CONTEMPORARY MODERNISM & FOUR YEARS

March 1, 2010

Culture

Theory

There is something extremely interesting about the state of graphic design programs at universities, something that can’t be self taught. There is a certain pull, back and forth, between professors and instructors and their ideas. The benefit is that it is not a pull of aesthetics, but instead, ideology. Obviously, you could classify it as modernism vs. post-modernism, but there is a level deeper than that.

Sam

3/04/10

says...

One thing I’ve been struggling with is not the tension between ideology, but the tension between cultural significance.

Many design schools in NZ see graphic design as a vocational practice. In the interests of commerce. So you spend a lot of your time learning about ‘innovation’ and other empty words.

It’s for this reason I’ve jumped ship from a design school to a Fine Arts programme. What it lacks in specific design education (technical skills, Gestalt theories etc.) which I believe can be self-taught; it makes up for in the ability to practice Graphic Design in a conceptual, research-led manner, which certainly can’t.