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Elaine Lopez discusses the alienation of marginalized groups within the design field and how this is first seen in design schools. She also discusses the usage of the word "decolonization" when it comes to increasing diversity within design. She makes the point that graphic design has never been colonized and has actually been used as a tool of colonization. The term revolves around reclaiming land and spaces that have been colonized, which is why it would be inaccurate when communicating the incorporation of diverse identities in the field. She also reemphasizes how prevalent discrimination is within design, pulling out characteristics of white supremacy that have been grounded within its foundations.
Chimero does an excellent job of breaking down the fundamentals of websites while pointing out the flaw in their modern execution. The way he compared the beginner's mind to the basic perspective of websites was a great help in explaining the issue to me. Websites are websites; a designer's desperation to make them uselessly complicated when they are supposed to simplify the user's experience is where modern web design has failed. I agreed with his hopelessness when it came to the increase in technology leading to a decrease in thoughtful design, yet am more hopeful in regards to a comeback in the future. His explanation of the boundaries and standards of simplicity were very easy to understand and actually helped me think of websites as a stacked, tangible frame.
In the reading, we tackle the idea of whiteness in the tech industry and the way that black influence is constantly erased. They mention how tech spaces have simply become echo chambers for cishet white male designers. There are no repercussions in these spaces and they are allowed to speak with no contradiciton or evaluation of what they are actually saying. The author ties a connection to the way that black, as a color, is the very foundation of digital projection and how this is overlooked and being replaced with little regard for its importance.
Lynn talks about the system of independent design studios, going through her experiences with her own studio. She runs a studio with one other partner, and she remarks that starting a studio as a woman of color feels, at times, like its own design project. A lot of the projects that she presents from her studio circulate around amplifying voices that are not always heard in society and she reiterates the importance of design within communication with the people that it reaches. A really interesting part of her lecture is when she advises university students to not be afraid to take the things that we see- not as an encouragement of plagiarism, but rather as a way to discover what we do and don't want to do when it comes to designing as a career.
Li talks about the story of function and its relation to the design of its form. They phrase function almost as a journey, presenting a series of objects and examing their uses. They continue into the point of "form follows function", saying that its meaning has been severely changed by the evolution of technology. More advanced tech leads to a simpler form that can perform all of the functions it needs. They acknowledge that designers will always create the form for the function of the objects, but they point out that this is a one-sided relationship where the objects may not be always used for that function when it comes to how the user uses it.
This reading covers the idea of immortality on the internet. It reacts to the common idea that once something is made public online, it will never completely disappear. Lepore makes a very impactful point by recounting an incident where David Cameron gave a speech about how the internet was democratizing the world, only for that and many other political speeches to be permanately scrubbed. This also tests the idea that many corporations press where access to the internet means equal power for everyone who uses it. However, there is always a higher power. It doesn't always take purposeful action for a page to be lost. Sometimes, it is just done due to broken links and the constant advancement of technology. There is actually an Internet Archive, which was created to act as a modern day Library of Alexandria. This archive is made possible with the Wayback Machine, which attempts to copy every page of the internet to create a duplicate, even after it is taken down.
Pascal presents design as a means of communication to the highest degree. He talks about it as a "community-building" tactic, using images and symbols to create human connection at a very bare, stripped-down level. One of his projects involves individuals presenting their idea of the present and future with a series of symbols. This kind of design is very interesting to me, mainly because I struggle with it so much. When it comes to communication, there must be a combination of creating something that is unique to one's voice while also making it presentable enough for the audience to understand. It is truly a very practical form of design that goes through many creative perspectives. He touches on this by explaining that his students had difficulty with thinking from a more artistic, abstract perspective. This would also be the biggest challenge for me, as I feel as though I would strip this kind of project of its personality and look for something that provides a direct translation, which would ultimately take away the identity and spirit of a language.
"Data Feminism" displays the intricacies behind collecting and displaying data, while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of all parties who are involved. There are many cases of discrimation against marginalized communities being overlooked due to the lack of record keeping. This is due to the fact that these communities are also dismissed by the systems that would usually track this kind of data. The authors describe the lengths that are required to collect the broken data, which is greatly hindered by the political forces that try their best to hide them. There is an interesting point that they make, where every person who acts in this process must be heard from their perspective, while also contributing another aspect of who these exclusions affect.
