Master’s Thesis - What is the role of the grid in bringing order to Chaos?
The first edition of System magazine focuses on systems in nature as an overarching theme. The subtitle ‘Two dragons fight in the meadow, their blood is black and yellow’ is a line taken from writings found within Asian philosophy, wherein the black dragon symbolises heaven and the yellow dragon symbolises earth. By making this subheading the running head within each spread of the book, the viewer is reminded to make connections between the content they are reading and the overarching theme of chaos and order in nature.
The second edition of System magazine is similar in that the same running head is used throughout the entire publication, which focuses on man made systems as the overarching theme. The subtitle ‘Systems are not made of bricks they are mostly made of people’ is a line from the song ‘Big A little A’ by the British punk band, Crass. “Big A Little A”, was a statement of the band’s anti-statist and individualist anarchist philosophy. Although the publication is not intended to function as an anti-statist statement, the lyrics fit well with the ideas about man made systems that are explored in the publication.
Overall, the project gathers information from a variety of primary and secondary sources within the subject areas of science and art, wherein the interdependent themes of grids, order, chaos and systems are prevalent. The publications therefore invite their audience to explore systems through both through the physical design of the page and the content it carries. The designs of the page layouts throughout the publications aim to strike a balance between consistency and variability, wherein the structure of each page should reflect differing content yet still feel part of a greater whole in the viewer’s mind.
The subject areas explored should naturally appeal to students and practitioners of art and design with some existing subject knowledge about the themes explored. The project therefore fits into the wide range of existing material on grids and systems, with the aim of informing and inspiring its readers to make connections between a range of related subjects and explore the grid beyond its literal sense.
