2. Context
SPRING 2023
LONDON < > OXFORD
Is there any connection between the role of graphic designer and that of the archaeologist? Could we systematically unearth the most basic forms of human creation and shed light into the traces of things that once were and now are becoming extinct?
This exploration of form, layout and composition has been conducted by using direct tracing, as a capture method aimed to respect the original size of the object and shed light on the relationship between form and size when interpreting a visual set of information.
Context
This study is created in response to Experimental Jetset’s work “Lost Formats”, developed in the year 2000 for Emigre magazine, as well as Karel Martens’ studies of non-literal meaning of found shapes and forms. Today, I take a wider look at the effects of digitalisation, and how so many objects we once knew are being constantly replaced by convenient digital alternatives, posing questions about the relevance (or irrelevance) of materiality, and reflecting on the future of material interfaces and what that means for the field of graphic design.
Bibliography
Martens, K., Elliman, P. and Kuitenbrouwer, C. (2004) ‘The world is a printing surface’, in Karel Martens Counterprint. London, Eng- land: Hyphen Press.
Colomina, B. and Wigley, M. (2022) in Are we human?: Notes on an archaeology of Design. Zürich, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, pp. 1–125.
Flusser, V., Poster, M. and Roth, N.A. (2011) ‘Print’, in Does writing have a future? Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 47–54.
Centre, U.W.H. (1999) Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas, UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Available at: https://whc.unesco. org/en/list/936/ (Accessed: 23 May 2023).
Stolk, M.S., Brinkers, E. and van den Dungen, D. (2000) Lost Formats, Experimental Jetset - Lost Formats. Available at: http://www.jetset.nl/archive/ lostformats (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Fuller, J. (2017) An interview with Experimental Jetset, Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/ scratchingthesurfacefm/an-interview- with-experimental-jetset-91b49c245a6 (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Baudrillard, J. and Benedict, J. (2020) ‘Introduction’, in The system of objects. London, England: Verso, pp. 10–19.
Flusser, V., Poster, M. and Roth, N.A. (2011) ‘Print’, in Does writing have a future? Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 47–54.
Saint-Martin, F. (2006) ‘The Basic Elements of Visual Language’, in Semiotics of visual language. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, pp. 1–15.