SQUARE Design Literacy / Visual Research Summary
‘THE SQUARE IS HIGH AND AS WIDE AS A MAN WITH HIS ARMS OUTSTRETCHED’ (BRUNO MUNARI, 1960).
DESIGN LITERACY / VISUAL RESEARCH SUMMARY / LCC MAGB&I 03 /44
IS IT STATIC?
IS IT DYNAMIC?
‘The black square on the white field was the first form in which monobjective feeling came to be expressed. The square means feeling, the white field means the void beyong this feeling’ (Malevich, Kasimir).
Either a white square on top of a black ground or a white hole surrounded by a white border. Every object has a static facade and an inner dynamic. Every object has its own positive and negativa form.
DESIGN LITERACY / VISUAL RESEARCH SUMMARY / LCC MAGB&I 05 /44
One square or four triangles?
FORM?
AN EMPTY SPACE?
Is a square only composed by four lines our can one complete it by looking at its empty space?
Can this be a square?
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FOUR SQUARES
A SYMBOL?
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BACKGROUND OR FIGURE?
A CIRCLE OR MULTIPLE SQUARES?
From the undifferentiated mosaic of the visual field we are compelled to select a ‘figure’ on which attention concentrates while the rest of visual data recedes and fuses into a vague background of indistinct texture. When can a background stand out?
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A SQUARE ONLY CONTAINS WHAT MATTERS. IT IS ESSENTIAL, ENIGMATIC AND IMAGINATIVE. DESIGN LITERACY / VISUAL RESEARCH SUMMARY / LCC MAGB&I 13 /44
WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN A SQUARE IS THE WAY WE LOOK AT IT, WHAT WE CAN DO WITH ITS PURE FORM.
Fig 01 / Nobuhiro Nakanishi
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Fig 02; 03; 04 / Georges Rousse
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REALISTIC?
ABSTRACT?
Can a group of squares be more interesting, by letting an image unsolved, than an obvious image already completed that it is being presented to us?
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FREUD FOUND THAT DREAMS LOOKED PARTICULARLY REAL NOT WHEN THE DREAM’S IMAGERY WAS PRECISE AND CLEAR BUT WHEN THE DREAM WAS SUPPORTED BY A RICH UNCOUSCIOUS PHANTASY CONTENT. What if the perfection is it in the between of the syncretistic vision of the child and the analytical vision of the adult? One should not always go for the obvious, one should let imagination fly. To let this happen it is not needed to use inconstant and shy forms, one can choose solid and safe instead (squares).
‘Syncretistic vision is the term given for the distinctive quality of children´s vision and of child art. Around the eighth year of life a drastic change sets in children´s art, at least in western civilization. While the enfant experiments boldly with form and color in representing all sorts of objects, the older child begins to analyse the shapes by matching them against the art of the adult. Much of the earlier vigour is lost. The child´s vision has ceased to be total and syncretistic and has become analytical. However abstract the infant´s drawings may appear to the adult, tho himself it is a correct rendering of a concrete, individual object. We have to remember that the early work is better in its aesthetic achievement than the timid art of the older child’ (Gombrich, Ernst (1960) Art and Illusion. A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation).
PHANTASY?
DESIGN LITERACY / VISUAL RESEARCH SUMMARY / LCC MAGB&I 21 /44
‘IT SIGNIFIES THE IDEA OF ENCLOSURE, OF HOME, OF SETTLEMENT’ (BRUNO MUNARI, 1960). Fig 05 / Suppose Design Office / Nagoya - Japan
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Fig 07 / Rintala Eggertsson Architects / Oslo - Norway
Fig 06 / Marc Koehler Architects / Japan
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IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE THE WALLS BECOME GRIDS OF HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL BARS. Fig 08; 09 / Kisho Kurokawa / Nakagin Capsule Tower / Tokyo - Japan
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IF I HAD TO CHOOSE A PLACE TO BE LIVING IN A SQUARE, I WOULD CHOOSE THE CENTER, AS I CAN OBSERVE EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE AROUND ME. I DO NOT FEEL I NEED TO BE IN A CORNER TO PROTECT MYSELF. I AM AN OBSERVER.
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IF I AM AN OBSERVER AND A SQUARE IS NOT A HOUSE, CAN IT BE A WINDOW? CAN IT BE A FRAME? I AM ALWAYS FRAMING THINGS WITH MY FINGERS.
A CAMERA IS A FRAME BY ITSELF. WINDOWS ARE FRAMES.
DESIGN LITERACY / VISUAL RESEARCH SUMMARY / LCC MAGB&I 31 /44
WINDOWS AND SQUARES ARE PORTAL FOR OUR IMAGINATION, FOR WHAT IT IS LIVING INSIDE OF IT, BETWEEN ITS GRIDS.
Does this window portrays an empty house or, perhaps, someone who does not want to be disturbed?
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Does this window portrays a friendly person who no longer hopes to be surprised by a visit?
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ISN’T BRANDING DOING THE SAME THING? TRYING TO FIND THE PERFECT SQUARE/WINDOW THAT WILL TELL EVERYTHING? DESIGN LITERACY / VISUAL RESEARCH SUMMARY / LCC MAGB&I 41 /44
AREN’T WE ALL DOING BRANDING WHEN CHOOSING WHATEVER WE WANT OTHERS TO SEE ABOUT OUSERLVES?
IN SOME WAY, WE ALL ARE SLIGHTLY SQUARES BUT NO ONE WANTS TO BE CALLED ONE.
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London College of Communication MA Graphic Branding & Identity March 2011 Project title Design Literacy Unit 1.1 / Visual Research Summary Typography Knockout / Mercury by Hoefler & Frere Jones Graphic design Raquel Vieira da Silva
DESIGN LITERACY / VISUAL RESEARCH SUMMARY / LCC MAGB&I
Raquel Vieira da Silva / Design Literacy / Visual Research Summary