel that once those words are available to others, they should have the ability to react naturally to the messages they are given. I feel that this suggestion applies heavily to designers, as the most successful designers are those who have the ability to collect information and organize it visually with the style that they feel is appropriate, as they give it new and powerful meaning that they can take credit for. In addition, the best designers have the ability to present a message to allow for an audience to capture it, interpret it and store it, as they will then make it their own and will remember that information. This end result makes a designers work successful.
With the overwhelming concern for importance of authorship in design, it appears that the design practice has shifted the focus from artist to content. This has effected designers in a way that encourages them to search for �deeper meaning� within their work. This motivation can be applied to any and all forms of artistic creation. Whether you are writing a novel, or designing a Coke bottle, the key is to search for a unique message that has not yet come to the surface. In the article, �Strangely Familiar,� the author says, �It is one thing to be part of everyday-- to help create it-- and quite another to make it the subject of analysis or even critique.� Many have the ability to reintroduce what has already been exposed. However, it is the goal and responsibility of a designer to give the audience something they did not have before, a piece of new information that they will capture, store and retrieve. An example of this shift in direction is explained in a quote from Lefebvre, �Why wouldn�t the concept of everydayness reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary?� I believe that taking a second look at even the most common visuals can sometimes reveal a new meaning that will make it unique once more.
 

In Andrew Blauvelt's Strangely Familiar: Design and Everyday Life there is more discussion
about the idea of design and it's role in everyday life. He talks about the integration of design
into everyday life through the functions of design and also through consumption. There is
also some discussion about the outburst of consumerism and design for consumption,
basically disussing how many designers "sell out" by designing for products that are not
necessary to everyday living just to make more money.

The M. Rock text dicusses authorship as a way to acclaim credit for ones work, rather than
focusing on what the work is discussing. It also talks about authorship as a factor of
opression and how authorship reduces the possibility of expanding ideas.

So then does authorship really matter anymore? In terms of design?
-In terms of design, authorship is not a factor. The conumer or the audiance is more
concerned with the function or aesthetics of piece more than who created it. With the
exception of the consumer who buys soley for a name, as a sign of wealth or status.

Based on both readings:
How has postmodern theory with regards to "the death of the author" affected current design
practice in terms of an interdisciplinary approach and the consumer as part of the production
process?

-Many times, the designer is designing for a company in which there is no credit given to the
actual designer, but rather the company. Consumers may buy and item from a store, whether
it be furnature or or a crockpot, and they only know the name of the company who sells it,
not the name of the individual who designed it. The contradiction to this, is the famous
designer hired to created a line or products for a company, which markets that persons
name.

Kelli Dochstader
kd26@buffalo.edu
 

Eda Karahan

I've never really looked so into the idea of authorship until I read this article. Rock's talked so much indepth with who takes the credit for a piece of work that now I'm started to question my own work. I knew that anytime you do a piece of work the idea pops into your mind of "Am I taking someone else's idea? Can I even do this?", but now I feel I need to ask myself more questions. I'm somewhat caught in the middle, between choosing if all rights should just go to the designer since they thought it up, or if it should be shared. When dealing with design; whether it's industrial, product or interior design we learn throughout school about all kinds of art movements, which then results in most of our artwork deriving from one or the other movements. So then if you think about it like that then, no you can not take all the credit for it because its not completely all of your own ideas, concepts or even your own style anymore. Sometime you take an idea or movement from somewhere and twist it to be something that suits what you feel is visually appealing so then does that make it your own idea or style then? I'm starting to believe that authorship should not matter so much, the more important aspect is what is the artist trying to portray and say in their piece of work because in the end every little bit of that work was not completely thought up by him/her. I know that I have incorporated others photography in my projects and even others fonts, so it would not be right to try and accept all the credit for it.
All in all when it comes to design it usually takes more then one mind to make the best outcome. If we only paid attention to who takes the credit for it then I highly doubt the message that was meant to be portrayed would have been interpreted. In my opinion the whole point is for the viewer to have a visually appealing product in which they are able to comprehend the artists intent of producing the work. In everyday life the world is so pre-occupied with what will sell and what won't that authorship has been forgotten, and only one thing matters and that is the work that has been introduced. In the beginning of this article I was unsure of what I really felt about the designer as an author, but I have concluded that in the end all that matters is if what you were trying to say was appreciated and comprehended.

# posted by Stephanie : 8:53 PM  0 comments  



reading response

Carolynn Giordano

From the M. Rock article the issue of authorship and originality is in question. In the overall art world, who's work is really their own creations. Throughout the art world, in film, and design in particular many works are in question of being an artists pure authorship. An artists book is a work of one or a partnered team of two in works of a project. The authorship of an artists book can be relatively detected because of the small team and it is a work of the artist for the artist and its viewers. However, I constantly am in question of the authorship of my own work. Designers are constantly borrowing images from other sources to create their own "masterpieces." Who is to the say the image borrowed from a particular photographer for a design is their own authorship. Was the photographer inspired by another artists work, and because it is their own photo does that question the authorship? An activist project is an collaboration many artists coming together to form one main project, for example a film, as pointed out in the Rock article. In art for example film an authoritarian is hard to detect. Many things of which make a film great is the amazing cinematography or writer, but say several different films that have the same cinematographer and writer does these make two completely different films similar. Is the authorship in question because having the same style throughout each film is not original work? I believe that an activist project, because of so much work from each individual is put to resolve one final product is much harder to trace back to the authorship.

Authorship has changed throughout the years, it is becoming less important because of commercial production and technology. Designers and the use of a computer questions the authorship because it is said actual work is not being done by the artist but by the machine. This is a constant argument between fine artists and designers. In design many ideas are borrowed, inspiration comes from other designs and images used throughout design are most likely of another artist. Does this make authorship in design really matter anymore? I say, no not anymore, the world is so consumed by having "designs that sell." . The main idea is the consumer and what the consumer wants. Many designers, design for a costumer who need branding of products and their companies, making the work almost non inventive and the designer is forced become rid of any authorship of their work. Commercialization is the main downfall of the authorship of design. "Death of the Author" which tells us exactly that today, no longer are designers the most important part of the design process. The consumer is the most important aspect in what work is wanted, therefore creating emotionless works produced by the designer, making work with less authorship. In is almost impossible for a designer to have complete authorship, and today the consumer is the one who is taking over making the author less important everyday.

# posted by Stephanie : 4:38 PM  0 comments