Design, Culture and Language

Design, culture and language are three distinct concepts. Design is the purposeful arrangement of various objects to be aesthetically pleasing. The objects can include everything, from furniture to houses to art. Culture is a collection of characteristics and beliefs shared by a group of people, for example a city, or state, or country. Finally, language is a system of words used to communicate between people and there are hundreds in existence across the globe.

All three are related to and affect each other. Design greatly influences both culture and language. It shapes a society's culture, nurtures it and is constantly changing. Design also influences language in that language is constantly fluctuating, often as a result of changes in design. Sometimes language is invented because of design. Culture is influenced by and is an influence on both design and language. It is the result of new and old designs, and is continuously adapting to fit design. It also influences it. For example, an aspect of a specific culture could have a heavy impact on the types of designs present in a society. Culture also affects language since most of the time, a specific culture will determine the language spoken in that region. Culture also influences adaptations in language. For example, in Britain the word "Muggle" derived from J.K Rowling's Harry Potter was officially added to the English language. Finally, language indeed influences design and culture though not as strongly as the other two. Languages are often associated with the cultures and regions they're most common in, for example English with American and England, Arabic with the Middle East and so on.Also, design is a product of language since language is used to convey new and old designs. A perfect example of this is typefaces and their influence on graphic design.

An example of the intersection of all three would be a magazine or newspaper. Here, the layout and content are all determined by design, culture and language. Culture would determine the content and language, as well as design. Design would influence the language used as well as typefaces. And, language would determine both the content and design.