Encouraging Bullshit

When I was growing up my mother would often yell “bullshit” during dinner time discussions. In fact she used it so often it's become a bit of a legacy for her. Now in her 80s, those who were present for those lively discussions—typically involving politics, the Viet Nam war, women's rights, or other hot topics  during the sixties and seventies—fondly recall hearing her use her “favorite” word. As I remember it what prompted my mother to say bullshit was when anyone tried to use sensationalism, emotional appeal, fear mongering, or other tactics besides hardcore facts to win their argument.The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) medalist Paula Scher recently wrote an article for Imprint in reaction to AIGA's contest “Justified”—a design competition that will select examples of good design that are also described in terms of their effectiveness in meeting the client’s objectives. In the article, “AIGA: Unjustified,”  Scher discusses her objection to the competition which in part is due to the fact that "Justified" is AIGA's only competition and thus sets a standard for excellence that focuses solely in an area that is based on meeting client goals rather than creativity and inspiration. She goes on to describe the many ways that meeting client goals are not necessarily in sync with design innovation. In the article Scher states that “judging design work by the quality of the designer's bullshit as required in this criteria seems pointless. If the work is terrific the bullshit is irrelevant. If the work isn't terrific, but the jury is moved by the entrant's arguments, it demonstrates the dangers of bullshit. Is this something we want to encourage?” (1)Scher raises a very valid question about what the goal of the organization's competition should be— proving the value of design to clients, or inspiring designers. Who should AIGA be serving?What do you think? Should AIGA's only remaining competition be based on the value of design to the client, or by how innovative and inspiring it is to designers?Read the full article along with many comments here and Scher's follow up article, “Unjustified, Part II,” where she addresses comments and offers her own suggestion for a competition.Notes:(1) http://imprint.printmag.com/design-thinking/aiga-unjustified/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aiga-unjustified&et_mid=548293&rid=23821332Sources:http://imprint.printmag.com/design-thinking/aiga-unjustified/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aiga-unjustified&et_mid=548293&rid=23821332http://www.aiga.org/justified/Photo courtesy of Tristan Nitot via Flickr

Is using Pinterest in your best interest?

“Woe to you! You thieves and imitators of other people's labour and talents.Beware of laying your audacious hand on this artwork.”—Albrecht DurerInterest and use of Pintinterest, a relatively new social media tool, has grown exponentially over the past few months. The site drew 23.7 million unique visitors in February, up from 3.5 million in September, according to research firm Nielsen. Another firm, Experian Marketing Services, ranks Pinterest as the third-most-popular social networking site, behind Facebook and Twitter.(1) From blog posts like “16 Ways Educators Use Pinterest,” to online advice from Inc, “9 Tips: Boost Your Business with Pinterest,” Pinterest is being touted as the latest and greatest social media tool.If you're not familiar with it, Pinterest is an online tool that lets you share visual content quickly and easily. It requires membership by invitation only. Once accepted members get a special copying tool (pinmarklet) and they are encouraged to use it to copy content from other websites to Pinterest's website. Some people are complaining that Pinterest doesn't create content for their own website—their members find it for them.With all of this gathering and sharing of content questions have been raised about whether its practices with regard to copyright law are in the best interest of its users. Copyright issues and terms of use have been a topic debate since the site's launch last September and they have modified their terms in response. Pinterest has a page on their site named Pin Etiquette with “Credit Your Sources” listed as number three. They also let their users know under their Terms of Service about their responsibility for content they post and give them a link to their Acceptable Use Policy which contains a fairly lengthy list of legalese. This information is there if their users seek it out, however, critics complain that Pinterest does not ask users to consider permissions before each "pin," aiming to make the user experience seamless. While having your content shared helps popularize it, many feel that the content creators, designers, artists, and photographers, should be asked or paid first.Some organizations, like the Artists Bill of Rights, are questioning the legalities of Pinterest and whether or not it is in the best interest of content creators. In a blog post entitled "Pinterest versus Ethics and the Law - Part 1" they refer to  artist Albrecht Durer's warning, “Woe to you! You thieves and imitators of other people's labour and talents. Beware of laying your audacious hand on this artwork.” They state that, "Even at over five hundred years old this is still a message for our time. Works of art are an expression of the makers' soul, they are part of the authors being, and it is for these reasons that all people on earth are granted the human right of copyright. Copyright gives each of us the exclusive right to choose who can, and who cannot, distribute our works."(2)Others, like Brooke Isabel Gushen in her blog post "Pinterest, a Social Media Website, Shifts its Terms of Use," are talking about the cultural implications along with the legal issues. Gushen refers to Larry Lessig's TED Talk where he discusses the creativity that comes from remixing in our contemporary culture. Taking great things from the past and recreating them into something new that reflects our experience is the hallmark of today‘s generation. In his talk Lessig refers to what now look like ridiculous objections to progress from the past, like John Philip Sousa's horrified response to the "talking machine," and makes a plea for copyright law to be based on common sense.What do you think? Is Pinterest an innovative new tool that benefits its users and is a reflection of contemporary culture, or is it a manipulative social media tool that leads its users down a road of copyright infringement and is damaging to visual content creators?Notes:(1) http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/12/business/la-fi-pinterest-20120413(2) http://artists-bill-of-rights.org/news/campaign-news/pinterest-versus-ethics-and-the-law-%11-part-1/ Sources:http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/12/business/la-fi-pinterest-20120413http://www.personal.psu.edu/big5040/blogs/brooke_gushen_-_technical_writing/2012/03/pinterest-a-social-media-website-shifts-its-terms-of-use.htmlhttp://artists-bill-of-rights.org/news/campaign-news/pinterest-versus-ethics-and-the-law-%11-part-2/http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250700/what_you_should_know_about_pinterest_and_copyright.htmlhttp://www.inc.com/john-brandon/9-tips-boost-your-business-pinterest.htmlhttp://mashable.com/2012/03/21/pinterest-copyright-legal-issues/

