L I B E R T Y

So this is where we end this assessment. Kind of bitter sweet to be honest. I think there’s something about doing our first year during a global pandemic that makes us reflect on our time a bit differently. I also think there’s something really hilarious about doing an art history class while living through a historical event. Maybe they’ll talk about the influence of coronavirus on design one day, hah!

I took a real risk in doing this entire course, but this class has really made all the worry and doubt of my ability moot. I almost didn’t enroll because I thought I was making a huge mistake. All I can say is thank God I chose this over my other “plan B” options. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about what I’m doing before. I’ve learnt more in this short time with barely any face to face classes than I ever did prior to being at RMIT. I suppose that’s very little thanks to me and all to the people who supported me this semester. I’m really thankful to all the lecturers and teachers for their constant support, knowledge and encouragement to push ourselves this semester. We’re all going to be better at this crazy adventure we’re on because of you guys. And thanks to all the people I’ve met and gotten to work with over this time. I really enjoyed collaborating and getting to know people in this class. I think seeing other people’s work and how they put their ideas into their designs has been so beneficial for me. Also, BEST LECTURES EVER. 10/10. Obviously, this semester was still so challenging and I’m sure everyone can attest to this. I really had no idea what I was doing most of the time. First year of uni, no real prior knowledge of this area of design, and no direction in what I wanted to do. It was a weekly struggle to push through the confusion and worry to get to the end, but it was so worth it. From having never even properly touched photoshop or indesign before to completing my first Zine, id like to think there’s been a hell of a lot of growth happening. I can only hope the rest of my time at uni is the same. I really enjoyed this class. Whatever I could manage to attend or participate in has really made me more excited about what I do, or rather what I haven’t done yet. It’s also opened me up to the importance of what we as designers contribute to the world. It’s not so much about what you can claim you’ve done as a designer, but more about what all designers do collectively for the world we live in.

Yeah I’m not going to lie, I was not paying a lot of attention to this one. I blame coronavirus entirely (I blame her for everything to be honest. Not focused? Rona. Feeling tired? Rona. Didn’t get a parking spot? Rona.)

I’m just gonna keep it short and sweet.

Basically messaging over advertising. Taking design and making it more than profit. Taking function beyond sale and into topics. Finding a way to identify with design and even having design become representative of ideas and people.

That’s honestly all I have for this one. My bad. Here, I’ll make up for it with this extremely cute cow.

From the collage activity!! I reeeeallly loved doing this. Wanted to take some inspo from post modernism and do some commentary on the ideal way of existing in the word right now: fame.

I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS ONE!!

I don’t know why the notions of the punk rock period really resonates with me, but post modernism and all other conversations surrounding the failure of the ideal future really excites me. That doesn’t sound right but I think you get the point. There’s a really cool balance between self awareness and numbness of the self that punk finds itself in. A real sense of doom for the future that seems to tangle itself with apathy for this fear, because in the grand scheme of things; all things should matter and don’t matter all at once. It’s chaotic and still. The commentary on what is going on, very raw and brutal self critiques, stopping the push into the future... it’s in my opinion one of the most relatable movements to the world I experience and live in now. (1975 fans, rise!!)

“The invention of the future”

You’ve got my attention now, Karen and Andy.

We’ve spent all this time looking into history to explain the present existence of design, but for this week we look into the past to predict the future... that’s intense, dude. When you think “new”, you think shiny and unused and probably along the lines of something tech-y. But this lecture had me thinking about how the word new was applied to just about everything. Even language and font (Parole in Libertà) is a perfect example of how the simplest things can be forward thinking. Even in paintings! I hadn’t ever thought to include ideas of acceleration into any work. I guess I’m just not cut out to be a futurist.

Anything that exists, is already old, and therefore must become new-er... right? Well what would that involve? Breaking tradition and recognising what has been accepted as normal seems to be the perfect way to explore what can be made better, for the future. The whole fururists cookbook idea is WILD. W I L D. I mean who doesn’t want pasta?! But I can see what they were trying to do. There’s almost a rebellion in thinking about the future, because it demands destructing what is NOW.

Bauhaus! You know her, you love her, you wish you were her. Or not, idk it’s your life.

