Category / Class 9

by isabela

Reading class 9

Question: Are default system designs necessary in the field of graphic design?

In my opinion, yes. Templates are necessary for the creative process.  I don’t necessarily think someone should solely use default system designs to create work, but I do think that they are a good and necessary stepping stone in order to keep the field of graphic design existent. Take Tumblr for instance; one of the main objectives of  Tumblr is to give less tech savvy people the ability to essentially create their own site and easily navigate it. This is based off of the templates that have already been created that other people can use. Without these basic templates, people wouldn’t be able to use the site as easily as a lot of them wouldn’t know to code. The use of template is very common among social media sites, such as the once popular myspace, and bloodspot. This is why I think that default system designs are necessary in order to make graphic design accessible and usable.

by Ashley

Is minimalistic art on the same grounds as Default Systems?

The idea of default systems defined by Rob as the “preordained settings found in common design programs… that a user (or designer) manually override” seems to be aligned with art schools intrigue of minimalism. To keep everything simple (KISS) has been a big thing in design and what the MOMA is clearly based upon. Modernity comes with simplicity is what is circling in current design. Conceptual art which Rob speaks to it being opposing from default systems seems to be somewhat accurate, however there are exception like the examples he’s posted where default systems are used as humor. This I feel to be similar to minimalism because artists who have this ability to create the art could be creating that humor. Default systems is very straight forward and so is minimalism, a stripe across a page can have no other explanation that that is is perfectly in the center of the canvas and the lines are straight; also similar to default systems where a font is a font no reasoning just so the page is clean and simple.