About
Every day, the world around us changes. New perceptions, new concepts, and new ideas are born and those ideas that existed before are passed into history. Design is a field constantly in flux; both marching ever forward in fear of falling behind and becoming passé as well as firmly positioned in the avant-garde, reflecting on society and looking forward to the future.
Well-created design must be informed by the past and by the world around it. Without due appreciation of both, one’s work is doomed to fail. One cannot simply recycle the same design work from history without altering it for contemporary audiences nor ignore history and simply create work based on the present. Thus, design is evolutionary.
As a designer, one must constantly create and cultivate new ideas. That which has entered into history may be pulled from, but only unique work will be successful.
Design also needs to look to the future and see where the world is heading. In addition to the importance of printed media, we as a society are on the cusp of a deep push into the Internet and digital realm, making technical abilities, now more than ever, a necessity to interact in this new medium. Leaders capable of bridging the gap between technical and design allow the two fields to communicate and create work emphasizing the strengths of both. Furthermore, as with print media, designers need to be especially meticulous in their efforts to help smooth the integration of digital and analog.
Even in writing this document, it has entered into history and no longer applies to the present. The day we wake up to tomorrow will always be new, different and intriguing. Be curious and rediscover the world daily; else one will slip from the forefront of design and into the darkness.
Aaron Bell | November 13th, 2007
Aaron Bell is a digital design student at the Vancouver Film School in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a conceptual thinker fascinated by the digital realm and firmly attached to the physical realm. These two interests play out in his abilities as a designer in both web development and in print & graphic design as well as in an overarching interest in branding.
