The article “A Brave New World: Understanding Deconstruction” (article first appeared in Print Magazine in 1990) may be dated”but the information is still very relevant. Chuck Byrne and Martha Witte describe a new phenomenon in the design world. Designers typically refuse to believe that they could be influenced by an outside source and tend to think of themselves as originators. The concept that society could have an effect on design trends is a new phenomenon . Although some designers would like to think their inner creativity is the source of all their designs, it is simply untrue. Many aspects of society and culture such as literature, painting, philosophy, politics, and technology, have influenced the world of design.
One good example of how designers have used the influences of society to their benefit is the Bauhaus. Bauhaus was a design school that emerged in Germany in 1919. The success of the Bauhaus can be accredited to their innovative ideas and ability to be open to change. They used the inventions of the time to their benefit.
Modern technology has had a great impact on typography and design. The personal computer has allowed the designer freedom at a low cost. Old design techniques and tools, such as the grid, have gone nearly extinct since the emergence of the personal computer. Other revolutions on typography were brought on by movements such as futurism. Futurism began in Italy in 1909. It was a modernist movement that celebrated the technological era. Largely inspired by Cubism, the core of the Futurist thought and art were machines and motion.
More recently, deconstruction has been an influence either directly or indirectly on typography. The article defines deconstruction as, …the breaking down of something (an idea, a precept, a word, a value) in order to ˜decode its parts in such a way that these act as ˜informers on the thing, or on any assumptions or convictions we have regarding it. An example that was used in the article to further explain this idea is the word whole . The word whole is thought of as one complete thing. However, we understand everything in terms of its parts, and in terms of how its parts work together, making wholeness incomplete.
Typography and design have utilized deconstruction to create designs that are centered around content and language rather than convention. Deconstruction was introduced to graphic design by the reissuing in 1982 of Pioneers of Modern Typography which was first published in 1969, and the publication of The Liberated Page in 1987. In these books both written by Herbert Spencer, it became clear that the interpretation of the meaning of words was being used to provide emphasis by the Dadaist and Futurist typography. Traditional typography techniques were continually collapsing and new innovative styles were emerging like in the work of Paula Scher. It is unclear as to where the design world will go next, but it is important to continue the path these designers have set to utilize and understand our sources.