Within / Self

Design requires a large amount of steps, knowledge, understanding, practical application and discipline. Design encompasses a holistic view of a problem and provides the most complex solution (whether minimal, or abstract) the complexity of good design lies within ones ability to see the entire scope of a problem, work through problems and paths that one has already trodden down or explore, discover and find new solutions. Designers must stay curious but also grounded in their own awareness of solutions utilized in the past with similar problems (and their complexities). Design bounces back and forth between the curiosity of things left undiscovered and the grounded/proven solutions of things already proven. This is a true oscillation between the modern and post modern. Design began its importance and emergence in society during the modernism era – in fact, one could argue that design had a powerful influence on society during this time with the mergence of the Bauhaus era, minimalism and the growth of global communication, capitalism and forging new frontiers through social and economic means. Design held a front seat to this space. After the minimalist approach was explored and exhausted, designers needed to once again prove their value in society and did so by creating new work that oscillated against their own modern work (and the design community itself). Here we find the movement into a more post modern aesthetic that was initially driven out of a rebuttal to design itself (similar to the movement within politics and religion) whereas, designers pushed for fulfillment within new work, discovery and exploration. A side note to this work became an increasingly popular influence once again in society through commerce and capitalism. The pendulum begins to swing back and society moves into a post modern world, driven by the work of design within itself.