Saturday, March 16, 2002

The Practice of Design

article discussed at Designcampur mailing list

Malcolm Grear–Inside/Outside, from the basic to the practice of Design

Graphic design is not an independent, private art, such as most painting, sculpture, or music, although it draws upon these disciplines; it is public enterprise, devising ways to communicate information through form, color, texture, and other visual signals.

The first generation of graphic designers wanted to separate themselves from advertising, which some saw, rather preciously, as the sleazy side of graphic communication since they considered it tainted by commercial intention.

Andi S. Boediman
Dari studi yang dilakukan oleh Wassily Kandinsky (bapak abstract art), ia merujuk bahwa musik merupakan satu-satunya art yang 'murni' non-objective (ref: Point and Line to Plane), di mana musik tidak harus mewakili sesuatu. Berbeda dengan desain visual, bahkan yang kita sebut fine art. Di sini, seorang artis pun tetap harus mewakili objek tertentu saat melukis. Oleh karena itu, ia mencoba melakukan studi dengan mendobrak dunia fine art dengan membuat 'non-objective' art. Benar-benar seni untuk seni. Yang dilihat tidak lagi bentuk yang representatif, tetapi murni keindahan dilihat dari sisi komposisi, warna, tekstur, dll.

Sejak awal, graphic design sendiri bukan diciptakan dengan tujuan komersial, bahkan 'gambar-gambar di gua sejak zaman prasejarah', 'jejak kaki' pun sudah dianggap seni grafis (ref: History of Graphic Design). Ilmu semiotik, simbol merupakan wujud dari graphic design. Ini bukan komersialisme, tetapi merupakan konsep strukturalis (signifier dan signified).

Berbeda dengan advertising yang memang lahir bersamaan dengan budaya televisi. Sejak awal advertising memang merupakan ilmu yang mempelajari konsep komersialisme. Menurut Ogilvy (ref. Ogilvy on Advertising), advertising HARUS MENJUAL.

Malcolm Grear
This disdain for, and suspicion of, commerce was in part a response to the perceived need for more objective, more ethically responsible graphic communication.

These pioneers of graphic design wished to see themselves as more socially responsible than their cohorts in the world of "commercial advertising art" (orang iklan). They wanted to use image and type, color and form, and other design elements to convey information vividly but honestly instead of dressing up hard-sell copy to seduce buyers.

Andi S. Boediman
Secara personal, saya melihat kedua ekstrim sama memiliki tujuan yang berbeda. Dari sisi tanggung jawab sosial, graphic design/advertising punya eksponen yang murni berkomunikasi untuk tujuan sosial. Dari sisi komersial, mayoritas komunikasi yang kita lakukan memang untuk tujuan komersial. Jadi menurut saya, harus co-exist.

Malcolm Grear
Despite these efforts at separation, the distinction between graphic design and commercial art is often blurred since both serve the needs of business.

Graphic design at its best attempts to deliver direct visual communication while most "commercial art" is mean to entice. But enticement is a form of communication, too, and a worthy one. Nor can it be said that all advertising is without integrity nor that those inventing it has no concern for truth and aesthetics. It is simply that those involved in advertising as a profession need not focus on such matters. Their purpose, quite sensibly, is to sell.

Andi S. Boediman
Kelihatannya sih kita tidak perlu melakukan dikotomi semacam ini.
Kenyatannya kita selalu berada dalam kondisi in-between. Konsep ini yang
pernah hot sebagai konsep post-modernism.

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