“Spaced Out. Double Dutch: The Word of Image”
The Morgan Auditorium, San Francisco, California
Dutch design as an innovative movement is an inspiring resource to the American graphic design audience, not only in its appearance and style, but especially in its imaginative and intellectual approach. This kind of visual communication is fundamentally different than the American design culture of the west coast. Presenting the theories, philosophies, work and opinions by recognized representatives of Dutch design to an involved, evolving and dynamic audience will renew, re-establish and remind us of its reputation as a leading school of thought and style.
Four speakers, each with their own specific attitude and approach towards the use of written language, images, design and visual communication will argue their opinion and theories on local and global visual communication in the 21st century. Visual artist Frans Oosterhof, graphic and new media designer Mieke Gerritzen, design critic and theorist Max Bruinsma and designer/writer Jan Middendorp, all have distinguished themselves in their specific areas of visual communication, publishing and education.
For this occasion, Holland Fonts will also produce and print a compilation font or typeface (alphabet) tentatively titled Double Dutch. Each letter of the alphabet will be designed by a Dutch designer. The alphabet will include the work of over 37 Dutch designers. The publication will take the form of a small perfect bound book and will also include and introduction and essays on Dutch design from the speakers.
The significance of Dutch design and visual communication is its specific brand of metaphorical thinking, linking experiences of everyday life to a straightforward visual language. The ability to communicate ideas in a visual language with the use of metaphors and analogies differs from other contemporary Western cultures. It is the unexpected combination of images and text in Dutch design which link associations in the mind of the beholder, and communicates an experience rather than mere cold (or overheated) facts. An image is different from what it shows, a word is different from what it says. Dutch design often plays off this tension. Speaking, reading and writing the language of images and words become a playful exercise for both author and recipient. In spite of its multi-level and mass channeling diversity in the media, visual communication relies on the use of written and spoken language. Especially in a visually dominated media environment, verbal language is the tool used to signify the meaning of images.
In recent history, starting in the seventies, Dutch graphic design and visual communication have gone through a transformation from a function of publicity and advertising to attaining a pivotal editorial key-position. The Jan van Toorn school of thinking led the way to a generation of more responsible and engaged designers. Aesthetics were secondary in building greater involvement in the communication process and in the attempt to unveil the facade of fabricated objectiveness. In a professional environment where an attitude defined by “the meaning is the message” reigned supreme, symbolism and associative visuals became a strong alternative voice to express political and cultural opinions. The realization that the meaning of messages, whether visual or written, depends to a large extent on the context in which they are placed, opened up a new way of expressing ideas. A development which became characteristic of the “new school” of Dutch design of the last three decades.
Dutch graphic design differs, at least in mentality, from its American equivalent in its liberal attitude, in its highly efficient communication skills, and in the desire for cultural recognition on the part of a small nation. In comparison to American culture, art and design disciplines converge in Holland. There is a noticeable overlap between graphic design and typography, advertising, illustration, photography and the visual arts. This also means that in the education of graphic design and visual communication a wide range of fundamental relationships between these disciplines have been and still are established. Students, in general, move around in various areas to develop a consistent awareness of the role they play in their individual practice and professional environment, with a significant accent on the position of the designer as (co) author.
This illustrates another difference with the design culture of the United States, where the production of information is dominated by corporate, hierarchical structures, and where graphic design and visual communication are mostly market driven. In an environment of such “ready made” information consumption, the notion of a different, more personal and more imaginative way of communication is extremely appealing.
In the cross-pollination between imagination and practicability, the dreamer might get a sense of a different reality, and the realist might find a way into imagination.
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