Telling the Basics

John Bowers, Chair
Visual Communication Program
School of the Art Institute of Chicago

This presentation will examine the place of social issues in writing a narrative of basic design. The second edition of my book Introduction to Two-Dimensional Design: Understanding Form and Function (John Wiley and Sons, 2008) will be used as a case study. Questions of (content) relevance, (reader) participation, and (narrative/positioning) strategy will be addressed through examination of the pragmatic constraints and underlying ideology - rooted in social responsibility - that shaped the writing, image selection, and design.

Telling a contemporary, relevant story of design to accompany a studio course involves choosing and prioritizing content (e.g., composition, issues, methodologies and theory); understanding the audience’s expectations and abilities, and positioning one's story relative to others. Merging these together into a concise narrative rooted in social awareness is both challenging and necessary to furthering design as a culture-shaping activity.

Watch the video of the presentation here: http://www.socialstudiesconference.org/node/213