Premilinary Statement

I stated my subject as information design. I'm also interested in dissemination and movements, the various facets of modernism and work coming from the bauhaus come to mind. I'm interested in how design has been used for public service, the typical examples of the food guide pyramid, nutrition label and parental advisory labels come to mind. I'm interested in how design is used to relay information and be a part of movements because thats what I want to do myself, let design be a piece in the grand scheme of momentum (for good!). I want to research into design movements in the past that were rooted in ideals, and follow what happened to them (echoes of modernism's design is found all around us), but with the interest in highlighting their original ideas. On the surface I'd like the average person to be able to take away from my work an ability to recognize design's role in their life as a great communicator, but within that make a call to designers to continue to be people of ideals and action which can be made visual through their craft.


So, specifically my subject is design's job conveying information through ease of use and/or how ideals about life may be translated into visual ideals. Ultimately I want my outcome to not ignore the universal need for appealing aesthetic in light of all it's functional needs.


My choice is influenced by my perception of design and visual communication in the world around me. It is brought up by the perennial task of defining to my non-design acquaintances what design is. It is rooted in the arousal I feel to make proper diet guidelines garner the same interest and respect as the latest ipod packaging. It is linked to my respect for Buckminster Fuller's self-dedication to his work, which he imagined to be fot the good of the world. It comes from my respect for the roots of the modernism movement; wanting to make a better world and not hesitating to use whatever craft or skill they had as part of a future utopia. While later generations have backed down from that charge, there are still echoes of it. Baltimore's Believe campaign, has reached national if not international awareness through a simple piece of typography that has been repeated around the city. Fabrica and United Colors of Benneton are also design end products that have roots in ideals. Even something as simple as the concept behind Doane paper whose ideal was to bridge the gap between the creative and the marketing staff by making paper which they both would use, or as complex as the plan and product halves of the one laptop per child project. To me, the common threads among these are that they are well designed and work for the good of man, and in some cases the earth.