Designers structure a world of information

With reference to Callum Lumsden’s article, A Master of all Tradesí (DW 10 May), I’d say that the work of graphic designers often expands beyond the immediate forms of print and digital media, and into the realm of culture, language and ideas.

Architects may expand their work by creating furniture and cutlery, but many designers adapt their skills to a variety of projects, from directing films to designing alphabets for the visually impaired.

Where the architect brings materials together in structuring the physical world, the designer organises words, images and technology in structuring the world of information.

Consider the work of the following graphic designers: Ridley Scott as a successful film director, Gerard Paris-Clavel whose highly political work has provided the far left with a strong voice in France, and Bruce Mau, whose interdisciplinary projects have most recently involved landscape design and art exhibits.

If design is understood as a process of envisaging and problem-solving, practitioners will only be restricted by the limits of their imagination and not the constrictions of manufacturers and clients.

Adolfo Ruiz

adolfo@pyott.co.UK