I think you might be trying to compare Graphic Design to what we euphamistically call “graphics design”
The little “s” makes all the difference. Sigs, photomanips, etc are not Graphic Design.
Graphic Design serves a communication purpose and by definition is thought through critically.
“graphics design” is just pretty pictures. IOW, Art, not Design. While they may have a theme, they generally do not serve a purpose other than pleasing the artist and/or fans of the genre.
Don’t confuse the two. They are not the same thing.
I guess I disagree with you on this point…! I think the function of design is based on the intention of the designer. If the intent is to answer the client’s brief, design changes accordingly. Some critique the critical design practice (Dunne and Raby, Droog) as essentially art pieces which are exhibited in museums. But if the intent is to spark discourse, does that not fulfill a purpose outside of pleasing the artists and audience? If “instagram designers” posts their works through design challenges (365 days of type, etc), the intention is to practice creativity and the function changes through that.
True, it may not seem to fulfill a communication purpose, as the context as to why a designer is doing it is missing. But it still has a function and or purpose, whether its to a client or to the designer him/herself. Just my opinion!
Graphic Design in a critical sense (which is what you seem to want to be talking about here) needs to clearly communicate the purpose of the brief.
If you want to classify Art as Graphic Design that’s a stretch. A good deal of Art does not clearly communicate its message, if it has any message at all. The purpose of Graphic Design is to “sell” the message, clearly and concisely while instilling a cause for action. For instance, let’s take an artfully taken photo of a polar bear on a floating-free slab of ice, lying down looking forlornly at the water. Is that a Graphic Design for action against global warming? Or is it simply a photo of a polar bear waiting for lunch to swim by his nose? It’s all in the message.
If you want to classify typographical exercises as Graphic Design, that is merely practice, or exploring a means to an end, not design in itself.
As for Instacrap challenges as Graphic Design? Be my guest. I’m not going to agree with you there.
This is all that matters. How you get there may be through a process of critical re-evaluation or solely by the skill of the designer. One of those processes is both quicker and cheaper. Of the three main tensions in design - good, quick and cheap - you don’t have to pick just one but you can’t have all three.
Pal, you ought to broaden your scope. Not only all graphic design is critical, EVERYTHING is critical - it just depends for whom. No matter the subject, there’s bound to be a profession or interest group that is critically pondering about it. And while you can unearth layers of layers of problems in every subject and break them down into further root causes, each encountered problem may lead to numerous approaches of problem solving - both novel and conventional. Graphic design, along with any other problem solving profession, is just a means of problem solving.