Design As Conversation

Design is not a finalized product, but rather an ongoing conversation.  Looking at the etymology of design, we can see the literal roots of the word.  Kostas Terzidis wrote about the etymology of design from a philosophical perspective. “…from its Greek definition, design is about incompleteness, indefiniteness, or imperfection, yet it also is about likelihood, expectation, or anticipation,” Terzidis wrote.  The indefiniteness of design is apparent:  the way fads go in and out and styles change; of fashion, graphics, art, photography, etc.  Design is an ongoing conversation between designers, artists, corporations, businesses, and the general public; between anyone involved in its discourse.


A recent example of design as a conversation has been blowing up all over the internet.  Gap introduced a redesigned logo which quickly met rage from unhappy consumers.

The classic logo used by Gap for over 20 years shows on the right, and the new one on the left.  Thanks to society’s technological means of communication the clothing company received immediate feedback to the newly released graphic.  Critiques were written on networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and they appeared in blogs and online articles.  Critiques were particularly negative.  Communities of designers ripped Gap’s new logo and their idea to redesign the classic logo apart.  To switch from Serif to Sans-Serif font is one thing, but to strip the logo of its aesthetic qualities and add a small gradient box is just not smart.  Many including myself wondered, “Who was paid for their destruction of the original Gap logo?”  On one design blog, there was even a Gap Redesign Contest, just for fun.  There were loads of entries by designers who wanted to fix this disaster.  David Lauer wrote in his book, Design Basics, that, “The goal of a critique is increased understanding through examination of the project’s successes and shortcomings.”  According to mass opinion, there were far more shortcomings than successes in the Gap logo redesign. 

Credit to: Utpal Pande

Credit to: Fernando Machado
Images credited to:   http://blog.iso50.com/logos/gap-redesign-contest/#more-20224

Tropicana had a similar conversation with the public about their orange juice logo redesign.  One designer’s entry in the blog’s redesign contest made a comical connection between the two companies’ failed logos.   Apparently Gap ‘increasingly understood,’ or maybe just had enough of the negative feedback, and reported to scrap the new design.  They're now turning this disaster into a social media opportunity.  Gap is claiming they still like the new design, however they are opening the redesign process to involve the public.  They will be accepting design entries for a fix to the new logo.  "One social media expert says the decision to crowd source a new logo demonstrates how sites like Facebook and Twitter can be used to turn mistakes into opportunities."  Hopefully, with the conversation open, and with collaboration, Gap can settle on a decent design.

The conversation between consumer and corporation proved again to be important enough to be logo-altering.  Design is an ongoing conversation with indefinite anticipations and solutions.