Keeping Score of Sustainable Design

With Earth Day 2012 less than 3 weeks away, it’s the perfect time to question how sustainable your graphic design practices are.With the confusion caused by the abundance of green logos, along with the feeling by some that sustainable design is unattainable (as  designer Jessie McGrath argues in her MFA thesis that “the idea of sustainable design is an illusive goal because a product can never be truly sustainable by virtue of the fact that it is a product,”)(1) some graphic designers may be discouraged to even try. However, there are some tools available. The Living Principles Scorecard, designed by Phil Hamlett, is an assessment tool that graphic designers can use to help them navigate the murky waters.The Scorecard, designed to be used in both the studio and the classroom, rates levels of sustainability on a scale of 0-4 (with 0 being “Doing Nothing” and 4 representing “Restoration”) and is divided into 4 categories:

1. Environment
2. People
3. Economy
4. Culture

Nathan Shedroff, Living Principles ambassador and Chair of the MBA in Design Strategy Program at the California College of the Arts, states, “the tool allows designers a quick assessment of a solution’s sustainability opportunities without a lot of work or a whole culture change. That change can come over time, as more and more people within an organization or studio use the tool over and over.” (2)The Living Principles Scorecard is available for download and designers, educators, and students are all encouraged to use it to help them assess how sustainable their graphic design practices are.Sources: http://www.livingprinciples.org/introducing-the-living-principles-scorecard/Notes:(1) http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/?p=861(2) http://www.livingprinciples.org/introducing-the-living-principles-scorecard/ 

Is Kony 2012 tony, or phony?

Kony 2012—the slick and emotional video by Invisible Children that has been circling the internet through Facebook posts, reblogs, and other forms of viral marketing—has been under attack this week. Critics are claiming that is irresponsible, self-serving, and a ploy for mass merchandising.With a campaign that asks supporters to "get the kit," some feel that Kony 2012 has become more than a campaign for justice—it's also become a source of revenue for its founders. Posters, bracelets, hoodies, and t-shirts are also for sale there and other places online. Questions about how much money is going to Jason Russell (its co-founder and filmmaker) vs. how much is actually going to the children have been raised. In response to this criticism Invisible Children has posted a response which includes a breakdown of expenses along with their financials.College student Grant Oyston never expected he would get over 2.3 unique views when he wrote the blog post Visible Children: Criticizing Kony 2012. Oyston says he wrote about the issue because he felt that people were jumping on the bandwagon to follow this campaign without doing research into either the organization Invisible Children or the war in Uganda. He said that up until his blog post came up he could find very little written about these issues.The poet Suli Breaks thinks the backlash against the Kony campaign is more a matter of cynicism. In a short response on YouTube he asserts that if the civil rights movement was going on now his generation wouldn't buy it. Suli goes on to say people have jumped from the Kony campaign to the anti-Kony campaign—without researching either stance.Many people, including Op-Ed NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff, have come out in favor of the campaign, saying that over the years he has seen that public attention can create an environment in which solutions are more likely. The top education official in Gulu, Uganda, Vincent Ochieng Ocen confirms this view as he explains the complexities of the war that has been waged for 20 years and affects not only Uganda, but other areas of Africa.Oysten and others, including Chris Blattman, a sociologist at Yale University, would argue differently. Blattman says, “There’s also something inherently misleading, naive, maybe even dangerous, about the idea of rescuing children or saving of Africa. […] It hints uncomfortably of the White Man’s Burden. Worse, sometimes it does more than hint. The savior attitude is pervasive in advocacy, and it inevitably shapes programming. Usually misconceived programming.”Another concern voiced by critics is that the campaign capitalizes on people's short attention spans; people will think they have done enough simply by posting one link or wearing a bracelet.When I discussed the campaign with my graphic design students most of them had heard about it, seen the video, and knew of the controversy that it had stirred up. There was a general consensus that they should support the cause, but not the campaign. They also agreed it was an excellent example of branding—acknowledging the slick and well executed video had powerful emotional appeal. This led to a discussion that included brand stretching, greenwashing, and social responsibility. At the very least, the campaign is a catalyst for the discussion of many of the ethical issues involved in graphic design.Sources:http://africasacountry.com/2012/03/07/phony-2012-risible-children/http://www.kony2012.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dtYhk0K_WcEhttps://vimeo.com/38609658http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/opinion/kristof-viral-video-vicious-warlord.html?scp=1&sq=kony%202012&st=csehttp://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-troublehttp://www.usatodayeducate.com/staging/index.php/ccp/college-students-blog-post-opposing-kony-2012-campaign-goes-viral

