Design as Language – a Misconception?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.372Keywords:
visual design, language, text, reading, imageAbstract
Because design is often conceived of as a language, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at this relationship. It is especially interesting to look at the transition from the verbal to the visual in interpretations and analyses of design. This article discusses some salient topics appearing in this context. In particular, claims made in the books by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) and Krippendorff (2006) are discussed, because their approaches are widely used in design discourses, in journals, schools, exhibition catalogues, etc. These texts probably influence design research, but, in the present author’s view, do not help interpretation of visual qualities in design. The underlying critical assumption in this article is that the language metaphor and concepts derived from linguistics do not do justice to the interpretations of design objects, especially concerning their visual qualities. When these qualities are underrated, it seems difficult to assess the cultural significance of design.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The author(s) must manage their economic reproduction rights to any third party.
- The journal makes no financial or other compensation for submissions, unless a separate agreement regarding this matter has been made with the author(s).
- The journal is obliged to archive the manuscript (including metadata) in its originally published digital form for at least a suitable amount of time in which the manuscript can be accessed via a long-term archive for digital material, such as in the Norwegian universities’ institutional archives within the framework of the NORA partnership.
Readers of the journal can print out the published manuscripts under the same conditions as apply to the reproduction of physical copies.
Cited by