The "Cyberfeminism Index" is a project created by Mindy Seu, which is an active spreadsheet
for the trail of cyberfeminism that has been spread out across the internet. According to her, cyberfeminism
is defined as on oxymoron of the hyper-sexualized "cyberbabes and fembots" that were popular during the peak of
sci-fi media and the first major wave of technological advancement. Although cyberfeminism has a rich history
with a significant impact on internet culture, most of the original websites are fractured and buried. Something
that struck me was when Seu states that she was inspired by the idea of "sharing as survival". I feel like
this perfectly encapsulates the whole purpose of this compilation; to thrive by continuing to spread.
Questions:
1. There is an emphasis on trails in the Cyberfeminism Index. Opened entries are added to a list in the side panel,
where they can be downloaded as PDFs. Especially today, the act of visiting a website is a quick, impersonal act
that will only show up in one's viewing history when sought out. How has this convenience and deattachment changed
the way that people interact with the internet and design websites?
2. Seu references Alexei Shulgin's "Form Art", a piece created entirely with HTML's default styling, saying that she
was drawn to the "notion of intentionally designing a structure that would accommodate these inevitable changes, like
a website that designs itself over time". When it comes to website design, how does one succeed in both creating
an elaborate site and designing something that will outlive the inevitable changes in the internet?
3. Mindy Seu quotes Safiya Noble, who says, "One day we’ll talk about big tech like we did the smoking industry."
She talks about this with excitement, mentioning the importance of user intimacy and the way that more mainstream
corporations will take advantage of their users. In the future, how do you think website design will evolve? Do
you think there will be a renaissance for more personalized design, or the current expectation of major corporations
will continue to prevail?
Kang and LeClair designed the book 1, 10, 100 for the Communication Design program. It is a collection of student work from the end of the year, as a way of allowing these projects to exist beyond the end-of-the-year exhibits that they were presented at. This book was created to reach a wider audience than just Parsons students, with the hope that it would reach industry higher-ups and the general public. There was a time crunch of two weeks to get this book designed and sent to printers for final production. Instead of manually designing each page with their independent projects, they instead built around the website that existed for these projects to create the layout. This kind of problem-solving was very fascinating to examine. So much of design processes feel like just finding out how you want something to look and then creating it. However, these designers focused on design within the actual production process, looking at ways they could create what they wanted with alternate, unconventional methods.
This reading revolves around the idea of "Indigenous Futurism", where science media places Indigenous perspectives in the evolution of technology and futurism. This concept is explored by Skawennati's digital works, particularly with her avatar, xox. Their relationships is described as symbiotic, both of them reflecting the other. According to Skawennati, they both envy each other. This especially stood out to me, as emotions of desire and jealousy strike me as particularly human. When humans anthropomorphasize objects as sad or happy, there is more of a simplicity and it indicates a natural reaction. However, to want something is a huge indicator of personality, awareness, and a soul. She imagines that xox would yearn to feel human emotions in the way that she observes her doing so. However, wouldn't such desperation suggest that she already does? This kind of connection between our reality and the digital worlds we create indicates a future of immense possibility.
This reading revolves around the exclusion of women and queer people in digital spaces, despite their contributions to these areas. In Russell's book Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto, she examines the history of the internet and how Black people, especially Black women and queer people, have continued to shape the online culture, yet are continuously snubbed in areas of recognition. There is an interesting metaphor of the "glitch", which I found to be extremely effective. A glitch does not mean that something must be eradicated or removed. It is a sign of something not working within the entire system and must be attended to for the system to continue to move. In this case, the "glitch" is the mistreatment of certain groups, which requires attention and acknowledgment.
"Alt Text as Poetry" brings attention to alt text, which is a crucial feature for accesibility online. It is often overlooked and not edited to perform its intended usage. This project of turning alt text into an art form not only transforms something that is seen as purely functional and lacking character, but also draws attention to those who do not consider it necessary to incorporate. The website has a warm, inviting design, utilizing a simple visual theme with bright colors. There is plenty of visual variation without coming off as overstimulating or jumbled.
Kelly Walters presents her projects within woodblocks and printmaking, with which she focuses on the objectification of women, particularly Black women. She works a lot with the idea of past design, interacting with more physical mediums and bringing together a combination of the past and the present. There is a very interesting balance of encouraging inclusion and moving towards a progressive future, while also using art and methods of the past. It is an appreciation of art that we are leaving behind while condemning the things that we, as a society, must actively move against.