Does Super Tuesday = Super Branding?

Super (aka—very good; pleasant; excellent; extreme; huge; superficial)This Super Tuesday is "make it or break" for the Republican primary candidates. With elections in 10 states across the country they've pulled out all the stops and there's been a huge surge in branding for each of them.The budgets are definitely super — the ad spending alone has nearly topped $10 million with Romney having the most "super" budget with more than half that total coming from the Mitt Romney-backing Restore Our Future. (Read more about ad spending here.)But what about the design side of branding these candidates? Is it super, or superficial?Branding experts Steven Heller (author of Iron Fists: Branding the 20th-Century Totalitarian State,) Debbie Millman (Sterling Brands, President Design Group), and Alice Twemlow (Design Critic) shared their thoughts on a School of Visual Arts Brief last month. All three offer humorous observations, especially Twemlow's comparison of the swash in Newt's logo to a slimy salamandar. Twemlow also remarks that the further right you get, the less care seems to have been taken with the visual presentation of a candidate’s image, with Santorum's logo looking like it could have been created by a DIY business card machine. (Read the full article here.)What do you think? Were the super budgets spent on super branding?Sources:http://jump.dexigner.com/news/24605http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/04/2674789/super-tuesday-ad-spending-nearly.htmlhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/super-

When do labels become too much of a green thing?

When does green labeling become so ubiquitous that it loses all effectiveness? The Eco Label Index lists 426 different green logos. It also provides a database with filtering that lets you search by region, find out what research they are doing, and compare them—for a fee.Businesses may have the resources to devote ample time to deciding which labels belong on their products, but for consumers the myriad of choices runs the risk of rendering them useless. For small business owners and freelance graphic designers, figuring out which products and services are truly sustainable and not merely greenwashing is added on top of their never-ending list of tasks.Cliff Burrows, president of Starbucks, asserts that eco-labels establish a level of trust. He says, "Customers have demonstrated that they are more likely to buy products and services from companies they trust." The eco-label tells consumers that a product was produced (think Fairtrade or organic) or can be consumed (think nutritional labels or Energy Star) in a more sustainable way. The eco-label combines sustainability standards-setting and branding, underpinned by the credibility of an independent body. However, Burrows goes on to say that the eco-label model may have become too successful: "A wide array of certification programs has been developed, creating confusion among customers and undue burden on farmers. The industry needs to better understand what is meaningful to customers and works best for producers." (1)In addition to the confusion about what all the eco-labels mean, the problem is exacerbated when companies use eco-labels for greenwashing— attaching a positive environmental association with an unsustainable product or service. Ramon Arratia of InterfaceFLOR explains in an article for "Sustainable Business" in The Guardian that the practice is damaging both the environment and the sustainable industries themselves. (2)While graphic designers can use resources like Lovely As A Tree and Renourish to help them make choices about paper, printing, and ink, the issue affects a much wider audience. A recent post for "Sustainable Business" on The Guardian says that an Asda study shows consumers – regardless of age, gender or income – are choosing sustainable products and services; they just need some guidance. (3)In a blog post for Greenbiz.com, author Joshua Saunders states that what we need are credible certification programs, labels, and rating systems to dominate the market. This will help minimize confusion as well as hold labels and ratings to high standards. (4)How do you assess eco-labels? Do you know what they all mean? Do you care?Sources:http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/09/23/are-there-too-many-eco-labels-and-green-ratingshttp://www.ecolabelindex.com/ecolabels/http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/questioning-evolving-the-ecolabel (1)http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/asda-sustainability-green-survey (2)http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/waste-and-recycling (3)http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/03/greenwashing-many-eco-labels-problem/ (4)

Embracing Kingian Principles to Promote Nonviolence

This mural was painted on Albany Ave. in the North End of Hartford, Connecticut in November 2010. It was a Design Global Change project, an organization founded by Professor Natacha Poggio of Hartford Art School that is a creative think-tank that uses design to develop projects that bring positive change to communities around the world.The mural was inspired by the Kingian Principles of Nonviolence promoted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with special attention to principle #2: "The beloved community is the frame work of the future." The painting was created in collaboration with the Connecticut Center for Nonviolence, Hartford clergy and Community Peacebuilders.Kingian Principles of Nonviolence

1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding
3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustices, not people.
4. Nonviolence holds that suffering for a cause can educate and transform.
5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
6. Nonviolence holds that the universe is on the side of justice and that right will prevail.

