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I am enthused much by those who declare universal truths; for I as a designer, would much like to create a visual language that may be communicated universally; and how so much I loathe sometimes the limitations of this grammatical language.

Such equations as so bold to state that ‘▲■●’; has a “proposed universal correspondence between the three elementary shapes and primary colours.” A statement made by Wassily Kandinsky in 1923. (Lupton & Miller.1991)

An interesting ideal – but what does this equation really solve?

Does it solve all of our visual experience? Or is this merely an ideation made taken place from another particular perspective?

Can anything be completely objective I wonder? Is this only my cognitive, notational and cultural bias that is leading me to want to measure, assess and ask questions about these forms that my senses indulge in daily? Or are these desires innate as well as in every other human being universally?

Triangles, circles and squares I find interesting – presented to me as perfect shapes with veridical quality and I seem to have known about these forms from as far I can remember – yet I have not experienced these perfect shapes in my every day perception of the exterior natural world that is proposed to be. Instead I see distorted versions; such as oblique, trapeziums, quadrilaterals perhaps? The shapes are always dependent on the light and the position relative to a said object.

So what are these perfect shapes? Do they transcend from another realm of perfect forms? Like that which Plato (429-437 BCE) had suggested in the Republic?

Or are they a suggestion that I “lust to rule” the visual, embodying Nietzsche’s ‘Will to Power’ theory (1883-1888) in my endeavour to interpret and simplify in order to bridge my perspective to the others around me?

I enjoy and strive to understand and create visual language as well as grammatical language and the meaning of my actions and I must understand the grammatical to have reference to collorate between the word and the image.

A word said in English, for example, ‘bee’ raises a different emotional response when compared to when the same noun of this insect is said in French – ‘amé’; I suggest that the French sounds more endearing.

The way French sounded had a lot to do with why I wanted to study the language. I preferred the sounds of the words I was speaking in French and I found myself put off carrying on my studies in German as I found the sounds of the words aggressive, harsh in the throat, stern; essentially displeasing to my ear. Whereas the flowing, lyrical nature of French attracted me to study it to A-Level. I discovered new and different grammatical limitations and cultural bias of the word and toward the coloration between the words, the image and colours.

For a universal visual language to exist it could not include colour; due to problem of aesthetic relativism between different cultural societies – colours symbolise unique meanings only relevant to that particular culture. For example, black is associated with death and mourning and white is associated with purity and freedom in western culture, whilst in Eastern culture white is associated with mourning and black with..

This is a problem for Kandinsky’s assertion that ‘▲■●’ is a universal equation.

These shapes may suggest to us any number of colours dependent on our preference.

I must consider the form of the image greatly, my use of colour, simplify and see beyond, or perhaps use the cultural prejudices and fashions of the time, to attempt to create a universal image and message, evident to all that see it, the idea that’s in my mind when communicating through Graphic Design.

Bonnie Newman.

Bibliography

The ABC’s ‘▲■●’ and Bauhaus Design Theory, Ellen Lupton and A. Miller, 1991

The Republic of Plato, Francis M. Plato; Translated by Cornford, Paperback , Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr, 1966

Beyond Good and Evil, Fredrich Nietzsche, published: 2003 (first published 1886) by Penguin Classics | binding: Paperback

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