Terry,
> visual
> and communication issues are naturally and reasonably only of a concern for
> a small proportion of designers.
Huh? Visual and communication are of concern to a great many people. Otherwise, that small proportion of designers would be unemployed.
> The primary concerns are whether the
> content is correct and whether design analyses and prescriptions are valid.
Joćo wasn't calling for you to become a graphic designer. He was calling for design organizations to stop specifying bad graphic design as a requirement and to stop producing badly designed material themselves.
> It assumes design is primarily about visual design to claim, ' *All* of us
> in the design research community should call for higher standards of design
> for all design research communication.'
>
> That's a bit like claiming,
> 'ALL of us in the design research community should call for higher standards
> of design for all mathematical models and equations used in spacecraft
> design'.
You win the silly simile of the week award with this one. If we are going to use "design" and "design research" in a broad sense, it is somewhat ironic to have those promoting deign and design research show indifference to a significant segment of the worlds of design and design research.
Your apparent contempt for things you seem to believe are frivolous does not reflect well on your ability to comment on design beyond the narrow confines of your field. If I said "Screw spacecraft equations. I want to return to the NASA 'worm' logo and dump the "meatball,'" you would (rightly) think me an idiot. You would, I hope, point out that as a human being and as a taxpayer in the country that financed a good portion of spacecraft design, I should be concerned about the effects of design. If Fiona declared that she didn't care if the odds of spacecraft failure were increased as long as astronauts wore cool uniforms. . . .
Visual presentation has obvious, direct "function"--reading comprehension, ability to find information, etc.--and more subtle functions--enhancing a subtext, creating a context for dialog, expressing group and individual values. . . . It seems odd that someone who has claimed broad interest in design is hostile to understanding the value of design beyond his own field.
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
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+1 252 258-7006
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