Table Of Contentlimited language: rewriting design
responding to afeedback culture
ColinDavies,MonikaParrinder
limited language: rewriting design
respondingtoafeedbackculture
Birkhaussr
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Acknowledgements
Thanks,
ToeveryonewhohascontributedtotheLimitedLanguageproject
overtheyears,
Forpublishingthebook
BirkhiiuserVerlag
RobertSteiger.CommissioningEditor
DanielMorgenthaler.EditorialAssistantArchitecture&Design
Forthedesign
SofiaAndersson.assistantdesigner
AmalieBore-Hansen,assistantdesigner
OskarKarlin,Webandbookconceptandoveralldesign
LunaMaurer,forhergenerosityindiscussionsoverthecover
Forsub-editingthetext
EmmaAngus
MichaelClarke
Allthekindcolleagueswhohavehelpedwith reading,
advisingandrecommendationstothepublishers
JeremyAynsley,JessBaines.AdrianaCerne,DavidCrowley,
AdrianaEysler,IanHorton,JoelKaramath,JoeKerr,
DeneOctober.RickPoynor,SarahTemple,TonyTodd
Forresearchfundingandresearchleave
inthepreparationofthisbook
LondonCollegeofCommunication
RoyalCollegeofArt
UniversityoftheArts,London
UniversityofWolverhampton
Everyonewhohassogenerouslysuppliedimagecopyright
Finally.fromColin,
Monika(forherendlesspatience).mychildren(again).
MumandDad,andEmma.
AndfromMonika,
Ben.BethandLynnefordiscussionsaboutthebook,andeverything.
Matt.MumandDad,foreverything.
Inmemoryof
AliceSwansonwhodiedon8July2008.
BenKinsellawhodiedon29June2008.
TheLimited Language project
Inbrief.. Indetail...
The original idea, which ignited the Limited Webeganwritingunderthe guise ofLimited
Languageproject,wasto createabrandthat LanguageinLondon in2005,astwo lecturers/
usedthe Webasaplatformforgenerating practitionersinvisual cultureand theory.
writingaboutvisual communication.The idea Wewere searchingforawayto engagewith
ofthe brandinthiscontextwasadeliberate visual culture,largelyone inwhich imageis
conceit- to explorehowwords,likeimages, readastext.Wewere aware that the words
are commodities. wewrotewith, inmanyways,sharedthe same
Cutting,pastingand recyclingareall outcomesasimages.Tous, wordsand images
propertiesof contemporary imageculture havethe samesystems,same structures, same
and arepresentin thewaywegenerate fetishand commodityvalue:you can buyand
ideas.Thoughtsand conversationsarecut sellwords, ideasand criticismasyou might a
and pasted from onecontextto thenext, Picasso, abagofchipsor pornography.Some
takingon anew signicancein each.Limited times,ofcourse,that'sa CitroenPicasso.
Language aimsto capturethisasaworking Whatwebecameincreasingly conscious
processfor new writing. ofwasthe waythat,althoughsome might talk
Anyonecan bepart of Limited Language ofthepossibilitiesoflanguageasunlimited
byrespondingto triggerarticles.Weencour - ofthe processionofimages,simulacra,as
agepeopleto recyclecomments intheirown unending- to us, Language isLimited intwo
research,aswecollagethem intoourown writ respects.First,the vocabularyofpostmod
ing.Anycommenteventuallyusediscredited. ernism;its flattening ofcriticalpositionsinto
anatonal mantraofrelativism- where high
and lowculturelosetheirmagneticNorth
and becomeoneand the same.The second is
inthe visual realm, where increasingly our
worlds are shapedbysoundbites,listsmade
up oftop tens,anthologies, pagelayouts
communicationconcertinaedinto bytesize
representationsviaSMSmessaging, the looped
voicemail, ascrolling messageboard,or the
chatroom- where textand imageare brought
together inanonline streamofemoticonsand
fcuk©ingabuse.
Fromthisstartingpoint,wedecided that
oursubjectshould be process.And, ifwewere
to writeaboutthe creativeprocess,thenwe generatenewthinkingelsewhere.Ourremit
shouldat least explorehowprocessesfrom alwaysintended to gobeyondatraditional
withindesign culture(acultureofrecycling designblog,wherediscussionisanend initself.
and mash-upsetc.)inspirecollaborationand The Webhere - immersive, responsive,
cross-media!cross-disciplinarypracticeand collaborative- becomesausefulmode of
byextensionnew waysofgeneratingand facilitating research. Inturn,thisbecomes
distributingwriting aboutprocess. synthesised and redistributedthrough print
LimitedLanguage isanattemptto weave publishing:from journalarticles,published
thesemodesbackinto aframework - anar lecturesto thisbook. (Butthebook isastart
rative to be used,re-usedand again recycled. ingplace, every articleends withan URLfor
Not, wepromise,justanotherrehash ofthe the conversationto contmuel]
remixthough- acop out,to fillmediaspace Ourwritingonone topicmigratesfrom
- buthere were-useand recycleasadeliber the Webto print,vialecturehalls, and back
ate techniquebecauseto revisit conceptsin again.Itisan ongoing'collaborative'process.
differentcontexts,at differenttimes isto Justaswalking down the street isasmuch
enrich,expandand hopefullycapturethe ser aboutthe mutteringsand the conversation
endipityofcreativeprocess. thatyou hear asit isaboutwhat you see, we
Onthe website,designedbyOskar use this feedbackcultureto constructour
Karlin, wedecidedto invite practitioners critique.Thiscritiquefocuses inparticular
and criticsto postessaysonsubjectsfrom onthe processand experienceofdesign,
theirarea ofdisciplineor expertise,with rel visual cultureand the everyday.InPhotoshop
evanceto issues of'process'.The aim became you can't saveto print unless youhave'flat
to explorehowideas and processestransfer tenedthelayers.Wedon't aim to flatten,but
across disciplines.This idea informedthe to producealaminationofoutputs,acompos
Webdesign,whereby we run threeconcur ite for use and resale.
rentarticlesat once, allowing readers to read!
commentacross debates.
