Cult of the Ugly

I read the high ground design article, the interview with Steven Heller, and Overcoming Modernism.

I really liked the interview with Steven Heller, as I think it gave good insight into the cult of the ugly essay. Mainly, I liked the point that a purpose of the essay, in some form, was to seek open dialogue. Its not only healthy, but essential for an industry to have individuals willing to place a reality check of sorts on their peers and then to have those fellow designers either affirm the call to action, or make a response of their own feelings in search of the truth. In this way we as a design community can effectively move forward to where we see our purpose best accomplished, namely the communication of any given message to an appropriate audience.

This is not to say that there should only be one answer for design at any current time, but that the dialogue is imperative to the industry as a whole and its ability to create movements, reactions, and follow the ebb/flow that creatives have always made in history.

I also found some interesting points in this portion of the Overcoming Modernism article:

"The pressure on the young designer today is not to become a star, a master or mistress of the universal, but to become a participant in communication process, a co-conspirator, a co-author, maybe even an author/designer. This is why the development of the personal voice or agenda has emerged as an important new aspect in the training of young designers today. Their educational experiences should equip them with this expanded, much more accountable role that will be demanded of them if they are to retain any validity in a new context."

"But what about the old folks, the old guard, or those of us who straddle the two guards? We are the ones who, in the last 15 years, have complained that graphic design had an inadequate body of theory and history to guide its own development; but ironically, as more theoretical and historically informed ways of thinking about graphic design have evolved, our heroic Modernist dreams have gone to hell in a hand basket. We're distressed, we're unhappy, we're in pain! What should we do?"

To the last point: What should we do? ... or rather what haven't we been doing? I think a key to success is remaining teachable, even if you have been practicing for 15 years... it may be even more important in that case. I also really liked the note that it is ok, even better, to seek after the goal of design (communication) rather than some lofty figure head. Not that each industry should not have such as an essential part of its hierarchy, but the bulk of the work, that which continually drives the communication art, should not be done by those that are seeking anything other than the reward of success in delivering said message.