Despite having chosen a quote with my peers for the session today, I want to select a new quote in order to focus my COP studies on as the previous quote does not interest me so much now that I have analysed it thoroughly. Instead, I am rather passionate about Lawrence Zeegen's quote and the accompanying article posted on Creative Review:
"Where is the content? Where in the comment? It's all about materials, rather than the message. It's all about quantity, rather than quality. It's all about design doing rather than design thinking. It's all style over content, function following form. Illustration has withdrawn from the big debates of our society to focus on the chit-chat and tittle-tattle of inner-sanctum nothingness."
Zeegen, Lawrence. (2012) Where is the content? Where is the comment? Creative Review [Online]
• What do you think is being communicated by the quote?
Zeegen is stating that contemporary illustration is now purely decorative rather than thought-provoking - style, media, materials and making art for the sake of it to build up one's website, social media and / or portfolio have replaced illustrations with something to say, elements or themes that make you stop and think, question the world and how it works.
• How does it fit with the overall theme?
In terms of the theme of politics, Zeegen is stating that illustration no longer incorporates political undertones, or questions the government and society we live in. Images are made to be aesthetically pleasing, look pretty and disconnect from the world we live in. He also alludes to the politics of illustration itself and how contemporary illustrators do not use their platform and opportunities to be seen and heard. In the article, Zeegen states a few examples of this. The first is a David Shrigley illustration of a clenched fist emblazoned with "Fight the Nothingness" above it, billboard-sized and hanging from the Hayward Gallery, which Zeegen believes to be fighting nothing itself and having nothing to say. Another example he gives is an exhibition of graphic art, which doesn't push the envelope with the display work within. The final example is of an olympic artwork opportunity that was given to Fine Artists rather than Illustrators, which Illustrators accepted with silence rather than critique.
"Big protest noises from graphic design, yet defining silence from graphic artists and illustrators. A prime example of a discipline so entrenched in navel-gazing and self-authorship that as another glossy new tome of back-to-back, jam-packed illustration arrives hot-off-the-press to take pride of place on the coffee table, it is clear the discipline is unable to peer over the fence at a world outside it's own garden."
• What are the key terms within the quote that can be investigated?
Content, comment, materials, message, quantity, quality, design doing, design thinking, style, function, form, big debates, society, inner-sanctum nothingness
• Define those key terms using research - linking to potential examples.
• Locate two images that you think could relate to that quote:
• How do they exemplify the argument within the quote:
I selected two images that I felt followed the terms of 'form over function', as stated in Zeegen's quote. These products are entirely unfit for purpose, as a table or a fork, but fulfil the quota of having a design flair and an interest visual form. They were clearly created for aesthetic purposes, one-off creations to make a comment on society, politics, history, aesthetics, technology, perhaps, in a postmodern landscape - as opposed to modernist ideals of mass-production, streamlined efficiency and functionality being superior to form.
• Is there a counter argument?
I haven't managed to find one yet (just my own research for a counter argument), but I have found a supporting article on ItsNiceThat which agrees wholeheartedly with Zeegen's quote. I can use this when I develop some triangulation within my texts. It could be said that this quote is commenting on aesthetics and personal taste, trends in illustration and the politics within the creative industries, which is something to consider when drafting my written pieces.
"Where is the content? Where in the comment? It's all about materials, rather than the message. It's all about quantity, rather than quality. It's all about design doing rather than design thinking. It's all style over content, function following form. Illustration has withdrawn from the big debates of our society to focus on the chit-chat and tittle-tattle of inner-sanctum nothingness."
Zeegen, Lawrence. (2012) Where is the content? Where is the comment? Creative Review [Online]
• What do you think is being communicated by the quote?
Zeegen is stating that contemporary illustration is now purely decorative rather than thought-provoking - style, media, materials and making art for the sake of it to build up one's website, social media and / or portfolio have replaced illustrations with something to say, elements or themes that make you stop and think, question the world and how it works.
• How does it fit with the overall theme?
In terms of the theme of politics, Zeegen is stating that illustration no longer incorporates political undertones, or questions the government and society we live in. Images are made to be aesthetically pleasing, look pretty and disconnect from the world we live in. He also alludes to the politics of illustration itself and how contemporary illustrators do not use their platform and opportunities to be seen and heard. In the article, Zeegen states a few examples of this. The first is a David Shrigley illustration of a clenched fist emblazoned with "Fight the Nothingness" above it, billboard-sized and hanging from the Hayward Gallery, which Zeegen believes to be fighting nothing itself and having nothing to say. Another example he gives is an exhibition of graphic art, which doesn't push the envelope with the display work within. The final example is of an olympic artwork opportunity that was given to Fine Artists rather than Illustrators, which Illustrators accepted with silence rather than critique.
"Big protest noises from graphic design, yet defining silence from graphic artists and illustrators. A prime example of a discipline so entrenched in navel-gazing and self-authorship that as another glossy new tome of back-to-back, jam-packed illustration arrives hot-off-the-press to take pride of place on the coffee table, it is clear the discipline is unable to peer over the fence at a world outside it's own garden."
• What are the key terms within the quote that can be investigated?
Content, comment, materials, message, quantity, quality, design doing, design thinking, style, function, form, big debates, society, inner-sanctum nothingness
• Define those key terms using research - linking to potential examples.
• Content: The things that are held or included in something. Information made available.
• Comment: A verbal or written remark expressing an opinion or action.
• Materials: The matter from which a thing is or can be made.
• Message: A verbal, written or recorded communication sent to or left for a recipient who cannot be contacted directly. A significant political, social or moral point that is being conveyed by a film, speech, etc.
• Quality: The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something. A distinctive attribute or characteristic.
• Quantity: The amount or number of a material or abstract thing not usually estimated by spatial measurement.
• Design Doing: Making something, being physically creative. Taking action.
• Design Thinking: Design-specific cognitive activities that designers apply during the process of designing.
• Style: A particular procedure by which something is done; a manner or way. A distinctive appearance, typically determined by the principles according to which something is designed.
• Function: An activity that is natural to or the purpose of a person or thing. Work or operate in a proper or particular way.
• Form: The visible shape or configure of something. A particular way in which something appears or exists.
• Illustration: A decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process.
• Debates: A formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward. Argue about a subject in a formal manner.
• Society: The aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.
• Inner-sanctum: The most sacred place in a temple or church.
• Nothingness: The absence or cessation of life or existence. Worthlessness or insignificance.
• Locate two images that you think could relate to that quote:
• How do they exemplify the argument within the quote:
I selected two images that I felt followed the terms of 'form over function', as stated in Zeegen's quote. These products are entirely unfit for purpose, as a table or a fork, but fulfil the quota of having a design flair and an interest visual form. They were clearly created for aesthetic purposes, one-off creations to make a comment on society, politics, history, aesthetics, technology, perhaps, in a postmodern landscape - as opposed to modernist ideals of mass-production, streamlined efficiency and functionality being superior to form.
• Is there a counter argument?
I haven't managed to find one yet (just my own research for a counter argument), but I have found a supporting article on ItsNiceThat which agrees wholeheartedly with Zeegen's quote. I can use this when I develop some triangulation within my texts. It could be said that this quote is commenting on aesthetics and personal taste, trends in illustration and the politics within the creative industries, which is something to consider when drafting my written pieces.
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