What should be on your mind (REDUX)

Hello everyone! This will be the first post of this blog. Now the question above isn't meant to force you think about this post specifically, but jump-start your mind into thinking about things of importance. In this case, this post is a mere example about design. I feel as a budding designer, that it would be important to think about the general audience in which you design for as well as trying to make your designs help society.

Design has been crucial for many things in societies around the world, such as ballots for elections and designing medical equipment. However, I'm not a designer of such things. That being so I am, by definition, a graphic designer and while graphic design may focus more on logos and other graphics(and oh so much more!), we still can make a significant mark or change. There are many examples of how graphic designers have brought about benefit for the masses, but as time has gone on, many young or more recent designers go for aesthetic rather than what is actually being advertised. While reading the "First things first :Revisited" essay, by Rick Poynor, I began to think more about how design, especially design in the graphic or advertisement fields seems to have evolved into this idea of being just the next "cool" thing. I suppose anything that starts with good intentions can eventually get corrupt in some way. For instance, the way women's bodies are used to sell products around the world, which if course fits in with the "sex sells" strategy, but is it really necessary? Most would say that it wasn't if they were given the time to really think about it. Good design doesn't have to use things like subliminal messaging or "cheap" tricks to get a message across, sometimes good design works best when the message is clear to see. I feel people would appreciate designs that actually did some good and not just add to the pollution of misinformation.

How do we start creating a beneficial design? Well, let's first think about the topic of which your design should be based around. Now how can we transcribe a clear message about this topic without any flashy or distracting elements? Got something? Good! Now let's get crackin' on creating it. Good design shouldn't just focus on the thought and message, it should also focus on the materials used. How can this be efficient? Does it have to use paper? Would printing it on something, like a t-shirt, have a bigger impact? There are so many things to consider when creating a beneficial design. Often times the amount of effort is underestimated and sometimes even under-appreciated. Even if you don't have a project you aren't working on, it's still good practice to try and think about these things. Anyway, I don't know how effective this was in turning the gears in your mind, but I hope I could at least give some food for thought.