How can you help promote nonviolence?Sources:http://designglobalchange.virb.com/http://bit.ly/zR9t50

WANTED: Jack of all trades (aka Graphic Artist)

This ad is pretty standard in terms of the laundry list of skills required of a graphic artist these days. Design skills, plus technical skills—and being well versed in all the software and hardware that goes with them—is expected. Writing and editing skills are often on the wishlist too. So where does a young graphic designer begin figuring out their worth?The AIGA|Aquent Survey of Design Salaries is a good place to start. The survey does have a category for "Print, web, and interactive." However, within this category it's broken out into senior designer, designer, junior designer, and producer—creating a division between design and production skills which in the "real world" is often not there.This situation is not unique to graphic design, many industries demand a large amount of multi-tasking from their employees these days. What complicates it a bit more in graphic design is the rampant practice of crowdsourcing. Graphic designers have a difficult time negotiating a fair wage in an industry where job requirements are becoming increasingly more complex, on top of this, the median salary has barely risen since 2000. If you throw crowdsourcing into the mix, they are also forced to compete with graphic designers from all over the world—some who can afford to work for a much lower rate—along with clients who use crowdsourcing to find an alleged huge pool of talent with rock bottom prices.The issue is compounded by the fact that many young and emerging designers don't know much about crowdsourcing or why it's considered evil. A comment was recently made on a post about crowdsourcing entitled "How Low Can You Go." The author made the very valid point that she honestly didn't know what crowdsourcing was and it took her 3 days of sorting through angry and emotional outcries to get to the meat of the issue. After her research she came to the conclusion that useful information about the value of graphic design services is sorely lacking. In fact, she realized that a "real client's" low offer made her feel more disrespected than the crowdsourcing sites she had visited (a claim that many of its critics make.)Letterer, illustrator, designer, (and author of Should I Work For Free? flowchart) Jessica Hische wrote an aptly named and helpful blog post entitled "The Dark Art of Pricing" that addresses how to price for image usage. Hische also directs designers to the Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines for help. While this advice is useful, it still doesn't address the combination of wide and diverse skill sets that are required in many graphic design jobs.While this issue can be particularly confusing and challenging to young and emerging designers, it causes stress and anxiety among seasoned professionals as well. In an environment where competitive crowdsourcing companies are thriving and the list of skills required of graphic designers is rapidly growing, what's the best advice we can give graphic designers about calculating their worth?Sources:http://regionalhelpwanted.com/Search/detail.cfm?SN=1&ID=62640522http://designsalaries.org/http://www.jessicahische.is/obsessedwiththeinternet/andhelpingyougetpaid/the-dark-art-of-pricing

’Tis the Season for Giving Back

Graphic design with social responsibility goes on all year round, but the holiday season shines an even brighter light on how graphic designers are giving back. Following are just a few examples:Watch this CNN Report about a project done by students for Stefan Sagmeister's "Touch Someone's Heart" at the School of Visual Arts in New York City to create a virtual community for NYC's M15 bus line commuters.The Byne Group is a small design agency in Suffern, NY that decided this holiday season they would donate a dairy cow to a family in Africa on behalf of their clients and friends. Watch their holiday greeting.Please share any projects you've seen that are giving back here.Sources:http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-710199?et_mid=529211&rid=102291436http://imprint.printmag.com/daily-heller/happiness-is-a-warm-cushion/http://thebynegroup.com/cows

Censorship: a sign of the “Times?”

This week Time magazine reported that last week's story “The Two Faces of Anxiety” elicited the most mail. Readers wanted to “Why is anxiety the most pressing issue in the U.S. while the Egyptian revolution gets front page treatment internationally?”Time said that they are glad to be held to high expectations. Some readers were not so happy and called the cover treatment censorship.David Airey posted almost a dozen examples of different magazine covers printed over the past several years on his blog. His readers debated the ethics of the issue including the practice of using selective data to push an agenda.The covers were also hotly debated on Reddit, reaching close to1800 comments with more than one of them saying that the practice is “terrifying.”Business Insider stated that while there is nothing new about magazines using different covers to drive sales, (one reader posted that this is done about 80% of the time) the bigger question is why the covers for the U.S. market differ so much from the rest of the world.What do you think? Is it censorship, or merely Times' right to serve their markets what they think will drive sales? Or is it merely a reflection of the insulated world in which Americans live?Sources:Time, December 12, 2011http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601111205,00.htmlhttp://www.davidairey.com/time-magazine-covers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CreativeDesign+%28Creative+Design%29http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/mp5cz/time_magazine_cover_depending_on_country/?limit=500http://www.businessinsider.com/these-time-magazine-covers-explain-why-americans-know-nothing-about-the-world-2011-11

Un-hate, or unethical?

