Thoughts on assigned readings

Well it’s about that time again to get our minds thinking in all things design. This week I will be reflecting on some issues brought up in a few articles I have read over the past week. Designers are an important part of society and have been drivers for social and political change.

             Designers are talked about as important part of society that can help form the world around us, however some value in social change has been lost over the years due to ethics being put the wayside in order to obtain more of a paycheck as well as a sheer disinterest in current events. That’s not to say that all designers do this or that most don’t care, they do, just it’s not something that happens to be at the forefront of the mind. Another thing that seems to somewhat hinder people from designing things aimed more towards change, is the mindset that you have to be “professional” in everything you do. While being professional is certainly an important part of working, being professional also tends to mean to put emotions aside in favor of work. In most cases this is preferable, however, when it comes to things that involve social or political issues, emotions tend to be what drives and defines. Being professional in that situation usually means to keep quiet or go with the status quo. If designers can let their emotions be inspiration to create designs for change, then maybe it would help designers think about their designs more. But the same can be said for designers working for a brand. In the book “Obey the Giant” by Rick Poynor, brings up this issue in the introduction. Being a designer under a brand restricts and even prevents how you can express yourself. Not to say all brand corporations are as such, but a majority of these corporations have an image to up hold and will do what they can to ensure that image. While designers may be important, their role can sometimes be underplayed, as read in “Collectivism in the Decade of Greed”. The designer is described as a sort of “clean up” crew in the sense that companies want to promise something like a clean new world and it falls on the designers to try and present this “messy reality” as a clean ideal.