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The point of these design languages is to affect a sense of power. One of the funniest versions of this was 1990's tech aesthetic that was pure (Italian) Futuri

The point of these design languages is to affect a sense of power. One of the funniest versions of this was 1990's tech aesthetic that was pure (Italian) Futurism, without any sense of irony about its origins. Corporate Memphis looks like a variation of it. There is a word I can't seem to find, and it's for when you take a font or an image and round it to make it seem softer, safer, and less assertive, and so-called "feminine." The Corporate Memphis designers have essentially taken the aesthetics of both futurism and "Naive Art," to create this new language of patronizing global banality. It's not about adding or emphasizing diverse elements, it's about homogenizing them, which captures the whole purpose I think.

dexwiz 6y ago
I saw a piece in a SF-based Italian art museum that was four panels, each with about 20 small cubbies. In each cubby was an individual abstract, brightly painted wood shape (carving?). If you squinted even a bit, it was indistinguishable from a list of modern corporate logos. Not the same as futurism, but I could see the artistic lineage.
- TchoBeer 6y ago
  Becomes especially funny when you consider the ideological origins of Italian Futurism. Hint: What was the dominant ideology in Italy in the 1930s and 40s.
  - frostburg 6y ago
    It's even more problematic. The relationship is more accurately understood in the opposite direction: fascism in some ways grew out of futurism (a lot of important exponents of futurism loved action and violence and speed enough to volunteer and get themselves killed in airplanes etc. in the first world war).
defen 6y ago
> There is a word I can't seem to find, and it's for when you take a font or an image and round it to make it seem softer, safer, and less assertive, and so-called "feminine." I don't know the word either, but this reminds me of the concept of "elevator music"

dexwiz 6y ago

I saw a piece in a SF-based Italian art museum that was four panels, each with about 20 small cubbies. In each cubby was an individual abstract, brightly painted wood shape (carving?). If you squinted even a bit, it was indistinguishable from a list of modern corporate logos. Not the same as futurism, but I could see the artistic lineage.

TchoBeer 6y ago
Becomes especially funny when you consider the ideological origins of Italian Futurism. Hint: What was the dominant ideology in Italy in the 1930s and 40s.
- frostburg 6y ago
  It's even more problematic. The relationship is more accurately understood in the opposite direction: fascism in some ways grew out of futurism (a lot of important exponents of futurism loved action and violence and speed enough to volunteer and get themselves killed in airplanes etc. in the first world war).

defen 6y ago

> There is a word I can't seem to find, and it's for when you take a font or an image and round it to make it seem softer, safer, and less assertive, and so-called "feminine." I don't know the word either, but this reminds me of the concept of "elevator music"