Today, we live and breathe design.

A mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact.

Consumerism is running uncontested.

An inconclusive debate raged throughout the twentieth century on whether advertising manipulated buyers by implanting fake needs and false expectations or whether consumers used their purchasing power to get the market to give them what they wanted.

Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt toners, light beer and heavy-duty recreational vehicles.

We hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders.

The plain fact that a designer works through and for other people, and is primarily concerned with their problems, rather than his own.

For the designer, good design is the generous and pertinent response to the full context of a design opportunity, whether large or small, and the quality of the outcome resides in a close and truthful correspondence between form and meaning.

For many designers the property of goodness lies primarily in aesthetics.

Is our work good if it engenders happiness, for example if it adds to someones quality of life by making the world a more delightful or pleasurable place?

Ethics is an inclusive notion. Its about the whole quality of life. The aesthetic becomes really vital to that because to live in a social and political setting which is pleasing, enticing and attractive, and which is full of interest, detail, colour and movement increases the quality of life [. . .] Every aspect of our lives is touched constantly by considerations of the quality of our experience. So there is a deep connection between the aesthetic and the ethical.

Even if you dont personally agree with your clients message, if the message is a legitimate one, do you take a stand based on your own personal morality or do you act as a professional and continue to provide a service?

When it comes to graphic design, isnt it better not to walk away from jobs on ethical grounds, but to ask if theres some way that you can have inuence, something you can bring?

Designers, stay away from corporations that want you to lie for them.

The product may be little different in real terms from its rivals. What seduces us is its image.

The job of graphic design is generally to persuade so do we have a responsibility to be mindful of what we are persuading people to do or does this role as censor sit uncomfortably alongside tolerance and openmindedness?

If one sought to be altruistic at the expense of ones own interest all the time, the risk is that it would eventually undermine even ones ability to be good to others.

A designers freedom will reect in large measure the values of the society in which he works. Designers are not privileged to opt out of the conditions of their culture, but are privileged to do something about it.

The market is a glorious thing, but it is also a monster that devours its children.

Theres nothing wrong with making money, and theres nothing wrong with exploiting your talent, but I think you probably need a philosophy that says in addition to that.

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References

Emigre Essays. Emigre Essays. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. First Things First : Design Is History. First Things First : Design Is History. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Ibid. Appleby, Joyce Oldham. The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &, 2010. p. 225. Print. First Things First : Design Is History. First Things First : Design Is History. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Emigre Essays. Emigre Essays. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Potter, Norman. What Is a Designer: Things, Places, Messages. London: Hyphen, 2002. Print. Ibid. Eye Magazine. Eye Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Ibid. GOOD: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design: Ethics of Graphic Design. Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Ibid. Ibid. Eye Magazine. Eye Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. First Things First : Design Is History. First Things First : Design Is History. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Eye Magazine. Eye Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. GOOD: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design: Ethics of Graphic Design. Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Potter, Norman. What Is a Designer: Things, Places, Messages. London: Hyphen, 2002. Print. GOOD: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design: Ethics of Graphic Design. Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Ibid.

Image

Times Square Parade, http://lizbinsydney.wordpress.com/2011/04/ Kione Kochi, Avis Brain, http://melissakojima.blogspot.com/2011/03/fun-time-with-zineartist-kione-kochi.html Corinne Reid, Wolf Hands, corinnereid.com Kimberly Palmer, You Are What You Own, http://cargocollective.com/kimberlypalmer/ You-Are-What-You-Own Kimou Meyer, Newport, http://grotesknyc.com Mathew Barney, Cremaster Series, cremaster.net Phillippe Stark onTarget Billboard, http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/201306071 25052-5506908-what-if-capitalism-could-be-artistic Eye Bee M poster designed by Rand in 1981 for IBM. Nick Zdon, Everything Here is Wonderful, http://cargocollective.com/nickzdon Christian Louboutin Fall/Winter 2011 Lookbook, http://www.fashionodor.com/christian-louboutin-fallwinter-2011-lookbook/ New York Times Magazine cover, November 14, 1999. http://designarchives.aiga.org/#/ entries/%2Bid%3A1723/_/detail/relevance/asc/0/7/1723/its-so-you-new-york-times-magazine-cover/1 Wall Street Nation, Sebastian Errazuriz, http://meetsebastian.com Noma Bar, Good and Evil, http://www.dailydesigninspiration.com/category/graphic-design/noma-bar/page/2/. New York Magazine, March 2, 2009, nymag.com. Luis Vuitton ad campaign, http://insidefmm.com/tag/luxury-brands/page/4/. Hitler Youth Propaganda. Build Youth Hostels and Homes. Noma Bar, Flower Illustration, http://www.whitezine.com/en/graphic/noma-bar-illustrations.html/attachment/noma-bar-illustration-ower Esquire Magazine, May 1969 cover. Two Minutes Out of Your Time (2000),Pierre Huyghe, http://www.stretcher.org/features/ no_ghost_just_a_shell/ Fortune Magazine, June 2005, http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=gordon-gekko-fortune-magazine

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