From the first chapter, the author provides an explanation to design composition. It has multi-faceted aspects that are neither a style nor a genre, but it is a kind of engagement. It presents an expansion of the designer’s voice from being objective form-giver or allegedly neutral in a client-oriented manner to be more attached with what the design means. It has to explain the reason as to why the design is made, the target and to initiate the designer’s work. In some cases, in the design authorship, there may be no client but only the inventor’s message that has to reach the market. The authorship is a complicated thing with various definitions and it can be regarded as a client-oriented work if the designer engages in a project due to his or her communication views as a shared enterprise. The author claims that there is an evolvement in the designer's role from the developers that act commercially as ‘hired guns’ to assuming the most authorizing roles of design authorship in visual culture and communication. He goes on by saying that it has become a standard practice in the institutional design to teach the learners on how to create self-initiated projects and develop their voices. The designer has the capability to expand to being the producer, author, curator, activist, entrepreneur, consultant, network facilitator and so on. The book is written to provide an overview to the design practitioners on the images and texts that are essential to the development of the design authorship. The design composition is not a medium, style, technique, genre technique or specialization. It comprises of important ideas that are expanded to facilitate the role of the graphic designer by using various approaches. The designers are those people who will compose an agenda that integrates editing, writing and publishing to enhance the conveyance of the message. The designers have to incorporate various methodologies like literary criticism, personal expressions and ethnographic observations to improve the explanation of their information to potential users. The designer has to recognize the cultural audiences through interaction and the developer interest will promote the innovation of designs that more appropriate and nuanced. The designer-author has to engage in the alternative economy by coming up with entrepreneurial ventures that will facilitate the development of new products. The inventor should have the desire to affect positive cultural, economic, social and political changes by passionate engagement. It will act as a strong incentive that will propel the design authorship. The area of design creation has experienced much debate from the field of graphics design. The designer has been placed in a position where they are the central figure in the visual communication process as they are considered as the authors who can provide meaning in their innovation. The critics have urged that the idea of design authorship be something like a vehicle whereby the inventor has to apply their changing and expanding egos. They do not have to work behind the scenes or be anonymous; they have to strive for their success as auteurs or producers. The designs do not have not only to focus on the visual form but also to have content so as they portray how the designer has gained skills and conventional wisdom in the profession. The author is the originator of the plan as they utilize writing then hand it to the inventor before it reaches to the reader. The author uses texts of graphic designs and letterforms of typographic to write the message. The grammatical composition has to be legible by applying appropriate fonts through skilled text setting and proper page layout. The work has to be semantic. There has to be a meaning in the choice of words, sentences and phrases that were selected. Semantic enhances the literary sense and also the expression and purposeful aspects of typography. The graphic choices are impacted through syntax. The author has to organize their words in a manner that it will be coherent. The reader is always the target. Therefore, the font, size, placement, layout and color will provide emphasis such that the user experiences multiple channels through the text. It also has to be semiotics. There have to be considerations between the connection between the form of language and meaning through the choice of signals and symbols used. The legibility is a relevant aspect of writing. The reader has to be capable of understanding the particular character employed in the design. Each letter has a shape, some strokes, angles that make it give defined characteristics. The legibility is affected by the different typeface designer as the letter forms are fixed. Legibility has to be compromised if the letter forms have to be optically distorted. The font attributes such as italic, bold, light among others have to obey to the doctrines of letterform design to enhance legibility. The design of the letter is a very critical aspect as most readers recognize words due to their interior shapes and distinctive exterior. The writer is the one who determines the readability. The choice of line length, word spacing, font size and the layout are the key elements affecting readability. A properly composed document will make it easier for the reader as their eyes can move over some words in a quick movement. When an author uses all caps when writing, it affects readability. If the font is made too small, it affects those readers with no sharp vision thus it becomes unreadable. The use of long lines poses a challenge to the reader in maintaining a linear flow. The use of colors and contrast is another factor. The choice of these two elements has to ensure that there is a value addition. It will not be appropriate to use a light gray font on a white paper as it will interfere with the contrast. It is worth to understand that reading involves visual perception and deciphering of graphic elements in a way that provides meaning. There has to be comprehensible writing, clear typeface and use of legible graphic symbols or signs to enhance reading. Various factors have made changes in the communication paradigm. In the majority of the communities, the artists have the capability to read and write together with some skill obtained from the literate community. A typical artist is very much equipped with a powerful combination in that they understand the symbolic aspects of pictorial and written language of the materials they are to produce. The graphic design world has grown over the decades to be a professional field. There are technological advancements, educational programs, publications and global awareness that has enhanced the designers to reach the target market successfully. The growing market has been strengthened through numerous