Generator.x » The Cult of the Ugly

Jul 12/05
11:30

TAGS: classic, design, graphic, modernism, steven-heller, theory

A delightful find: Steven Heller’s classic 1993 essay "Cult of the Ugly" is online at Typotheque. It might seem obscure to anyone not versed in the Great Debate of early 1990s graphic design, but this essay was once at ground zero of the battle for design’s soul. The bastion of rational Modernism was being assaulted by deconstructivists and vernacular graphics, or as some people saw it, plain old ugliness.

Heller argued against the then-popular but now so passé style of deconstructed visuals (think David Carson), concluding:

“Rarely has beauty been an end in itself,” wrote Paul Rand in Paul Rand: A Designer’s Art. And it is equally mistaken to treat ugliness as an end result in itself. Ugliness is valid, even refreshing, when it is key to an indigenous language representing alternative ideas and cultures. The problem with the cult of ugly graphic design emanating from the major design academies and their alumni is that it has so quickly become a style that appeals to anyone without the intelligence, discipline or good sense to make something more interesting out of it. While the proponents are following their various muses, their followers are misusing their signature designs and typography as style without substance. Ugliness as a tool, a weapon, even as a code is not a problem when it is a result of form following function. But ugliness as its own virtue – or as a knee-jerk reaction to the status quo – diminishes all design.

Computational design is in many ways the ultimate design modernism, often based on exact science and numbers. As seen in the work and teachings of someone like John Maeda, simplicity and clarity are the ultimate values. Not much space for ugliness there. It would be interesting to see some real ugly computational design, not in the sense of bad design, but in the sense that Heller writes about.

What was great about the deconstructions of the early 90s was that it allowed a personal expression, and even (shocking!) humor. Let’s hope that streak of mischief doesn’t disappear in all the clean surfaces…

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marius watz on Tuesday, July 12th, 2005 at 11:07. Filed under Computational design, Texts & theory. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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