Design as Conversation

As defined by Dictionary.com, a conversation is an "informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words." Design - as common as it sounds - can be considered a conversation.

By now, we have grown to know the concepts of "design is everything" and "design is everywhere." With something that exists everywhere, we as human beings have been affected by many aspects of design throughout our lives. We are even affected by design on a daily basis, from the form of the office chair you are sitting on, to the structure of the car outside your building, to the colors and shapes of the traffic signs that pass by you as you drive home from work. With this much impact from something we encounter everyday, we can even say that design has a life of its own.

Everyday we have a conversation with the design of the world around us, having an "informal interchange of thought, information, etc." The layout of our keyboards makes us wonder why the letters are not in alphabetical order. The first three minutes of the Jeunet's 2001 film Amélie provides us indirect information on the plot to come. Although design communicates with us indirectly, it gives us thoughts of how things are they way they are and information on why things are the way they are. As we communicate with design, we engage with what is around us, interchanging with what design has to offer our minds.

Still not convinced that design can be considered a conversation? For those who think so, your opinion is valid: Again, as defined by Dictionary.com, a conversation is an "informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken word." There are probably some situations in design where we can actually exchange spoken word with design itself, but for most aspects of design like visual communications and fine art, this interchange of spoken word is absent. We cannot simply talk to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and expect a response from her. However, the closest thing we can get to spoken word from design such as visual communications and fine art is the visual display of words. In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud describes words as a form of design, being the "ultimate abstraction" of reality while retaining a meaning within a word itself. With the use of words in visual design and fine art, the design of images can be accompanied by the use of words, being able to communicate - or have an "interchange of thought and information" - with human society.

Whether design in society interchanges thoughts and ideas with our minds indirectly, or through the use of words and visuals to exhibit information, design is in a constant conversation with those that are surrounded by it.

*Image source: http://www.conversationagent.com/2007/12/index.html