GDC, Week 2: Reflection on 4 fields of design by Tharp and Tharp 2006

Graphic design in a sentence is a process of visual communication and problem-solving. As easy as it sounds, there’s a lot of things that we need to consider before creating the piece of design. How we want to convey the message, what medium do we want to use, what’s the outcome of the final product, will it be the same as the expected when you started, so it all comes to identifying and researching none stop on everything that is related to what your projects about. So, there is 4 field of designs that pretty much involved with graphic design a lot, these are the 4 fields:

-Commercial Design

- Experimental Design

- Responsible Design

- Discursive Design

Commercial Design

Commercial Design to me is something widely accepted by the audience. The sole purpose of it is to attract people with the manipulation of aesthetics. The essential expectation of the designer is to create beneficial, practical, and appealing items that clients can afford which also produces sufficient benefit to the company.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design, on the other hand, is primarily used to explore and experience and to create the outcome without expecting it. Using design as a way to plan and create the experiment which is something unexpected to many people which is also a good way to create suspension for the audience and to bring their attention to what the outcome will be.

Responsible Design

Doing the right thing plus designing? You got it, that’s where responsible design got its name. The design itself promotes mostly awareness and issues of the world and society. They create a mass of protest to raise awareness (human rights, women's rights, animal cruelty, child labor, etc.) which also helps to create media so people would be educated easily. No harmful influence will be brought up during this design.

Discursive Design

Discursive design is like creating art but without making the purpose obvious which leads the audience to think and speculate. The outcome invites us to see objects in a new light, to understand more than their basic form and utility. Which could create a discussion with the people about the design.

The four fields of design as the circle each intersects with each other.