The Master Design Generator

THE MASTER DESIGN GENERATOR

Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam, Design Department Yearbook 2011-2012

“The relatively easy access to digital photo and video cameras combined with the global distribution platform of the internet has altered the traditional statistical relationship between image producer and image consumer.” - Boris Groys, Going Public

In times when the role of ‘visual producer’ is not anymore limited to those who called themselves designers, or those from elite institutions, instead, there are growing numbers of visual-generating devices that allow an instant personal creation that was once a task of the professional. Yet it is also the most relevant time to take into account the parallel world of image-making that we are surrounded by - the poetics and aesthetics of the automatic, brainless, massively generative tools.

Among these, easily accessed, do-it-yourself applications exist such as, text generators, image generators, logo generators, and even book layout generators. An ‘internet meme’ has proven itself as one of the most effective platforms in delivering one’s idea across the globe.

A “meme” is a virally-transmitted cultural symbol or social idea, which may take the form of an image, hyperlink, video, picture, or website. It speaks with the use of copied, stolen or adapted images, creating an aesthetic that exhibits the capacity to propel a political voice, an idea, social problem, or a conceptual figure. Memes are blunt, ironic, preposterous, weird, and humorously ‘silly’ creative productions. Yet they are indicative of something larger than they initially seem to embody. Being born and dying every few seconds, the validation of the meme exists within a certain moment, corresponding to the voice of contemporary society.

With such qualities comparable to a visual communicator, The Master Design Generator is made as a tribute to these two parallel worlds. It is practically a yearbook; about the time, the mental-space, the people, and the creation that emerged at this temporary stage.The specific set of conversations and environments was only possible within this particular group and during this specific period of time. A multitude of inside stories that you wouldn’t understand outside the context of this place and time. The Master Design Generator has captured the key moments and generated them into a distributable format.

With this book you are holding in your hands, we aim to represent the fragments of the individuals; as parts, as a whole, as an institute, and above all as the design department of Sandberg 2011-2012.