From Seminal Writing to Dark Patterns
… And Back.
Skimming Is a Shame
As much as it negates the efforts of writers, and contributes to the degradation of design, sadly it is natural. The abundance of digital and physical content devalues the sole purpose of writing — voicing what can’t be voiced..
More so, writing in design becomes a devil’s playground for manipulation, misguiding, deception, and fuckovers. The notorious dark patterns come in hand with a specific type of wording that UX writers have to annihilate.
In this piece, we’ll go deep into the history of writing, analyze the impact it had on the development of society as we know it, see where we stand today, and learn whether modern day writing is a far cry from its great and terrible predecessor. Worth saying, we are not focusing on fiction writing, poetry, and scientific treatise, as they deserve their own research. Instead, we’re interested in the evolution of the most influential texts — the ones that accompany our day to day existence.
Writing to Eternalize Existence
What is known today as writing started much earlier than any system but is systemic in its origin, and thus can be explored. The evolution of the ways to express graphically what we can’t express verbally is an important aspect of our understanding of the future of design. Graphic design is the primogenitor of all forms of modern design.
Whether it was the desire to commemorate the early human finite being or a form of offering to the gods, our prehistoric ancestors across the globe were knowledgeable about the techniques of visual communication.
With the advent of portable media like papyrus, clay tablets, and woodblocks, symbolic writing became reachable by a wide range of people. The symbols became teachable, which turned them into the ultimate and first ever communicative system that could exist autonomously and pass through generations.
The cultural aspect still played a dominant role in the development of graphic design up until the Pre-Christian era when writings became the main influential tool in passing the knowledge that was destined to shape our today’s society.
