Graphic design in the gallery can come across like a fish out of water. The gallery context facilitates engagement through looking and has historically discouraged touching or using. Design is made for the public to use and enjoy. The context of use for a designed object is a very different space than that of a gallery. Donald Judd aptly described that “design must work, art need not.” This distinguishing characteristic creates a challenge for the curator of a graphic design exhibition.

Scale
Books, hand held screens, magazines, packaging designs, even posters are generally utilized by a small group (even an individual) at any given time, so the gallery often dwarfs these tiny objects when on display. Ten gallery visitors would have trouble crowding around an award-winning CD package design, no matter how dramatic its conception.

Uniqueness
Traditionally, gallery pieces are on-of-a-kind objects like no other. Design is often mass produced in multiples of each object. Their value, then, is not from uniqueness, but rather of wide appeal. Objects on display are often viewed as curiosities, as artifacts that are not encountered in everyday life. In this regard, mass-produced objects are better representations of the materiality of our culture, or as specimens describing contexts of use.

Ephemera
Graphic design is often ephemeral or created for a specific event/cause. Yet the materials of many art objects are designed to last a millennium. Art objects in galleries are often archivally-protected behind vitrines or controlled lighting, framed on acid-free paper. Art historians often draw conclusions about civilizations from the art that represents them. Graphic design might not only represent a culture, but also transform it.

New Roles
Yet the gallery is shifting roles. Galleries allow more interaction, more usability, and a diversity of objects both on display and for sale. Retail spaces and gallery spaces are often designed with similar standards, so that viewers can feel a sense of ownership over objects and an ability to interact with them. These changes open up opportunities for the display of graphic design and likewise creates new ways for viewers to engage with the work.

This summer, check out an amazing exhibition of design that brings new ideas in exhibition design, making design seem well-placed in the gallery. Some picks:

Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC (through February 2009)

Design for the Other 90% at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (through September 7)

Everyday Design at the AIGA gallery in New York (through August 15)

The Graphic Imperative at Illinois State University (opens September 1)

Graphic Thought Facility at the Art Institute of Chicago (through August 17)

Got another recommendation? Post it!

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