Why is the design field so curiously self-obsessive?

From AIGA‘s Communique newsletter:

Promoting a new standard definition for “designer”
AIGA testified this month before the commission on redefining the standard occupational classifications for “designer” used by the U.S. government in its economic research. This is another step in an effort that AIGA has pursued consistently for ten years. The occupational classification for designer is at least two decades old and captures the functions of a designer prior to the introduction of the Macintosh and securely anchored in the realm of commercial artist.

Stated definition: “Design or create graphics to meet specific commercial or promotional needs, such as packaging, displays, or logos. May use a variety of mediums to achieve artistic or decorative effects.” (Last updated in 2003).

Again from AIGA:

The U.S. Department of Labor’s contractor for the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), the government’s database on occupational characteristics, is conducting a survey to gain a sense of the relevance of the current definition. The survey will be sent to 80 opinion leaders within t...... Keep reading

A designer I know has recently resurrected his interest in leaving the client-based design sphere. This is something we all toy with–—chances are we all have some secret (or not-so-secret) design interest that exists somewhere outside of client work. So what stops me personally? The reasons are always the same:

The Money
The biggest excuse. Maybe “excuse” is the wrong word. Perhaps I should say “the biggest legitimate concern.” It’s not easy just to walk away from paying clients for the uncertainty of entrepreneurship. Even worse is the possibility that there is not a clearly defined market for the things you would like to make. I won’t even bother discussing the hurdles for those interested in pursuing some sort of as-of-yet-unexplored-holy-grail art+design hybrid.

The Time
Here’s the rub. When I started picking up more freelance work I always thought about it as a way to eventually finance my more personal design projects. Somewhere in the past couple of years it feels more and more like the means to an end has become the end itself. Don’t get me wrong—I love the client work I do. This work keeps me sharp and makes me feel like I am doing something “real”. Perhaps most important is that it provides deadlines that are essential to maximizing my productivity.

The B...... Keep reading

Let me cut to the chase. There’s a growing trend among graphic designers to create a name for themselves among their peers. And it’s not healthy. Usually it starts off with good intentions. Some designer at company x or freelancing y begins reading design blogs. Then they get the idea that they could do the same. They stretch their wings out a bit and start their own blog. People start reading it. Traffic to the site rises. They promote their work. It’s good. They get featured some place big like name-your-favorite-design-blog.com. A bunch of people start coming to their site and leaving nice comments. After a year or two of this, the designer comes up with something that gets their foot into the door of design stardom. Might be a Web 2.0 application or a really helpful tool or the-next-big-thing insight. They’re invited to speak at SXSW-NXPDQZ conferences. They appear in HOW. They write the book everyone wants to buy. Shoot, maybe their “style” actually starts a design trend. How wonderful.

I know I’m over exaggerating a bit here, but the spirit underneath it all is to exalt the self…your self. How do I know? I’ve been tempted to travel this road too. You won’t find it slapping you in the face like the story above, but you will see “Your Way” road signs in more subtle ways. Take the term “personal branding”. Personal branding involves discovering our selves, o...... Keep reading

I just have to get this off my chest. It’s been grinding at my soul for several years now, and I can’t escape confessing this. Since I live in a very small town, there’s only one place for starving designers to shop. You guessed it…Wal-Mart. I think I can overcome my ideological and moral issues associated with supporting the world’s largest corporation, but I just can’t handle one more day of their in-store brand design. “Great Value” products are driving me insane. (Note that Equate and Ol Roy are not GV products. This is just the best image I could find in the public domain)

At first I was simply stunned that a company with all that money couldn’t come up with better design for their own store brand. The “Great Value” font is nasty when it’s readable and the photography/printing is depressing. It just exudes cheap, not “value” and certainly not “great”. I’m sure the work was done in-house at Wal-Mart, and the designers wer...... Keep reading

Lately I’ve become more aware of things in design that make me cringe when I see, hear or experience them. Sometimes cringing is good, especially when your opposing something immoral, illegal or downright deceptive. Other times cringing is a sign that we are in some way held captive by the very thing we cringe against. I want to be more free creatively, so I’ve come up with a list of things that make me cringe in the design business. Maybe by identifying them, I can eventually see some good in them. Some may suprise you, others may not:

– Marketing
– Church marketing
– Stock photography
– Christian design
– Advertising
– Design conference
– School
– Grunge
– Style
– Design on a dime
– Logos
– Employer
– Employee
– Branding
– Consumers

What makes you cringe?...... Keep reading

Design is a democracy. I don’t mean a “design by committee” type of democracy. I mean democracy where the “common” person can contribute in a significant way to the final outcome. Unfortunately, design often lives in a we-they-ocracy. Clients say, “We paid them good money. They better come up with great design.” Or design firms say, “We’re the professionals in design. They may have ideas, but there’s no way they are actually going to participate in the design of the final piece itself.” This is a shame. When clients are actually given the chance to participate in design, good things happen. Here are three projects I participated in as client and designer where design democracy worked.

Project 1: Concrete Democracy
As a designer you’ve probably had the urge to try something different to expand your creative horizons. Last summer when I had some slack time (read no clients), I decided to help my mom redesign her kitchen. Now, I’m no architect, but I figured that with a design background, I should be able to come up with something nice. Executing the idea would be the tricky part. I could have just listened to her ideas and incorporated them in the final work. Instead I went a step further, and encouraged her to actually participate in the design. She hung drywall with me; she painted; she picked out cabinets; and she troweled t...... Keep reading