Objective vs. Subjective

Research:
'A Dutch battle that still rattles'

Two designers, Wim Crouwel and Jan Van Toorn clash greatly on their opinion of the ethical, political an cultural ramifications of graphic design. Their famous quarrel in 1940, was over the over-commercialisation of design. Crouwel considers the designer to be 'a selfless messenger' whereas Toorn see's them as an 'interventionist- and 'enabler of criticism and empowerment'.  The former believes that the designer should simply present this message to its recipient, thus seeing it as a designers job to simply translate and make everything as easy as possible for the viewer. Contrastingly, Toorn takes a more subjective viewpoint, stating that we are responsible for our actions, and that we are thus a subjective link, meaning the work can be as subjective as one wants. 

questioning - the social and professional role of the designer, the value of grids, and typographic tradition
- should we be restricted?
- are there actually rules within design or is it more open than that
- if we are all different, don't people see things better in some ways than others - thus it could be more transparent to one person something that is so unclear for another.

Similarly to Van Toorn's standpoint of subjectivity in design, Paul Mijksenaar agrees, believing that "airports in English speaking countries should only use English in their sign systems and never a second language as to not patronise the traveller who doesn't speak English". He thus views multilingual signs on subjectivity of his own opinion rather than practicality and functionality of the sign system itself.
Experimental Jetset also agree with this view, embracing the creativity of subjective elements of graphic design, in aesthetics and concept, stating that going beyond the idea of functionality should be appreciated. 

However, Van Toorn does agree that grids can sometimes be highly effective in communication, but this should not be used as the only approach towards such design. Likewise, Experimental Jetset believe that "most sign systems have the appearance of an objective, functional construction, but under the surface can have many subjective motives".
 
Bruno Munari also suggests that when signs are used in fields, such as music and visual poetry, these can be more expressive of ourselves (subjectivity). Although, many signs must remain objective, such as road signs, in that we have been conditioned to know what they mean objectively and if not followed these can have serious consequences. Thus stating that both are important depending on what situation or purpose the design is for, and that there are times in design for interpretation and times for aiding.