ABSTRACT
Design, as an action, is most commonly thought of as an act of creativity. As such,
many of us view design according to a romantic tradition (Schriver, 1997). In this
perspective, design is the process of producing something original, unique, and
creative. Design would, therefore, be a process of expressing the values and visions
of the artist/designer, who is gifted with creative talent. This is to view design as we
view art. But design, especially graphic design, has not always been perceived in
this way. Emerging primarily as a response to industrialism, graphic design served
in its infancy “to sell the fruits of mass production to growing consumer societies in
Europe and North America” (McCoy, 1990, p. 3). As such, graphic design was initially
more functional than expressive.
