Timeline Inspiration

As I'm working on the visual team for Project 1, I've been looking at a good amount of timelines, infographics, and ways of charting and organizing data. A few of the most inspiring projects I found were the following:

The Feltron Annual Report by Nicholas Felton:

The Creative Process by Rui Ribiero:

Charting the Beatles by Michael Deal

Citizen Designer

          I enjoyed Katherine McCoy's article on value-free design, I think she made some great points about the responsibilities designers face that I've been hearing more and more. Considering that this was written close to 20 years ago, I think that design and design education particularly has come a long way from the disconnectedness that she discusses. At least in my educational experience (and maybe I'm just lucky), I feel there's always been a strong emphasis on the content and the substance behind design. Particularly in my studies abroad in London, the content was almost more scrutinized than the actual visual outcome.
          I will also admit though, that there is still, and likely always will be a very much corporate side to design. It's unavoidable really, particularly as we are graduating students with a great deal of debt on our shoulders. I'm sure that I will end up designing projects for clients who are not changing the world for the better. However, I can safely say that I would never feel comfortable doing good design for a company that is disseminating hurtful or greed-based information. I simply couldn't do it, regardless of the paycheck. I feel more and more strongly that good design drives people, and it makes or breaks a message in almost any context. As Maud Lavin said, "our culture is dominated by the visual." Designers therefore hold a huge amount of responsibility in their hands, and should avoid using it for less than admirable causes. As McCoy stated, there simply isn't such a thing as value-free design.
          That said, I don't personally feel I'm the sort of designer who will go out and present loud challenging messages to the masses. As important as I feel that is, I know I'm more of the type to work towards social good in smaller ways, fighting against corporate manipulation on a more person-to-person level. I think change can be encouraged even in the smallest details, and I think that personally that's where I'll be focused in my career. That could change, but for now I think that a conceptual awareness is enough for me and my work as I develop it.

Good Citizenship

Silicon Valley & SF

I just came across this 'diary' written by Rebecca Solnit about the effects of the success of Silicon Valley on the dynamics of the city of San Francisco. It's very interesting, and rings very true to the changes that are surely happening around us. It's certainly a case of design bringing about huge social change- possibly not intentionally, but change nonetheless.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n03/rebecca-solnit/diary

First Things First

            I remember reading the First Things First manifesto last fall in my Professional Practice class, and immediately connecting with it completely. I was so excited to see all these influencial and highly successful designers who had signed this statement, which talked about something that I had personally thought about quite a bit. The misconception that graphic design is a tool to aid in advertising and marketing and consumerism is one that I myself bought into not all that long ago. I didn’t start out as a Design major here, likely for precisely that reason, though I don’t think I ever consciously realized it. After beginning to study and immerse myself in the world of design however, I of course quickly realized that it is far from design’s only purpose. It’s sad that this has become one of design’s foremost focuses, though it makes a great deal of sense in a way. Advertising and marketing are certainly where much of the money and exposure are; that is after all their ultimate goal.

            I personally believe that designers should make the choice and feel responsible for who it is and what it is that they are designing for. I don’t think it’s possible to say that values do not matter in this regard. When I look around, I constantly see how essential design is to the success of just about anything. Granted, I am a visual person, but I think that no matter who you are, the design of something will have an enormous impact on you, whether you are aware of it or not. As Rick Poynor stated, “the content is always mediated by the design, and it’s the design that helps direct how we perceive it and how it makes us feel.” I think as designers we need to be aware of this power that we possess, and use it for forces of good wherever possible. I don’t think it’s realistic at all to wish that designers would stop working for big companies and in advertising, it simply won’t happen, but I do hope that talented designers could have the strength to reject projects in which their talents were being used to distribute negative or harmful messages, no matter the salary attached.

            I know that in my own career I will be consciously working hard to do work for clients with good values, or for projects that I believe in. I think that designers hold an immense amount of influencial power in their hands, and where they choose to invest that power is key. As Poynor also points out, advertising does pay the bills, and I’m sure I won’t be immune to this sort of work, however I also know that I couldn’t do great design for a client who’s values I question. I think it’s really exciting the sort of impact designers can have, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can do with my own abilities. I look around sometimes and see ads and publicity for really important things, animal shelters and homeless services for example, who have no money to produce these things and it shows. It makes me sad because their poor design will go quickly overlooked. It might be naïve of me, but I hope I can be successful enough in the future to help such organizations even though they can’t afford to pay much. 

Manifesto

First Things First Revisited