Malloy 5 Influences
Graphic design is about communication, about people, and therefore design communication methodologies cannot exist in isolation. In short, the inspiration for this thesis stems from five areas: theory (design research, media, and marketing), psychology, cultural and economic shifts, education, and observation of industry developments. These sources feed into each other to create a solid picture of cause and effect. While the adaptive design methodologies I propose are not new in and of themselves, they often exist in isolation. My analysis of the need and feasible application of these methods combines existing design approaches with knowledge drawn from a number of other industries. The following support the reasoning for claims later presented in this paper. The works of media theorists, educators, and artists Lev Manovich, Victoria Vesna, and Marshall Mcluhan examine the role of technology in relation to culture, art, and message respectively. Each was highly influential in the early research for this thesis and led me to the concept of thinking of design as an interface between designer and user, later described by Elzbieta T. Kazmierczak. Prior to reading Kazmierczak, I began developing my own mental maps of communication processes, what I call Design CRI (Creation-ReceptionInterpretation), relating to semiotics discourse (fig.1). CRI does not focus on the creative power of TCC; rather, it considers the notion that all design is co-creative because meaning is co-created. The interface of design, as Manovich would explain, enables data to become information.5 Meaning is embedded in the interface of design but is only completed upon interpretation. Kazmierczak’s argument to use visual signals to “trigger the appropriate 5
Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow (Electronic Mediations. (1 ed. Minnesota: Univ
Of Minnesota Press, 2007), 51.