Benetton's recent release of the "Unhate" ad campaign has caused a firestorm of controversy. The goal of their campaign is a worthy one—to contribute to a new culture of tolerance and to combat hatred. The UNHATE Campaign is the first in a series of initiatives involving community. In addition to the UNHATE Campaign, the UNHATE Foundation, founded by the Benetton Group, is planning a Global "UNHATE Day" with events scheduled for 50 different cities around the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Other initiatives include "Art for Tolerance," which will support the talent and work of young people living in areas where hatred has generated social injustice and conflicts.Unfortunately, one of the first efforts of their campaign has already been recalled. The photoshopped image of the Pope and Al-Azhar Mosque locked in a kiss caused the Vatican to respond with furious protests. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi stated, "This is a grave lack of respect for the Pope. We cannot help but express a resolute protest at the entirely unacceptable use of a manipulated image of the Holy Father, used as part of a publicity campaign which has commercial ends.” The Vatican demanded that the image be removed from the campaign and is taking legal action to ensure the doctored image isn't distributed.The White House also released a statement that they have a long-standing policy disapproving of the use of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes. Despite this, Benetton ads showing President Obama kissing Hugo Chavez are expected to appear in upcoming issues of "Newsweek," "New York Magazine," and the "Economist." Sources say that Benetton did run it by their legal department, getting informed about the consequences they could expect to face when receiving complaints.Benetton has a long history of using advertising to promote social messages. In the 1990s Tibor Kalman created "The United Colors of Benetton," a product-based series of multicultural kids promoting ethnic and racial harmony. Next came the creation of Colors, a magazine produced by Benetton for which Kalman became editor-in-chief. The goal for Benetton was to suggest they had a social conscience. The goal for Kalman was to create a platform for socio-economic issues.What do you think about the UNHATE campaign? Did they intentionally proceed with what many view as unethical behavior through photo manipulation, ignoring image usage rights to promote tolerance and influence culture, or is it merely a means to a commercial end—and bad use of photoshop as many contend?Sources:http://unhate.benetton.com/foundation/http://unhate.benetton.com/http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/benetton-yanks-smooching-pope-ad-unhate-campaign-vatican-threatened-legal-action-article-1.979430?localLinksEnabled=falsehttp://www.missfashionnews.com/2011/11/16/unhate-benetton/http://www.aiga.org/medalist-tiborkalman/

What the heck is “good design” any way?

If you decide to look up “good” in an online dictionary the first listing that comes up shows 55 different definitions. Morally excellent, righteous, high-quality, well-behaved, kind, educated, refined, healthy, cheerful, skillfully done, and financially sound are just a few.When looking at how the word "good" is used in graphic design a wide variety of interpretations also arise.In 1975 IBM legend Thomas Watson began his lecture at the Wharton School of Business with these words, “Good Design is Good Business.” This principle has led many successful businesses to make creating strategic branding and design a priority and ultimately may have helped in them their success.Apple's founder Steve Jobs place in the business world is legendary and was founded in part on relentlessly building beautifully designed, useful things that anyone could use.Dieter Rams offers 10 Principles of Good Design for product design that include innovation, usefulness, aestethic, honest, understandable, unobtrusive, and more.David Berman's book, Do Good Design, addresses the issues of morality in graphic design. The book is an excellent resource for looking at the power that graphic design has on cultural influence.Lucienne Roberts, author of Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design, also explores issues of morality, drawing readers into a debate about professional "goodness" versus personal "goodness" and the relationship between ethics and design practice.The magazine Good and website Good.is describe good as something that works—what is sustainable, prosperous, productive, creative, and just—for all of us and each of us.AIGA’s “Design for Good” initiative provides tools and resources for designers who work on projects that focus on addressing community needs. Their tagline says, “Changing the world may or may not work, but wouldn't you rather design trying?”In a recent post for the Daily Heller, “Design for Good or Bad,” Steven Heller raises the question of what good design is. Heller asks why designers can't practice "public good" as an integral part of design's mission without labeling it as just "good." He also brings up the point that some "bad design" may be due to lack of talent rather than an issue of morality. What does it mean if this type of "bad design" is done for good causes? Is it good, or is it bad?How should we define good design? Maybe the best thing that graphic designers can do is to delve further into each of these topics and come up with new and more specific ways to classify “good design.” If they don't, the catch-all phrase may end up diluting the message in its wake.Sources:http://www.definitions.net/definition/goodhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/06/steve-jobs-world-more-beautiful?INTCMP=SRCHhttp://www.amazon.com/Good-Ethics-Graphic-Required-Reading/dp/2940373140http://imprint.printmag.com/branding/design-for-good-or-um-bad/http://www.good.is/category/art-and-design/

