The Words of Designers
Updated: May 17, 2022
Quotes from designers and typographers allow us to be given an insight into their thought processes, creative inspiration and purpose as a designer. It is through this insight, we are inspired to create designs that reflect our own individual values, beliefs and purpose.
Chosen Quote by Zuzana Licko:
Zuzana Licko is a typeface designer renowned for her place as a pioneering female designer in a historically male dominated industry. She was amongst one of the first designers to use the Macintosh computer in 1984, using it to reinvent the look and feel of Emigre Magazines through experimental typography (Keen, 2016). Ultimately, this experimentation was observed by designers and resulted in computers becoming a platform that encouraged the disruption of design rules. The Emigre Magazines designed by Licko were strictly composed of her own fonts and appeared to challenge all traditional design boundaries. Thus, providing context to this quote as it reinforces how her soul purpose and interest was to utilise typography design to add depth and character to letterforms.
Pictured below is a segment of an issue of an Emigre Magazine designed by Licko, illustrating her digital experimentation which challenged preconceptions of type and layout.
Moreover, this quote acts as a response to the criticism both Licko and her design partner from Emigre Magazine faced. At the time of this experimentation, design that did not confine was observed as ineffective and lacking in depth. Therefore, by stating that her typefaces were an "ornamental manifestation", this allows critics to view her designs from a perspective that focuses on concept rather than pure aesthetic. In further response, Licko would also commonly state,
“People read best what they read most”
Thus, communicating that it is through the repetitive experimentation with off-centre design approaches, that audiences would view her designs through a clearer lense. This in turn, encourages designers to view typography in a way that encapsulates conceptual beauty and emotion over traditional readability.
What These Words Mean to Me As a Designer
I believe when interpreting a piece of graphic design it is not simply about reading, but the process of enjoying what we are seeing whilst interpreting the ideas and concepts associated with it. I am inspired daily by the beauty of graphic design and its immense power to manipulate the ideas and meanings of familiar phrases or words. This quote embodies these ideas, as it refers to visual communication being more complex than just purely decoding letter forms.
As a designer, this quote has made me reflect on the endless possibilities of creativity and how we can utilise this to combine functionality and aesthetics through our work. The phrase "ornamental manifestation" further captures the notion of design transforming words into an expression of emotion. Whilst the alphabet itself is able to convey these words alone, it is a typeface design that illustrates their tone, feeling and attitude.
As a result, displaying why I connect with this quote as a designer and how this will influence my future practices of design. Ultimately, inspiring experimentation and the challenging of boundaries through my work.
REFERENCES
Keen, S 2016, Quick Design History: Zuzana Licko Throwback Thursday, Shillington, accessed on 15/05/2022
BLOG 3 "QUOTE'" - TASK 3
Comments