With
the uprising of post-modernism in the late 20th century, people began to
question the originality of all material, whether this be writing, art, music
or even photography. The idea that everything we produce as designers is
entirely our own work is to say that we are not influenced by every aspect of
modern life, this would be false, and Barthes opens the door to questioning
authenticity of everything we see, read and feel.
Designers
form a basis on how to execute a certain piece of work with great influence on
the idea that integration within a certain society would be acceptable, and thus
the communicated message would be received well, in order for it to be rendered
as a successful piece of design. To say that the world we see around us is
completely original would be absurd, to illustrate this point, to look at the
work of Missimo Vignelli would give Barthes theory validity, and provide an
undeniable truth that the originality of all design is somewhat questionable.
The philosophical
meaning of the modernist movement was thought of as the ‘renewed’ world that
followed the world wars. In addition to this, modernists rejected everything that
had come before it, enabling them to create a more appropriate environment that
re-invented the values of an increasingly industrialised world to provide a
lease of new life for the people that lived in it, in other words, a utopian
word that harboured no imperfection. But with this ideology that was inspired
by its recent past, was this world without imperfection unachievable? It
questions how Vignelli worked and although he is seen as one of the best
modernists that has ever lived, just how original was his way of working? “The
image of literature to be found in ordinary culture is tyrannically centered on
the author, his person, his life, his tastes, his passions, while criticism still
consists for the most part” [Barthes, R (1977) ‘The Death of the Author’ p143].
By
analysing the American Airlines Corporate Identity by Vignelli, M. (1967) it is
easy to see that there has been logic, thought and common sense that has been
put into the design process. However, Barthes states that everything is created
to not have fixed meaning as there is always the idea of it being interpreted
in many different ways by many different cultures, but this means to refuse god
and his hypostases, reason, science and law [Barthes, R (1977) ‘The Death of
the Author’ p147]. Something of which when it is considered, contradicts
Vignelli and his ideologies. The identity of American Airlines was set to
represent patriotism by using the colours of the US flag, thereby this only
applies to those who see those colours in such a way. A person from the other
side of the world might see these colours, shapes or letters as representing
something different. One very telling example of this is the Swastika, a symbol
of which was a sign of peace and tranquillity, used primarily within Buddhism.
This was completely flipped on its head during the rise of Nazism during the
1930’s, representing something of pure evil and oppression.
Expanding
on this, to understand the work, you must understand its author. As Barthes puts
it “when the Author has been found, the text is 'explained' - victory to the
critic.” [Barthes, R (1977) ‘The Death of the Author’ p147]. A person could
look at the American Airline’s logo and not understand the full representation
of its form. This being the average person with little understanding of design,
the very person it is reaching out to, the consumer. This also leads into the
fact that “we have come to live in a post-materialist age where the
superficiality of design for design’s sake and, indeed, consumption for
consumption’s sake has been exposed as the contour productive social trend it always
was.” [Miles, S. (1998) 'Consumerism as a Way of Life' p37]. Thus meaning all
design is designed purely for the sake of the consumer, to ‘sell’ rather than
to communicate a message that can be universally understood.
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