Welcome to Litsy!

This is such an important book. We don‘t realize just how prevalent visual communication is in our society and we don‘t realize just how biased it is usually. This opened my eyes to so many important topics pertaining to inclusivity, diversity, and design. The design choices for the book/pages seemed out there at first, but as I read on I realized how fitting they were for the actual content, sometimes bordering on the extreme or satirical.

“There are still systems in place that make us conform to an idea of normalcy… Through images we see everyday we know exactly what is meant by a good citizen, a beautiful body, and a trusting face. We conform ourselves to invisible forces of normalcy.”

“The notion that maps provide an objective or scientific depiction of the world is a common myth. The graphic nature of maps simplifies reality, giving makers and users a sense of power without social and ecological responsibilities… sometimes just mapping a newly found territory was enough to conquer it…”

“Although this might happen unconsciously, good and evil as binary opposition between black and white still inhabits every corner of our visual language. Affirming these stereotypes in visual communication would be a continuation of colonialist ideas of race relations.”

I‘m learning a lot about the importance of cultural significance in design… there‘s plenty I had already considered but a lot that I haven‘t. A testament to how important it is to do our research when designing anything for an audience/user.

“Having two alphabets brought on the option to discriminate and create systems of hierarchy… The power relations between ideas, positions of power, and human relations could be judged according to capitalisation.”

“A design cannot be disconnected from the values and assumptions in which it was created, from the ideologies behind it.”

Started this one today, as I‘m in the “exercise” portion of other book I‘m reading (The Portfolio Life), and it‘s taking some time to work through the exercises.

Another design book added to the TBR pile thanks to the recommendation from a designer I admire (via LinkedIn). This one seems really interesting… but once I‘m done with the current book I‘m reading, I‘m taking a much needed respite from nonfiction. Then I‘ll pick this one up 😊

A friend saw this on Twitter and shared. From the tagged book. Looks like an interesting read.