Design & Ethics

"First Things First" Manifestos
Although I initially had some trouble understanding these two works, I ended up finding them to be extremely informative.  To me, these works, especially "Design Is About Democracy," contain interesting and useful information.  One of the most interesting statements I came across while reading is, "What seduces us is its 'image.'  This image reaches us first as a visual entity--shape, color, picture, type. But if it's to work its effect on us it must become an idea."  In other words, a successful design must be both visually appealing and mentally stimulating.

It seems to me that advertising and design are quite closely related.  According to the "Design Is About Democracy" piece, "We imagine that we engage directly with the 'content' of the magazine, the TV commercial, the pasta sauce, or perfume, but the content is always mediated by design and it is design that helps direct how we perceive it and how it makes us feel."  Therefore, the design of an advertisement can essentially make or break a product and its level of success, or lack thereof.

The article by Matthew Soar, "The First Things First Manifesto and the Politics of Culture Jamming," discusses, in length, the focus, the opinions, and the pros and cons of the manifesto.  Relative to the piece "Design Is About Democracy," Soar brings up the topic of advertising versus design.  He gives his readers the opinions of others on the subject of how similar they really are, and how they relate to one another.

I found the following statements to be important ones in the articles:

• "By far the greatest effort of those working in the advertising industry are wasted on [trivial purposes, like selling cat food, detergent, etc.], which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity."
• "We are proposing a reversal of priorities in favor of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication."
• "We imagine that we engage directly with the 'content' of the magazine, the TV commercial, the pasta sauce, or perfume, but the content is always mediated by design and it is design that helps direct how we perceive it and how it makes us feel."
• "What seduces us is its 'image.'  This image reaches us first as a visual entity--shape, color, picture, type.  But if it's to work its effect on us it must become an idea."
• "The critical distinction drawn by the manifesto was between design as communication (giving people necessary information) and design as persuasion (trying to get them to buy things.)"
• The British designer Jock Kinneir stated, "Designers oriented in this direction are concerned less with persuasion and more with information, less with income brackets and more with physiology, less with taste and more with efficiency, less with fashion and more with amenity.  They are concerned in helping people to find their way, to understand what is required of them, to grasp new processes and to use instruments and machines more easily."
• "It's possible for visual communicators to discover alternative ways of operating in design."
• "At root, it's about democracy.  The escalating commercial take-over of everyday life makes democratic resistance more vital than ever."
• "In contrast to design, there seems to be something resolutely furtive or even confessional about the notion of ad people taking the time to criticize the workings of their own profession."
• "By broadening the focus of critical attention in these ways we can continue to tease out the characteristic contours of the relationship between the subjective claims of designers and ad creatives and the structural constraints within which they generally operate; to explore the ways in which commercial practice enables non-commercial endeavours; and, to identify those subjective and/or structural elements that ultimately result in conservative, regressive or even pernicious 'texts.'"

"A Critique of American Apparel"

The company American Apparel is praised for their 'sweat-shop free' practices and 'environmental initiatives,' but people are more concerned with the way by which the company promotes itself.  The advertisements for American Apparel are said to 'emulate amateur pornography,' which contradicts the idea of 'ethics [being] central to their production.

This article brings up excellent points regarding the controversy that surrounds American Apparel.  If this company is so 'ethical and socially responsible', why are its advertisements so provocative?  Shouldn't they be more on the conservative side?  But, I guess it's true--sex does sell.

Key Points:

• "It is ironic that a company that so heavily markets itself as being 'socially responsible' has no problem using images of young women that continue practices of subordination."
• "The re-appropriation of 1970s imagery [is one of the tactics the company uses.]  This is seen to be an attempt to invoke nostalgia for a sexually liberated time, pre-AIDS consciousness."
• "Ethical practices American Apparel employ detract from their unethical portrayal of women within their advertisements."

"Ethical Design Education"

My favorite statement from this article is, "We're all slaves of seasonal trends and fickle consumers, we're creatures of a throwaway culture."  This statement caught my attention because it has so much truth to it. Although we might not realize it, we all, in some way or another, follow these trends.  Such styles come and go from season to season, hence the name 'trends'--they don't last forever.

In order to learn, we must 'step out of our comfort zone.'  Just as in any other profession, designers learn from their mistakes.  A successful designer is one who accepts his or her failures as experiences.  From these experiences, he or she is able to improve his or her design skills.

Key Points:

• "I interpret ethics to mean that we have a moral duty, an obligation to our fellow humans and other living creatures."
• "We're all slaves of seasonal trends and fickle consumers, we're creatures of a throwaway culture."
• "It's important, at times, to step out of our comfort zone."
• "Even though people's circumstances and cultures are different, they value the same things."
• "We'll just call it design--a nobel and necessary human activity."

"The Responsibilities of the Design Profession"

This author of this article makes a valid point when he states that, "Designers should in the future be educated and not merely trained."  I strongly agree with this statement because I believe that in order to create a successful design, one must educated on the subject of design.  Without an educational background in design, one is not able to accurately design.

It is amazing to me how prominent design is across the globe.  Everywhere we look, design is there.  Even when we don't see or realize it, design is there.  It seems to me that so many people are unaware of the impact design has on everything.  I suppose if one is not a designer it is not really something one thinks about.

Key Points:

• "The majority of today's designers are formally trained and highly professional in their attitude to their work, and their training has given the best of them great fluency in the visual language of this age.  This change in the status and training of designers is perhaps the most significant development in the profession during the past decade."
• "If we examine the development of design over the past 150 years it is apparent that designers are faced today with a profound challenge not to their ability, but to their integrity."
• "No matter how brief the message or how small the article (or how bad the end result) every product and every printed sheet is designed by somebody.  Quite often many people contribute to the final results."
• "Unhappily, there are clear indications that both in the graphic and product design fields far too many designers are today working for the approbation of their colleagues rather than in an honest attempt to solve specific design problems to the best of their ability.  They are motivated by fashion rather than conviction and they are rapidly undermining the basis and principles of twentieth century design."
• "As design has progressed from an amateur to a professional activity the jobs and the opportunities have grown larger, too."