Late last Wednesday night, I scrawled a note while half asleep after a day of typical dread at the state of visual culture:
Form Matters
Matters of Form
The Form of Matter
The Matter of Form
The Manner of Form
The Mannerisms of Form
Over the last few years, I’ve become increasingly obsessed with the idea of the “substance” of form, specifically in the sense of deliberate cultural production, as in design, the arts, literature, and theory. That “substance” is an invisible network of forces that give shape or bring life to a specific execution of a particular idea.
The way we make speaks volumes about the way we are, the ways we have been, and the ways we orient ourselves toward what we wish to become. To put it tersely: form matters.
I spent the latter half of my time in design school focused on deconstructing the ideologies of designed forms, and theorizing a framework to explain the production of meaning in images. That work culminated in my book, Public Domain: Design in the 21st Century, available for free on are.na.
After spending the past year ruminating on where to point these studies next, I’ve realized that formal aesthetic critique is incredibly valuable and timely in a world accelerated by the constant, often memetic, reproduction of imagery.
Accordingly, this newsletter, appropriately titled “Matters of Form”, will focus on formal aesthetic critiques of things I come across in my daily life. I’ll get into political critique, formal analysis, art history and theory, semiotics, and more, in an effort to discern what exactly it is that makes form matter.
If you’re interested in design, art, and the theory and critique of either, I think you’ll find this publication interesting food for thought.
About the author
I’m Devin Halladay — or as you may know me, @theflowingsky — a multidisciplinary design practitioner and theorist based in Manhattan. Currently, I’m 1/3 of a small product design team at Sanctuary Computer; previously, I spent time as a designer and engineer at Palantir and Quora.
My graphic design practice is informed largely by my education in critical theory and fine art. Beyond my obvious interest in the graphic world, I’m also interested in how aesthetics works: how the things we dream and design are so able to empower us, enthrall us, drive us, and ultimately define us, as a species. My work in this area can probably be best described as an attempt at “structuralist aesthetics” — an exercise in determining the origins and effects of choices made in the creative process.
On the side, I am building creative cognition tools.