When crowdsourcing works

The term crowdsourcing has come to mean poor quality and diminished (or complete lack of) compensation and quality in the world of graphic design. It has come to symbolize the movement in graphic design of "how low can you go?" We often forget that its roots are based in creating a large group effort to create a solution that might otherwise not be possible.For inspiration in creating solutions through crowdsourcing graphic designers can look to the artist JR who uses this method to get photos for posting, and to get assistance in posting them.JR uses public spaces for his work. Instead of waiting for people to find his work in traditional exhibit venues, he takes his work to the streets. In 2006, with Portrait of a Generation, JR posted portraits of suburban "thugs" in huge formats in the bourgeois districts of Paris. In 2007 he posted huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities. This project was called Face 2 Face and despite what some experts felt were impossible odds, he posted the portraits on both sides of the security / separation wall. In 2011 he was awarded a $100,000 grant from TED to fund InsideOut, a participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Participants from all over the world are invited to submit images along with their story. The image shown above, I Live in Brasília, Brazil, was submitted by a group of strong, proud Brazilian mothers fighting for the rights of their LGBT sons and daughters. Amy Novogratz, TED Prize director, says "People are using it to bring their communities closer together." A project of this scale would not be possible without crowdsourcing.Rather than turn their backs completely on crowdsourcing, can graphic designers find inspiration from the artist JR and think of ways to make the power of the masses work for them, instead of against them?Sources:http://www.good.is/post/crowdsourced-public-art-project-captures-community-spirit-around-the-world/http://www.ted.com/talks/jr_s_ted_prize_wish_use_art_to_turn_the_world_inside_out.htmlhttp://jr-art.net/

Communication that's as clear as mud

Have you ever wondered why legalese is so hard to understand? Whether it's a government form, a license agreement, or some other type of contract, the end user is often confronted with unintuitive, unclear, and confusing information. Gregg Bernstein recently raised the question of clear communication for software TOS (Terms of Service) contracts—specifically, why do they need to be so hard to read and understand? For his MFA thesis he analyzed and redesigned Apple's iTunes license agreement and found this doesn't have to be the case. Condensing and simplifying the language, improving the typography for better readability, and increasing brand unity were just some of the changes he made. You can read more about it on his website iagreeto.org.Bernstein's goal in the redesign was to take an unreadable contract and turn it into something that would not only benefit consumers by giving them a fighting chance of understanding it, but would also benefit Apple. By creating a document that users can actually understand, Apple might find that it increases compliance with its terms rather than bamboozling users into it without comprehension.While many don't give it a second thought when they blindly click through Terms of Service contracts and other legalese, the implications of poor visual communication not only raise ethical questions about the intent of the vendor, but can also wreak havoc in other areas of visual communication where contracts and forms are involved.When George Bush defeated Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election some felt the outcome had been determined by poor graphic design. The visual hierarchy of the ballot was confusing, as was the readability of the ballot, which was especially difficult to read for the target demographic, the elderly. The story is now more than a decade old, but it still stings with injustice and outrage as well as embarrassment for graphic designers.Graphic design serves as a filter through which much of our communication is disseminated, and graphic designers are often the gatekeepers of this communication. The influence that they have on how information is delivered is not always apparent to them. They sometimes become completely engulfed in certain details of a project and don't realize the full impact of their work, or for that matter the responsibility they bear in creating communication that is an integral part of our culture.What do you think? How culpable are graphic designers for poor visual design of forms and contracts?Sources:http://www.iagreeto.org/http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/09/06/090611-tech-technews-itunes-redesign-1-2/http://will-harris.com/wire/html/design_ramifications.html

Does John Williams have no empathy?

