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Design won’t save the world
I am a designer and love my job, just like any other creative worker I guess. However there is a tendancy that I hate and that I notice frequently among designers: they tend to think of themselves as being important. The t-shirt that you can see under is a good example of that, even though it was probably meant to be humouristic (I hope).
So I was glad to see the rant of Frank Chimero, a great Chicago-based illustrator, on Flickr. He created a design with the opposite baseline: “Design won’t save the world”, and explains why he thinks saying something else is pretentious and what’s wrong with that mentality.
I’ve seen the sentiment in other places. I think it’s misleading and primarily flawed; it’s inaction cleverly disguised as action. If you want to save the world, start by saving what’s prevalent in it: people. Help them. Love them.
So what do you think about this? Will design save the world for you?
Good post. It’s crucial that people don’t hide behind excuses to avoid making a real difference!
That first image is pretty funny
We wouldn’t really mind to give a hand to the world by designing, would we? Ads, newspapers, video, everything we do can be seen and that’s our advantage.
well…designing new infrustructures: government, education or renewable energy sources can help save the world…
I agree with va1d1v1a……design is mispercieved here….design not graphic design…this construct we live in is a design…I also do not think that people are prevalant….the enviroment is. People are sadly disposable which on a sick level we get, but on a real level we dont fully understand.
So design just gets to destroy the world?
Lame.
There are thousands of real world examples of design doing good things in the world. Educate yourselves.
haha…i think most peoples first reaction will always be tilted to the negative side. Design, especially graphic design, has a bad reputation these days because so many people do it poorly, so I can understand where this negativity is coming from.
But still, the definition alone should make one feel like design can save the world:the act of working out the form of something (as by making a sketch or outline or plan)
its the first step before rolling up your sleeves to create what you designed.
Actually, in comment to the response shirt above…i dont know how volunteering at a soup kitchen will save the world.
@Peter
Maybe you should read the post before overreacting. This is not about whether design will or not save the world, but about the attitude of a certain type of designers who overestimate the impact of their work on the world.
To all, I really agree with Frank’s quote, I don’t really care about the design so much, even though I like it for its provocating aspect.
I think that the cloth is something that tells somethings…. you can were an advertising that says the name of the brand like nike…. or you can were something giving a constant message .. and why not messages that make conscious.
But I agree with you that message is king of stupid… better like avoid children abuse… something like that.
It could be a good way to help the wold
I agree wholeheartedly that in my short life time, the most self-important people I’ve come across, are those working in the creative industry, film actually being the worst. (which is overrun with high school drop outs) But to be fair, great graphic designers are artists and artists have always been allowed to have a special license to be utterly self-indulgent and think that what they’re doing is infinitely important, right? Beautiful things also make people happy, and happy people make for a better environment, so go on then, let them have their moment
We wouldn’t really mind to give a hand to the world by designing,
design will not save the world, unless you design something that will have a positive impact AND it gets built/implemented. if it doesn’t get implemented, it’s just more dead tree going straight to landfill.
Design makes people happy?
Are we in the western world happier than the people in Africa? No.
So what has design brought us? Nothing but greed
Should we bring all our “helping” designs to less developed countries, I dont think so because design will not save the world.
I personnally agree with the poster of this message.
Though designers(especially architects) can and do create things that are useful to the planet and to people in general (especially with that trend of renewable energies and ecology), they often clearly have a tendancy to feel more important and better than anyone else. Especially graphic designers.
So I find the first image (which is proudly my desktop wallpaper) pretty awesome.
It’s especially funny since it was made itself by a graphic designer, but one with a good sense humour and self-derision.
To Mirko!
None of you retards even know what your talking about. For instance without design, there would be no computers and defiantly no internet. There would also be no furniture or artwork, without that you might as well just be suits walking around. A designer is a person who takes a current situation and progresses it into a preferred one.
From a 3rd year studying designer
Design will save the world. Unfortunately fashion industry won’t. Industrial, medical, scientific design will indeed save the world. Fashion design makes you a pretentious faggot everbody hates.
Design is about change. Design helps you to understand a message in a paper, in a magazine or on a website. Design influences what you buy and what not. Design influences what you think and what not.
But design is not a goal on itself. It’s about the message.
As a designer you can change the world by choosing which clients you work for and which message you help sending. Or ofcourse by making your own message.
i see a lot of american short term thinkers…
there´s no way design is going to save the world as long as we design a lot of crap we don´t need or use. if you realy want to help this planet…design a human 2.0
stop consuming and think different about everithing that made us arteficial….(governments, education, re-necletical energy sources)
believe nothing…think about it!
Ok. So what if we say “design won’t change the world”. What good is that going to do? We could also say, the United States of America will never achieve true democracy, so just let the politicians screw up our country. By saying things like these, we are only further procrastinating issues that need to be fixed. We are settling for less than what could be achieved. Sure, some design may not change society, but that is not to say that it cannot do so.
I agree with bart in that design is about the message. By purposeful things, no matter how small they may be, we are part of the change of global ideology that we want to see. By putting each other down, and calling each other worthless isn’t doing anything. Come on people.
+ No, DESIGN, won’t save the world. In fact, nothing will. But Could help.
DESIGN = It’s a way of beeing.
Creating a Design work/product, it envolves a inumerous areas of knowledgment. Some of them are not allowed to the “comun” people, just because a normal person won’t achieve the true message.
Ex.: Coca-Cola comercials….. they are sellling beauty; youngness; hapiness; energy… IF YOU drink it. YOU COULD BE LIKE THEM.
Do you think that what you see, it’s what YOU SEE??