Graphic Design Philosophy at Studio Franco. Bracknell

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Design Philosophy & Practicing a Science of Discontent

Designers design, because they are NOT happy with what they see around themselves.

Always unsatisfied with what the graphic design world has to offer, they set off to "do a better design job of it".  Or they wish they could have designed a better product / commercial / brochure…

Thay would all like to be as good a designer as that famous guy that designed the doorway with the rotating flensing knives… what's his name again?

Graphic Design is Art in Use.
Design is a term that is both a noun and a verb. When it is being used with knowledge. Unfortunately, it has more lately become to be used as an "opinion" . . . and, with the advent of the desk top computer, a cottage industry infested with charlatans.

So what you get is Cottage Industry Cheese - a tasteless mish-mash of hope that the computer will generate the idea.

Design is an Art People Use in Living Life

Fortunately, with a more discerning consumer at large - design has become ubiquitous . . . noticable by its absence . . . sought after.
After all - no one SEES Good Design. Yet, Bad Design is IMMEDIATELY recognizable.

"You are only as good a designer as your last job"

Unfortunately, design has more lately been used as an opinion.

Design is about the interpretation of dreams into reality.

Design is about selling dreams.

Design is seduction.

Sadly, much of the "design" we are faced with today is the representation of the limits of the computer operator's understanding of the program/s she/he is using, rather than the ability to actually produce "better design". I cannot call all of them artists because, without the computer, they couldn't "design".
They have never tackled the task with pencil and paper.

Here, I am not talking about simple basic stuff like labels, flyers, brochures… I am talking about things which exist in an environment and carry with them the sense of purpose and identity, of a time and place and "being".

When I hear people denigrating the design industry or the design fraternity – I hasten to point out that with out design you would still be unwashed and carrying a big stick, hungry and very likely, on your way from your hovel of a cave, to a miserable or grisly demise.

What? It's going to happen anyway? Well at least you can do it with style, flair, panache… dying with dignity.

Design is what influences your life all the way between your first brightly colored play blocks and the vehicle which takes you on your last parade to eternity. Visible only when it is absent.

To paraphrase an ancient Tao story: A child asks its mother: What is design? And the mother replies:
You are born by design and you live and breathe in design. Design is all around you, even if you cannot see it. Everything you touch is designed.
You will love through design and experience heartbreak, by design.

At the End - you will End in Design.
DESIGN is inescapable.