Week 2 Reading Response
Medium is the Massage
It is really amusing/strange to read this as a PDF on a computer. Besides the fact that the current-day iteration of computers did not exist at the time of this text's publication, and besides the face that it completely destroys the intended medium and therefore meaning of the text, I had a funny interaction with Adobe Acrobat Pro. When I opened the file, I was clicking around to find a “full screen” mode to read in, and saw an option to “read out loud.” Out of curioisty, I clicked this option. For some reason, the application was only capable of reading blanks in the page. There would be silence and then suddenly a robotic voice would announce the void it came upon, “Buh-lank.” The idea that “Innumerable confusions and a profound feeling of despair invariably emerge in periods of great technological and cultural transitions” basically proved itself to me. Beyond this experience, I really enjoyed this reading. I am 99% sure I have read this before at some other point in my life, but in print. I do think a bit is lost by reading it on a screen, but I guess that adds a new perspective on McLuhan and Fiore's original work. I am especially interested in the idea that as ratios of sense perceptions shift, we shift—the further an extension of a sense is from our psyche/physicality, the more extreme in difference is our conception of the original object in question. I think this is especially true today when it comes to hypermedia, net art, VR, etc. There are extensions upon extensions of our bodies that all need to be considered in conjunction with one another. I really want to go find a print version of this book now and compare my understanding of the text as read on a computer screen vs. in print.
Design Elements
I really enjoyed reading this text as I have a limited background in formal graphic design training. I've heard it said that animators are amongst the worst designers, so I definitely want to beef up my knowledge in this respect. I also think a lot of the rules could be applied to animation regarding style, distribution of objects, having a clear and concise message, using space/time wisely. The “squish and separate” rule sounds almost identical to “squash and stretch,” for example. I think I could really use a lot of these rules in my own work. I also completely agree with the notion that you *can* break rules, so long as you are doing it purposefully and know the full context of the rule you're breaking. There's a group on Facebook called “@graphic design is my passion” that is meant to mock horribly designed things—I've definitely seen stuff in this group that is awful, but then the same look is applied by an informed designer with an ironic sensibility and it looks really cool. There is a weird, thin line between actual “bad” design and purposefully wonky design and I think that line is literally just education about art history and aesthetics.
It is really amusing/strange to read this as a PDF on a computer. Besides the fact that the current-day iteration of computers did not exist at the time of this text's publication, and besides the face that it completely destroys the intended medium and therefore meaning of the text, I had a funny interaction with Adobe Acrobat Pro. When I opened the file, I was clicking around to find a “full screen” mode to read in, and saw an option to “read out loud.” Out of curioisty, I clicked this option. For some reason, the application was only capable of reading blanks in the page. There would be silence and then suddenly a robotic voice would announce the void it came upon, “Buh-lank.” The idea that “Innumerable confusions and a profound feeling of despair invariably emerge in periods of great technological and cultural transitions” basically proved itself to me. Beyond this experience, I really enjoyed this reading. I am 99% sure I have read this before at some other point in my life, but in print. I do think a bit is lost by reading it on a screen, but I guess that adds a new perspective on McLuhan and Fiore's original work. I am especially interested in the idea that as ratios of sense perceptions shift, we shift—the further an extension of a sense is from our psyche/physicality, the more extreme in difference is our conception of the original object in question. I think this is especially true today when it comes to hypermedia, net art, VR, etc. There are extensions upon extensions of our bodies that all need to be considered in conjunction with one another. I really want to go find a print version of this book now and compare my understanding of the text as read on a computer screen vs. in print.
Design Elements
I really enjoyed reading this text as I have a limited background in formal graphic design training. I've heard it said that animators are amongst the worst designers, so I definitely want to beef up my knowledge in this respect. I also think a lot of the rules could be applied to animation regarding style, distribution of objects, having a clear and concise message, using space/time wisely. The “squish and separate” rule sounds almost identical to “squash and stretch,” for example. I think I could really use a lot of these rules in my own work. I also completely agree with the notion that you *can* break rules, so long as you are doing it purposefully and know the full context of the rule you're breaking. There's a group on Facebook called “@graphic design is my passion” that is meant to mock horribly designed things—I've definitely seen stuff in this group that is awful, but then the same look is applied by an informed designer with an ironic sensibility and it looks really cool. There is a weird, thin line between actual “bad” design and purposefully wonky design and I think that line is literally just education about art history and aesthetics.
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