I have a brain crush on Meggs.

I've started reading Graphic Design A History of Graphic Design because I didn't do a good job learning it in college, and I think it might be one of the most important courses at that school. I am going to read the book at a slow pace and reflect here in this journal on important points and ideas that might help in my development as a designer. I feel these are important things to know if I want to go to grad school.

I started reading the preface to edition 3 last night, and I have become so impressed by the intentions and opinions of Philip Megg in writing this book. One idea that struck a chord was:

"Anyone who sees this book as a mere chronicle of style misunderstands graphic design. Today the word style is often used to define superficial surface characteristics, which are sometimes dictated by marketing considerations. It's original meaning – distinctive excellence of artistic expression achieved by appropriate forms and their relationships to one another in space — has been corrupted. While the visual attributes of graphic design are critical to the discipline and receive appropriate emphasis in this book, I am equally concerned about designers' underlying philosophic viewpoints, the meaning graphic design holds for its culture and audience, and the signification of forms and their syntactic relationships."

The above paragraph is why I am reading this book in such depth. I don't feel I will be a good designer until I am completely versed in this history. Emmie once talked about being a global learner — not feeling she could grasp a subject to her full ability until she new all the facts and details. I feel that way about design especially. There are lots of things I want to know about, but I have an inclination towards wanting to be an expert in knowing everything about graphic design. Once I know everything I feel I should know, I will have a better foundation in knowing what I want to study in graduate school and how the how the history of graphic design can inform what I would like to do with the discipline in my future endeavors.

I am glad to have finished my 2 years working. I got a good understanding of how the field works by experiencing it. In fact, I think that I've learned enough that it is time for me to study the field more. A concern that I have with my experience at that first job was the lack of interest in the actual philosophy of design. I think what they are doing there is valid. It works. It gets the job done, but I personally want to be on the side of design that explores in a more critical, knowledgeable way. I am less concerned with what visual form looks good and keeps our client satisfied and in the fastest alloted time. I am in the early stages of researching these ideas, so I'm not quite sure of what I'm saying. I think as I read this book and reflect, I'll be able to express myself better.

syntax: arrangement
semantics: meaning

approaches to investigating the study of graphic design:
"an exploration of the relationship between design and its audience, analysis of the evolution of formal or visual attributes, and study of the social and economic impact of design activities."

Because graphic design's link to "social, political, and economic life of its culture" and its "immediacy and ephemeral nature", it is one of the best human activities to express the Zeitgeist of a certain span of time. We've been doing this since prehistoric time.

Megg's mentions a constraint in the activity of a historian which is that he or she is limited by the vantage point of his or her own time. An example that immediately comes to my mind is a book that we found during college that is from the 1800s. It's a school book for younger children and in the book it describes people from Africa as being genetically inferior to caucasians. When we found this book, we were in shock knowing now, in the year 2005 or so that this was completely inaccurate. However, that inaccuracy was recorded and believed as fact because of the limitation of the period of time in which the conclusion was made. I can only wonder what I am thinking now in my current place in time that presents a similarly flawed conclusion of my observation of the world. Actually, I would guess that our treatment of the environment shows a flawed understanding of the world that future generations will have trouble understanding.

The last idea of Megg's that I'd like to reflect on is as follows:

"This chronicle of graphic design is written in the belief that if we understand the past, we will be better able to continue a culture legacy of beautiful form and effective communication. If we ignore this legacy, we run the risk of becoming buried in a mindless morass of a commercialism whole mole-like vision ignores human values and needs as it burrows forward into darkness."