The Time For Being Against
Rick Poynor
From Dutch design student, " I do not want to separate. I have no interest in being against. I want to include. The time for being against is over."
"You can't be against everything all the time."
"To be against things was to be negative, and what's the point of that?" p. 121
—negates positive criticism. It is important to take a stand and have a belief system in place, whether it's how you think design should be, whether you ascribe to an aesthetic school, whether you believe in function over form, what role decoration plays in design (see Marian Bantjes) if any, whether a typeface should be an emotionless conduit for information (Swiss design) or the typeface itself can give emphasis to the content (see David Carson). You need to make a stand in order to define yourself—and often times you can describe what you are by having strong opinions on what you aren't. As Poynor continues, "But this process of supportive elucidation will always imply its opposite: that there are objects and projects that are not worthy of our attention." p. 122
"To be critical involves not taking things for granted, being skeptical, questioning what's there, exposing limitations, taking issue, advancing a contrary view, puncturing myths. On occasion, of course, the critic will take the role of supporter and advocate. He or she will seek to persuade us that some idea or thing is deserving of our full attention and merits a closer look." p. 122
Critical Journalism
"... an attempt to combine journalism's engagement with the moment and its communicative techniques with criticism's fundamental requirement for a worked-out, coherent, fully conscious critical position:
a way of looking at, and understanding, the world, or some aspects of it." p. 123
Poynor notes that all of his interests, in "literature, music, social history, film, photography, fine art" engage him and that every piece of intelligent writing and criticism on every thing informs his subjective opinion and ability to critique design as it occurs in a much broader cultural sense. A "public intellectual", as he describes.
He has heard that designers are a type of person who doesn't read anything at all. No critical engagement with the world around them. Nothing that could be absorbed through written language. This is rubbish—there are plenty of designers who DO read and engage with the world around them. Designers who read about politics, design, photography, fine art, music, film, etc. However, I do find that an overwhelming majority of my students do not read broadly and deeply into subjects, and even if they do, that they are unable to immediately grasp the need to read critically and actively question the information being portrayed and the medium used to say it. So Poynor argues, there are plenty of designers who read—just not that many who read critically in such a way that informs their practice and understanding of how their practice connects with the greater world, and are then able to write about these issues in such a way that the general public can understand.
Poynor's biggest issue, really, is that not enough people critically discuss design openly in a public forum in such a way that design can be understood by a general audience. He says as a community we're insular, guarded, misrepresented because we don't engage in the writing of design criticism and journalism openly enough. He says people understand the principles of film and television and its creation (actually, I don't think they do. I believe most people are completely illiterate when it comes to the development of fantastic content unless they're directly involved in one of the industries that surrounds it—being a photographer, like journalists, I'm lucky enough to be invited into the worlds of other people to ask them questions, explore and learn more broadly about a range of things I wouldn't have experienced otherwise).
"It leaves us in a distinctly paradoxical position, with a subject matter that we all agree plays an essential role in everyday life and culture, yet which lacks regular, direct outlets for critical public discussion." p. 126
Oh, if anyone ever tries to barter your price down please walk them through the process of design, step by step, and the time it takes to achieve these things before walking away. Education is our best tool in getting clients to understand what it is we do.
Questions:
What is it that Poynor says he has heard about designers (but doesn't believe)?
According to Poynor, what is the role that a real critic takes? (You may select more than one).
