Flat design as visualization of flat ontologies

Abstract

The object of this research is design as a semiotic embodiment of the modern worldview, the quintessence of which are flat ontologies. The subject of the study is parallelism in the philosophy of flat ontologies and modern flat design. The purpose of this study is to explicate the philosophical problem of modern design, which is a consequence of the unconscious expression by designers of the philosophy of flat ontologies. The philosophy of flat ontologies struggles with anthropocentrism, insisting that a person should not have a privileged ontological status compared to other objects. In the philosophy of flat ontologies, a machine or a neural network are agents of action in the same way as a person. Modern flat design is an expression of this position, since the modern visual information environment is less and less adapted to human organs of perception, more and more transhumanistic. Both flat design and flat ontologies are a consequence of the horizontally oriented, materialistic line of philosophy, which forms the worldview of modern society. Thanks to the explication of the problem of flat design, it can be understood that the horizontally oriented line of philosophy is problematic for the further existence of man. The main conclusion of the study is that the horizontally oriented line in philosophy – materialism and positivism – in their logical development lead to the philosophy of flat ontologies, which postulates the same ontological status for human and non-human agents. Such a position is antihuman and transhumanistic, and this becomes evident in the philosophical analysis of modern design. The main stylistics of modern design is a flat design, which uses fourth-order simulacra as the main type of signs. The use of simulacrum signs in design creates an environment that is increasingly less adapted to human organs of perception, a transhumanistic environment.