six degrees of david carson

It's all connected, baby.

Deciphering the introduction from The End of Print (85kb) was an exercise in adjusting expectations. I approached it in the Western tradition of reading left to right, top to bottom. About half way through I realized that reading from bottom to top would make a lot more sense (or at least there would be a more coherent flow of thoughts and a somewhat different sense of meaning.) A top-bottom reading approach gave the impression of sound bytes — staccato, disjointed snippets of ideas.

The last statement (or the beginning one) reads: "Every society gets the visual environment it deserves. Doesn't it?" What type of visual environment do we deserve? When it comes to taking in information and news, there are people willing to work at understanding but many are not. Our culture encourages lazy minds. We are constantly bombarded with far too many messages to ponder over any one item for very long. Everyone is strapped for time. The resulting communication trends are Reader's Digest versions of stories. Many complex ideas are condensed to one-liners and rather than read an entire article, we'll just read the call-outs and look at the photos. Yes, it is a reflection of our society. However, we could be encouraged to be more attentive readers and design is an essential tool in this regard — as important as the writing itself, for design either reflects intended meaning or skews it or even obscures it entirely.

While Carson appears to be obscuring his message, on closer examination he really is supporting the content in this case. I paid closer attention to decoding this reading than if it had been a top-bottom straight-forward paragraph. I read it forwards and backwards; I squinted at partially obscured lines; I guessed at missing words; I pieced together snippets and pulled out important ideas. Ultimately, I gained a more in-depth understanding than I would have from a cursory read-through. It was a process of discovery — a more interactive experience. However, some will make the effort to get the message and others will not. Does that make it exclusive work?

Novelty typefaces are another area of design controversy. It's suggested by some that they have no purpose and should never have been created at all. I think eradication of things that offend our delicate design sensibilities is rather severe. Some trends in type have been downright offensive, particularly in hindsight, but most importantly the problem is inappropriate use of type. Appropriateness of use is where the responsibility should fall and that lies with the graphic designer. Suitability for content, message, audience and context is a good measure of appropriateness. Design has far more meaning when read in the context of history and the culture it emerged from. For contemporary designers, communication has far more power when tailored to fit the context where it will reside.

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