Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Shout out to all Design-Deprived Nebulas out There
In the class-that-must-not-be-named, we discussed visual culture in terms of a societal skin. Skin protects us (the individual human organism), it's the organ which we rely on to hold all of our wonderful 30 foot intestinal tracks, our hearts, and our brains, among other things.
Human skin is real. We can touch it, feel it, see it, smell it, even...taste it? All of our human senses form on or from our skin. We each have our own to alter, change, dress, and adorn as forms of embellishment, that is used for functional and protective purposes (hello UV rays!), even for design (henna and tattoos, anyone)? It is with these skins that we establish our individual identity in context of a greater society.
One can argue that we have a visually cultural skin, enabling meaning, language, context, image, and symbol to cross cultures and oceans. It is with this commonality of our visual culture in today's modern times that that we are able to express ourselves to the best of our abilities to others who will recognize these shared meanings.
But what if society (or our definition of society) never existed? Does design exist if society doesn't exist? What about the depths of nebulas and pulsars in outer space? Are their gaseous clouds and various light rays not considered their visual culture? Is this a different kind of design...am I branching on a religious or even scientific concept here?
If a Neanderthal in prehistoric times (who was the only man in a 3000 mile radius) invented the wheel, was it considered design if no one got to experience it except for him?
Here's my main point. If design is something that automatically creates the visual skin/culture that our society grows on, is design by nature community oriented, acting only with the collaborative effort of human interaction?
I wonder if Nebulas can use the pen tool.
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