User:Marlon/Graduate Research Seminar/thesis/draft

Template

Subject

Template Culture

Introduction

A template is the "pattern or gauge for shaping a piece of work", the 'modelvorm' that guarantees two pieces of work (a brick, an image, a letter) are identical, created from the same mold. And if they're not completely similar in looks, they are at least based on the same structure or framework. In 2014, the first template that comes to mind (and appears in a Google search) is the web template, that arranges elements of a website into a layout. Choose a design, insert your content, generate a website!

But the template exists everywhere: IKEA furniture, phone apps that promise to be tools that help you 'design your life' or the white walls of a gallery space. I'm especially interested in templates that are prominent in (graphic) design, web and lifestyle: from design tools to photo-sharing websites. And from decorative 'sjablonen' to Instagram filters.

I'm using a very broad interpretation of the word template, both literal and metaphorical. In some cases the term will be used to describe a situation where there exists a much imitated, conventional model: the template as a trope or trend.

We're surrounded with templates because:

a. They follow the same pattern we're familiar with, we're used to them

b. They require little work (or coding knowledge), because of their limitations they make decisions for you

c. They are for everyone! Easy to understand, quick to generate

d. You can customise them to your liking!

Tumblr

Popular micro-blogging service Tumblr, is quick and easy to use. Offers its users (free and pay-to-play) themes for the layout of their blogs. Its use is quite varied: from making friends and maintaining personal blogs and fan sites to professional design portfolios. There is a lot of repetitive –symbolised by the never-ending scrolling layout– content, partly due to its 'reblogging' feature. Blogs are often dedicated to one topic, phenomena or file type (see: "selfies at funerals"). Multiple blogs with the same purpose, name, style ("fuckyeah1990s", "fuckyeahdykes", "fuckyeahmiyazaki", etc).

Tumblr will be used as a main example. Not only does it use templates, but it has repetitive content, promotes a new visual language and has a "trend-setting" community.

Key questions

Are templates presets that generate not just similar design, but also similar content?

Do they liberate or limit their users?

Do these templates signify a graphic design crisis?

Chapters

1. The Template

20 Free And Premium Beautiful Tumblr Themes

This chapter will raise questions about templates in a web environment and uses the Tumblr layout templates called 'Themes' to do so. Why do they exist, what do they promise?

Research material:

1. Why are they made? Discussing the template as a general framework that makes websites behave the way we want in a very wide range of different devices and browsers, monitors and screen resolutions, and bandwidth capacities. Their restrictions are a necessity. Websites need to be moulded into an average shape that works well for everyone. Easy to access, navigate, understand. They're based on the same code and stem from the same databases, which also restricts and defines the way they look.

1a. Code and image are separated. Form from function, source from output, coder from designer. Link to graphic design issue: what are the limitations and boundaries for designers?

2. Who makes them? Tumblr themes are created by professionals and by "amateurs": who gets paid and who does not? And are those professionals the designers or the coders?

3. What do templates 'promise'? And how are they promoted? Here I'll be looking into what makes templates so popular (or inescapable), possibly the attraction of customisation and personification. Written as a (short) ending paragraph which >> leads to next chapter:

2. The Add-on

9 Widgets to Improve Your Tumblr

The Tumblr dashboard, the customisation options and different widgets form the basis of this chapter. Do seemingly superficial add-ons and changes to the template really make you(r website) more custom, different, personal?

1. "Customize", limited options. No structural changes. Unless you know code.

1a. Broader context: Offering a 'custom selection or packages' of modules, options, steps and upgrades attracts users/clients. Covering up the basic, core product. When buying a web domain, selecting health insurance, putting together a sandwich at Subway.

2. "Dashboard", personalise your blog. With widgets that are created for, but not by, Tumblr (and possibly go against its 'less is more' routine).

3. User-generated

A template is easy to use, we enjoy this, because it requires us to think less. Is there truth in the statement that these templates not just result in a similarity in appearance, but also create homogeneity of content and its users?

4. Design crisis

Chapter on a possible crisis in (commercial) graphic design. Researching the question, is a designer now designated to create the tools, the templates, "the user-friendly environment"?

Conclusion

Bibliography

Map and reading list

Articles

The Generative Bedrock of Open Design, Michel Avital

Redesigning Design, Jos de Mul

Skeleton, Corset, Skin, Femke Snelting

Books

Mackenzie, A. (2002), Transductions

Bowker, G.C. and Star, S.L. (2001), Sorting Things Out

Katherine Hayles, N. Print is Flat, Code Is Deep,

Lampand, M. and Star, S. (2008) Standards and Their Stories

de Rijk, T. (2010) Norm=Form

Andrejevic, M. (2004) Reality TV

Galloway, A. (2012) The Interface Effect

Manovich, L. (2008) Software Takes Command