Reflective Memo- Culture.
Learning about culture in design was not simple. 3369 Document Design was a crash course of sorts, in my experience. I came into the class having never used Photoshop or Adobe InDesign, and by the third week or so I owned one and consistently used the both. I really had myself figured out before the class and felt that I could not contribute to document design by any respectable means. I felt that I didn’t have the natural ability. By the second redesign assignment that opinion of myself had reversed. I realized great design can come purely from the talent of an individual, but also from someone that understands the important components as well.
I needed to understand all concepts in the class to really push myself in the right direction. What I mean is that I needed to actually understand the relationship between a document’s desired effects on people and what concepts could help you achieve those affects, like proximity, repetition, alignment, and so forth. From gathering and “gleaning,” as Dr. Rice would say, I realized that the components of design fit into a greater scheme- culture. I had never fully understood that design choices represented culture. I knew that architecture and paintings designed by glorified artists were culture, but I didn’t realize the way common artifacts could be designed contributed to culture as well.
In my redesigns, I tried to effectively create components that would relate to specific sub-cultures. My movie cover was for movie buffs, my redesign of the 742-Ride service was aimed at drunk college kids, I could even say that redesign of Anthony Bourdain’s book cover for The Nasty Bits was aimed at readers and foodies alike; consequently, those are all cultures that I was pandering to. I realize now that every product is a derivative of culture but the design is what truly displays its culture relevance in the public. For example, Texas Tech designed all of its buildings in a Spanish style, which means it is trying to convey an international and academic culture to people.
Naturally, culture cannot go without rhetoric, whether written or even physically constructed. Therefore, my lesson in culture was subsequently also a lesson in rhetoric. I realized that for every culture I was redesigning artifacts for (movie buffs, college kids, readers), I was also inserting graphics, designs, or words that would attract their attentions. I was using rhetoric. I realize now that effectively using rhetoric means you analyzed your target audiences well, which is something I can say I have become better at after this course.
Knowledge of culture and rhetoric will be an effective tool at my disposal. I can enter the workforce and develop content for websites, software companies, or whatever, and realize that culture and rhetoric might be the first concepts I need to consider. I need to think about what I create and its use of proper rhetoric, whether my prospective project or idea actually speaks to the audience and culture that I want it to. Also, I now know that rhetoric isn’t just the written word. In my opinion, regarding design, rhetoric is just how you use something to attract the attention of your target audience within a culture. It’s almost cyclical: culture affects rhetoric and that chosen rhetoric can represent and tell about a culture.
