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Refereed articles
Volume 3, Number 1: 2007
ISSN: 1833-2226
Editors: Moline, K., Newton, S. and Roxburgh, M.
Multitudes of Interpretations: Intentions, Connotations and Associations of Typeface Designs
Cahalan, A.
Cahalan, A. Multitudes of Interpretations: Intentions, Connotations and Associations of Typeface Designs pp.9-18. Typefaces - commonly called 'fonts' - are essential to a designer's ability to communicate visually. The end of the twentieth century was the age of the desktop computer, font design software and page layout programs and the new digital technology removed typography from the exclusive area of the specialist type designer, type foundry and typesetting company and placed it in the hands of graphic designers and non-specialists. This democratisation also led to an exponential growth in the number of typefaces available to users of type. This paper explores the extraordinary breadth evident in the intentions behind the design of a typeface—the reasons someone decides to create a new set of letterforms—and the associations and connotations which typefaces accrue as they are used by designers as components of visual culture. Reflecting the place of typefaces within a cultural and sociological context, it is the diversity of approaches and outcomes which are discussed in this paper. It addresses the cultural significance and meaning of typefaces by showing the role of personal interpretation and a search for appropriateness in the use of the vast resource of an estimated 100,000 Western typefaces.
Power Dressing: A Critique of Design Authorship
Sweetapple, K.
Editors: Moline, K., Newton, S. and Roxburgh, M. Papers Sweetapple, K. Power Dressing: A Critique of Design Authorship pp.1-8. This paper is an overview of the issues of authorship and design as they have emerged through the nineties. It makes the claim that the problem of authorship for design criticism lies largely in its narrow application, implying that design criticism's 'authorship-lite' is a missed opportunity to investigate aspects of the communication process that remain under-examined in design, yet are well documented in literary theory. It begins with a discussion of the term 'author' from the perspective of literary theory and reveals how the various shifts in meaning are significant to design. Following is a discussion of the uneasy partnering between authorial criticism and design, how the term 'author' has been misused/used in the context of visual communication.
Using concepts of authorship in graphic design to facilitate deep, transformative learning
Winters, T.
Winters, T. Using concepts of authorship in graphic design to facilitate deep, transformative learning pp.19[^]29. This paper argues for the potential educational value in critically considering varied descriptions of, and claims to, authorship in graphic design as a means of encouraging students toward more sophisticated conceptualizations of the "design entity" (Davies & Reid 2001: 180). It describes how the form and content of debates over authorship can be used to support desirable educational goals of deep and transformative learning. I suggest that the critical discourse around definitions of authorship in graphic design provides rich territory for critical, reflective thinking, and challenging students to develop more critical dispositions in relation to their discipline.
