"Communication needs theory"
A new book by design theorist Matthias Götz presents effect of form and forms of effect
A new book by design theorist Matthias Götz presents the effect of form and forms of effectDesign has an impact on all areas of communication, including advertising. How does this theory relate to practice? The answer to this question is provided by a conversation with Matthias Götz, professor of design theory at the University of Art and Design, Burg Giebichenstein, Halle. And a book on the subject of "Forms of Effect, Effect of Form".Why does someone who works in communication need design theory?
Matthias Götz: I don't know if anyone needs design theory only in communication. Insofar as one considers communication as a form of design, it also needs theory. A theory generally solves the problems that practice poses, and if it doesn't solve them, it at least deals with them more intensively.
And what is the purpose of design theory for an advertiser?
Götz: Because it never hurts to have a little more background than practice alone can provide. And that would be practical for reasons of practice.
What insights does it provide him when he looks into it?
Götz: You can't say that in one word. I am a supporter of indirect theory. I don't mean that theory is there to tell the designer that this will be red or that will be purple, that will be square or that will be round. Indirect theory actually means something like a background formation that one can fall back on and against which the practical result is then also presented. Like a stage set in a performance.
Design is mainly used in those areas of communication where the aim is to build a brand or create a corporate identity. How does design theory relate to such tasks?
Götz: We now also talk about the philosophy of a company or a brand. The more this brand society has developed, the more theoretical it has become, and precisely the designing of such appearance philosophies itself has become more theoretical. Today, entire identity systems are formed, for example by Zintzmeyer & Lux or other companies. The task itself has developed quite far away from the drawing board and is very close to idea generation, system formation, in a word: to theory.
Is the weakening and disappearance of brands due to the fact that the brand design had not been thought through enough?
Götz: That's difficult to judge or verify empirically. You don't have to be afraid of this brand diversity at all. Due to the many hectic company mergers, the number of brands that have led to this information overkill is also regularly decreasing again.
Now, new brands have also been formed through mergers, Novartis in Basel would be a good example. A brand construct that has presumably emerged via insights from design theory...
Götz: I would even dispute that, because in terms of appearance, this is not a special construct. Novartis even carries the artificiality of this whole affair in its name. Something as angular as the Deutsche Bank sign from the seventies by Stankowski is much more stable in its long-term effect.
You are not only a professor in Halle, you are also the managing partner of the Museum für Gestaltung in Basel and run the museum on a private basis. What's next for this Basel institution?
Götz: It will definitely continue. Bruno Haldner, my partner, and I have also been running the museum for ten years now, partly with state support and partly with private funding. Next year, we can also expect to make challenging and appealing exhibitions in Basel. Interview: Carlo Bernasconi
How Tabasco also still works
Matthias Götz: I don't know if anyone needs design theory only in communication. Insofar as one considers communication as a form of design, it also needs theory. A theory generally solves the problems that practice poses, and if it doesn't solve them, it at least deals with them more intensively.
And what is the purpose of design theory for an advertiser?
Götz: Because it never hurts to have a little more background than practice alone can provide. And that would be practical for reasons of practice.
What insights does it provide him when he looks into it?
Götz: You can't say that in one word. I am a supporter of indirect theory. I don't mean that theory is there to tell the designer that this will be red or that will be purple, that will be square or that will be round. Indirect theory actually means something like a background formation that one can fall back on and against which the practical result is then also presented. Like a stage set in a performance.
Design is mainly used in those areas of communication where the aim is to build a brand or create a corporate identity. How does design theory relate to such tasks?
Götz: We now also talk about the philosophy of a company or a brand. The more this brand society has developed, the more theoretical it has become, and precisely the designing of such appearance philosophies itself has become more theoretical. Today, entire identity systems are formed, for example by Zintzmeyer & Lux or other companies. The task itself has developed quite far away from the drawing board and is very close to idea generation, system formation, in a word: to theory.
Is the weakening and disappearance of brands due to the fact that the brand design had not been thought through enough?
Götz: That's difficult to judge or verify empirically. You don't have to be afraid of this brand diversity at all. Due to the many hectic company mergers, the number of brands that have led to this information overkill is also regularly decreasing again.
Now, new brands have also been formed through mergers, Novartis in Basel would be a good example. A brand construct that has presumably emerged via insights from design theory...
Götz: I would even dispute that, because in terms of appearance, this is not a special construct. Novartis even carries the artificiality of this whole affair in its name. Something as angular as the Deutsche Bank sign from the seventies by Stankowski is much more stable in its long-term effect.
You are not only a professor in Halle, you are also the managing partner of the Museum für Gestaltung in Basel and run the museum on a private basis. What's next for this Basel institution?
Götz: It will definitely continue. Bruno Haldner, my partner, and I have also been running the museum for ten years now, partly with state support and partly with private funding. Next year, we can also expect to make challenging and appealing exhibitions in Basel. Interview: Carlo Bernasconi
How Tabasco also still works
Around 200 lecturers, students and guests from the University of Art and Design in Halle discussed the so-called Tabasco effect at the 18th Design Theory Symposium at Burg Giebichenstein at the end of November. Under the subtitle "Forms of Effect - Effect of Form," Bernese physician Josef Amrein and Zurich philosopher Gonsalv K. Mainberger, among others, expressed their views on the placebo effect and the effect of rhetoric. The symposium contributions have been published in advance as a book: "Der Tabasco-Effekt," Schwabe Verlag, Basel, 29 francs, ISBN 3-7965-1506-1.
