Good article, by a young designer named Andy Chen about social change and what that may or may not mean. Read for Monday, March 1st.
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Welcome to the blog for the course Contemporary Issues in Design at Oregon State University. This senior level graphic design course is a writing intensive course which focuses on the intersection of writing and design in the context of contemporary culture.
I thought this article was really interesting, albeit a little cynical. He's almost suggesting that graphic designers can't be right. Either they're designing without a cause, which seems to make them pointless, or they're branding injustice, which makes them heartless. I can understand his point that perhaps some campaigns (like the "I Am African" campaign) go too far in suggesting that outsiders know what people are going through, but how else do you make people aware of the problems facing the world. I think we live in a time period where a product and sadly a cause that aren't branded go unnoticed and sometimes untrusted. People don't find credibility in ads that just say to donate without a celebrity sporting some sort of company identity. I think designer's place in social campaigns is to create awareness without trying to make the viewer a part of the problem. We aren't part of the problem, the hope is that we'll be part of the solution.
ReplyDeleteI was quite shocked to learn about the New York City fat campaign through this article. Examples like that really help his argument on how designers need to design with their audience not for them.
ReplyDeleteHere is the sustainable brands conference link. Looks pretty cool!
ReplyDeletewww.sustainablebrands10.com