FREE ESSAY ON GOOD BAD DESIGN

GOOD BAD DESIGN

The good design nuances of Colors magazine 'lend' well to the Macsystems advert. Maybe
this comes from the similar design goal that a magazine and advert share. Their functions
are to clearly and effectively communicate information, whilst also to visualise an
identity for itself. As a chief social function of design is to visualise the identity of
institutions and audiences.
To reiterate this point. Think about what the Macsystems advert would look like if it
were redesigned with the Underworld/Tomato sleeve? The result for me would have been more
interesting to look at. This would however detract from the adverts readability, making
it harder to decode, ineffective as an informative advert and therefore a bad piece of
design. Just because something looks interesting to look at doesn't mean it's a good
design. 
Deciding wether something is a good design or bad is a difficult thing. There are so many
variables such as taste, current ideologies, social values and attitudes on design to
base a decision.
Graphic design described by Ellen Lupton is a category encompassing any form of
communication in which signs are scratched, carved, drawn, printed, pasted, projected, or
otherwise inscribed onto surfaces. Graphic Design is utterly commonplace, appearing
everywhere and produced by anyone. More people today have the potential to produce
graphic design, than ever before, wether it be good or bad. Graphic design can be
produced by anyone with access to computers with design applications, whether this be at
home, school, college, university or the library. Anyone truly can use the technology,
but not all can design with it. 
As a final piece of design, the Macsystems advert is defiantly much better. The success
of redesigning something bad out of good in this way, really comes down to how
appropriate the nuances of the good design are. 
Can we conclude that truly great pieces of design, are the ones that can be formulated
and used universally. I don't think so, Graphic design can never be that simple. As the
ideologies of society change, so does the effectiveness of design. Are the pieces of
design that survive this change any better than the others?
A single formula for great design can never exist. Graphic design is too diverse, with
many languages and levels to communicate through. 
Graphic design doesn't have a Holy Grail. It can never exist because everything based on
one formula would begin to look similar and so boring.
Who would stand for it?