Design Is a Language

       In last week’s lecture, Professor Housefield brought up an interesting aspect to look at design. That is, to see design as a “language”.

       As a non-native speaker to English, I know deeply how hard and painful it is to learn a new language. I still remember how I got to know about English. After getting through all the a-a-a~a-a-a apple stuff, and all the spelling and pronunciation practice, the most important and also the most difficult part in English is to learn the grammar, a life long nightmare for me. 

       Grammar is essential to a language. Without grammar, there will be no rules to our language and therefore we will have difficulty connecting our thoughts to one another. Thinking design as a language helps me understand more about what it is truly about. Although I believe design is our nature, but to connect our ideas through the things we design, we have to understand the grammar of design just like learning a new language. 

       So what is the grammar of design? When language works, it contains the right elements, and also the right syntax. For a design to work, it also has to contain the right element which is the material, the medium, and the right syntax which is the structure, the function, the way it is created. That is, when you want to talk about something, you have to choose an object, a topic first; and when you design, you also have to pick a medium to start working with. Also, just as speaking with the right syntax, when designing, one also has to follow a certain rule, a certain concept and thought to give the designed object a meaning. If a designed object is not an expression of a certain idea, concept or thought, it is not a design and it would be as meaningless as a sentence made with random nouns, verbs and adjectives like “One going apples painting fly big Museum pigs....”. 

       There are many similarities between design and language. Besides proper grammar and spelling, to speak language well, to connect our thoughts deeply to others, emotion is an important element. Similar to when we design things, besides the concepts and ideas we put into our design, we also have put our emotions into it. It is like using different tones when speaking, people can be touched deeply by the emotion of the designer.   


image from: express2impress.blogspot.com