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?