Massimo Vignelli is a one of the most famous modernist designers in the industry. He developed his own way of working, so much so that he made the Vignelli Canon, a guide to modernist design. Auteur theory states that you can understand works of design through the characteristics of the designer, for example, the technical expertise, style and consistent interior meaning. As Vignelli is a modernist designer, this Auteur theory should not apply to his work - as modernists believe that the function of the design should come before any aesthetic is even considered, meaning that Vignelli's work should not be attached to him, it should clearly display the message of the design and that's that. There should be nothing to "understand", as it's already there on the page.
"Once the author is removed, the claim to decipher a text is quite futile" (Bates, R. 1977) The removal of the author, or in this case, the designer, is the main message in The Death of the Author. It's the idea that something only has one meaning (the authors) is a fallacy. The meaning is created by the readers at the point at which the writing is received, not when written. This idea attacks modernism, as it allows the reader to create their own meaning of the design, rather than accept the design that the designer has created. "A text's unity lies not in its origin, but in it's destination" (Bates, R, 1977) . This text encourages you to challenge the dominant approach of the world, and reject the idea that anything has a fixed meaning. For a modernist designer such as Vignelli, this is problematic because his work is only supposed to have one meaning - the meaning that he gave to it. The text goes on to say "To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text" (Bates, R, 1977). Vignelli's work is so popular, and as his work is well known, it's easy to give his design a designer, much like giving text an author. It limits the design, and makes it about himself rather than the viewer, which goes against what is said in The Death of the Author. It perpetuates the idea of a structural hierarchy in society, where the intelligent are more superior. The intelligent are the "author" in this society, and if you don't understand the "proper" message of Vignelli's work, you must be stupid and unworthy.
This hierarchy is a misconception of society, as the more intelligent should not be based on the meaning they accept. "In a communist society, there are no painters but at most people who engage in painting among other activities" (Marx, K, 1846). The idea that society determines who is successful is truly damaging, and the Auteur theory promotes this. It states that the meaning of something can be found by looking at the author, but once you remove the author, you're free to give it meaning yourself. Auteur theory is debunked because trying to figure out who someone is, or what they mean cannot be done, as they themselves are made up from the society they live in. From this, we can determine that nothing is original, "This author is a modern figure, a product of our society" (Bates, R, 1977).
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