Erik Spiekermann
From the C-Word to the D-Word
Designers must take care of the words we use to talk about our work.
Critique
Thoughts, case studies, book reviews, debates and tips on Critique, written by prominent authors and carefully edited by FOROALFA.
Fernando Navia Meyer
Graphic design's carbon footprint
Carbon footprint is defined as the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse effect gases, bound to a product or service.
Norberto Chaves
Don't Mess with My Design!
The interprofessional critique taboo: insecurity, paranoia and corporatism refuge.
Fernando Del Vecchio
A passion for design
Who doesn't want to feel passion for what he or she likes, and loves?
Norberto Chaves
A “graphic Houdini”
The combined role of programmatic restrictions and creativity in the accomplishment of message effectiveness.
Lorena Garcia Hidalgo
Why Does the Client Think Different?
When a client rejects our work is usually because we do not take their opinion into account. We think that it is only us, the designers, who have the knowlegde.
Alfredo Gutiérrez Borrero
When Conviction Gets in the Way
Not all pathways lead us to the same design, nor we all have to design through the same pathway.
Ricardo Rangel
Creation as the Human Essence
In a world surrounding us with material, creation has become part of our essence, a key piece in the evolution of mankind.
David Gallo
Planned Obsolescence
Design should no longer respond to market interests anymore, but to the human needs that as a global community we have created as time goes by.
Ana Yago
Keep the User in Mind to Overcome the Crisis
The user – buyer – needs new incentives to purchase a product. It is not enough for it to be functional, it needs to fulfil the values and the lifestyle of the user
Ana Yago
Sundays Smell of Roast Chicken
The least one can ask of a chair is for it to be functional and ergonomic but these qualities no longer suffice Today a chair will have to adjust to the shifting tastes of society
Alfredo Gutiérrez Borrero
Realities and Conventions
Even though we refuse to accept it, there is indeed life in other brains: the culture of scorn harms us designers.
Alfredo Gutiérrez Borrero
Usage and brand
Can we design to unbrand instead of branding? It'd be convenient to «self-design» ourselves through our own ways of using, without others marking us with their ways of design.
José Antonio Giménez
Industrial Design Shortens the Crisis
Industrial design, or to put it better, the application of design to industry have had a stimulating effect in the past.
Julio Broca
Image as idea, graphic and message
What is an image? How is it conceived? How is it part of a message?
Cecilia Salinas
Paul Ricoeur and creative search
The origin of the creative act from a philosopher's perspective.
José Antonio Giménez
Ave, Caesar, Morituri Te Salutant
The values and sensations that used to be conveyed through the physical characteristics of the medium should not be replaced by a void now.
