Comments on: Communication design, the definitive definition.

By: Strategic traits of content #1: Purpose | RICHTEXT

Strategic traits of content #1: Purpose | RICHTEXT — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:03:13 +0000

[...] job is contributing to the creation of “strategic meaning”, as per Axel Albin’s definition (Thanks to Nicole Jones for re-introducing me to communication design and [...]

By: Michael Holdren

Michael Holdren — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:43:32 +0000

I saw this as part of the definitive definition:

“And that meaning can be shared through words, images, and experiences.”

The word “images” made it an all encompassing thing for me.

By: josh kamler

josh kamler — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:32:08 +0000

@michael
except that in your list, communication design is the only one that is not exclusively about the visual product. it is actually a different practice than graphic arts/graphic design/visual engineering.
which is why we wrote the definition.

By: Michael Holdren

Michael Holdren — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:17:26 +0000

Call it communication design, graphic design, visual engineering, graphic art… we all have our own terms and definitions for what we do.

I do apologize for my cynicism though. This kind of thing always comes up and it’s an easy enough of a knee-jerk reaction to have.

What we do is so very subjective that no one will ever be able to pin down, in specific words, what it is about our lives that our parents will never understand.

By: josh kamler

josh kamler — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:55:39 +0000

@michael
really? bass and rand and the rest have articulated definitions for Communication Design? it sure would be cool it if you pointed them out to us.

By: Michael Holdren

Michael Holdren — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:11:20 +0000

So now there’s yet someone else adding to the pile of what they feel is “the” definition, when it’s really just “their” definition. I have mine, Bass has his. Rand had his. I bet Armin has his. Bierut, Scher, Danziger,, Bantjes has hers, and the list goes on an on and each definition (as well as the “definitive” term) is always different, in semantics at least. The philosophy itself varies somewhat less, but it’s no less tragic.

This should be a call, loud and clear within our industry, for certification and standardization.

By: walkingstick

walkingstick — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:27:06 +0000

I like it. I’ve used this:
Art is about the relationship between the artist and their work. Design is about the relationship between the work and its intended audience. If it is pretty but does not effectively communicate a specific message to a specific audience to achieve a specific result, it is a simply a pretty piece of confusing visual white noise that fails its intended purpose there by making it art and not design. Put it in a frame, hang it on a wall and call it a stylized visual expression and you may make some money off your creation.