This lecture made me wish I payed more attention in studio arts when my teacher tried to tell me about the Bauhaus when I was looking into Paul Klee and Kandinsky. Sadly, I did not. I did however cling onto the idea of construction and have always been curious about just how literally to take that concept. Beyond just art, the Bauhaus took their obsession with sort of abstracted and very efficient forms to everything: print, games, furniture and architecture.

What stood out the most to me in this lecture was the idea about the grid.

There’s something very human in trying to make sense of things, whether that be by creating pattern, system, efficiency or order. Mathematic principles, nature, astrology are all tools we use to make things... with no better way to say it... how they should be instead of how they are.

This is a concept I had learnt previously in psychology, where humans crave the feeling of alighnment and perfection. So much so that our mental perception of things like depth and illusion are directly related to our understanding of designed artefacts such as streets and buildings, that commonly include grid like and geometric shapes (in our society, at least). I didn’t pay enough attention in psychology to tell you WHY we do this, I just know enough to be able to say we do.

So WHY wouldn’t I have ever considered this to happen in print?! The use of a compass to draw a capital A, or looking to anatomy to define letters, the drawing away from human flaws in hand drawings to mechanic like perfection in print. It only makes sense that the development of history follows the same trend as it did in the industrialisation of technology, biology, art, etc. as it did in print. Duh!

Coronavirus has been a hot topic for some time now, but it’s officially starting to have some consequences in Australia. I myself have really struggled with this situation, from anxiety of being in public and getting ill to feeling pressure to keep my family safe, it’s been rather difficult. There’s been a lot of changes in my tiny corner of the world to make sure everyone is safe and I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t challenging in regular day to day life.

I worry for my uni classes and the whole experience, and for everyone else’s too. We’re all in the same boat, just a kind of crappy one that looked a bit better in the brochure. But I’m sure we’ll make the most of it. I’m extremely grateful to be even getting an education this year with everything going on. While I can only attest to my struggles as a student I’m aware and appreciative to all the teachers and workers in other areas for keeping MY life going as best they can. It’s kind of lovely to see how well we’ve adjusted to this mess. Hopefully this is over and we can come back to second semester face to face again.

I’m not going to lie, I was excited for this one because of the use of Motörhead as I myself was a WWE fan as a kid, and Triple H was indeed one of my favourite wrestlers (purely because he did the wet hair look before Kim Kardashian ever thought about it and I will forever stan).

I mostly took away from this lecture the use and appropriation of Black-Letter, and how it was used for multiple reasons due to its aesthetic and the journey/history of the lettering. I’ve always loved that kind of lettering because of how much of a presence in commands, that could explain why I have this bad boy (which may or may not reside on my bedside table) for “decorative” purposes. Say what you will about Jäger, there is no denying the bottle is so damn beautiful 🥺

I still haven't gotten over the fact that there are over 6 THOUSAND, 9 HUNDRED living languages in the world. That is insanity. I reflect on myself, and all the times I’ve experienced having to learn a new language. I myself speak (some better than others) 3 languages; English, Bahasa and a dialect of the Batak language group. Even still, I was educated in Deutsch all of my primary and secondary school, aber Ich spreche auch nach sieben Jahren lernen kein Deutsch...? If you're German I'm truly so sorry for that attempt. I even tried Spanish for a hot minute, all I can say is yo soy necessito di nero and yo Como manzanas. The point is; learning languages was clearly a skill deemed important by the society I grew up in, however I never really pondered the importance and intricacies of what I was learning. Where did the words come from and how do we communicate them? 

When I was a kid, word art was the height of creativity. All we knew were fonts like Papyrus and Calibri, but to us it was all just for fun. But little did I know that all the decoration and variety comes from a place of purpose. I guess I had just assumed people wrote ‘ye olde’ bibles with all that excessive drip just because they had all the time to do so. But OBVIOUSLY it’s because they held that text to such a high priority; worthy of decor and labour. Now I read my bible and don't even consider any of that, but that's just my ignorance to how little I consider written text to be a design rather than just a means to read.  

This lecture was great because it really gave some perspective to the importance of communicating in history, including how we get from one place to another with written language. From the thickness of a brush stroke, to symbols and the use of colours, I feel more enlightened knowing that all things are purposeful, even if I take it for granted now that I use written language so often.