Thearticles postedonthesitearenot
intended tobe'finished'(althoughmanyare)but
rather,provideideasandquestionswhichallow
responsesto integratewiththeoriginaltext.
Theseresponsesoften takeonalifeoftheir
own:existingarticles maydivideandmultiply...
paragraphsfromonetopicmaybeisolatedto
Bookmethodology
Whichdesignaudience? Whatisfeedback culture?
Westartedoutby lookingat visual communi Feedbackcultureisoneofthe culturalspin
cationbutanydemarcationbetweenpractice offsofthe Web2.0inspiredvelvetrevolutionin
disciplineswassooncorruptedand thesite culturalagency,wheredesignincreasinglyfacili
came to occupythe in-betweenspace of tates,ratherthansimplyprovidingbounded
processand practice:howwecraft/create/ socialpracticesincommunication.
discuss/think/reinvent. Whilst manyget themselvesinto (post
Wewriteaboutart, design,architecture, modern)knotsdiscussingthetruebenefitsof
sonic and visualculturesand practitioners theseculturalchanges;websitessuchasTwit
from all thesedisciplineshavecontributed terand Facebookare changing howtheworld
writingto thesitetoo- some ofwhich we isperceivedand howweperceiveourselves
haveincludedin thisbook. within it.
Increasinglythe imagehasbeenside
steppedby 140digittweetsand downloaded
MP3S- screenbasedcultureisfast being
eclipsedbytouch-screentactility.
Everyday,throughscreens,keyboards,
wireless networks andBluetoothaccessorieswe
are performingagentsinafeedback culture.
Wehavetakenthe responsesfrom the
LimitedLanguage site asourstartingplace.
Sometimesit has beenasimple passing-of
the-batonwhere wewriteonasubjectand
theresponseshavecarriedon in the same vein
- maybe fleshingoutmore detailor givinga
more mappablepath- butequallytiedto the
originalwritingor response.
Wedo not agree witheverythingwritten
byothersunder the LimitedLanguage banner
but,rather, enjoy theserendipitouspathit
might inspire us to follow.
Manyofthesejourneyscan be found in
the writingin thisbook.
Structureofthebook
The book isorganised into chapterswhich callyrepresentedonthe LimitedLanguagesite:
donot followdisciplinarylinesbutcoalesce eacharticleinthe bookends withanURLfor
aroundcertainthemesthathaveemerged as youto returnto the LimitedLanguagesite.
recurrentconcernsoverthe years.The book Wedecidedupon atextonlywebsite to
layout isdividedinto two columns. The first, provideafocus onwords(andthinking)as
inblack, isastarterarticlewhichhasalready apposed to image/colour/text:the predomi
appearedonthe LimitedLanguagewebsiteor nant blogformat isimage/text...image/textetc.
elsewhereand whichhastendedto frame some Onthesite wehavemade useofhyperlinks
sortofquestionor provocation.Thesecond toallowreaders to gooffelsewhereto feedthe
column,incolour,isourreflective response. need forimagesand the physicalrealm!
This reframes the question inrelation to some Asdesign historians,thisbook seeks
ofthe feedback received onthe site (whilst to revisitoldworkasmuch asnew,and to
taking into accountits newcontextand chang explorehowit materialises,and focus on its
ingeventssinceoriginally posted). making.Tothisendweshowsketcheswhere
The starterarticlescomprisebothour possible,to tryand capturework inprogress.
ownwriting,and writersand practitioners We're interestedinwhat designersare
weasked to contributeto the Limited doingand tryto makesense ofit inawider
Languagesite. The book can onlycovera context: its relationshipbetweendisciplines
small proportionofthe writingpublished isasimportantasits culturalramifications.
onthe siteoverthe years and weare equally Beyondthe book...the LimitedLanguage
indebtedand inspiredbythose not appearing Web-platform will capturehowour reflec
withinthesepages. tions here coalesceinafeedbackculture:
Wehad noabsolutecriteriafor selecting readersofthe bookcan postonto the
materialfor the book buthavetriedto choose LimitedLanguagewebsite- providingapoint
the articlesthatcapturedcertainthemesand ofdeparturefor newdiscussions inan
investigationsregarding practiceand process. on-goingprocess.
Inthe end it can onlybe an arbitraryselection Each chapter'sopening spreadincludes
to tryand giveafeelofthe ongoingLimited keywords thatwehaveidentifiedascritical
Languageproject. moorings to the proceedingessays.Inbrack
The responses to the starterarticlesare ets, we haveshown their Google hit rates
notonlyre-realisedinourownwriting but whenaddedto the word'design'. This isof
weattemptto explore the thinkingprocess courseeverchanging, butit givesan idea of
throughthe practicalwork,whichhasalways what isoutthere.
inspiredus(although the workisneverphysi-
