To understandnew work, one must take the time and attention necessar to access the work on its own terms, within the context it functions in – not by some vague notion of universal excellence, or preconceived notion of appropriateness. Simplistic notions of »good design« or »problem solving« are of little use in an era of increasing technological and cultural complexity.

As we enter the new millennium of the information era, the importance of communication is paramount. If graphic designers can learn anything from their past, it should be that the best graphic design doesn’t use the past to solve the complex problems of the present: it uses the present to reveal the possibilities of the future.

 

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The typeface is the ultimate icon of our information and consumer culture. An endlessly replicating image system in which product and advertisement are indistinguishable.

 

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Although certain formal characteristics and skills can conceivably represent a universal standard of excellence, there is no such thing as a universal context that all design functions in. When context is ignored, graphic design is just an artifact

of speculation.

 

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what is

new and where

is now?

Is the idea of »the new« important to design anymore? The »new« that modernism promised is now old, and the »new« will never be as new as it once was. Some designers like to downplay the importance of the new by denouncing it as »trendy« and »just style«, as if their work was of eternal importance and relevant to the end of time. But the truth is, design is context dependent and therefore timebound. It is design’s close relationship to what is new, that clearly reveals the gestalt of any time period. So what is new in design? And what does it reveal about our time?

 

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manygraphic designers do not understand that academia is not just a hothouse of wanton self-expression, but is actually the bastion of tradition. Design practice relies on design education to train people in the latest technology, and to develop basic skills and literacy. But what many designers fail to recognize, is that its most important role is in establishing continuity from the past to the future. It is the place where the canon is constantly being elaborated and reformulated. If certain values are deemed important to design, such values will most likely be articulated and perpetuated through education, not practice.

 

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Graphic designers are caught up in a media stream that is very wide and fast, but not very deep. The only way to navigate in it is to go faster or slower than the stream. To go faster you must be at the forefront of technology and fashion, both of which are changing at an unprecedented rate. To go slower you need an understanding of context through history and theory. Graphic designer’s are predisposed to going faster or slower according to their experience and inclination, but mostly they are getting swept along in the currents of pop mediocrity.