Decontextualization, as you may have guessed it, is the act of stripping something out of its context. Design is intrinsically tied to the context in which it was brought into existence; decontextualizing it yields some devastating effects. Sadly enough, the current trends in the design community seem to favor decontextualization at an unwitnessed scale.

Our daily intake of inspirational lists, showcases and galleries has hit an all-time high. Such feeds strip designs of all their context (problem solving aspects) and emphasize on their style and pixel-perfection. If you think that there is nothing wrong with this, then I have bad news for you: design is not bodybuilding. It’s not about how bulgy and shiny your muscles are, but it’s about how you use them to solve problems and achieve results.

Shots of Doom

And if inspirational feeds weren’t enough for you, the new craze in the design community of WIP shots is here to insatiate your thirst for pixel-perfection. For those of you who do not have at least one designer friend, WIP shots is the backbone concept of dribbble and forrst (everyone seems to be stuttering these days…), two new social networks where designers can share their WIP designs. Both services are invite-only, creating thus an illusion of rarity that has spurred an unparalleled fever in the design community; there are far less invites than designers desperately seeking the me-too stamp of approval.

Personally I have nothing against the concept itself. I know the people behind these services, and I admit that they have done -for the most part- an awesome job. Dribbble and Forrst are convenient for designers actively seeking feedback from peers, provided that they give enough background information about their works.

Hey, I am awesome and so is my WIP. — Random Dribbble user

Unfortunately, these services became the hotspot of design exhibitionism. Most designers provide few or no background information at all, and most commenters don’t even bother to ask. Comments are for the most part of the “Awesome work pal!” ilk or, even worse, something in the lines of “The letterpress effect seems out of place”. If you are looking for real design criticism, you better go look elsewhere.

Putting context in context

All veteran designers would agree with the fact that when design is out of context, it is insignificant at best. When presenting a design, whatever it might be, including some basic information such as its concept, its target audience and its objectives is mandatory.

Design is not pure art. Design is about solving problems, and appreciating design work involves looking at its ability to solve the problems the designer was initially assigned. With the lack of context, we end up glorifying style and beauty, and that’s fine as far as pixelbuilding goes; not for real design.

For instance, thre is one logo that has been making the rounds of design themed blogs, touted as one of the smartest logo designs ever. Most of you will recognize it instantly.

It is hard to argue that the concept behind this logo is solid, with a good execution. However, is this enough to make of it a good logo? let alone the best one of the lot?

The short answer is No.

First of all, there is not enough background info about this logo: What kind of golf club is this representing? Who is its audience? Why Spartan? and so on. Second, what many of you might not know is that this logo was not made for an existing brand or business. Anyone can get this logo for a thousand bucks here. I have nothing against Brandstack selling ready-made brands and logos to impatient business owners, but glorifying a decontextualized logo is a sign that we have turned into avid pixelbuilding fans who care more about smart concepts and design skillz than about anything else.

Again, I remind you that I have nothing against visual appeal in design, and you needn’t to look further than the header of this page to realize that I am pixelbuilding junkie myself.
However, I have grown less and less tolerant to decontextualized design work, especially after noticing that my designs are getting fattier and fattier due to my daily intake of pixel-fat over at Dribbble’s and the like. Sorry my designer friends, but I am starting a spartan pixel-diet.

And no, I have no account on dribbble. Thank you.