The recent Logo Garden scandal has many graphic designers up in arms. From the Action Alert sent by AIGA to warn graphic designers about possible theft and plagiarism of their logos, to the blog post "Love Thy Logo" on RockPaperInk by Bill Gardner, it is clear many are appalled.When Gardner found more than 200 of his own designs offered on the site, he documented Williams' outrageous and unethical behavior along with examples of the slight modifications of well-known logos like the identity for World Wildlife Fund and Time Warner Cable that are also on the site.Clues concerning how Williams' feels can be gleaned from his recent guest post for the entrepreneurs blog On Startups, "No Capital? No Problem. What You Get For Free Is Priceless."  He gives readers a pep talk about starting their own business and the value of organic growth. He never clearly gives them a picture of how using one of his logos fits into this picture, but goes about instilling a spirit of comraderie with them accompanied by the claim that his experience with branding led him to make an easy to use logo maker available to startups and DIYers. As Gardner asserts in his post, these startups and DIYers will most likely have no idea where the work came from or that it is not his to sell.While many may be glad that the slight modifications that Williams made to the logos may actually increase his liability by demonstrating his willful copyright infringement, what bothers some designers most is the question of how he can do this to his colleagues. As Gardner says, "You'll note I avoided going on a tirade about the issues with the $100 internet logo firms. They have foibles that too deserve penance but designers have no forgiveness for theft. Thou shall not steal another designers work."One wonders what led Williams to take this path. Was it lack of integrity, greed, or simply no empathy for his colleagues? A recent article for The Chronicle of Higher Education, 'Why Should We Care?'—What to Do About Declining Student Empathy, discusses educators' concern about a decline in student empathy. The troubling conclusion of a recent study by a team of social psychologists is that American college students have been scoring lower and lower on a standardized empathy test over the past three decades. The article talks about what the reasons for this decline may be as well techniques to improve levels of empathy. Besides the social benefits, research also links empathy in students with better academic outcomes. Educators are concerned because when used with skill, empathy can guide us to balance the needs of ourselves, those around us, and our larger social contexts with judicious care. Taking on another person's thoughts and identifying with their emotions are traits at the core of empathy. Williams disregard for what the implications of his "logo maker" are for his fellow designers makes one think that he has not considered what it would be like to walk in their shoes.What do you think is behind Williams behavior—lack of integrity, greed, or simply no empathy?Sources:http://www.aiga.org/common/newsletter/source/August2011_Action_Alert.htmlhttp://www.rockpaperink.com/content/column.php?id=88http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/54498/No-Capital-No-Problem-What-You-Get-For-Free-Is-Priceless.aspxhttp://chronicle.com/article/Why-Should-We-Care-What/128420/

CYA (or how to ethically conduct business)

One of the listings for the dictionary definition of ethics is “the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group.” Establishing the rules of conduct in graphic design starts with the contract.In her recent article for Web Designer Depot, "Protecting yourself as a designer," Kendra Gaines gives designers concise and common sense advice about setting up contracts and terms of service in order to conduct business professionally and ethically, as well as to protect themselves. Here are some highlights:Contracts and terms of serviceIt's all about expectations—what your client can expect from you and what you expect from them. Be as clear as possible about the terms and make sure it's in a written contract that's signed by both parties. A contract should include (but is not necessarily limited to) the following:

• Deliverables—what exactly will they be receiving from you? PSD files, access to the back-end of their website, training?
• Contributions—what do they need to contribute to get the job done? Copy, images, approval?
• Revisions—how many are allowed? This can turn into a money pit unless it's spelled out from the beginning of the project.
• Payment—how much and when? Do you require a deposit? When do you expect payment? Make sure it's in the contract.
• Cancellations—how much is refundable and at what part in the process does this need to happen? It may not be pleasant to think about, but it's important.

There are many places you can get a boiler plate contract to modify and make your own. A google search yields an extensive list. Another place you can start is with AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Design.) AIGA provides designers with online access to pdf versions of AIGA Design Business and Ethics, a series that outlines the critical ethical and professional issues encountered by designers and their clients. The publication is presented in a modular format and designers are encouraged to download relevant chapters and reformat the information as part of their regular proposals to clients. It includes sections on font licensing, copyright, and image usage rights. At 28 pages, the AIGA Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services is just one of the 8 different comprehensive resources available for download and modification.While the contract and terms of service are extremely important, Gaines also offers good advice for when to say no, charge more, and set barriers with family and friends. Read the full article here: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/08/protecting-yourself-as-a-designer/Sources:http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/08/protecting-yourself-as-a-designer/http://www.aiga.org/design-business-and-ethics/

Students on the "Road to Hell"

