Pure design: Culture and design

mario garcia

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Culture and designDesign is deeply rooted in the culture and traditions of the people

for whom it is intended. Furniture designers, sculptors, and

architects follow subtle, cultural leads in their work. Publication

design is no exception. Around the world, newspapers and

magazines look alike, but I am even more surprised by the differ-

ences, usually accentuated with touches that are not so obvious, but

which are there, waiting to be discovered. Scandinavian newspa-

pers tend to have the clean, uncontested look that is typical of

Nordic cities.

Deciphering cultural elements takes nothing more than a quick

run or walk through the city, or a sharp eye when traveling by

train or bus within a city. Newspapers in those Nordic cities with

Viking traditions circulate in environments where one does

not see curtains in any color but white. However, try a tour of a

Latin American city, or Greece, Spain, and Italy, and the opposite

is true. White curtains rarely appear. Instead, one sees every color

of the rainbow. That is when the designer takes out the digital

camera, or the note pad, and scribbles thoughts at the most basic

level of how culture and design blend.

Latin American newspapers show more emotion, bolder

headlines, brighter colors. Greek and Italian newspapers also

display the immensity and intensity of life in those countries.

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In American newspapers, regional differences are accentuated: with

Southern newspapers showing a calmer, more relaxed visual envi-

ronment than those in the large cities of the Northeast and Midwest.

An important step in the design of a newspaper is to incorporate a

bit of cultural identity.”

mario garcia

150

pure design

151

Accentuating the natural: Newspapersmust reflect the visual environmentsin which they exist. Here we see frontpages that typify their regions well. IlSecolo XIX, Genoa: Italian newspapersshow energy, congestion, vibrancy.Diario de Noticias, Portugal: An islandof colorful flowers, a front page tomatch. Typos, Athens, Greece:Vigorous, bold, and expressive.