Design 2B – Reading 3
Fuck Content – Michael Rock
Fuck Content — 2x4
We seem to accept the fact that developing content is more essential than shaping it, that good content is the measure of good design.
2x4.org
Fuck Content — 2x4 • 2x4.org
Please write your name followed by a question about the reading. All questions must be unique.
Walley-Rock argues that content is not the main measure of a good design, but rather it’s the form that shapes the content. Specifically, he claims that “the elements we must master are not the content narratives but the devices of the telling: typography, line, form, color, contrast, scale, weight. We speak through our assignment, literally between the lines.The span of graphic design is not a history of concepts but of forms”. Looking into his claims versus Warde’s, does styling and expressive forms shape content and “tell a story”? Does a minimalist approach devalue content more so than expressive forms?
Jael - Although I agree that form and how a designer is able to relay information is important, (to a certain extent) doesn’t the content itself also speak to the viewers and how effective a design can exchange information? For instance, content from a newspaper or an ad for a gala. Content can be a form of regulating the ideas a designer has for a project.
Luiza- How can you know what is good design and what is just good content?
Jennifer- People think developing good content is more essential than shaping it, agree or disagree?
Wendy- Does only form have power to deliver the sense of design?
Pauline - In the first paragraph, it sounds like Michael Rock is suggesting that designers don’t command the same power/respect that artists and authors do. This also implies that designers are seen as separate from artists. Why do you think society creates this separation, and why are designers seen as less powerful?
I agree with the author about how “without deep content, design is reduced to pure style, a bag of dubious tricks”, but I want to ask if it could be applied to all works? Art is about learning new tips and tricks. Are they referring to just design aspects found in art? Or all art in general?
Derek - How can generously extravagant content be designed for? Should the design be minimal or can it too be extravagant?
Ed- “Designer as Author was an attempt to recuperate the act of design itself as essentially linguistic—a vibrant, evocative language.” I never thought about design being its own language before. Does the misinterpretation of his view point from others foreshadow how empty design has become?