I am a student of graphic design at UBA, Argentina.
The teachings of my field of study are to always focus
above all on "selling" something, following trends and
exploiting them to get your clients' message across in the
most impactful way.
The graphic designer has the role of controlling the
masses through the impact of the image. And in this
capitalist world, it translates to exploiting people's
weak points, making them feel incomplete, generating
desire in them and then selling them the product.
For example, the CocaCola bottle has the turned silhouette
of a woman, generating in the viewer an unconscious desire
in the very design of the container, entering the eyes
before even taste it.
However, my interest in design comes from elsewhere. I
like the point of being able to share a message in an
engagingway that I'm passionate about, but it's something
I never take advantage of. It's like I'm resisting the
idea of using the image as a mean of control.
I really like minimalism, I think that being able to leave
a message in the cleanest way possible, without extra
things, can make something have a timeless elegance.
Following this, I would like to quote Rams' decalogue,
which is never superfluous:
1. Good design is innovative.
2. Good design must be useful.
3. Good design is aesthetic.
4. Good design is unobtrusive.
5. Good design is understandable.
6. Good design must be honest.
7. Good design is durable.
8. Good design is meticulous down to the last detail.
9. Good design is sustainable.
10. Good design should be its minimum expression.
This decalogue makes what you generate become timeless. A
design that can stand the test of time is not governed by
fashion, but by functionality, the cocacola bottle is one.
I have to say that the gopher network caught my attention
for meeting many of the standards of what Rams would
consider a good design, it is not perfect, more than
anything because of its inaccessibility, I do think that
it is somewhat far from being innovative and aesthetic in
modern times, but that is entirely subjective.
I could go back to 1905, but I think the greatest damage
that happened to modernity would be the NeoKitsch.
The NeoKitsch, taking advantage of the post-war industry
began to mass produce low-quality reproductions of what in
the early 1900s were the hobbies of the bourgeoisie to the
plebs. The NeoKitsch began to create problems to sell
solutions. Now the workers could access luxuries that
previously only belonged to the bourgeois, but those
luxuries were nothing more than a bunch of useless things
that are there only to generate a desire, a artificial
need and then be sold as the solution.
See most of the things in the room you are in. How much of
it is functional and how much is just a Kitsch trinket
that adds nothing to your live?
It happens to all of us, in this system we were educated
to seek happiness in shopping, the vast majority of our
desires are manufactured.
I like minimalism in terms of functionality. Leave an
impact in the simple and honest. I was definitely born in
the wrong world, but I want to express my design in a way
that is consistent with my philosophy.
