Meaning by John Rheinfrank and Katherine Welker
Initial thoughts:
Wow. The meaning of meaning is.....?
"Consider the laboratory, which has played an essential role in the formation of scientific practice. As designers we might sit at a drawing board and design a laboratory using the latest in architectural style and fashionable office furniture, yet neutralize, or (worse yet) even destroy the basis for advancing scientific practice. However, when our starting point is the (situated) acceleration of scientific practice and its social construction, and entirely new rang of objects reveal themselves most of which cannon (and should not) be constructed at our drawing boards, but as part and parcel of the ongoing work of the laboratory and the organizational culture within which it is embedded."
To start, this may or may not have been the most confusing article I have ever read. I am not sure it is because it's Spring Break and I am doing home work, or if the phrase "crafting situations through the design of and object" is the part that confuses me but I found myself lost most of the way.
But there was some hope, above I have selected a quote that I found myself slightly understanding, and I am going to try and explain why.
Quote One: What I took from this quote is that it is not our responsibility to use the latest techniques and the latest trends to create an object or place. This in essence follows form over function. And in the example designing a laboratory in this manor, doesn't do it any justice. But if you take what the item's primary function, for example "the formation of scientific practice" as your starting point, then you have a greater chance for success. So in taking what a laboratory is, and designing your building around it's primary needs and it's meaning instead of using the latest architectural style and modern furniture, the success will be greater in applying it's construction based off it's meaning.
One thing that I am still trying to comprehend is the idea of "meaning-in-situ." What I am understanding from this is, is that an object designed on a drawing board, or in a studio, can take on an entirely different meaning outside of the place that it was initially designed. And that may have positive or negative effects, shedding light upon things that were not taken into consideration in the designing phase. When an object is designed it's meaning in it's intended situation needs to be considered, and then fused into it's design to make it function better when it is in it's environment.
Rethinking Modernism, Revising Functionalism by Katherine McCoy
Amidst the confusion of the "Meaning" article, I found plenty of clarity in Katherine McCoy's article concerning her switch from Swiss Modernism to Post-Modernism. Something that was so similarly related to our "Cult of the Ugly" paper, McCoy's article brought something upon me that I initially didn't know, she was once a Modernist. She had her work critiqued by the King of Modernism, Massimo Vignelli, and she followed the Helvetica on a grid type structure. But from then on she did something different. She quote found "this desire for "cleanliness" as not much more than housekeeping." So she began to search for a more expressive design one in which text can be animated, and images and messages can be left up to audience interpretation and participation, letting them construct the message. What I initially didn't know was that Katherine McCoy, once followed the rules of her movements predecessor, and then decided to break it. I initially thought of her and the Cranbrook Academy as ruthless in it's experimentation and it's byproduct, but to know that one of those who lead the charge, in fact knows and studied what she is rebelling against, is a lot more respectable.
Questions:
What is GD? It is the display of a message in its situation. The message can be the same but based on where it is placed or how it is positioned, the means for it to be displayed can differ.
What is Typography? Typography is NOT always Helvetica on a grid, it can animate, act, and allow for viewer interpretation.
Responsibilities: Experiment and try new things, but to do it with caution. Experimentation is the engine of process, but it can also produce garbage. So find my voice and share it with the world, but make sure that it is done with precision and a thought process.
VISCOM Valuables: Learn to fail, but learn from it at the same time. With out failure we can't find a different type of success, so fail now, and learn to apply it to a better end production.
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