pure design: culture and design
DESCRIPTION
The fiftieth "fable" from Mario Garcia's "Pure design"TRANSCRIPT
mario garcia
148
Culture and designDesign is deeply rooted in the culture and traditions of the people
for whom it is intended. Furniture designers, sculptors, and
architects follow subtle, cultural leads in their work. Publication
design is no exception. Around the world, newspapers and
magazines look alike, but I am even more surprised by the differ-
ences, usually accentuated with touches that are not so obvious, but
which are there, waiting to be discovered. Scandinavian newspa-
pers tend to have the clean, uncontested look that is typical of
Nordic cities.
Deciphering cultural elements takes nothing more than a quick
run or walk through the city, or a sharp eye when traveling by
train or bus within a city. Newspapers in those Nordic cities with
Viking traditions circulate in environments where one does
not see curtains in any color but white. However, try a tour of a
Latin American city, or Greece, Spain, and Italy, and the opposite
is true. White curtains rarely appear. Instead, one sees every color
of the rainbow. That is when the designer takes out the digital
camera, or the note pad, and scribbles thoughts at the most basic
level of how culture and design blend.
Latin American newspapers show more emotion, bolder
headlines, brighter colors. Greek and Italian newspapers also
display the immensity and intensity of life in those countries.
pure design
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In American newspapers, regional differences are accentuated: with
Southern newspapers showing a calmer, more relaxed visual envi-
ronment than those in the large cities of the Northeast and Midwest.
An important step in the design of a newspaper is to incorporate a
bit of cultural identity.”
mario garcia
150
pure design
151
Accentuating the natural: Newspapersmust reflect the visual environmentsin which they exist. Here we see frontpages that typify their regions well. IlSecolo XIX, Genoa: Italian newspapersshow energy, congestion, vibrancy.Diario de Noticias, Portugal: An islandof colorful flowers, a front page tomatch. Typos, Athens, Greece:Vigorous, bold, and expressive.