competitions, major conferences, digital clip arts, fonts and specialized production. The advancements in the digital market sought to recruit students due to a large number of educational programs in such fields to ensure that there was a continual supply of future designers. The market attempted to look for developers who had distinctive sub-cultures. Even the religious groups searched for artists who can be used to enhance the conveyance of their ideas. The artists have a reason to utilize their abilities in visual communication as the market is inspired by the content that they pose. The need for designer’s market led to the understanding that they have to utilize their talents and abilities to provide a way of communication with the society. In such a way, there was the creation of a relationship between designers, writers, editors and the community. The designer is similar to the author and the messages they conveyed should have forms thus making it be a new voice. This enhanced public awareness and they became obliged to the community regardless of the cultural status. According to a website, critical design is a movement consisting of designers who are recognized due to their assertiveness towards the design of products. It is said that such designers have detached themselves from the commercial world, but they still employ the tactics to pose questions on ethics, social and technological elements. Their uncertain position towards innovations, their motivational and form of language is what is used to express concepts concerning critical design. The concept provides an explanation of the themes and particularly be the different ones that comprise of privacy, consumption, technology, debt, media, genetics and globalism. This design is manifested in objects; the domestic products of projects and the quirky furniture are good examples. We find that objects which are critically designed will carry much meaning that is beyond its function such that there will be similarities to the design authorship. One of it is the self-initiation that is the capability to progress without instructions. It enables the inventors to come up with the topic, the process, medium, materials and the aesthetics to be used for the design. The Second is the designer’s politicized viewpoints. The models will command premeditated positions that range from cultural, social and economic to political apprehensions. The two models that are critical and authorship will raise questions even if they provide alternative solutions. The design fiction is the convergence of science fictions and some facts. It suggests that the future can be predicted through narratives and devices in a similar way that the innovators work. It is said that such tales of design encompass a lot as it employs humanities and arts that make it be beyond science. The design authorship has strengthened over time due to the logical steps were taken by the designers of their utilization of original content and the provision of channels that empower the economy. Innovations such as prototyping and the digital media have facilitated the completion of work with no hindrances. The elimination of intermediaries or typical overhead has created practices, markets and selling of original type of graphic designs that are relatively inexpensive. The use of on-demand publishing has enhanced the sale of products immediately the order is received. Elsewhere, some designers prefer doing the tasks themselves by using the older technology, stencils, letterpress, handmade papers and other techniques to produce arts of design Authorship. The use of self-promotion is regarded as essential tools in design for those acting like entrepreneurs. Some of the ambitious innovators have realized their talents and so used it in support of their clients and mostly for their aspirations. The self-promotion works may include copy writing, designing of graphics packages and conceiving of information are examples of design authorship that are aimed towards the creation of the market. Some magazines provide information on work based on self-promotional, thus give reputations of the designers and boosts the capability for potential customers. Through the said strategy, several inventors have attained prestigious status by using of their styles and name recognition that has expanded the business. Those designers that have reached a particular level of status through high-profile lectures and customers, awards and exhibitions find themselves pinned on books which further boost their reputations. The books are entrepreneurial in various ways. First of all, they act as products which will be sold to consumers which generate capital for both the author and the designer. Secondly, is that they stimulate the future aspirations of the inventors through good reputation and a successful business. Design authorship is being practiced in communities through the incorporation of aspects such as people participation. The consumer’s idea is being utilized in the making of the models which is being referred to as co-authors. The one end of the user is termed as the inventor; it involves tiny spectrum that can occupy the determined outline while the other end comprises of a lot of content and form. The participatory design will focus on the process and its system as compared to fixed artifacts of models that include publications, furniture, posters, websites and electronic products. The participatory approach will favor the flexibility and modularity comprehensively. The use of technological gears such as smartphones equipped with numerous apps and social networking will enhance the bottom-up emergence rather than top-down imposition. The use of social design at the community makes design generation be a shared effort. Such work is spread at the time of creation and during the points of dissemination. The majority of the social design experience problems that they need to solve or that group of audience they are looking as they lack paid commissions from the clients. There is widespread of online tools that share and comment on the community design inventions. The web blogs and proliferate have many comments from the customers that surpass the quantity of the original post. Such blogs and hyperlinks are being used in the participation of a new form of communication where there is a vague distinction between author, designer, medium, content and the reader. Conclusively, there are positive changes in the designer’s role in visual culture and communication. Having such a book, the graphic designers and students will benefit from gather much skills and knowledge from learning the theoretical reinforcements of the ideas, methods and media that is shaping the current practice and projecting towards future practice.