Graphic design students will wrestle with many ethical issues in their careers. If they aren't already aware of image usage rights, design plagiarism, and issues of sustainability the courses they take will no doubt touch upon these topics at one time or another. However some of the biggest ethical issues that they will face in their careers are the choices they must make in order to make a living.Sérgio Manuel Neves is a recent graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon. He explored the topic of "ethos" and "ethics" in graphic design for one his projects this past spring. The publication that he created, Ethics: Graphic Design In Takes includes excerpts from authors on the topic of ethics in graphic design and designers like Milton Glaser, creator of the chart "12 Steps on the Graphic Designer's Road to Hell."What might surprise some people is that in his essay, "The Road to Hell," Milton Glaser states that he personally has taken a number of the steps on the chart he created. Others, like author Mark Johnson, wouldn’t be surprised. In his book Moral Imagination, Johnson states that we would be morally irresponsible to think and act as if we possess a universal reason that generates absolute rules, decision‐making procedures, and universal or categorical laws by which we can tell right from wrong in any situation we encounter. According to Johnson, absolute moral laws ignore what’s truly important about the concept of morality, to achieve imaginative dimensions of moral understanding that make it possible for us to determine what’s really important in any given situation or relationship and to make wise decisions accordingly. The ability to reach these decisions requires exploration, discussion, and imagination.Where are you on the “Road to Hell” and what do you think is the best way to prepare students for the choices they must make?Listen to the "Design Matters" Milton Glaser Podcast Interview by Debbie Millman where he talks about the road to hell.Sources:http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0802/gla/Mark Johnson, Moral Imagination: Implications of Cognitive Science forEthics (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1993), 5.http://designobserver.com/observermedia/audiofile.html?entry=8927

Is everything a remix?

Beginning graphic design students often wrestle with the idea of originality. They argue that "nothing is original, it's all been done before." They will resist doing research because they claim that they don't want to "steal" someone else's idea. The concept of research and re-purposing ideas are not always easy ones for them to wrap their heads around.Emulation (aka copying) is a vital part of learning and developing our creative skills according to New York-based filmmaker Kirby Ferguson. He says, "Nobody starts out original." History shows us that a long line of inventors, artists, designers like Thomas Edison and Apple Computer follow what Ferguson feels is the formula for creativity: copy, transform, combine. This video does a great job of putting it in perspective.Source: http://vimeo.com/25380454Where do you think the line falls between emulation and innovation?

Ask the Lawyer

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) is a non-profit site that was founded in 1969 to provide legal,educational, and advocacy support to low-income artists and arts organizations. In 2010, VLA launched AskTheLawyer.com to archive and present basic and pertinent legal information to arts and legal professionals.Organized in four sections—Topics, Glossary, Resources, and Contact—the site is controlled and operated from the United States and may not be appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction other than the United States. When accessing the site users are cautioned that while information concerns legal issues, it is not legal advice, nor does it constitute an attorney-client relationship.Topics includes information about copyright and trademark along with contracts and first amendment issues. The Glossary offers definitions of legal terms used. Resources contains links for contracts, copyright, trademarks, for-profit and nonprofit corporations throughout the U.S. The Contact page lists the address and phone numbers for VLA.Source: http://askthelawyer.info/

Fish Tales

Y'see, most men, they'll tell a story straight through, it won't be complicated, but it won't be interesting either. —Edward Bloom (from the movie "Big Fish")

The fictional character from "Big Fish," Edward Bloom, spent most of his life as a traveling salesman. Known for his gift of storytelling, the statement that he makes to his son, a journalist in search of truth, nicely sums up the conundrum of graphic designers. Getting a message across by creating visual interest through unique and compelling imagery is our job. Is this possible when telling a story straight through without providing any embellishments?In an interview for Lucienne Roberts' book, Good: Ethics of Graphic Design, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, Anthony Grayling, says that he feels asking graphic designers not to persuade is like asking fishermen not to fish—it’s what we are trained to do.In the essay "Advocating Ethical Design" David Berman, graphic designer and author of Do Good Design, contends that on the contrary, it's a graphic designer's responsibility to take the time to understand the mechanics of persuasion and use it responsibly—he feels anything else are visual lies, and deadly.Berman believes people are much more influenced by things that look real as opposed to symbology and feels that the laws and rules of society and declared through words, not pictures, make it easier to get around a law with the vagueness of pictures.This debate is not new, it's a topic that's been discussed by graphic designers for years. However what Berman is particularly concerned with is how ethics apply to graphic design on the web. If the battle is being waged to make graphic designers more ethically responsible, how can this message be spread to the DIY population—those untrained in graphic design who write, upload, and create their own work and post it directly online? According to Berman, “Designers tend to underestimate how much power they have. They’re culpable.” He estimates that within a decade, the majority of humanity will be able to publish information on the web. And that’s why almost everyone needs to know something about ethical web design.Another essay on the Digital Ethics website, Digital Ethics and Kids, discusses the responsibility of teaching digital ethics in the home. They contend that children who are raised in families who have no moral or ethical knowledge will not make ethical decisions with their use of digital media and that they won't even realize if they are doing right or wrong.What do you think? Does the web make the responsibility of graphic designers any different and how much responsibility do they bear? Should the push for digital ethics be made at home, toward graphic designers, or both?Sources:http://www.finestquotes.com/movie_quotes/movie/Big%20Fish/page/0.htmhttp://digitalethics.org/2011/05/20/essay-advocating-ethical-designhttp://digitalethics.org/2011/06/14/essay-digital-ethics-and-kids/