======Post-formalism======

====Today’s state of cultural literacy is characterized by:====

  * A non-critical culture of “browsing” fueled by digital media that flattens hierarchies of value and quality
  * A dilution of expertise, specific knowledge, and considered points of view
  * A proliferation of re-presentations of cultural artifacts that are divorced from original context, audience, and author
  * A culture of “likes” and “hates” wherein respectful discourse is replaced by comments and re-posting
  * A lack of skepticism or criticality of media that results in a shallowness of knowledge and lack of exposure to divergent, contradictory or minority perspectives
  * The increasing availability and sophistication of graphic design tools and templates
  * Form is no longer an end in itself, but rather a by-product of process and inquiry.



====The Post-Formal approach to graphic design is concerned with:====
  * Formal agility over formal innovation
  * Inquiry over commentary
  * Technology over technique
  * Critically engaging with problematic contemporary hierarchies over obeying traditional hierarchies
  * Crafting process over crafting outcomes
  * The non-formal, a-formal, non-visual, multi-modal and speculative over default, standard visual formats
  * Identifying and defining criteria for excellence across media over technical mastery of specific media
  * Locating one’s practice in the landscape of contemporary discourse over personal voice
  * Learning to assess new unknown known over collecting the known known
  * Balancing skepticism and imagination