Devlin – thinks her job as a set designer in the theatre is to find “little chinks in the armour of the brain”. When she gets it right, complex ideas and even archaic language suddenly make perfect sense to an audience. “You get these tiny opportunities where people relax enough to feel that everything is familiar and they can follow the story,” she says. “We all know that feeling when we go to the theatre and we’re either relaxed knowing we’re in good hands, or anxious because we’re in crap hands and it’s going to be a shit night.”
I think this idea can be extended to graphic design- when we’re watching a moving piece or reading a publication that doesn’t communicate clearly, we are confused and become uninterested. When designs are clear, and the audience have an “ah-ha” moment, a personal relationship is formed between the viewer, the designer and the work.
