Comments on: On Social Responsibility

By: neoGT

neoGT — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:37:58 +0000

i agree with both of you. Humbly id like to add that i believe our work is to effectively inform whichever product and/or service our clients has to offer to their costumers, if we succeed on doing that i believe our job is done. Of course that the more appropriate the message is to the given target market our clients goal is the better we are. The thing is ive seen so many “graphic design” work pass as “great” just by being surprising or even tacky that ive found myself dumbfounded after analizing if the visual representation of that designer on the clients product hasnt been on my cirtique the best. Yes, people might remember those campaigns cuz their were subversive but was it really effective? I believe that by using the internet as the tool it is and researching the old, current and future trends we can have a better impact on the clients sales or needs therefore “the company” and their product and/or service being the one having the impact on the final consumer. Design is just a medium (an important one :D). What designers need is more honest constructive critique and less praise.
(let me know what u think and ill post back)

By: Dickson Fong

Dickson Fong — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:21:19 +0000

Virtual: I agree that some design work imparts negative values on the audience, but I think this is where it becomes a sticky subject. How do we decide between these positive and negative values? Should we really even be deciding for people? For example, I have nothing against alcohol and sexy lingerie advertisements. In the end, they’re just products that we use. However, if they’re advertisements that encourage drunk driving or promote prostitution rings, then yes, I do have an objection. But even so, that’s just my opinion. Someone else may have different ideals.

By: Virtual assitant 08

Virtual assitant 08 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:03:03 +0000

I totally agree with you…… You know what, this post should be read by those companies and designers who mess so much with designing to the extent that they actually impart negative values and attitudes to the people viewing the image…. For instance, in billboards, there are so many obscene images that are posted in highways and busy streets such as sensual and lewd ads of under wears and alcoholic beverages. The designers are responsible in badly facilitating the creation of the end product. Hence, that should remind them that they should exercise social responsibility with regards to their work… >:/

By: Dickson Fong

Dickson Fong — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:56:43 +0000

Vincent: Thanks for pointing me to your Hubris post… I hadn’t read that one yet, and you bring up some good points.

After writing this post, and also having just read yours, I’m starting to think that there’s a flaw in this kind of thinking. While I still think that we should have some responsibility to make a positive change in this world, I’m wondering if we should really be the Communications Police. Seems rather idealistic in a totalitarian greater-than-thou kind of way. In other words, it just seems wrong, don’t you think?

I think I need to work on a follow-up post…

By: Vincent

Vincent — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:06:47 +0000

You pretty much said exactly what I was going for in my Hubris post, much more succinctly than I did.

I agree though. It’s important to realize that what we do as designers can have a direct impact on the rest of the world.

Some might call that egotistical, because we’re ultimately here to answer a brief and make our clients happy while at the same time keeping food on the table and a roof over our heads. But design has such a serious effect on the human psyche — effective design does, anyway — that we need to be careful as to what, exactly, we’re doing with our billable hours.