Poster a Day — 24

Inspired today by an article I read on the Pangram Pangram Foundry to create a bare-bones, (almost) old-school graphic design poster. Using Times and Helvetica—naturally—and a little illustration I made based on a Muji dining set.

The poster reads, “A table, looking like what anyone might draw — four legs, one at each corner, straight and square and nothing unexpected,” and is a play on the typically negatively-delivered phrase "anyone can do that" or "my kid can make that."

An excerpt from the article:

"There’s a perverse expectation hidden within this caption: apparently a table can’t be too simple, normal or trivial to be worthwhile. In fact, the opinion that something could have been done by anyone has a [decisively] negative undertone. Even among designers.

"'My kid could do that', sure, but he actually didn’t. Instead, what he did was [create] a visually polluted environment by either doing or requesting objects that had to 'stand out' and forcefully 'grab' the attention of the viewer."

We get this response a lot as designers, artists, creatives—the "anyone can do that" attitude. It's usually a negative response, but here, in the article, the tone is seen differently. This response isn't necessarily a negative one, after all, because, yes, some design can, and should, be so simplified—so concentrated and free of unnecessary ordination or personal expression—that it appears easy and unassuming. This is because not all design is made to evoke emotion or spark a response (i.e. advertising)—most design, in fact, is a tool and is made, quite simply, to function properly. Typography, for example, fails as a communication tool when a reader's eye gets lost in the details, be it highly-ornate or ultra-minimal, instead of just reading it. The lack of personal expression—what usually elicits the "anyone can do that" response—is not necessarily the mistake it is often seen as. This is why designers can find value in "minimalistic" pencils and clothing hangers—because they are tools accomplishing their jobs.

Perhaps this attitude I'm drawing on isn't the terrible response I usually think it is. That's not to say that I don't have comments regarding the other side of the argument, but I'll save that for another time.

If you stuck with me all the way to here, thanks for listening to my rambling. Comments appreciated and wanted.