Designs Speak

Declaration by Design: Rhetoric, Argument, and Demonstration in Design Practice

by Richard Buchanan

To design something, in Layman’s terms, is to creatively interpret solutions to a problem. But I don’t think that this is simply making something visually appealing. To design is also to communicate some kind of message into the world. Like many of my professors encourage my classmates and I to do, I think that the most meaningful and eye catching design comes from digging deeper into the problem to go beyond the surface level solutions you initially may find. Within some online discourse, I have seen people arguing that art is expression and design is communication. But are these two ideas so separate?

What does it mean to say something? To say something isn’t necessarily solely with words, although the clearest way to get out a thought or idea is to use your words. And use ’em wisely. But Designers and artists alike ( or any kind of creator of something), I believe, use their mediums to convey their own messages. Whether that message is for a client or a personal belief someone feels so strongly about, some kind of idea or thought is being transferred from the object to the viewer. Any and all design speaks in some way or another. Putting your ideas into the world is, both visually or verbally, a way to cause a discourse among the audience. I feel like often times the term “discourse” has negative connotation though. Discourse, while it can be argumentative, isn’t just people going back and fourth about if something is wrong or right and what not. It is starting some kind of conversation and exchanging of experiences and knowledge to one another.

I think that design can be both discursive and conversational depending on the piece and the audience. These ideas can be viewed as two sides of the same coin maybe. In the design process, communication is critical to the kind of conversations people will have about the design its self. What is most important is what the designer themselves are trying to say through their work. Do they want to be cut and dry? Or are they challenging the audience’s own beliefs and attitudes?