Language, Form and Deception: The Unwritten Design of AG Fronzoni

By Gabriele Oropallo.

Published by Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal

Format	Price
Article: Print	$US10.00
Article: Electronic	$US5.00

Language and Design are two intimately human activities. Both are ways to read, interpret and re-present the world and both are collective enterprises. Yet, are they always compatible? This paper introduces the case of AG Fronzoni, a designer who is considered to be one of the most coherent examples of ‘minimalist design’. He avoided writing throughout most of his career, the paper argues that this rejection of written language can be taken as the interpretative reason to read and understand his work as a graphic designer.

Keywords:	Graphic Design, Writing, Gombrich, Fronzoni, Italy, Minimalism, Reduction, Ideology

Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal, Volume 3, Issue 4, pp.373-384. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.540MB).

Gabriele Oropallo

Research Fellow, Centre for European Studies, University College London, London, UK

Gabriele Oropallo’s interests lay at the intersection between ethics and aesthetics in visual and material culture. He was trained at Naples, Düsseldorf and London before being awarded a Marie Curie fellowship from University College London, where he’s based. Currently a PhD candidate, he’s preparing his thesis on the ethics of primary formal values in early contemporary design – essentially through the study of AG Fronzoni, a designer mostly known for his work in visual communication. Besides design writing, he’s also interested in the use of moving and still image as media to research objects and environments and has been involved on several documentary photography and film-making projects. His writings appeared on international design and art magazines.

Reviews:

There are currently no reviews of this product.

Write a Review