Design and Reconnection

If you're like me, you've probably noticed a trend toward realism in design. By this I mean design that mimics or simulates actual, physical objects. Let me give you some examples (see above): Toyota's dinosaur footprint ad, Toyota's family photo ad, and Eddie Bauer's sale price tag. If you wanted to design something like this in the past, you'd either have to draw it by hand or physically create the elements and photograph them. Now everything's done in Photoshop. Looks real, but none of these ads physically existed in the real world.

Recently though, I've noticed a counter current to virtual realism. I call it physical realism. Designers are again creating works that exist in the real world. The trendsetter in this retro wave of physical design is Stefan Sagmeister. He's incorporated a physical reality into his works that establish a powerful emotional bond between the viewer and the piece. Take his Detroit AIGA Conference poster for example. Sagmeister's assistant carved the lettering into his skin, making Sagmeister's actual body become the work (see above). Ouch! Check out the Adobe 2003 Call for Entries poster. Yes, those are 2500 cups of coffee loaded with caffeine—can't you smell them? Look mom, no Photoshop. Or the Annie Kahn brochure with the iron shaped burn…10 very hot irons were used to make the impressions on each page. What's going on here? I think designers are searching for a physical connection with their work. People want to know that what they do not only matters, but actually exists. Maybe it’s the age old physical connection between the artist and their work. Computers disconnected us from this important bond. After launching a website, I often moan that what I just created doesn't actually exist in the physical world. Yes, we can see, hear and interact with it, but if my computer is off—it's gone. When was the last time you held Garamond or Universal type in your hand? Maybe never if you're under 30.

The desire to connect with something real in our work is God-given. If Jesus had been born in 2005, would God have sent Him as a virtual Savior? An instantaneous birth announcement to the whole wired world via the Internet. No need for angels to tell folks in the office, they've got Instant Messenger and Blackberries. With Photoshop, God could duplicate Jesus' for any ethnicity. Talk about reaching your target audience! Instead of a baptism in the Jordan, Jesus could just have a launch party. And what a huge ministry. You could chat with Him via webcam, email Him your questions or touch your computer screen to be healed. And wow, with the iPod out, think of how great the worship would be. But I could see threatened authorities around the world becoming jealous and wanting to pull the plug on Him. Governments and corporations would to block His IP address and blacklist His email. And hey, killing a virtual Jesus would be as painless as flipping a switch to shut down the servers. The symbol of the cross would now become the ubiquitous on/off symbol on your computer.

Yuck! A virtual Jesus won't work. We need a person who physically exists in this world. One that truly felt our pain, tasted our food, walked our roads and dealt with unreasonable people. His death had to be real to. The cross, the greatest logo of all time, is powerful because it's rooted in a physical reality. Anyone who has hit their finger with a hammer or stepped on a rusty tack knows some of the pain Jesus must have felt. This physical connection with Jesus' life and death has spiritual significance for us. And so should our design. To discover the heart and soul of design, we must return to a physical reality that reconnects us with our work and the people we want to touch.