Master of Design class of 2011:
Omnia Attalah, Candace Ellicott, Patrick Foster, Grad Gao, Saijia Sun, Jessica Wang, Yujing Wang

Design Through the Rear View Mirror

edited by Michael LeBlanc

102 pages 7.5 x 7.5”
Full colour Softcover perfect-bound
Price $24.90
Buy it at lulu.com or view online at issuu.com

From the introduction:

We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.
-Marshall McLuhan

The half-baked dreams that emerge from the maws of our imaginations are most often the result of combinations of deviant ideas. While it is true that ‘innovations’ are composed of many small incremental and reasonable improvements, ‘revolutions’ are not the result of reason. They are the result of one idea striking another unrelated idea to create an independently significant concept. Most of these examples of recombinant thought—like Richard Dawkins’ monstrous biomorphs—are cast aside, stillborn. Yet if we are favourable to them, a minute fraction of these notions can emerge with promise. William Blake understood the origins of the creative act, which is why he considered that “improvement makes straight roads, but crooked roads ... are roads of genius.”

These projects—the result of six class days of speculation on six crazy ideas—reflect in different ways on how visual language changes with time and culture. The questions that were posed are intended to mix meaning with temporal considerations, forcing students to literally “design through the rear view mirror.” The notions that they present in this book will help to augment the possibility that interesting scenarios—ripe for future contemplation—might emerge from these day-long meditations.

—Michael LeBlanc, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Design